The Rams moved a bunch of picks to the Titans for the right to draft quarterback Jared Goff with the first overall pick in this year’s draft, but they’re not quite ready to move Goff into the top spot on the depth chart.
Coach Jeff Fisher said Thursday that veteran Case Keenum is the starter with the Rams heading toward their first training camp since moving back to Los Angeles. Fisher said Goff (and likely No. 3 Sean Mannion) will get work with the first team along with Keenum and move up when the team deems him ready.
“We’ll start him when he’s ready,” Fisher said. “I didn’t say that to imply he was going to start the opener. I said we have options. He could start anywhere from the opener to whenever. We haven’t changed our philosophy on that. We’re gonna coach him to be successful and not going to put him in with a chance to fail.”
The Rams would probably have Goff engage in some level of competition for the job even if they weren’t starring on HBO this summer, but it doesn’t hurt that “top pick trying to supplant veteran” works as an arc for this season of Hard Knocks. How long the Rams let it play out remains to be seen, but it’s probably a good bet that Goff will be in the starting lineup before winter comes to Game of Thrones.