Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell spent a total of six seasons with the New Orleans Saints, combining his final season as a player (spent on IR) and five seasons as the tight ends coach under Sean Payton.
As quarterback of the Los Angeles Rams, then in his second full season as the starter, Jared Goff threw for 297 yards on the road in an NFC Championship Game win over the Saints. That made an impression on Campbell, as he told Rich Eisen on Tuesday.
"I just saw the environment, the type of pressure that he was under, and just thinking, 'This guy won't break.' I would've sworn he would've broke. I'm just like, 'This guy can't handle this.' I don't know many quarterbacks that could. It was impressive, man," Campbell said. "That's the type of thing that sticks in your memory. You don't forget those moments. You're like, 'I don't know this guy, but I know enough sitting here watching him on the sideline that this guy has found a way to win and he just won't give up.' And he just keeps coming back for more. And there's a quiet competitiveness about him that, man, you want that guy on your team."
Goff is playing at an MVP level right now, as no one who writes or talks about the NFL is able to avoid mentioning it.
Dan Campbell said Jared Goff reminds him of future Hall of Famer
All six of Campbell's seasons with the Saints of course came when Drew Brees was the quarterback. Brees feels like a lock to be a first-ballot inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2026.
Campbell sees some similarities between Goff and Brees.
“I was fortunate to be around Drew Brees as a player and as a coach for a combination of six years,” Campbell said. “When you’re around that type of players it’s rare. To see the professionalism, the work that goes into it, the process, the competitiveness, and there’s things about Goff that remind me of him. He’s got a workman’s attitude, he’s blue collar in that way, a quiet confidence, he doesn’t get frazzled, he’s tough, he’s seeing it. Because of that, we’ve put a lot on him.”
Campbell's comparison of Goff to Brees is actually not entirely new among Lions' coaches. Mark Brunell spent two seasons toward the end of his playing career as Brees' backup, and soon after being hired by Campbell as the Lions' quarterbacks coach in 2021 he compared Goff to Brees.
"He has a lot of qualities that I saw in Drew Brees,” Brunell said. “Really, the passion for the game, the work ethic, the leadership. There are some similarities there, which is great to see.”
Comparisons can be unfair sometimes, and being compared to a future first-ballot Hall of Famer in any capacity feels particularly heady. But maybe Goff can deliver a championship to Detroit the same as Brees did for New Orleans.