Les Snead Went Out of His Way to Avoid Endorsing Jared Goff
Jared Goff has struggled since leading the Los Angeles Rams to Super Bowl LIII and it appears the franchise is not fully behind him. Goff has had some real struggles over the past two seasons and on Tuesday, general manager Les Snead was given every opportunity to endorse his young quarterback. He went out of his way not to.
Here are some of his comments when asked about Goff's status with the team moving forward:
“Jared Goff is a Ram at this moment,” Rams GM Les Snead says, while adding it’s too early to get into specifics to say whether there’s a scenario where Jared Goff would not be apart of the Rams roster next season.
— Omar Ruiz (@OmarDRuiz) January 26, 2021
Rams GM Les Snead, asked repeatedly if there's a scenario where Jared Goff wouldn't be on the roster in 2021, declines to provide a yes/no answer, and references Aaron Rodgers' recent quote about the future being a beautiful mystery.
— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) January 26, 2021
Rams GM Les Snead, given another chance to say whether Jared Goff is a Ram, says that he's a "Ram right now, what's today? Jan. 26...."
— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) January 26, 2021
Snead emphasizes they want to be a better offense.
He capped it off with this:
Les Snead acknowledges that it would be difficult to move on from Jared Goff because of the salary cap, but also says that "Anything can be done" in the salary cap.
— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) January 26, 2021
Goff and the Rams' offense has not been the same since that Super Bowl trip. This season, he did complete 67 percent of his passes, but only had 3,952 passing yards, averaged only 7.2 yards per attempt and had 20 touchdowns against 13 interceptions. Something is just off and reports have surfaced that head coach Sean McVay and Goff's relationship isn't great right now.
Goff hasn't been taking care of the football the way he needs to, with 29 interceptions and 12 fumbles over the past two seasons, while throwing for 42 touchdowns combined. That's not a great ratio. Perhaps nowhere has the change been more evident than in his yards per attempt numbers. In 2018 he averaged 8.4 yards per attempt, but saw it drop to 7.4 in 2019 and 7.2 in 2020. That's more than a full yard of difference every time he throws the ball. It may not seem like much but those numbers add up.
The Rams haven't been as explosive over the past two seasons and a lot of that goes back to their quarterback.
The only way to get rid of Goff and not destroy the team's salary cap situation would be to trade him. I'm not sure anyone would be willing to take on the 26-year-old's massive contract at this point. But, as Snead said, anything can be done.