Sean McVay said Jared Goff is ‘the quarterback right now.’ Is that cause for concern?

With the way the Los Angeles Rams’ season ended and the way Jared Goff played all year, there’s been some recent speculation about whether No. 16 is truly the franchise quarterback. His thumb injury complicated things late in the season and with Sean McVay preferring to start a healthy John Wolford over a near-100% Goff, fans and analysts have questioned if the Rams might make a change next season.

McVay did nothing to diffuse the situation after the Rams’ loss to the Packers on Saturday afternoon, despite Goff playing well. To close out his press conference, McVay was asked very simply: “Is he your quarterback?”

“Yeah, he’s the quarterback right now,” McVay replied.

The “right now” part wasn’t perfectly clear, but regardless, McVay’s face and tone were telling. He typically elaborates on his answers, but he said nothing else after that as his media session ended. There were no further questions, nothing more from McVay, so we’re left to wonder why he appeared to add “right now” to his response.

Here’s the video of McVay’s response, from Rich Hammond of The Athletic.

Is there reason for concern in L.A. with regards to the quarterback situation? Is McVay fully committed to keeping Goff as his quarterback? Might they give Wolford a chance to compete next season?

Those are difficult questions to answer right now, and surely in McVay’s end-of-year press conference, he’ll try to set the record straight with a more definitive answer so fans and media members aren’t left to wonder what the future might hold at quarterback in Los Angeles.

But it’s worth noting that Mike Silver of NFL Network reported after the Rams’ playoff win over the Seahawks that things between Goff and McVay aren’t as perfect as they were two years ago when they made a run to the Super Bowl. And Goff was not happy with the coach’s decision to start Wolford over him against Seattle because he thought he was healthy enough to start; after all, he did play 58 snaps in that game in relief of Wolford.

Goff admitted he disagreed with McVay on the decision, but he didn’t see that as a negative.

“We are able to disagree. We’re two grown men who disagreed on the status of my thumb, it’s not the end of the world,” he said last week.

Goff has regressed significantly since that impressive season in 2018. He committed 17 turnovers in 15 starts during the regular season, which is far too many for a guy making $33.5 million per year. McVay even said at one point this season that “our quarterback’s got to take better care of the football.”

Now, all of this doesn’t mean the Rams are going to move on from Goff before next season. Cutting him is almost impossible due to his contract, which carries a dead cap charge of $65.5 million if he’s cut. In other words, it would cost the Rams $65.5 million for him not to play for them instead of $34.6 million to keep him.

Trading him is more feasible, as that would leave a dead cap charge of $22.4 million, with Los Angeles saving $12.4 million. But eating $22.4 million and then having to pay another quarterback isn’t exactly good business.

So in all likelihood, Goff will be back next season. And given that, there’s a very strong chance he’ll remain their starter. But McVay’s final words in Saturday’s press conference certainly cast some doubt about his confidence in Goff moving forward.