Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions are coming off an extremely surprising 9-8 season in which they were in playoff contention throughout the duration of the campaign.
Detroit won eight of its final 10 games, including knocking the Green Bay Packers out of the playoffs on the road in Week 18. It was a stunner.
For his part, Goff turned around what had been a fledgling career in his second season with Detroit after being acquired in the Matthew Stafford blockbuster. In fact, that trade has proven to be a boon for the Lions.
It’s interesting to look at in that Goff was seemingly a throw-in to make the contracts work. Now, it appears he has a long-term future in Detroit.
“It’s a lot easier to get worse at QB than to get better at QB. I do think that Jared has proven that he’s the best quarterback for us.”
Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes on Jared Goff
Holmes’ season-ending press conference was filled with optimism throughout. A lot of that has to do with the Lions being committed to Goff as more than a stopgap option. The general manager touched on that, too.
“I never deemed him as a bridge. I think everybody else did, but I think it was a little bit of recency bias,” Holmes said.
This is certainly a dramatic shift in how Goff is viewed. The former No. 1 pick of the Los Angeles Rams back in 2016, Goff led them to the Super Bowl three years later. But he struggled big time under Sean McVay in two seasons prior to being dealt to Detroit ahead of the 2021 campaign. That span saw the CAL product throw 43 touchdowns against 29 interceptions.
Related: Detroit Lions’ Jared Goff and the NFL’s highest-paid QBs of 2023
Detroit Lions locked in on Jared Goff
Goff, 28, is signed through the 2024 season. He has a cap hit of $30.65 million in 2023, the 11th-highest figure among quarterbacks. This seems to indicate that a contract extension could even be in the cards during the offseason.
- Jared Goff contract: 4 years, $134 million; $33.5 million average
Goff more than played up to this contract in 2022. The former Pro Bowler completed 65% of his passes for 4,438 yards with 29 touchdowns compared to seven interceptions. It was his best performance since that Super Bowl campaign back in 2018.
Related: Sportsnaut’s updated 2023 NFL mock draft
Detroit Lions draft options are vast
With Goff now seen as a long-term option in the Motor City, it opens things up big time in the 2023 NFL Draft. Detroit will have the sixth pick in the draft courtesy of the Rams via the aforementioned Stafford-for-Goff trade. It also boasts the 18th overall selection, opening up a lot of options for Holmes and Co.
Detroit also seems set at multiple positions outside of quarterback. It boasts two studly young receivers in that of Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams. The tackle spots seem set with Taylor Decker manning Goff’s blindside and recent first-round pick Penei Sewell doing his thing on the right side.
Defensively, it was somewhat of a mixed bag for Dan Campbell’s squad. While the offense ranked fifth in scoring, this unit allowed the fifth-most points in the NFL.
EDGE guy Aidan Hutchinson is an absolute keeper. Outside of that, there’s a ton of question marks here. We fully expect these Lions to go defense-heavy early in the draft. That’s magnified with the Jared Goff situation now settled for at least the next two seasons.