NFL writer offers ridiculous and lame lateral quarterback move for the Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions may not move on from Jared Goff in the offseason, but one NFL writer has offered a ridiculous lateral move if they do.

Jared Goff easily made our list of Detroit Lions players who needed a strong finish to the 2022 season the most. Since that point, here’s what he did in December.

Four games (Week 13-16): 1,277 passing yards (three 300-yard games), nine touchdowns, zero interceptions, 66.3 percent completion rate, 109.3 passer rating.

Safe to say Goff has stepped up, and done his part to set aside (if not put to bed) the idea the Lions will unequivocally move on come the offseason. It’s certainly palatable to do so, with a relatively mere $10 million dead money hit if they cut him and a $5 million roster bonus due to him on March 19 they’d surely avoid paying if they do want to move on.

If the Lions do decide to move on from Goff in the offseason, they will definitely have plan to replace him. Pairing an experienced option with an eventual incoming drafted rookie is one path.

But not all of the experienced options to replace Goff makes sense, even if some want to try to force them.

NFL writer offers ridiculous lateral quarterback move for the Detroit Lions

Steven Ruiz of The Ringer offered an option for the Lions to replace Goff.

There have been, as expected, plenty of responses to Ruiz suggesting the Lions pursue Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill. To his credit, Ruiz has responded to many if not all of them.

In response to the question “Tannehill is better than Goff???”, with an appropriate emoji, Ruiz said “undoubtedly.”

Tannehill is not “undoubtedly” better than Goff, so Ruiz will probably stand alone on that hill.

The only real difference between the two is Tannehill being more athletic and mobile, which is an interesting extra element that could be added to the Lions’ offense. But just about any quarterback in the league could be considered more athletic/mobile than Goff. And let’s just leave aside that Tannehill will turn 35 before next season, while Goff will turn 29 next October.

The Titans could decide to part with Tannehill after the season, and absorb an $18.8 million dead money hit to clear the other $17.8 million of his 2023 cap number from their books as a pre-June 1 cut (via Over The Cap). A pre-June 1 trade carries the same cap implications for Tennessee. Next year is also effectively the last year of his contract, with void years in 2024 and 2025.

For the Lions to reach their highest possible ceiling in the future, a talent upgrade over Goff under center will be required. But Tannehill is not that at all. He’s another bridge quarterback. Even those who think he’s better than Goff have to admit he’s a more expensive bridge who isn’t better enough than Goff to make that difference in cost worth it.

Ideally the Lions will start allocating less money to the quarterback position soon, via a starter on a rookie contract, not adding more.

We are in a business where attention, clicks etc. matter. But that doesn’t mean throwing whatever against a wall to see if it sticks is always worthwhile. The suggestion the Lions should swap Goff for Tannehill strains logic, at best. At worst it was also possibly an attempt to get attention on social media.