Jared Goff “Nowhere Near Being Ready To Start”, Case Keenum To Open Season As No. 1 QB?

According to Steve Wyche of NFL Media, Rams No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff is “nowhere near being ready to start Week 1,” which could lead to Case Keenum being the team’s Week 1 starter.

“Jared Goff is nowhere near being ready to start Week 1,” Wyche said. “He’s only had offseason workout practices, but he’s swimming in it. … Training camp is vital for him. I spoke to one team official that said they are looking forward to seeing him in pads and preseason games because his ability to improvise are some some of his strengths. But do not be surprised — I know the expectation is for him to start Week 1 — but don’t be shocked if Case Keenum is the starter, because, again, Jared Goff has a long way to go.”

Rams HC Jeff Fisher mentioned earlier in the week that Goff will start “when he’s ready.”

“It’s intellectually, it’s learning the system,” Fisher said, via TurfShowTimes.com. “He’s got all the physical tools, makes all the throws and does all that, it’s just learning the system and then applying it to what we would call a fairly sophisticated defensive system. That’s hard. … I also said that we’ll start him when he’s ready. I didn’t say that to imply that he was going to start the opener. I said, we have options.”

Fisher added that Keenum is their starting “for now,” and will open training camp as their No. 1 option.

When asked if he would give Goff all of the first-team reps in training camp to accelerate his learning curve, Fisher replied:

The Rams elected to use a first-round tender on Keenum a few weeks ago that will pay him $3.635M million for the 2016 season.

Keenum, 28, wound up signing on with the Texans as an undrafted free agent out of Houston back in 2013. He spent two years with the Texans before he was claimed off of waivers by the Rams.

He later returned to the Texans before being traded to the Rams for a 2016 seventh-round pick.

In 2015, Keenum appeared in six games and threw for 828 yards while completing 60.8 percent of his passes to go along with four touchdowns and an interception.