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March 29, 2024

Jared Goff arrives in Los Angeles to begin work with Rams

Jared Goff

Damian Dovarganes / AP

Jared Goff, center foreground, and Los Angeles Rams head coach Jeff Fisher, center right, arrive at a news conference to introduce Goff as the team’s first pick in the first round of the NFL football draft, in Los Angeles, Friday, April 29, 2016.

LOS ANGELES — After three hours of sleep and a cross-country flight, Jared Goff arrived in Los Angeles eager to get to work with the Rams.

The team welcomed Goff on Friday after selecting him with the first overall pick in the NFL draft. Wearing a bright blue suit during a news conference at a downtown hotel, Goff displayed his No. 16 jersey and shook hands with coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead, whose fates might be tied to Goff's success as their new franchise quarterback.

"It feels like home," Goff said. "I landed back in California, in sunny Southern California, and it feels like my home, and where I belong."

The Rams made a splash to kick off their homecoming season by trading six draft picks to Tennessee for a package including the No. 1 choice. They used it on Goff, the Bay Area native coming off three record-setting seasons at California.

"I know being the No. 1 pick brings a lot of responsibility, but it's something I'm ready for and very excited for," Goff said. "I'm ready to really just get back to football, get back to playing. I haven't played football, I feel like, for forever (during) this whole long interview process for four months or so. I really just want to be playing and just being a teammate and being with the guys again."

Goff said he isn't worried about whether he'll be the Rams' starter for the season opener, although Fisher believes the rookie will be in charge "sooner than later."

Goff said he is more interested in getting up to speed with the Rams' offense and his new teammates before he thinks about the starting spot.

"I'm just going to come in and work as hard as I can," Goff said. "I want to prove myself, and ultimately it's up to the coaches to make that decision."

The Rams are counting on Goff to resolve several years of underperforming play at the position since the early days of Sam Bradford, their injury-plagued No. 1 pick in 2010.

Nick Foles and Case Keenum were unimpressive last season while St. Louis finished with the NFL's least productive offense and passing game. The Rams missed the playoffs for the 11th consecutive season despite a strong defense and star rookie running back Todd Gurley.

Snead and Fisher spent the second straight day feeling triumphant about their acquisition.

"You identify guys like Jared who can help you, but the hardest thing in the equation is actually being able to go get him," Snead said. "A lot of times we've said, 'Oh, we'd love to get that guy,' but you just can't. Someone else wants him. It just happened in 2016 that Jared made himself eligible for the draft. ... We identified Jared as a guy that we wanted, and once we did that, we were going to go try our best to get him. And you know what? It worked out."

Goff and Gurley already exchanged texts Wednesday night, exchanging excitement about the possibilities of their new partnership.

Goff also got a tweet from Yasiel Puig, the Dodgers slugger, welcoming the new quarterback to town and inviting him to a game. The invitation was a humorous response to a three-year-old tweet by Goff, a lifelong San Francisco Giants fan, who had hoped Puig would get "a fastball in the ribs."

"It was a really cool move for him to do that," Goff said with a grin. "I do plan on taking him up on that, hopefully this summer."

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