The Detroit Lions first ride on the quarterback carousel in years

Jared Goff is fine for the short-term

The outpouring of good-bye’s and well wishes for Matthew Stafford has overshadowed the arrival of Jared Goff. Obviously, there is a good reason for that. Stafford leaves having set every meaningful passing record in Detroit Lions history, while Goff arrives under a veil of scrutiny.

Stafford was and is the better quarterback. He has taken a team that has been built for disaster for six decades and has often carried them to mediocrity when many times they clearly weren’t even that good over the course of his dozen years at the helm.

So bearing that in mind, Jared Goff will not be able to carry the Lions.

However, on a good team in Los Angeles, he contributed to the Rams winning. There is a big difference between contributing and carrying.

Down at Allen Park, new Lions head coach Dan Campbell understands the difference. He also understands how important it is to put his players in the best possible position to succeed.

Campbell is a little more optimistic about the hand that he’s been dealt than the rest of Detroit. That doesn’t mean he believes the Lions are ready to make a run next season, but he believes that several pieces that are already here, mostly on offense, have an opportunity to be part of the building blocks of the next competitive team the Honolulu Blue and Silver is able to turn out in three or four years.

So that being said, who starts at quarterback in 2021 is only as crucial as observing the rules of the game and providing one to hit the field with the rest of the Lions offense.

New general manager Brad Holmes, formerly of the Rams himself, was part of the team that swung the big trade back in 2016 to acquire the first pick from Tennessee to select Goff.

How much Holmes believes in Goff remains to be seen.

Yet because whoever the Lions passer is next year is not expected to lead them to the postseason and beyond, it allows less stress to the situation. If the Lions offense is able to provide just a bit of a ground game for Goff, which is reasonable to consider unless opponents just stack the box every play of every game, then there is a possibility with the use of play-action in the passing game that Goff might be alright.

By that, I mean Goff should be able to make some sound decisions and not orchestrate the worst offense in Lions history. Jared Goff is fine for now.