Plenty of people outside the Los Angeles Rams organization openly question whether Jared Goff is worth the massive contract signed last offseason.
To be sure, no one inside the building is asking those questions of the QB.
Receiver Brandin Cooks told Doug Farrar of USA Today's Touchdown Wire that he knows Goff is the man who can lead the Rams back to the top of the NFC West.
"Absolutely. Yes, he is the guy," Cooks said. "I mean, you talk about a guy that... we had so many different position changes along the offensive line last year. And for any quarterback, that is so tough. To still be able to stand in there and take the licks, it goes to show you that this guy is willing to do whatever it takes to win for his team. And at that young age, when you have that mindset, special things happen."
With the Rams' offense falling off in 2019, Cooks pointed to the inconsistency surrounding Goff, not the QB regressing as the reason for the struggles.
"It was one of those things where, how (do) we find the way to get back to our consistent play?" he said. "There were too many inconsistencies last year. We'd show why we are one of the best teams in the league, and then, the next week, we'd show why we shouldn't be playing in the playoffs. We know it's there, but how consistent can we be? That's the biggest thing."
Behind an offensive line that struggled for long stretches, Goff epitomized the up-and-down play of the Rams' offense in 2019. One week the QB looked like the player that helped L.A. get to the Super Bowl the prior year. The next, he'd look lost, tossing wayward balls into no man's land. Given his new contract, the Rams need more consistent QB play if they're going to crawl back to the top of the toughest division in football in 2020.
