The Detroit Lions are in rare territory, having lost both of their coordinators from last season and a total of seven assistant coaches. There's natural expectation for some kind of drop-off offensively next season, laced in with the ongoing wonder about where the team's ceiling is with Jared Goff as the quarterback.
Goff and Ben Johnson worked very well together, but new offensive coordinator John Morton, who was on the Lions' coaching staff in 2022, is not foreign to him. Alignment with a new play caller can be tough at the start, but Goff is in a good spot with some presumed input into Morton being the guy replacing Johnson.
What the Lions' offense, and Goff, will look like with Morton calling the plays won't really be known until September. It's easy, and well-founded, to drop Goff's stock a bit until we know. But in the meantime, there are lines that are bound to be crossed in that respect
Jared Goff given lame comp based on his past numbers without Ben Johnson
Naturally, the Lions are on Pro Football Network's list of early offseason losers due in large part to losing their two coordinators. Goff's numbers with and without Johnson as his play caller were noted in the reasoning why.
- 2021 (without Johnson): 99.9 passer rating, 6.7 yards per attempt, 34.8% first down rate
- 2022-24 (with Johnson): 117.2 passer rating, 8.5 yards per attempt, 43.1% first down rate
A look at Goff's Pro Football Reference page shows different numbers than above, but overall the premise stands up. Where the premise is lost is with the comp PFN then stretches to.
"For reference, those 2021 numbers look an awful lot like 2024 Aidan O’Connell (96.2 rating, 7.1 YPA, and 33.5% first down rate), a quarterback who lost five of seven starts in 2024."
The actual stats from last season for Raiders quarterback Aidan O'Connell are also different than what's presented above, but let's not let that stand in the way of an unflattering comp that makes no sense.
Goff has far more to work with around him than O'Connell did/does, and even the staunchest Goff detractors would say he's a markedly better quarterback than O'Connell.
It's one thing to expect Goff to regress from being an MVP candidate with a new play caller. But trying to compare his numbers without Johnson to a young quarterback who's on the fast track to being a backup for the rest of his career is a step way too far in that conversation.
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