Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes gave quarterback Jared Goff a strong vote of confidence in his end-of-season press conference Tuesday.
Holmes told reporters the Lions never viewed Goff as a “bridge” to a rookie and credited him for a rejuvenated Detroit offense in 2022.
The Lions missed the playoffs but finished 9-8 for their first winning season since 2017. They ended it on a high note, beating the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in a primetime season finale to block them from the playoffs.
“I think it’s a lot easier to get worse at quarterback than to get better in this league,” Holmes said Tuesday. “So I think what Jared has done this year — he captained the ship of a top-3 offense, and he was top-10 statistically in most of the passing categories.”
Goff finished sixth in the NFL in passing yardage (4,438), tied for fifth in passing touchdowns (29) and 18th in completion rate (65.1 percent) with the second-lowest interception rate (1.2 percent). That was good for the seventh-best passer rating in the league at 99.3.
“And again, you know how we approach the draft. We’re never going to turn down a good football player, so if it’s a football player we love, we’re going to make sure every stone is turned,” Holmes said.
“But I do think that Jared has proven to everybody that he is the starting quarterback for us.”
Goff, 28, arrived from the Los Angeles Rams in the 2021 trade that sent Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams. While Stafford and the Rams won a Super Bowl in their first year of marriage, the Lions finished with the better record in 2022.
“I didn’t really have any doubt or waver … I never really deemed him as a bridge,” Holmes said. “I think everybody else did.”
The Lions have the No. 6 overall pick via the Goff-Stafford trade, meaning they have a shot at drafting one of the top quarterback prospects, like Alabama’s Bryce Young or Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud. Detroit also has the No. 18 pick in the first round.
In 100 career starts with the Rams (2016-20) and Lions, Goff has thrown for 25,854 yards, 155 touchdowns and 70 interceptions, completing 64.2 percent of his passes. He guided the Rams to an appearance in Super Bowl LIII, where they lost to New England. His contract, originally signed with Los Angeles, runs through the 2024 season.
–Field Level Media