thinking that maybe I would consider something, I’d wake up and say, ‘What are you, crazy? You know you’re going to have the job someday that you’ve dreamed about, so just wait and make it perfect.'”The wait, in eff

THOUSAND OAKS Justin Layne Jersey , Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Rams have locked down Jared Goff through the 2020 season, and they intend to keep their franchise quarterback around for a whole lot longer.The Rams exercised Goff’s $22.783 million, fifth-year contract option Tuesday. General manager Les Snead and coach Sean McVay also affirmed the NFC champions’ intention to sign their young offensive leader to a long-term deal eventually.“We just want to make sure there’s clarity on how great we feel about him leading our team for many years to come,” McVay said. “He’s only getting better and better, and as he continues to accumulate experience, we feel so good about our quarterback position with him leading the way.”Goff was fourth in the NFL last season with 4,688 yards passing along with 32 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He led the Rams to their first NFC championship in 17 years, but went 19 of 38 for 229 yards in a mediocre Super Bowl while Los Angeles failed to score a touchdown against New England.That disappointment apparently had no effect on the Rams’ opinion of Goff, who has earned two Pro Bowl selections while leading the Rams to 24 regular-season victories over the past two years. Goff has given much of the credit for his evolution to McVay, but the 33-year-old coach returns the praise to his 24-year-old passer.“It really provides a rare opportunity for myself, as he and I are really growing together,” McVay said. “He’s going into his fourth year, we’re going into our third year working together, and I couldn’t be more excited.”The Rams already bet a large portion of their future on Goff when they traded up with Tennessee to get the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft, and the Bay Area native has grown into one of the NFL’s most prolific passers during McVay’s two years in charge.The Rams lead the league in victories and scoring over McVay’s two seasons with Goff, who bounced back from a trying rookie year under Jeff Fisher’s staff to become a prodigious producer. After infamously going 0-7 as a rookie starter with five touchdown passes and seven interceptions, Goff teamed up with McVay and promptly passed for 3,804 yards and 28 touchdowns in 2017.“A few years ago, we moved up to get him http://www.steelerscheapauthenticstore.com/benny-snell-jr.-jersey-cheap ,” Snead said. “Three years later, (after) him helping us win two divisions, win a conference championship, we probably would have given an extra pick — don’t tell the Titans that — if we had known that was going to occur.”Goff will play for a $4.26 million salary in the upcoming season before getting an $18 million raise next year. His next deal is likely to make him exponentially richer, but the Rams and Goff express no urgency to get it done now.When asked about his long-term contract situation last week, Goff said it was “not on my mind at all. I know the deal and understand that I hired an agent for that reason. Things always work out. If you continue to play well, it will work itself out.”Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff said the team hasn’t opened discussions with Goff about a long-term deal, but the relationship between the quarterback and the front office is clearly harmonious.The Rams have extended lucrative deals to several key players over the past year in an attempt to cement the cornerstones of their two-year run of success under McVay. Running back Todd Gurley and receiver Brandin Cooks agreed to multiyear contracts last summer shortly before All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald got a six-year, $135 million deal with $87 million guaranteed.Along with his on-field exploits, Goff will be a key figure in selling the Rams’ move into their multibillion-dollar stadium complex in Inglewood in 2020.In fact, Goff already completed the first pass in the under-construction stadium’s history when he threw a perfect spiral to a worker on the second floor of the arena during the Rams’ team tour of the site last June.“It’s good to know that that won’t be the only completion he has in the new stadium,” Demoff said with a laugh. “He’ll actually get to throw to real teammates as well on an actual field.” BALTIMORE (AP) — Not long after Art Modell moved his football team from Cleveland to Baltimore, a young intern joined the Ravens with hopes of learning enough to fulfill his lifelong quest of becoming an NFL general manager.Eric DeCosta was little more than an errand boy back then. Working at an entry level position, his responsibilities included taking coach Ted Marchibroda’s car for an oil change. It was a task he was more than willing to tackle, in part because he was given $100, purchased the $9.99 special and pocketed the rest of the cash.The most rewarding aspect of the job was working under Ozzie Newsome, then the vice president of player personnel. Newsome, who would ultimately become the first African American general manager in NFL history, was in charge of acquiring talent via the draft and free agency.“In 1996 when I was sitting there in my office — well Zach Gentry Jersey , I didn’t have an office, I had a card table in the hallway — Ozzie would call me in,” DeCosta recalled.“That was one of the joys in my life, sitting down and watching tape with him. He would show me plays and players, we would talk about techniques.”The 48-year-old DeCosta now resides in a lavish office in the team’s training complex. After working his way up the team’s corporate ladder, he took over for Newsome as Baltimore’s general manager in January and this week, for the first time in franchise history, someone other than Newsome will be in charge of the Ravens draft.DeCosta’s first draft-day decision will come Thursday, when it’s time for Baltimore — barring a trade — to make the No. 22 overall pick.He can’t wait.“I wake up early in the morning thinking about the draft,” said DeCosta, a Massachusetts native. “It’s been like that since I was 10 years old. I used to sit on the couch and read Will McDonough’s column and look at his mock draft in The Boston Globe. I get excited. It gives me a sense of energy, and I’m going to approach this draft as if it’s the most important thing in my life.”Newsome will serve as an adviser to DeCosta, who is thankful to have learned under a man who built two Super Bowl champions by studying countless hours of game film before drafting shrewdly and wisely.“He’s valuable. His wisdom, his expertise, his relationship with certain people in the league and agents is critical to me,” DeCosta said.“We’re so different, but he can look at me and I can look at him and we know what each other is thinking. I can say to him, ‘Ozzie, I’m uncertain about this. I don’t know which way to go. I’m here at the crossroads Chris Lindstrom Jersey ,’ and he’ll give me an honest opinion. Just like, when he was the GM, I could walk into his office and say, “Ozzie, we shouldn’t do this.’ And he would say, ‘OK.'”The teacher is now assisting his former student, and their chemistry should make it a seamless transition.“I’ve always seen those guys just work well together,” coach John Harbaugh said. “So, to me, it works the same way, except now Eric is in the seat. Eric is the decision-maker, and he’ll be the guy making that final call.”DeCosta was promoted to Ravens’ Midwest area scout in 1998, became director of college scouting in 2003, was named director player personnel in 2008 and ascended to assistant general manager in 2012.As word of DeCosta’s ability leaked outside Baltimore, several teams were interested in interviewing him for the GM job. So in 2007, owner Steve Bisciotti promised DeCosta that he would succeed Newsome when the time was right.After ignoring overtures from several teams, including the New York Jets, Green Bay and Seattle, DeCosta ended up with the only job he really wanted.“Did I have chances? Yeah. Did I have a lot? Yeah. Did I ever really consider it? Not really http://www.falconscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-kaleb-mcgary-jersey ,” DeCosta said. “Because every time I’d go to bed thinking that maybe I would consider something, I’d wake up and say, ‘What are you, crazy? You know you’re going to have the job someday that you’ve dreamed about, so just wait and make it perfect.'”The wait, in effect, took more than two decades. Those oil changes, that card table that served as his office and his gig as an understudy to Newsome were all part of it, and DeCosta really wouldn’t have it any other way.“Some people would think maybe that I would be embarrassed that I started off as an intern now that I’m a GM, that I want to forget that,” he said.“But to be honest with you, I cherish that, the fact that I could start out as a young person and really had to do a lot of different things. I’m proud of that. I understand what a lot of people do in this organization, because in some instances, I did those jobs.”