Rams GM Les Snead: “Jared Goff is a Ram at this moment.”

L.A.'s top personnel man says improvement on offense as top priority

Much like his counterpart in head coach Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead was unwilling to say outright if Jared Goff would be his team’s starting quarterback for the upcoming season, leaving all options are on the table.

However, Snead did acknowledge due to cap constraints it would be difficult -- but not impossible -- for the Rams to move on from Goff in 2021, who’s owed over $43 million in guaranteed money over the next two seasons.

“What I can say is Jared Goff is a Ram at this moment,” Snead said. “It’s way too early to speculate on the future. That’s a beautiful mystery.”

So, it would seem the Rams are exploring all possibilities to create competition for Goff with the hope that he improves next season. And those options include letting backup John Wolford competing for the starting job, or perhaps as a “change-of-pace” quarterback, according to Snead.

“The real thing that should come out of this is we want to be a better offense,” Snead said. “And that includes Jared. That includes myself. That includes Sean and that includes his coaches.”

Snead said that he does not believe the working relationship between McVay and Goff’s has frayed too much by the head coach’s public criticism of his starting quarterback.

“I don’t,” Snead said. “A lot of QBs and a lot of head coaches are going to have tough conversations. I can say this: Maybe a tough conversation in the moment leads to some semblance of friction, but I’m a believer that you can use the friction to move forward, and maybe even get closer. So, I would say, no.

“At the end of the day, Sean wants us to improve, especially on the offensive side of the ball. And I don’t think you’re going to hear Sean come off that stance any time soon.”

However, Snead did acknowledge the way they evaluate quarterbacks has changed since the franchise selected Goff with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft, with an eye toward more mobile quarterbacks like Wolford, undrafted rookie Bryce Perkins from last year and new addition Devlin Hodges.

“What did change with us since Jared’s been here, since Sean’s been here, and it came a little bit to life with John Wolford was we wanted to find a backup quarterback that if you had to play backup and win a big game, that particular player could do it,” Snead said. “So, I do think probably what has evolved is the mobility factor.

“So, you saw that with us bringing in John, who was less known at that particular time, and more known now. Last offseason with even the addition of Bryce Perkins from Virginia, a kid that’s not just all runner, but does have pocket mobility and the ability to run, and he can even do some of RPO’s and things like that. So, that definitely has changed.”