At the end of October, it was reported that no one within the Lions organization truly believed that Jared Goff was the team’s quarterback of the future. Could four wins in the last five games have changed that?
Sources tell Ian Rapoport of NFL.com that the Lions are not looking to move on from Goff and that he is expected to remain in the Motor City for the foreseeable future. The obvious caveat is that much will depend on how he finishes the 2022 season, but his performance through Week 13 of the current campaign — which includes his best quarterback rating (95.7) and yards per pass attempt average (7.5) since 2018 — has GM Brad Holmes thinking that Goff is more than just a bridge option.
Holmes has consistently maintained that he took Goff as part of the return in the 2021 Matthew Stafford trade not only because assuming his contract allowed Holmes to improve the draft capital he received from the Rams, but also because he saw Goff as a quality passer that had the ability to get back to the Pro Bowl form he displayed over the 2017-18 seasons. Regardless of Holmes’ evaluation of Goff, however, he really had no choice but to retain the former No. 1 overall pick for at least two years once the decision was made to acquire him as getting out from under Goff’s contract before then would have been nearly impossible.
That will no longer be the case in 2023. If Holmes were so inclined, he could cut Goff and save upwards of $20M in cap space, and he might also find a reasonably robust trade market. On the other hand, the same factors that make Goff appealing to would-be trade partners — his manageable base salaries of $20.7M and $21.7M over the next two years, along with his solid play — make him equally appealing to the Lions, who have two first-round choices in the 2023 draft and who could use those selections to improve other areas of the roster.
The 2023 first-rounder that Detroit acquired from the Rams is presently slotted at No. 4 overall. The Lions could certainly use that pick to acquire a top collegiate passer and retain Goff for at least one more season, though the team may not be as apt to draft a QB as it was just a few weeks ago. If Goff maintains his level of performance down the stretch — and he now has a full complement of skill-position players at his disposal, including 2022 first-rounder Jameson Williams — he may not have to worry about a rookie taking his job next season.
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