THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Sean McVay arrived in Los Angeles on Jan. 4. The Los Angeles Rams' interviewing party took him to dinner that night in Santa Monica, then interviewed him at their facility the following morning. When they finished, McVay was asked to stick around.
Jared Goff, the 2016 No. 1 overall pick who rests the franchise's future on his shoulders, was set to arrive later that afternoon to chat with his prospective new coach. So McVay and Goff sat in the Rams' offensive meeting room for two hours -- alone -- going over film and talking about how they might make it all work.
Goff left hoping McVay would be the guy.
"It was very positive," Goff said Friday, moments after McVay was formally introduced as the Rams' new head coach. "I felt like he was a guy I could play for -- and hopefully play for for a long time."
McVay signed a five-year contract to be the Rams' new head coach on Thursday. At 30, he is the youngest head coach in the Super Bowl era. And at 22, Goff was the NFL's youngest quarterback last season.
"Right off the bat," Goff said, "you could tell that his knowledge is extremely high. Far higher than a lot of guys."
The Rams sent a passel of draft picks to the Tennessee Titans last year for the right to move up 14 spots in the draft and select Goff out of Cal. But Goff, who never took a snap from under center or called a play from the huddle while running an air-raid offense in college, struggled mightily throughout the preseason and didn't become the starter until the 10th game of the regular season.
When he did, he played poorly. From Weeks 11 to 17, Goff had the fewest yards per attempt (5.31), the second-lowest Total QBR (22.1) and the fourth-lowest completion percentage (54.6) in the league. The Rams, ultimately burdened by the NFL's worst offense for a second straight year, lost all seven of those games, then went about searching for a coach who could get the most out of Goff.
Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff, who led the coaching search, reiterated that the Rams were focused on finding the best leader and weren't specifically targeting someone for Goff. But Demoff also said, "You were always worried about making sure that Jared had continuity."
He brought up the coach-quarterback relationship between Sean Payton and Drew Brees and that of Jon Gruden and Rich Gannon and how beneficial those became.
"Getting that right pair with the quarterback was imperative," Demoff said.
Goff believes he saw that in one two-hour meeting.
"There was a lot of things we talked about in terms of philosophy, how the quarterback position needs to be played -- a lot of it aligned, and that was very good to hear," Goff said. "The No. 1 thing I kind of came away with was -- the way he's done things, the way he plans to do things, everything kind of runs through the quarterback. If you like something, it goes. If you don't, it doesn't go.
"As a quarterback, you can't ask for anything more than that, really. That's as good as it gets."
McVay has been credited heavily with the ascension of Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins, a fourth-round pick who sat behind Robert Griffin III from 2012 to 2014. Over the past two years, Cousins operated under an offense that frequently threw the ball downfield and flourished, with a 71.5 Total QBR that was the NFL's fourth highest.
Of Goff, McVay said, "This is a guy we believe in."
It appears the feeling is mutual.
"I expect him to bring out the best in me," Goff said. "That's really what he wants to do -- bring out the best in me. Not only me, but the whole team. I think there's a lot of guys that have a lot more potential than they've shown. We're very excited to get to work with him, and he's very excited to get his hands on us, and get to start molding this team and building this team for championships."