His Agent again was looking for offers for his client and they found an alluring offer. The Rams who in the previous season were the St. Louis Rams were moving back to Los Angeles, his hometown team and they were looking for a quarterback after Nick Foles didn't work out. Rams General Manager Les Snead looked at Ryder and saw a local product who has 11 starts even though he was 2-9 in his starts. He figured he would be the guy to put butts in seats for their first season back, so he made an offer for one year/5 million years. Ryder signed and came in with Fan Fair.
On his first day in the Rams Office before his introduction, he noticed some familiar faces from Hollywood Arts including his ex Tori Vega. He grabbed a helmet near his groin just in case she would knee him in the groin again.
Ryder said, "Tori Vega?" Tori annoyed said, "Hi Ryder and lose the helmet. I'm not going to kick in the groin again. Not worth losing my job," Ryder said while putting the helmet back, "Are you with the Rams?" Tori said, "Actually I'm a correspondent with the NFL Network," Ryder said, "I thought you would be a singer or an actress, you are talented to do both," Tori said, "That was the plan but after someone didn't show up for a UCLA game, Sinjin called me in and the one thing led to another and I'm here," Sinjin later showed up.
Sinjin said, "Ryder Daniels, How have you been?" as Sinjin hugged Ryder. Ryder said, "OK you can get off now," Sinjin said, "Sorry," Ryder said, "I thought you would be working at a movie studio or National Geographic," Sinjin said, "I applied both here and Nat Geo, NFL Films hired me instead so I'm here though I might do Nat Geo again. I might do some bug videos and post them on YouTube," Ryder said, "Anyone else from Hollywood Arts working for the Rams or NFL Films?" Then Robbie showed up.
Robbie said, "Ryder Daniels, How the heck are you?" and bro-hugging him. Ryder said, "Are you working for the Rams?" Robbie said, "I am, I work at the Front Office. Actually I'm here to lead to your press conference, right this way," Ryder said, "OK, give me a minute," and Ryder went to Tori and said, "You're not mad at me still, are you?" Tori said, "No, though I did take joy in watching play for the Browns," Ryder said, "So did everyone not in Cleveland," and added, "I thought you would have gotten to USC," Tori said, "I choose UCLA instead," Then Ryder went to the press conference.
Things looked good for him especially that he was reunited with his college receiver Chris Harris. However, a month after his signing, the Rams made a trade to acquire the number one overall pick. The projected number one pick would be California quarterback Jared Goff. Ryder was upset and worried especially after losing his starting job to Derek Carr two years earlier and if he could lose his starting role to a second-round pick, chances are he lost the starting job before even attempting a snap to the first overall pick. He thought about going into GM's office or Robbie's office to yell at them but didn't want to get released by his hometown team before playing for them.
Ryder got a call from his agent who said, "I heard the news, how are you doing?" Ryder said, "Fucking pissed," Jason said, "Understandable, they led us to they were going to have you start a season and they pull this shit. Not the first time it happened to a client and it won't be the last time. Just do what you have to do and don't do stupid shit," Ryder said, "I won't," Jason said, "Did Tori reach out to interview you?" Ryder said, "No, but the Rams reporter did," Jason said, "Good so no High School bullshit, just stuck with the generic team-friendly answers," Ryder said, "I'll try," Jason said, "Also for what it's worth, Coach Fisher wasn't too keen of starting rookies and in a do and die season, I doubt he would trust a rookie as starter but that's my two cents,"
In the interview with Ryder after the trade and when she asked about competition with Jared Goff and Ryder said, "While it sucks, I welcome the competition,"
In the news surprising no one, The Rams picked Jared Goff as the number one overall pick. There's a quarterback competition and just when things couldn't get any interesting, NFL Films tapped the Rams to be on the show "Hard Knocks" like there needed to be more tension between the two quarterbacks.
The show featured Ryder quite a bit with his reunion with his college teammate, his visit at his alma mater Hollywood Arts with coach Taylor and Guidance Counselor Lane, and his battle with Goff which ended with Coach Jeff Fisher naming as his starting quarterback and Ryder celebrating.
In the first game of the season against the San Francisco 49ers on the road, the Rams lost 28-0 as Ryder went 17-35 with 130 yards and two interceptions and was sacked five times and was replaced by Goff. It looked like Ryder was only going to start one game but Coach Fisher that he was to stick with him for at least one more game. He and the team rebounded to beat the Seattle Seahawks 23-3 as he threw for over 300 yards and a touchdown and rushed for one and he followed that up with a QB battle with Famous Jameis Winston where both quarterbacks threw for over 400 yards with the Rams winning 38-32.
From week 2 to week 12, Ryder threw for 300 or more in eight of those games. With the good play from Ryder, the Rams were 6-5 and knocking the door of a playoff spot and the New England Patriots shut down that door beating them at home 26-10 with Ryder having only 130 yards after throwing for 200 yards or over since week 2 and throwing for 3 picks and being sacked five times and being replaced by Goff again. Ryder would start in the next game however it was his last game he would start of the season. In the first play of the second half, he partially tore his labrum on his non-throwing shoulder and was replaced by Goff again. The Rams would lose 42-28.
After the game, Jeff Fisher was fired and was replaced by John Fassell who put Goff as his starting quarterback. Ryder was hurt by it but decided that it was Goff's time, wished Goff well, and got surgery to fix his shoulder. Ryder had his best season going 281-424 throwing for 3,847 yards with 26 Touchdown passes and five rushing scores and 16 Interceptions. It was enough for to be elected to the Pro Bowl and he passed since he was recovering from his shoulder surgery.
After the 6-10 season, the Rams hired Sean McVay as the new head coach and he wanted Ryder to stick around and it was tempting but he decided that it was Jared Goff's team and that it would do no one any good if Ryder stayed. As the team cleaned out their lockers after the season, Ryder told Jared that it was his team.
Before leaving the team building with Chris Harris helping him with his stuff, Ryder was stopped by Robbie and Tori who wanted to say their goodbyes.
Tori said, "So are you done with the Rams?" Ryder said, "It looks like," Robbie said, "Sorry man, I tried to convince the bosses not to make the trade and we had more pressing needs but I was low in the chain of command," Ryder said, "That's OK, that's life as a journeyman quarterback," Tori said, "What's next stop?" Ryder said, "I don't know, going to talk with my agent soon," Tori said, "For what it's worth, you had a great season," Robbie said, "and you were a good mentor to Jared,"
Ryder said, "Thanks guys, I'm sure I'll see you guys later," They said their goodbyes and Ryder heading off to his next adventure.
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Ryder Daniels Quarterback
FanfictionEver wonder if Hollywood Arts had a football team? In this story they do and that Ryder Daniels was their star quarterback who was the number one QB recruit in the country in 2010 and some of his receivers were the main characters. This story is his...
