FanSided's latest QB ranking project netted Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff some respect.
Goff was placed in the "Strong QB1 tier" alongside almost the rest of the NFC North's signal callers, meaning that he's considered one of the best starters in the league but not necessarily an elite one. That's a valid assessment of Goff, who I called "boring" for the ranking. But, boring is good for such an electric Lions offense.
Of course, these rankings were done based on opinion. The Athletic's latest "QB Index," created by Austin Mock, is:
"...a forward-looking quarterback efficiency metric that uses play-by-play data, adjusts for context in each play and is opponent-aware. Put more simply, QBI takes into account passes, rushes, scrambles, sacks, turnovers and anything else that happens when the football is in the quarterback’s hands."
This QBI, which uses "100" as an average baseline for quarterback ranking here, has Goff at...100. Which, again, is fine. He could be considered an "average" quarterback, although his accuracy, game management skills, and TD:INT ratio throughout the last few seasons might beg to differ. Still, 100 is okay.
However, let's take a look at some of the names above Goff:
Daniel Jones
Tyler Shough
Marcus Mariota
Mac Jones
Two backups, a second-year quarterback, and Daniel Jones are better than Goff, per the QBI. Sure!
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To be honest, Goff probably isn't even the most disrespectful ranking here - not by a long shot, in fact. Jalen Hurts, a Super Bowl winning quarterback, is also considered average by the QBI. Most shockingly, Lamar Jackson is ranked lower than San Francisco 49ers backup Mac Jones, and lower than Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert, Dak Prescott, Jordan Love, Brock Purdy...the list goes on.
Mock very fairly makes note of the fact that there is no true way to measure quarterbacks using data this way. Data should be adding color to the full picture, and should not be the entire picture. Still, this list just doesn't seem to value Goff much at all as a consistent starting quarterback in this league.
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Again, Marcus Mariota over him?!
This is just another chapter added to Goff's journey in the NFL, and one that might have to end in a Super Bowl victory to shake off this persistent discourse around him. He might not be in the same realm as Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen, but he fronts a winning football team and has managed one of the best offenses in the league for the last few seasons.
There might not be a way to measure that, unfortunately.
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