LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Rams spent the past four months zeroing in on Cal quarterback Jared Goff with a variety of workouts, trade talks, interviews, meetings and other methods of poking and prodding. Plenty of work went into making the choice happen, but it pales in comparison to what lies ahead.

Now that he's a Ram, Goff instantly becomes the team's present and future. But for him to be worth the bounty of picks the Rams traded to the Tennessee Titans to move from No. 15 to No. 1 in this year's draft, they must learn from past mistakes. With Goff in the fold, the Rams have now used the first overall pick on a quarterback twice in the past seven years.

Were it not for the failure of Sam Bradford -- the first pick in the 2010 draft -- the Rams wouldn't have needed to take Goff on Thursday night. While it's undeniable the Bradford pick didn't work in large part because of injuries, there's also no doubt the Rams never really gave him much to work with. If Goff is to become the franchise quarterback that Bradford could not, he'll need more help than the Rams can currently offer, especially at receiver.

Goff and running back Todd Gurley just became the NFL's version of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly in "Stepbrothers," instantly becoming best friends. But this has nothing to do with a mutual love for John Stamos or velociraptors and everything to do with helping each other maximize their NFL potential.

"It's awesome," Goff said Thursday night. "It's definitely a huge benefit for me and a guy that's going to be relied on a lot, that's for sure. For a rookie quarterback, having a running game and having a good defense is very important. And I'm very excited to have the chance to meet him and have a chance to watch him play."

Even with Goff now in the picture, Gurley remains the centerpiece of the offense. Rams coach Jeff Fisher has long been a proponent of a run-centric offense and that's not going to change even after moving up for Goff. If the Rams have their way, the offense will operate similar to how Seattle won with Russell Wilson as a rookie or how Pittsburgh did when Ben Roethlisberger debuted. Those teams leaned on Marshawn Lynch and Jerome Bettis/Willie Parker, respectively, and only asked their young quarterbacks to take care of the ball and make plays when the opportunity presented itself.

Although Gurley offers a top-notch security blanket for Goff, the Rams are still lacking in other areas offensively. They'll be learning from coordinator Rob Boras for a full season for the first time and have a new passing game coordinator/receivers coach in Mike Groh. The receiving corps that returns combined to produce fewer yards than Atlanta's Julio Jones in 2015 and though the offensive line showed signs of growth as the year went on, there are still plenty of questions about that group's ability.

All of which is to say that if the Rams are going to allow Goff to grow on his own schedule as they've suggested, they'll need plenty of in-house improvement.

"He may start the opener on Monday night, we don’t know," Fisher said. "That’s the goal but if he doesn’t then as it stands right now Case (Keenum) is going to do it and Case won games for us so we understand the environment. We’ve had lengthy conversations about it. If I had concerns about Jared being able to handle this, we probably wouldn’t be talking about Jared right now. He can handle it."

The reality is that Goff would be able to handle it better if he had a primary receiving target or two and an offensive line that's further along in its development. Goff is no stranger to not having ideal pieces around him. He didn't at Cal and still managed to produce record-setting numbers.

In an ideal world, the Rams could get him some more help in this draft but they only have two fourth and two sixth-round picks remaining. That's not exactly the place to find No. 1 receivers or tight ends. So they'll have to be creative in finding ways to set Goff up for success, starting with using the lessons of the ghost of Bradfords past.

"Anytime something doesn’t work out, the best thing you can do is look back and see what might have gone wrong and learn from it and whatever you learned from it, you definitely apply it to the next situation and that’s how you get better, that’s how you innovate," general manager Les Snead said. "As Jeff mentioned probably to both QBs when they left the building, don’t worry about throwing the ball, you are going to turn around and hand it to (Gurley) but I think what we’ve done the last few years is try to address the OL, let that thing evolve, let those guys grow together, become that basketball team and not just a bunch of individuals.

"The running back helps, we have got a nice weapon in Tavon (Austin), we have got Lance Kendricks, expecting big things out of him but yes, we would love to keep adding to the offense. Coach Boras is in the back, I’m sure he would love to as well. We’ll keep trying to get that thing better and putting weapons and solid players around him."

Even that won't guarantee Goff's success but it's a pretty good place to start.