Todd Gurley has played behind four different quarterbacks throughout his NFL career, including Nick Foles and Case Keenum from his earliest days as a Ram, when they were still in St. Louis. However, his primary quarterback with his first team was Jared Goff. His primary quarterback now, and likely for the foreseeable future despite trade rumors, is Falcons veteran Matt Ryan.
Now that he has half of a season under his belt in Atlanta, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wanted to know about the similarities and differences between the two signal callers. As for similarities, there are plenty of things to choose from. Gurley, however, went a simpler route.
"They both rich as hell," Gurley said on the "PFT PM" podcast, followed by Florio's laughter.
That's one way to look at it. Ryan's contract, which expires at the end of the 2023 season, has a total value of $150 million, which ranks as the third largest of any quarterback (via Spotrac). Goff, on the other hand, is tied with Aaron Rodgers near the bottom of the top ten at $134 million. So, yes. "Rich as hell" seems to fit the bill.
As for their differences, Gurley points to the age gap as the most noticeable disparity.
"He [Matt Ryan] is very demanding, as he should," Gurley said. "He's a guy who's been in the league for quite a while, and you just see the difference between the age in the reactions between Matt and Goff. Goff's more laid back, he's chill, he's young."
More similarities reveal themselves in the statistics. Both were very highly touted prospects coming out of college. Ryan, a Boston College alum, went third overall in the 2008 NFL Draft. Goff, out of Cal, went first in 2016. From age 23 to 26, the two posted fairly similar numbers and led their teams to regular season success (via Stathead).
Should the similarities continue, Goff could be in store for a long stay with the Rams and an eventual MVP award down the road, as Ryan won it in 2016 after an amazing age-31 campaign (4,944 yards, 38 TD, 7 INT). However, with Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray and several other game-changing quarterbacks standing in the way, that might be an unlikely dream to wish for.
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