If you had any doubt that Jared Goff would be back with the Detroit Lions for the foreseeable future, let this recent interview from 97.1 The Ticket with head coach Dan Campbell ease your nerves.
Campbell told the show on Tuesday during his weekly appearance that Goff, despite this season ending on such a sour note, is here to stay with the Lions. There's zero doubt that Goff will be the teams's QB1 moving forward if you let Campbell tell it, and that's probably for the best as Goff had a really great year despite some horrific offensive line play the entire season.
"Jared Goff is a stud...He played at a very high level all season long...even better than he played the year before...I’m thankful to have him, he’s an absolute stud, he’s a pro, he’s going nowhere."
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Goff is obviously the Lions' best shot at quarterback right now, especially since they already have so many key skill players around him that should help to take the entire burden of success off of his shoulders. But, again, due to that poor offensive line play this year, Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montgomery, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Jameson Williams all suffered in some way.
Without the run support typically afforded to Goff by Gibbs and Montgomery, he was forced to become a mobile quarterback when his strengths lie in being a great pocket passer from a solid platform. He simply couldn't do that consistently this season with a brand new, far less elite center snapping balls to him and with a rotating cast of guards protecting him in the pocket, as well.
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Some might question Goff's ability to raise the ceiling of this team rather than just its floor. While he's not a prolific playmaker, that's what the inclusion of the rest of the Lions' elite playmakers is for - to mask, somewhat, Goff's limitations as a multi-tool quarterback.
You're not going to see him use his legs often for extra yardage because the Lions have two running backs that can easily do that for him. And, even if he's not torpedoing passes downfield to Williams or St. Brown, both are savvy enough playmakers to get a lot out of a little, so to speak.
It would be, without a doubt, a seismic change to move on from Goff when Detroit knows exactly where they failed to protect him and the rest of the offense this year. Fixing that should fix the perception of Goff as a winning signal caller, and should afford the Lions a 2026 season much more similar to their 2024 dominance.