The Rams made a number of organizational moves during the offseason to help develop young quarterback Jared Goff, from hiring Sean McVay as head coach to signing free agent left tackle Andrew Whitworth. And with the club's offseason program coming to an end this week, Goff has shown signs that he can take a significant step forward in his second pro season.
Both coaches and players have extolled Goff for his leadership off the field, and the quarterback appears to be more comfortable and confident during practice.
"I think a lot of that has to do with the guys around me," Goff said Tuesday. "I think we've done a good job offensively going from the install to on the field and being effective with it. I think that goes back to the coaches as well. Their ability to install and their ability to teach and coach us has been tremendous. It's been a lot of fun learning with them and continuing to improve myself and the team as a whole."
The ease of installing the playbook has been a common refrain from members of Los Angeles' offense since McVay's arrival. Players have said it comes from the way the coaches have been so detail oriented in their instruction and focus on learning day-by-day.
"I've enjoyed every day coming out here and learning with them," Goff said. "All the way back from when we started meeting with them to now — it's been awesome. I've had a really good time learning it. I think I've picked it up at a pretty good pace. I like where we're at right now. Obviously, a lot of stuff to improve on, especially from today. But again, I like where we're at."
From offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur's vantage point, Goff has done well in making daily strides throughout the offseason program.
"That's been the biggest thing with him, is just get a little bit better each day, become a little more consistent on a daily basis," LaFleur said.
"I think when you look at trying to find your identity and what you kind of want to hang your hat on within the framework of our offense, I think he's picked some of those things up well," McVay said. "Again, like we always talk about, it's going to be something where we want to do a good job as coaches figuring out our players and then we'll adjust the system accordingly."
That's particularly important for a signal-caller in McVay's system, which the head coach often says is set up to make the quarterback's job as easy as possible. To that end, McVay said Goff will have input into the way the offense functions just like any other player.
"If there's something that he feels like is going to make it an easier way for all of the players to understand and call a concept, that's something that we're certainly flexible with," McVay said. "We try to make sure that as coaches we're creating verbiage that makes sense from a teaching standpoint, as opposed to just, 'This is just because.' You want to always make sure there's a 'why.' I think that gives you a better chance to learn if you have that."
Still, McVay can often be seen on the field during practice coaching up the quarterbacks to ensure plays are run to his liking. And that's something Goff likes.
"I think he is tough at times, I think there's other times where he knows how to handle a situation, but I've been very happy with the way that he's coached me," Goff said. "I want him to be hard on me. I think I need it. I think that's how I get better and continue to stay sharp."
And Goff has made strong throws throughout the offseason program, particularly over the last few weeks. His teammates have noticed the progress, particularly as it relates to year over year improvement.
"There's a lot more communicating to the receivers when he sees something," wideout Pharoh Cooper said. "Last year, we would kind of just go about it and try to fix it the next day or something. But if we mess something up, he'll talk to you about it on the sideline now. We'll say, 'Jared, you saw what I saw?' And we'll go from there."
With the Rams off until late July when training camp begins, Goff said he'll be working out in Southern California to prepare for the season.
"I've got two things planned. I'm going to have a camp at my high school coming up here soon. I'm going to play golf in Tahoe in the middle of July and that's about it," Goff said. "Everything else will be down here training."
That's training to produce quality results for 2017 and many seasons to come.