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2016 NFL Draft: Cal QB Jared Goff selected first by LA Rams, three others in Pac-12 go in first round

by Kevin Zimmerman
Apr 28, 2016
Jared Goff and Roger Goodell (Getty Images)
Getty Images

California head coach Sonny Dykes called it. Then again, predicting that the Los Angeles Rams would pick Jared Goff first overall in the 2016 NFL Draft wasn't exactly going out on a limb.

“He checks all the boxes,” Dykes said Tuesday on a Pac-12 coaches teleconference call. “When you sit down and say, 'What do you want an NFL quarterback to be?' to me he hits every one of those boxes. He's got the size. He's got the strength. He's got the athleticism. He's got the arm strength.

“What people undervalue is his work ethic; he's got the character,” Dykes added. “That's why I think he's going to be the first pick in the draft.” 

Dykes was right.

Goff is the first top selection from the conference since Stanford's Andrew Luck went No. 1 in 2012 (Oregon's Marcus Mariota went second in the 2015 draft behind Jameis Winston.) Tennessee traded out of the first pick this year, giving the Rams a shot at filling their biggest need.

In Los Angeles, Goff joins familiar faces in former Arizona quarterback Nick Foles and former Oregon State signal-caller Sean Mannion.

Goff also collected congratulations from Cal alums elsewhere in the NFL including Aaron Rodgers:

[Related highlights: Goff showcases his skills]

Oregon

    

It's a Ducks reunion in the Bay.

The San Francisco 49ers selected Oregon defensive end DeForest Buckner with the seventh pick, and it comes as no surprise with former Ducks head coach Chip Kelly heading into his first year leading the team.

It's the second year in a row San Francisco went with a Duck defensive lineman. The 49ers now team Buckner with Arik Armstead, another long lineman who stands 6-foot-7 and went 17th overall last year.

Buckner was the Ducks' second-leading tackler for Oregon in 2015 with 83 tackles and won the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award.

[Related highlights: Buckner puts the heat on QBs]

UCLA

 

UCLA defensive tackle Kenny Clark may be heading to the unfamiliar land of cheeseheads, but the Green Bay Packers are far from unfamiliar by drafting out of Pac-12 country.

Using their 27th overall pick on the Bruin, this is the second year in a row Green Bay used their first-rounder on a Pac-12 defensive player. Last year, the Packers selected ASU defensive back Damarious Randall 30th before using their third-round pick on UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley.

Two years ago, Green Bay picked UCLA defensive lineman Datone Jones 26th overall and later took running back Johnathan Perkins with their fourth-round choice. 

Stanford

 

Coach Chip Kelly and the 49ers wanted Joshua Garnett badly enough they moved up to the 28th pick at the expense of their second-, fourth- and sixth-round picks to take him in the first round.

The Outland Trophy winner is considered one of the best run-blockers in the draft. The 6-foot-4, 312-pound guard has good genes; he's the son of former defensive tackle Scott Garnett

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