The afterglow of the Los Angeles Rams' selection of Jared Goff with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft continued this week with owner Stan Kreonke drawing a comparison between the former Cal quarterback and former Rams great Kurt Warner.
Kroenke recalled a 1998 conversation he had with the Rams' coach at the time, Dick Vermeil, after a preseason scrimmage, in which Vermeil asked Kroenke for his opinion on who the team's No. 3 QB should be. Warner, a relative unknown at the time, struck Kroenke as the club's best option for the job.
Of course, Warner went on to lead the team to two Super Bowls, including a Super Bowl XXXIV title.
"... Nobody knew anything about Kurt, but I watched the scrimmage, and this is the similarity with Goff: I told Dick, 'OK, I've never played football, but you want my opinion? The kid from Northern Iowa can see. He's got vision,'" Kroenke told USA Today. "'It's like a really good point guard. Some guys have it, some guys don't. Whether it's Arena Football that gave it to him or whatever, but he can see.'
"And Jared has that. It's the vision thing."
Warner said Rams GM Les Snead brought him in on the vetting process with Goff in the days before the draft.
"I got a call from Les Snead, three or four days before the draft, asking my opinion," Warner said. "It was the same idea, like with Vermeil. 'We're going to vet everybody.' It's kind of ironic. Years ago, they vetted me."
The Rams' trade up from the No. 15 overall pick to get Goff signaled the club's strong belief in his ability to become the franchise quarterback Warner once was. The big difference, of course, is that Warner came from nowhere (his previous team was the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe).
Goff will face far greater expectations at the outset of his career.
But if he sees the field as well as Kroenke thinks he can, he'll have a better chance to meet them.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
