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For just the second time in Sean McVay’s tenure, the Los Angeles Rams will start someone besides Jared Goff at quarterback. The first time was back in 2017 when the Rams rested their starters in the season finale after already clinching the NFC West title.
This time around, it’s due to injury. Goff has a broken thumb and already underwent surgery to repair the injury, though he could be back if the Rams make the playoffs.
So with Goff out, it’s John Wolford’s turn to showcase himself on the biggest stage of his career. Not only will this be his first start ever in the NFL, but when he takes the field on offense against the Cardinals, it’ll be the first time he’s taken a single snap.
He shouldn’t be expected to light it up and throw four touchdown passes and pour 40 points on the Cardinals. But hopes are high for this young quarterback, especially after seeing the way Goff has played in recent weeks; Goff has four touchdowns, five interceptions and a fumble lost in his last five games.
Wolford’s debut will tell us a lot about not only Goff, but also McVay.
Is Goff the one holding back the Rams offense, and causing McVay to be more conservative? Is McVay better suited to have a quarterback with above-average mobility like Wolford? Can McVay’s offense truly allow almost any quarterback to have success?
These are the types of questions we could get answers to on Sunday when Wolford takes the field against the Cardinals. And if Wolford plays really well, it’ll create even more questions about the future at quarterback for the Rams.
If Wolford can succeed in McVay’s scheme, why do the Rams need to pay Goff $33.5 million per year if they can get similar production from a guy making $770,000 per year like Wolford? Obviously, the sample size is going to be insanely small with just one game to go off of, but the Rams clearly like Wolford’s game, enough to make him QB2 this year despite never taking an NFL snap.
And if you look at the other quarterback Los Angeles brought in this offseason, undrafted rookie Bryce Perkins, McVay seems to have a type at the position. He clearly likes mobile quarterbacks, with Wolford, Perkins and even Blake Bortles all possessing good athleticism – a trait McVay has highlighted time and time again.
The playbook typically shrinks when going from a starter to backup at quarterback, but McVay said Monday that won’t be the case with Wolford – and thanks to his mobility and ability to throw on the run, the Rams could actually unlock some different things offensively this week.
“No,” McVay said when asked if the playbook will be condensed for Wolford. “I think a big part of it, without getting into too many specifics from just a game-plan perspective, I do think there’s a skillset and some things that maybe we can do with him. I do think you don’t want to get too far away from some of the things that he’s been repping, that he’s been working that if in the instance Jared had to come out of the game, that he could seamlessly step in and you don’t feel like you have to make an all-encompassing change. I do think it is important to always have some agility and flexibility specific to that quarterback and we’ll definitely connect with him, making sure that we’re identifying, all right, what are the ways that we want to try to attack a tough Arizona defense and how does that match up with some of the things that he can do? Whether that be what you had mentioned, or, maybe some things that are different than what we’ve shown on tape offensively.”
Could we see some RPOs (run-pass options) from Wolford, which was a staple of Wake Forest’s offense, and even carried over in the AAF when he led the league in touchdown passes? Will McVay throw in some read-option plays to mix things up in the running game?
Rick Neuheisel, who coached Wolford with the Arizona Hotshots in the AAF, is supremely confident in the quarterback’s talent and
“I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t win,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I’m just telling you, Johnny Wolford is going to come through. … In McVay’s offense, and with Wolford’s knowledge, he’s going to go in there, give three claps, and that offense is going to go.”
In Neuheisel’s opinion, the Rams would be smart to roll Wolford out of the pocket often, which is something we saw plenty of in the 2019 preseason. He’d also utilize a lot of play-action and RPOs, to get Wolford comfortable in the offense.
“Maybe more stuff on the edges [than with Goff] because you might be worried about John’s size,” Neuheisel said. “Maybe more full play-action, where you’re rolling right, rolling left. And a lot of RPO. He comes from a world of RPO.”
This will be our first real chance to see what McVay can do with a quarterback he hand-picked. He inherited Goff when he was hired in 2017. He inherited Sean Mannion, who is the only other Rams quarterback to start a game under McVay.
McVay picked Wolford and signed him as a free agent in 2019. McVay picked Perkins and signed him as an undrafted rookie this year. McVay picked Bortles – who is also very athletic – last year to back up Goff.
And now, we’ll see what kind of offense he comes up with for a quarterback who truly thrives outside the pocket and can do more as a runner than Goff. There’s no doubt Goff will be the Rams’ quarterback next year and likely in 2022, but this might be McVay’s first and only chance to unlock a part of the offense he’s wanted to run in L.A.
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