Lions must draft competition for Jared Goff ASAP

Detroit Lions current QB situation

Let’s start with what we know about Goff other than his status as a former first-round pick of the Rams; he had 3,952 yards passing, 20 touchdowns against 13 interceptions, and completed 67% of his passes in 2020. Those numbers suggest that he’s an average starter with good accuracy. He was on a playoff-caliber team, where they won 9 games with him as their starter, 10 overall, and made it to the divisional round of the playoffs, mostly due to their defense, which ranked first in the NFL.

Goff has had better years, made the Pro Bowl twice, been to a Super Bowl, but had several lackluster seasons since. He’s been a part of winning a lot of games with a solid defense and run game, many that featured Todd Gurley pre-knee-arthritis.

Another aspect of the quarterback puzzle to consider is Goff’s contract. Goff is really making over $30-million dollars per year and in the middle of a four-year, $134 million deal that goes through 2024. His deal is for the eighth-most dollars of any NFL quarterback and ranks as the fifth-highest average salary per year.

Add in what we know about the Lions, that they’re a talent-poor roster with a good offensive line and a few pieces to build on, and it’s almost a sure thing that Goff will not be able to prove conclusively that he is the franchise player Detroit needs in Year 1.

If the Lions win less than half of their games, pundits predict less than five wins, the noise for a new starter will only grow. For example, former Detroit Lions running back, Joique Bell predicts the record at 4-13.

Some questions to consider:

• If Goff & Co. only win four games would you be happy letting him be the only good option going into 2022?
• Do we pay for Top-5 performance and settle for average if Jared Goff doesn’t play like an All-Pro in 2021?