Him saying he would start Mannion isn't saying for the whole year it could be until Goff is more prepared to be a starter in the NFL.
Whether people wanna believe it or not a lot of people close to the organization wanted to play Mannion it's been to much chatter on the entire debate so where there is smoke there is fire.
And with starting Mannion until Goff is more prepared we're back to the debate of getting prepared by taking 1st team reps in camp and 1st team reps in preseason vs watching somebody else do it. We get Goff prepared by making him the #1 in camp as McVay has said countless times since taking the job. Starting Mannion a game or two over Goff and giving him 1st team reps over Goff is counter productive. Not to mention right now Goff is a better QB.
I believe people wanted to start Mannion over Goff I also believe there are people in this organization now and last year that really didn't belong making those decisions. Should I be impressed having seen what they did as coaches to hear that Boras and Weinke wanted to start Mannion over Goff? First blush that just makes me like Goff more.
I have a theory how last year went down and it's just my theory doesn't make it right or wrong and add's nothing to the discussion but here it is. Fisher wanted to stick with Keenum and Mannion because he was approaching the end of his contract and needed W's to stick around. He didn't feel grooming the franchises future would get him the W's to afford him the best chance to stay. Not only that but an offense that would look ok with Keenum and Mannion doesn't take advantage of a better QB like Goff. He did everything in his power in the off season to stick with Keenum so that he could get his extension. He didn't bring in people to coach up a young QB. He didn't work the offense to help a young QB like the coaching staffs in Dallas and Philly did. He wanted nothing to do with Goff.
On the other hand Snead, Demoff and if you want to include him though he's been notoriously quiet about daily operations Kroenke recognized the need for a young talented QB. The NFL is a QB league now and a guy like Keenum or Mannion hardly instill fear in opposing teams. They also recognized the fact they were moving into a new market they needed a face to the organization and it being a QB league decided that face should be a blonde haired California born QB. Everybody around here recognized the sudden disappearance of Snead once camp hit. Snead recognized what Fisher was doing and was vocal about it. Fisher having been given as much control as he was when hired flexed those muscles and Demoff and Kroenke asked Snead to lay low.
These two differing visions led us to the crash course 4-12 season that we had last year and saw Fisher shown the door. As soon as that happened Snead was much more visible. Again it's just my "conspiracy theory" opinion on what happened but I don't think Fisher ever wanted the QB and didn't do anything to get him ready for the season. That's what cost him his job. If he'd have started Goff from the get go and made an effort to get him ready he might still be our coach.