So far the four-year, $134 million contract extension that the Rams handed Goff before last season is not looking like the best move for the team. While expectations were high for the team and for the young signal-caller going into 2019 after they had just fallen to the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl the following season, it may have been too soon to hand out such a lucrative deal.
For the foreseeable future, the Rams and Goff are intertwined. While Goff had a down year that saw him look lost in the pocket at times as he threw a career-high 16 interceptions, the whole team had a 180-degree shift from their 2018 run. While it may not sit well with some fans, Rams’ offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell stated via the team’s website that he wants Goff to take ownership of the offense in 2020.
“There’s a Player going into his fifth year, his fourth year in the offense, of ownership, where you feel strongly about presenting him with a plan where he could truly have some ownership, while also understanding at the end of the day, it’s just about being great with the details of doing his job.”
Goff isn’t solely to blame for the poor season the team had in 2019 as the offensive line struggled to stay healthy and do their jobs which resulted in Goff himself not being able to perform to expectations. The departed Todd Gurley also wasn’t ever his true self so the Rams never really established a run game at all. With Gurley and receiver Brandin Cooks subtracted from the offense this year, the team went out and sought some high-quality new weapons to reinvent the offense while also returning valuable veteran pieces.
At the very least, 2019 was a learning curve that Goff and the team fought through which should be beneficial to them as they face another season in the NFL’s toughest division. Sean McVay and Kevin O’Connell still have high hopes for the young quarterback who is still only entering his fourth year at the helm of the offense and while 2019 wasn’t always easy to watch, it’s a new year filled with new chances.
