LA Story: Three plotlines Rams fans should follow in 2017

The Los Angeles Rams have a few storyline angles to follow in 2017. Here are three worthy of your attention.

Los Angeles Rams fans have a lot to sink their teeth into this spring. Besides a draft that was appropriately scripted, LA has some holdover storylines that will offer a new season to correct some truly awful plot lines from last season. A few are obvious, but one not so much. But either way, 2017 will clean up some pending business for a team needing a good year.

The biggest blue and white elephant in the room is Jared Goff.

How important was the just concluded NFL Draft can be determined by what positions they drafted. This draft and this season is about vindicating and validating last year’s top overall pick. Goff gets the benefit of a full offseason as the number one quarterback, and a full menu of offensive weapons to work with. The 2017 season will say more about Jared in Los Angeles as a starter than it will whether Sean McVay can be a head coach.

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If he struggles “getting it” as an NFL QB means it’s hard to imagine the Rams not taking a long look for a better option in 2018. Especially with the need to open a new $2.6 billion stadium in 2019.

Bottom line: all eyes on Goff.

The other player who needs to turn the page on a bad second chapter is Todd Gurley. Last season was a disaster for a guy the Rams couldn’t afford to have go south.

But he did.

The silver lining for Los Angeles is they have options with what they can do with the run game. The Rams aren’t tethered to Gurley, and that will go a long way in seeing how 2017 rolls out for this offense. It isn’t on him to be “the guy” as that roll didn’t suit him.

The down side for Todd is his position has a relatively short shelf life in the league. A subpar season this year will shorten it even more in LA.

Lastly, is the Rams / Chargers story, and it hasn’t gotten a lot of play.

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Yet.

On paper, and even based on recent history, is the fact that the Chargers are a good football team. Potentially troubling for the Rams is they might not even be the third best team in Los Angeles. It’s one thing to be second fiddle to USC, but possibly the Chargers too? The Trojans may be the most compelling story in LA next year with a quarterback who may be the number one pick this time next year.

This couldn’t have been the plan for the Rams braintrust, but it is a highly likely reality.

While the Rams / Chargers has some time to play out, what happens with Goff and Gurley doesn’t. Those two storylines need to have a happy ending for this franchise.

Especially with better ones playing out in the same city next year.