4/28/2016 football Edit

Who ya got at QB? Draft analysts debate Goff vs. Wentz

Adam Gorney • Rivals.com

National Recruiting Director

Jared Goff or Carson Wentz? That is the question of this NFL Draft.

By all indications, those two quarterbacks will be taken with the first two picks Thursday night and it looks like the Los Angeles Rams will take Goff followed by the Philadelphia Eagles drafting Wentz.

Both franchises sure gave up a boatload of draft picks and the Eagles are putting their chips in the middle because now starting quarterback Sam Bradford this week has demanded a trade.

For two struggling teams, getting Goff from Cal and Wentz out of North Dakota State might be what the doctor ordered. Or it could be an incredible overreach.

“It’s desperation,” Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell said. “The Eagles are so overzealous to erase all the evidence of Chip Kelly’s existence that they’re looking for a new face for that team and Sam Bradford is an interim guy. The Rams don’t have a quarterback whatsoever.

“These are not franchise-changing quarterbacks. This is not vying for Peyton Manning. This isn’t the ‘Suck for Luck’ campaign. These are two good guys, but to give up all those picks to trade up for these two guys, both of them could bust out.”

A strong case could be made for both though. Goff was a four-star recruit from Kentfield (Calif.) Marin Catholic who threw for more than 12,000 yards with 96 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in his Cal career. The Golden Bears were 1-11 his freshman year and finished 7-5 this season, Cal’s first winning record since 2011.

At Jon Gruden’s QB Camp, the former coach and current Monday Night Football commentator tried to get into Goff’s head, tried to challenge him and Gruden didn’t have much success. It was a testament to Goff’s mental makeup that he didn’t crack.

“Goff came across as ice man, a guy who didn’t feel any pressure, he applied pressure,” Gruden said. “Nothing bothered him. I tried to get under his skin and I’m good at that. I can really irritate people. Not even I could bother Goff. I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. It’s going to be a benefit staying closer to home in a state he loves.”

ESPN NFL Draft expert Mel Kiper Jr., had Goff ahead of Wentz all season and that continues leading up to Thursday night. Kiper does not dislike Wentz –- although there are some concerns about competition and the number of games played -– but he has the Cal quarterback ahead, and it looks like it will play out that way when teams start picking.

“With Carson playing at North Dakota State, limited sample size,” Kiper said. “You only had 2014 and some games in 2015 and that was it. You look at the level of competition, the limited sample size in terms of starts where Goff has more of a body of work ... he’s played against better competition, he’s played longer at the quarterback position and he’s played behind a horrible offensive line. He was lucky he didn’t get hurt.

“It’s not a huge gap for me. I like Carson a lot. I just couldn’t move him up that far. He started 30 and he got all the way up to where he is at eight, right behind Goff but I couldn’t make that move ahead of Goff.”

Todd McShay, another draft expert at ESPN, has it flipped. In a close race, Wentz is a sliver ahead of Goff and McShay made an interesting comparison between the former North Dakota State quarterback and a certain Pittsburgh Steelers signal-caller.

There’s no arguing that Wentz has better physical tools than Goff.

“He has some (Ben) Roethlisberger in him too in terms of (being) strong in the pocket, ability to extend plays and create outside of the pocket,” McShay said of Wentz. “I have Wentz slightly ahead of Goff. Basically, identical grades but you have to pick one and I went with Wentz.”

For Gruden, it’s especially challenging to study Wentz because FCS competition is different than playing in the Pac-12. He points out it was also difficult to get a complete read on Tony Romo, Kurt Warner, Steve McNair and Joe Flacco, all small-school quarterbacks who have excelled in the NFL.

“We had Kurt Warner in Green Bay,” Gruden said. “Andy Reid, Steve Mariucci, Mike Holmgren, myself. We cut Kurt Warner. That just goes to show you this is not a perfect science.”