The Los Angeles Rams now own the No. 1 pick and are expected to draft a quarterback, either Cal quarterback Jared Goff or North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz.
Rams head coach Jeff Fisher talked to reporters about both quarterbacks after acquiring the selection Thursday from the Tennessee Titans.
“We’ve also done private workouts with Jared and with Carson already,” Fisher said Thursday. “We did those at the end of February, early March. We were the first ones in. We’re familiar with both of them in addition to those other prospects on this roster. So, the skill sets are different, the personalities are different, the background is different, the competition is different, and that’s what makes this such a challenge.”
According to ESPN, the Rams are leaning toward making Goff the top overall pick but a team source added that the team also would consider Wentz before it has to make the decision on April 28.
“This is the best thing for our football team,” Fisher said of the trade during Thursday’s news conference in Oxnard, Calif. “When you take into consideration what’s ahead for this franchise and the enthusiasm and excitement, the timing couldn’t have been better.”
Rams general manager Les Snead said the team had done “90 to 95 percent” of its research on the pick but would not reveal a decision until the draft.
“A few storms collided,” Snead said. “There’s a player we like and there was a team that was willing to come back (in the draft). And our roster was at a point where it’s young and has a foundation, so let’s go do it.”
Tennessee will send the top pick and its fourth- (No. 113) and sixth-round (No. 177) picks this year to the Rams in exchange for Los Angeles’ first-round pick (No. 15), two second-round selections (Nos. 43 and 45) and a third-round pick (No. 76) in 2016. The Titans also will get the Rams’ first- and third-round picks in 2017.
Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones will be making a trip to Berkeley, Calif., this weekend for a private workout with Goff. The Cowboys have the No. 4 overall pick in this year’s draft.
“(Goff) operates in a pretty place,” Jones told ESPN. “I like to have that excuse to go out there. No, seriously, we are going to go do a workout this weekend. It’ll be Goff, out there before their spring game.”