Armour: Are top picks Jared Goff and Carson Wentz ready for the spotlight?

Corrections/clarifications:A previous version of this column included an incorrect first name for David Carr, the quarterback taken by the Houston Texans in the 2002 draft.

CHICAGO - Jared Goff and Carson Wentz have no idea what they’re in for.

Oh, they claim they do, saying all the right things after the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles made them, respectively, the Nos. 1 and 2 picks in the NFL Draft on Thursday night.

“If you’re a first-round quarterback, there’s going to be pressure regardless,” Goff said. “I’m very excited. Very ready to go, ready for the challenge.”

“You just block it out,” Wentz said a few minutes later. “You don’t let the pressure or the expectations get to you. I block out all the noise, play ball. I’m confident in myself that it will all work out as it’s supposed to.”

If only it were that easy.

NFL draft: First round pick-by-pick analysis

The scrutiny on any top pick is immense, but it’s nothing compared to what Goff and Wentz are going to face. Goff will be the face of the NFL’s return to Los Angeles after a 22-year absence, and the hype surrounding him will be Kardashian-esque.

Every Rams sponsor is going to want a sizeable piece of him, and he’d better get used to seeing his face everywhere because it’s going to be plastered on signs and billboards all over the city. He’ll be trotted out for meet-and-greets with deep-pocketed ticket holders.

With the NFL version of the Taj Mahal opening in 2019, neither the Rams nor the league can afford for Goff to be anything less than a superstar, on and off the field.

As for Wentz, Eagles fans have booed Santa Claus. AND pelted him with snowballs. Think they’re going to give a rookie quarterback a grace period or spare his feelings, especially after the dysfunction they’ve endured these last few years? No.

Then there’s the potential awkwardness with Sam Bradford, himself a former No. 1 pick. Bradford thought he was Philadelphia’s quarterback of the future (present, too), only to find out last week that the Eagles see him as more of a stopgap.

Stepping into either of those scenarios would be tough for a Manning brother, Andrew Luck or Cam Newton. And, talented and personable as they are, Wentz and Goff are not in the same class as those guys.

Unlike last year, when Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota were considered the best of all the players available, Goff and Wentz were projected as mid-first rounders only a month ago. Even now, almost every ranking has them anywhere from No. 7 to a slightly above average 14th.

Not exactly No. 1 material, that. No. 2, either.

But the Rams and Eagles are desperate, and desperate teams do silly things. Like mortgaging a big chunk of their future for guys for whom greatness is not assured.

“I’m going to prove them right,” Goff said. “Let them know they made the right decision.”

Robert Griffin III, Johnny Manziel, Mark Sanchez, Blaine Gabbert and Tim Tebow all said similar things and looked how well that worked out for everyone. Four years after Washington traded up to take Griffin with the No. 2 pick, he’s now in Cleveland, which needed a quarterback because its draft day gamble on Manziel two years ago failed. Miserably.

Sanchez is the quarterback-for-now in Denver while Gabbert is riding the bench in San Francisco. As a franchise quarterback, Tebow makes a great TV analyst.
“Everyone talks about, `Can you handle the adjustment to city life?’ All that stuff. It's just football,” Wentz said earlier this week. “Don't make it bigger than it needs to be.”

That’s the lie both Goff and Wentz will have to tell themselves, but a lie it most definitely is.

Both are coming from programs that flew under the radar nationally, Goff from Cal and Wentz from Football Championship Subdivision North Dakota State. As bright a spotlight as they thought they were under, those were 60-watt bulbs compared to the klieg lights they’re about to face. Short of being raised in the Manning household, there’s no way to be prepared for that.

Derek Carr, the No. 1 pick for the expansion Texans in 2002, tried to explain that, publishing an open letter to Goff and Wentz earlier this week.

“Here's the cold, hard truth: Becoming a superstar overnight is a hard thing to deal with,” Carr wrote.  “You are going to be praised and criticized -- ignore both. Soaking in the praise will only lead to a possible slip in your mental or physical preparation. In the same breath, focusing on negative criticism will hinder your play and ability to lead your team.”

It doesn’t matter how many times they hear that, though. Goff and Wentz are simply going to have to experience it for themselves.

Buckle up, fellas. The road ahead is a bumpy one.