According to Ian Rapoport, there’s a “real chance” of Case Keenum opening the 2016 season as the Rams’ starting quarterback, despite the fact that they used the No. 1 overall pick on Jared Goff.
- In fact, Rapoport says that this is actually the Rams’ plan as of now. Although, Keenum will still have to beat out Goff for the job.
- Rapoport says that Goff can still changed minds, depending on his play in preseason games.
Last we heard regarding the Rams’ quarterback position, Ed Werder reported that there’s a “very strong possibility” Keenum will also be their starter for Week 1’s regular season opener.
A few months ago, Steve Wyche of NFL Media mentioned that Goff is “nowhere near being ready to start Week 1,” and it’s likely they would go with Keenum.
“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.”
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. The Rams elected to use a first-round tender on Keenum a few weeks ago that will pay him $3.635 million for the 2016 season.
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.
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