Brad Holmes explains why Jared Goff was the ideal quarterback for the Lions rebuild phase

The first major move Brad Holmes made as Detroit Lions general manager was trading Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams, honoring Stafford's desire to be traded and sending him to his preferred destination.

Holmes has also been clear over time how he wanted Jared Goff in return. The former No. 1 overall pick was not a mere throw-in to the deal, as the Rams parted with a contract and the Lions quite simply needed a quarterback to replace Stafford.

Holmes had a role in the Rams drafting of Goff in 2016, as their Director of College Scouting. Albert Breer of TheMMQB was recently at Lions' training camp. In a group interview with Holmes, Goff and head coach Dan Campbell, Holmes harkened back to when Goff was drafted.

"When Jared came out of college, even as an underclassman, he was very young. And not to get too deep into the whole draft process, we took him No. 1 because we just saw so much upside with him and he was continually getting better. And then he had some early success."

- Brad Holmes

Brad Holmes explains why Jared Goff was the ideal quarterback for the Lions' rebuilding phase

Goff struggled in his first season as a Lion, then he had one of the best seasons of his career last year. Holmes went on to tell Breer about how Goff was the ideal fit for the Lions at the stage they were in--rebuilding, with himself as a first-year general manager and Campbell as a full-time head coach for the first time.

"When we got here, I knew that he still had growth, and he was still a young quarterback, and he was still very talented....I just knew that he was very talented. He had a lot of upside. He’d been through a lot. And I will say this -- like I think all of us when we first got here, he had something to prove.""

- Brad Holmes

Entering his third year as the Lions' quarterback, Goff still has something to prove. He has to show the doubters he can repeat (or closely repeat) last season's performance, under the spotlight of heightened expectations around the team.

Goff's future as the Lions' quarterback is up in the air, and dependent on what he does this season. But as the Lions went into another rebuild in 2021, there's certainly a strong case he was indeed the ideal quarterback for them.