Case Keenum is preparing like he’s the long-range starter for the Rams

Case Keenum is preparing like he’s the long-range starter for the Rams

By Vincent Bonsignore, Los Angeles Daily News

[www.dailynews.com]

IRVINE >> With Hollywood as the backdrop and a juicy quarterback competition as the plot, Case Keenum arrived on set to discover the script he’s working off is decidedly different than the one everyone else is following.

We’ll soon find out what sort of rewrites are in order, but the script in Keenum’s possession doesn’t include Jared Goff winning the Rams’ starting quarterback job immediately after the opening credits.

Or in acts one, two or three for that matter.

As far as Keenum is concerned, the starting job he worked so hard for is his in the present, interim and future. And while everyone is assuming Goff will soon be handed the reins to the Rams, Keenum has the major say in the matter. “Soon” can mean a lot of things, depending on how Keenum plays.

“I’m preparing like I’ll be playing for 20 weeks, that’s what I’m getting ready for,” Keenum said. “I’m getting ready for the 49ers on (opening) night.”

As the Rams head to the Coliseum on Saturday to host the Kansas City Chiefs in their second preseason game, Keenum seems to have tightened his grip on the job he won upon guiding the Rams to a 3-1 finish to end last season after going 4-8 with Nick Foles as the starter the previous 12 weeks.

The fifth-year quarterback from Houston has been the superior quarterback to Goff thus far in camp, and while Goff has three weeks to change that narrative, you have to wonder why the Rams would risk sending him out against the 49ers on opening night and then the Seattle Seahawks the following week when Keenum gives them the best chance to win.

Rams head coach Jeff Fisher hasn’t declared who will start against the 49ers on Sept. 12, but he may have tipped his hand a bit when he indicated the organization will be deliberate in deciding when they’ll hand Goff the keys.

“We have a plan and the plan is basically, it’s all around being patient,” Fisher said. “You have to be patient with it.”

And if that means rolling with Keenum to start the season — or even longer — so be it. The concepts of fielding a competitive team and developing the future face of your franchise aren’t mutually exclusive. If the Rams believe they can simultaneously win games with Keenum as the starter while gradually transitioning Goff to the NFL behind the scenes, doesn’t that sound better than Goff learning on the job and the Rams taking their lumps as a result?

No one knows better than the Rams about trying to force the issue at quarterback when gut instincts say to do otherwise.

Looking back, financial implications and optics meant sticking with Sam Bradford longer than his play merited. And there are some in the organization who are kicking themselves for not pulling the plug on Foles earlier last year and making the switch to Keenum.

Keenum brought a swagger and fire missing from the laid-back Foles, and with his teammates following his lead they rallied to a strong final kick. Keenum’s superior intangibles weren’t lost on the Rams decision makers, but by trading Bradford for Foles and then giving Foles a contract extension, there were compelling reasons to stick with him.

If not good football justification.

Of course, had Keenum relieved Foles earlier and picked up an extra win or two, the Rams would have never been in position to trade up to the top pick in April’s draft and select Goff, the presumed franchise quarterback they’ve been chasing since Kurt Warner and the Best Show on Turf days.

Which brings us back to a quarterback competition that should be based on performance rather than draft status or story lines or the Rams trying to nail a big landing upon arriving back in Los Angeles.

For now, that would mean Keenum opening the season as the starter, then letting his play decide when and if the Rams make the move to Goff.

It’s a jumping off point Keenum is seizing.

“I’m in the best position I’ve ever been in,” said Keenum, who has never gone to training camp as his team’s starter, and in three NFL seasons he’s made exactly 15 starts.

And while he recognizes the presence of Goff and his long-range significance as the Rams as settle in their new home, Keenum isn’t in a hurry to play the obliging teammate.

If Goff wants the starting job, he’ll have to take it from Keenum.

And that’s as it should be.

“I don’t want anyone to do bad. I never do,” Keenum said. “I want him to do his best. And I want to do my best. I just want my best to be better.”

It’s not personal. Just business.

“In my mind, I’m not competing against him,” Keenum said. “I’m competing against the 49ers.”

That’s a script no one envisioned when Goff was selected first overall.

And it remains to be seen who has final edit, and when they’ll exercise it.