Bell: Rams elated with Jared Goff settling QB question

LOS ANGELES – Jeff Fisher was, typically, laid-back California cool on Thursday night, with the most important piece of business handled after the Los Angeles Rams made it officially and selected Jared Goff as the first pick in the NFL Draft.

What a nice kick for a relocated franchise, back in the market it abandoned 20 years ago. There’s a hot, young quarterback in the mix, added to the buzz of coming home.

Yet someone severely misinterpreted the coach’s calm demeanor.

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Are you happy?

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This will rank as one of the craziest questions Fisher has ever been asked.

“Happy?” Fisher responded, as general manager Les Snead sat next to him during the press conference, grinning. “Are you kidding me? We just drafted our franchise quarterback. I’m trying to contain myself right now.”

Snead then went on to explain just how giddy Fisher was a couple of weeks ago – complete with high-fives – when he learned that the Rams were on the verge of completing the trade with the Tennessee Titans to move up from the 15th slot to No. 1 overall, in order to land Goff.

The Rams didn’t publicly reveal their choice after the trade but they dealt away a bundle of draft picks for a reason, one of which is the resilient composure that Goff demonstrated at Cal that falls right in line with the manner in which Fisher operates.

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Fisher threw out an eye-popping stat that says a lot about what he thinks he’s getting in Goff, whom the team chose over the other highly-rated quarterback in the draft, North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz. In the red zone, Goff had a TD-to-INT ratio of 49-2 at Cal. That’s a much more impressive stat than the 14-23 record that Goff had as a starter at Cal.

Of course, it’s a new deal now with the mega spotlight of playing in the nation’s second-largest market. Never mind Fisher’s demeanor. How Goff handles the pressures as the new face of the franchise in star-driven Tinsel Town will be crucial to his chances of success with a team that finished 7-9 in 2015.

Fisher, naturally, does not seem worried about that.

“He may start of Monday night,” Fisher said, referring to the Rams’ regular-season opener at San Francisco on Sept. 12. “That’s the goal. We understand the environment, believe me. He does. We’ve had lengthy conversations. If I had concerns about whether Jared could handle this, I wouldn’t be talking about Jared right now. He can handle it.”

Which is pretty much Fisher’s way of saying that he is ecstatic.

Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.

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