Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz has his second contract. The Rams are waiting to give quarterback Jared Goff his. Rams coach Sean McVay dismisses any potential implications arising from the team’s apparent reluctance to financially commit to Goff.
“Any of the things or narratives that are out there, Jared Goff, as long as I’m fortunate enough to be in this role, hopefully this guy’s stuck with me for a long time,” McVay told reporters on Tuesday. “So he’s an outstanding leader. People make a deal about the system, but he’s the reason why. Our players are the reason why the system is what it is because he can do so many different things. And really when you just look at the confidence we have in him . . . taking steps from Year One in the system to Year Two just thinking back to last year how confident he was and now I think it’s even that much more this year. . . . He’s got true ownership, great ability to communicate with his teammates, and with him leading the way we feel really good.”
But not good enough to give him a second contract, at least not yet.
The Rams have had three consecutive first-round picks who became great players. Defensive tackle Aaron Donald (2014) got his second contract just before the start of his fifth regular season. Running back Todd Gurley (2015) got his after three years, a move that the team may now regret. Goff, the first-rounder in 2016 for whom the team gave up plenty in order to trade to the top of the draft order, has a fair basis to want at least as much as Wentz ($32 million per year in new money), and McVay’s praise only adds to Goff’s leverage.
As time goes by and the salary cap continues to climb, Goff’s potential value will climb as well. Still, someone eventually is going to balk at paying huge money to a quarterback, and until Goff gets paid huge money there’s a chance it will be him.