Did Los Angeles Rams Wide Receivers Not Respect Jared Goff in 2016?
By Dan Parzych
A recent report indicates wide receivers on the Los Angeles Rams did not respect Jared Goff when he took over as the starter in the second half of his rookie season.
Like most rookie quarterbacks, Jared Goff‘s first year with the Los Angeles Rams was a rough one when seeing how much last year’s top overall pick struggled with running the offense. Of course, the argument can be made Goff’s first NFL experience would have been smoother with a better receiving corps, but it appears the issues may go beyond that.
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According to Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole, it appears there was a lack of respect for Goff from some of his wide receivers, which would explain some of his struggles when taking a closer look at performances towards the end of the season. What’s even more troubling is the part of the report where Cole discusses how Goff tried to organize a workout on an off day, only to see the wide receivers fail to show up.
Either way, after the offense ranked at the bottom of the league in 2016 by only averaging 14 points per game, it’s clear Los Angeles needs some sort of change on offense if Goff is going to have any chance of succeeding in his sophomore season. Even if Kenny Britt became the team’s first 1,000-yard receiver since 2007 this past season, it’s still unclear whether he’ll be back next year since the wideout is scheduled to become a free agent.
As for the rest of the receiving corps, Tavon Austin better figure out a way to make more of an impact when considering how quickly he’s become one of the league’s most overpaid players after finally breaking the 500-yard mark in receiving for the first time in four years last year. The Rams were already considered a mess on offense before, but this developing issue with the wide receivers takes things to a whole new level for Goff and company.
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With that being said, just because there were issues with the wide receivers during the 2016 season when Goff took over to start the final seven games doesn’t mean they can’t be fixed over the next couple of months. If anything, this could turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Los Angeles, as this will hopefully improve Goff’s skills from a leadership perspective.