After Choosing Jared Goff in First Round, Rams' Next Pick Won't Be Until Saturday

LOS ANGELES, CA - Barring a trade, the Los Angeles Rams won't have a pick Friday as the NFL conducts the second and third rounds of its draft, because of the trade in which they acquired the first choice, which they used on Cal quarterback Jared Goff.

Before the April 14 trade with the Tennessee Titans, the Rams had both their own second-round choice, the 14th in the round, and Philadelphia's choice, the 12th, which they acquired in the 2015 trade, when they obtained quarterback Nick Foles in exchange for quarterback Sam Bradford.

The Rams' next pick will be the 11th choice in the Saturday's fourth round. They also own the 14th choice in the round, acquired from Tennessee.

The Rams will have a presence Friday at the draft being conducted at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University in Chicago as punter Johnny Hekker will announce a third-round pick.

Each team will have a player who was a team or national winner of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award make the third-round draft announcements.

The Rams ended two weeks of speculation Thursday by selecting Goff with the first pick of the 81st NFL draft.

Team officials had been tight-lipped about their plans for the pick since they acquired the pick from the Titans.

Unlike some past teams with the No. 1 choice, the Rams didn't announce who they would choose because of "an organizational philosophy," coach Jeff Fisher said.

"People work really hard and you never know what's gong to come up of what's going to happen," Fisher said. "We just felt like he was the right guy. So once you identify the player, then you have to do the due diligence that gives you the reassurance that he is the right guy.

"We wanted time to make sure that that was the case and it worked out."

Fisher said the team probably knew "for a little while" who it would select.

"We have had both Jared and Carson (Wentz visit for interviews) and I spent a lot of time with both of them," Fisher said.

"We came away after they both left knowing that both would be extraordinary quarterbacks in this league and just felt really good about being in the position to be where we got to choose one of them.

The Rams were guaranteed to select a quarterback, with the only question being whether it would be Goff or Wentz, the North Dakota State quarterback, who wound up being chosen by the Philadelphia Eagles with the second pick.

The Rams, who had 10 minutes to make a selection once the draft was declared open shortly after 5 p.m., stretched the suspense by waiting about seven minutes before submitting the team's pick, which was then announced by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

"It's exciting. It's an exciting time for the whole organization," Goff said. "I'm very proud to be the pick they chose. It's a very big honor and something, you know, like I said, I'm gonna prove them right and let them know they made the right decision."

Asked about his first thoughts when he heard his name called, Goff said it was "how honored and excited I am to really get down there and get to work."

"It's been a long process. It's been a long four months or so, and for it to be finally come to a close now, and I'm ready to take that next step into a professional football career and work as hard as I can to be as successful as I can," he said.

Fisher described the 21-year-old Goff as a competitor and leader.

"Jared has the skill set to be a difference maker at the position, from arm strength to mobility," Fisher said.

Fisher said one goal for Goff is to start the Sept. 12 regular-season opener against the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara.

Goff said the biggest adjustment he will have to make in the NFL will be getting used to the speed of the professional game.

"The speed's always that much faster," Goff said. "I made the transition from high school to college pretty seamlessly and kind of expect to do the same thing.

Goff set 26 school records in his three seasons with Cal, including passing yards (12,220), passing yards per game (329.7), touchdown passes (96), completions (977), passes (1,569) and total offense (12,086 yards).

Goff started all 37 games possible during his college career and is the only quarterback in school history in to start his first game as a true freshman.

Goff is listed at 6 feet 4 inches tall and 215 pounds. Six recruiting services listed him as a four-star recruit out of Marin Catholic High School -- one short of the maximum -- while one gave him three stars.

Goff said he will wear No. 16, the number he has worn since he was 7 years old because of the 49ers Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana.

The No. 16 jersey was worn by fictional Rams quarterback Tom Jarrett (Warren Beatty) in the 1978 film comedy "Heaven Can Wait."

Goff and the team's other picks in the draft, and the players bypassed in the draft they sign as free agents, will participate in the team's three-day rookie mini-camp, which begins next Friday at the Residence Inn River Ridge in Oxnard.

--City News Service, photo courtesy of the L.A. Rams