Jared Goff played very well late in the season, and he’s not concerned the Lions will draft his replacement in April.
For the first nine games this season, Jared Goff looked like the limited quarterback he showed himself to be toward the end of his run with the Rams–only without the talent and play caller around him to prop him up.
After missing a game in Week 11, Goff was one of the highest-rated passers in the NFL over the following four weeks. Then he missed the next two games, due to having COVID-19 and a bone bruise in his left knee respectively. He returned for the season finale against the Packers, and played well again (21-for-30 for 238 yards and two touchdowns; 115.7 passer rating).
Goff clearly meshed better with head coach Dan Campbell as the offensive play caller, as opposed to the now-departed offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn. The entire offense looked better late in the season.
The Lions running game spiked 36.2% under Dan Campbell, while Jared Goff's passer rating jumped from 85.3 under Lynn to 107.1 in five healthy games under Campbell. That was third best in the whole league during that stretch.
— kyle meinke (@kmeinke) January 10, 2022
Jared Goff says he’s not concerned about the Lions drafting a quarterback
The 2022 draft class has no top-end quarterback prospects like we see a lot of years, though there will surely be a few signal callers taken in the first round anyway. With their second first-rounder, from the Rams in the Matthew Stafford trade that brought Goff in, the Lions may take a quarterback. If not then, then an early second-round pick could yield the potential long-term answer under center.
As unlikely as it seems, the door seems open for Goff to be the Lions’ long-term quarterback. When asked about the team drafting a quarterback in April on Monday, he came off as unconcerned.
“That’d be fine. It’s their decision, man,” quarterback Jared Goff told reporters on Monday. “It’s up to them and whatever they want to do. Ultimately, I’m still under contract and I’m still gonna be here playing and I feel good about my standing with them and where I’m at.”
Goff is indeed under contract for 2022, and the Lions practically assured they have to keep him two seasons when they restructured his contract after the trade to acquire him. Looking beyond that, all bets are off.
A young quarterback could sit behind Goff for a year and be groomed to take over for Detroit in 2023. He knows he can only control what he does, and the other chips will fall wherever else they may.