Lions’ quarterback Jared Goff just got paid, and it was well due for a QB that has been part of a monumental shift.
Jared Goff just got paid. Big time. The Detroit Lions have signed the 29-year-old three-time Pro Bowler to a four-year, $212 million contract which will lock up Goff until at least 2028. His new contract will make him the second-highest paid quarterback in the league just behind Joe Burrow. Goff’s new inking will net him around $53 million a year.
Yet, it’s all deserved. Give Jared Goff his flowers. Quarterbacks in the National Football League seldom have to endure what Goff has been able to go through and accomplish given his circumstances. His football career has been anything but linear, instead looking more like a sickly roller coaster. But, he’s part of the reason the Detroit Lions have quickly rose to dominance in the NFC and the NFL. Some could make the argument that Goff is underpaid still with today’s bulging salary cap and sky-high contracts. By all means, Goff has earned this deal.
The coxswain of a franchise under new management and with new fortunes, Goff has quickly turned into one of Detroit and the NFL’s poster boys. Three years ago the Lions finished 5-11 and hadn’t won the NFC North since 1993. In a rapid turnaround with head coach Dan Campbell and Goff as the quarterback, the Lions were able to clinch the division for the first time in over 30 years finishing 12-5 and earned an appearance in the NFC Championship Game.
The culture in Detroit has had a full shift, but no player has been more instrumental in the U-turn than Goff. Over the past three years, the Lions have managed to accumulate a plethora of draft capital as well as add weapons on offense. According to Pro Football Focus, the Lions had the second-best offense in the NFL with a 88.2 grade. Goff as the poindexter and hangdog leader has led a complete turnaround from the 15th-ranked offense from 2020 with Matthew Stafford. Sure, Goff isn’t the Patrick Mahomes of the Lions nor is he a quarterback that is bound to throw up fireworks when you watch him on tape.
But he’s Jared Goff. His repressed, pugnacious playing style resembles a calculated gunslinger. Not afraid to take shots when the opportunity presents itself but retaining a sense of responsibility with the football. And it is that exact playing style that got him the big payday laced with a duffel bag full of greenbacks last week. Goff doesn’t have to be meretricious in order to get the job done. Instead, he can just be Jared Goff and complete the task at hand.
Looking purely at 2023, Goff was consistently one of the best quarterbacks and managed to fly underneath the radar. He threw for over 4,000 yards, one of only ten quarterbacks to hit north of that number with 4,575. He managed to throw a 67.3% completion percentage– ranking second overall for eligible quarterbacks with a minimum of 200 attempted passes. According to Sports Info Solutions, Goff also threw for 2,367 air yards– yards from quarterback to receiver without any yards after catch, 51.7% of his total yardage.
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Looking at his stats holistically, Goff was a massive reason for why the Lions were able to see so much success on offense. 51.7% is a healthy number for a quarterback when analyzing air yards. It proves that Goff is driving the ball downfield rather than relying on his receivers to make plays over half of the time. It’s one of the unique quarterback stats that allows us to judge if Goff is the reason behind the offense’s riches or if he is merely a byproduct of a functional and well-played system.
“The reward of the contract and the success that we’ve been able to have, but the journey itself these past three years has been the true success and the true meaning of success, I guess,” Goff said. “Obviously, the wins and whatnot and getting the contract are amazing but being able to go through that together with my teammates and with my family, go through the dark times and grow through those times and learn more about yourself and work on yourself — that’s the win in all of this.”
Jared Goff has been able to be uniquely clutch in a way that not many quarterbacks have been able to enjoy in today’s offenses. His 102.0 fourth quarter passer rating places him in the upper quartile of the NFL’s 32 starting quarterbacks from 2023 according to Sports Info Solutions. A 89% fourth quarter catchable ball rates proves that Goff has slowly turned into a precise passer in clutch situations silently. That number ranks as fifth-best in the league.
Even in key moments in-game such as 2nd and 3rd downs, what most offenses call “money downs”, Goff has consistently been on par with the league’s staples. His catchable ball rate measured in at 85.3% and a 6.4 yard average throw depth means he’s driving the ball past the sticks most of the time. Goff has managed to shine with heavy blanketed coverage as well– he’s been able to complete 62.5% of his passes with less than five defenders in the box. An empty box means that the defense is usually playing the pass with more personnel covering the perimeter. Despite this, Goff hasn’t shied away from the air, with 72.2% of his passes being on-target and a 7.7 yard average throw depth.
“I think I play my best when I’m being doubted,” Goff said. “So, like, continue to find — maybe fabricated ways you’re being doubted, if you’re not — that’s part of the answer and also the internal motivation to want to win for this city and for my teammates and for our coaches. This city means so much to me now and it’ll hold a special place in my heart forever that there isn’t any external [or] as much external motivators as there is internal of, I just want to win for them.”
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While all this sounds spectacular and gives justification for why Goff has earned his contract, it’s clear that the Lions are a forward-looking team. Goff’s contract wasn’t based on his previous performance, it’s an investment in the Lions’ future. It’s obvious that Jared Goff wasn’t interested in going anywhere else. After all, he took the midnight train to Detroit three years ago by way of a surprise trade that sent longtime Lion Matthew Stafford to Los Angeles. He’s fully integrated himself into the community and his production for the Lions– both individually and holistically has increased year-over-year.
“It was mostly security. I think you can go back and forth on the numbers and whatnot, and that wasn’t really the thing that was ever something I was extremely conferenced with,” Goff told reporters. “It was the security and the no-trade clause and all that stuff, knowing that all that was in there. Feeling secure and then knowing that I can now put that behind me and be excited about what’s to come.”
Among the first eight seasons of a player’s career in NFL history, Goff ranks third in 300-yard passing games, fourth in completions, fifth in passing yards, seventh in pass attempts, ninth in passer rating and tied-for-12th in touchdown passes.
That production and his ability to perform in quietude fits perfectly with both the Lions’ and Dan Campbell’s blue-collar ethos. It’s a match made in heaven, and the Lions were clear they wanted to lock up their flagship talent– signing both Penei Sewell and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown in previous contracts.
“I’m more driven and more fired up than ever to go even harder and put the pedal to the metal even more to bring a Super Bowl to this city,” Goff said. “And that’s what’s most important. One day, I won’t be the quarterback here. And being able to look back on those days that I am [the quarterback here] and that I was with no regrets and knowing that I did everything I could to try and make that happen … that would be the ultimate goal.”
Goff wasn’t meant to be here. The trade that managed to land him in Detroit was a blockbuster but the team he inherited as the pseudo-quarterback was anything but a given. But, Goff– like his play metaphorically speaks wasn’t about to blink in the face of impending doom.
Detroit is where quarterbacks go to die.
Look back in any time period of post NFL-AFL merger history and you’ll see a vast quarterback graveyard in Detroit. Even Matthew Stafford, who is arguably the franchise’s best signal-caller, found better success in Los Angeles than in Motor City. Someone in a book somewhere wrote that sports teams take after their cities, an argument that’s hard to disprove for the Lions. Years of organizational malpractice, lackluster coaching, and a culture of being the league’s laughingstock implanted Goff into what seemed like a unfixable situation.
But Goff never wavered one bit. Even when the philosophical and looming environmental cudgel of the Lions’ past was upon him– he was still bright about the outlook ahead.
“That’s the only thing that drives me,” Goff said, ahead of the 2022 season. “Winning with this group of guys, there would be nothing more special. I think that’s what we all see as such a great opportunity with what happened last year … what’s happened over here over the last handful of years. The opportunity in front of us with what we think we can do is special. Maybe once in a career to turn it around this quickly.”
Goff’s performance in Detroit has been nothing short of excellence– quickly harnessing his ability as an adroit quarterback to turn around the team’s misfortunes and shortcomings. If you find yourself questioning why Goff is now the second-highest paid quarterback in NFL history– give him his flowers. He’s earned every penny.
