Detroit radio host thinks Kirk Cousins deal sets template for Jared Goff extension

With free agency now rolling, Jared Goff's contract extension may go to the back burner for the Detroit Lions for a bit. But it will happen sometime this offseason, and we know the general range of what'll be per year and the length it'll be.

When the free agency negotiation window opened on Monday, the biggest early move was the Atlanta Falcons agreeing to terms with Kirk Cousins on a four-year, $180 million deal. According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, Cousins is getting a $50 million signing bonus, $100 million total guaranteed and $90 million in the first two years.

On Monday's edition of his show on 97.1 The Ticket, Mike Valenti offered up the Cousins deal with the Falcons as a template for Goff's contract extension.

"If that’s the Goff deal, don’t you do it right now? I wouldn’t hesitate." Valenti said.

"I think it’s a fair-market deal on a day where I’m seeing guards get $21 million a year."

Did Kirk Cousins' free agent deal set the template for Jared Goff's contract extension?

Four years and $180 million ($45 million per year) is an easy to tab ballpark for Goff's contract extension. Spotrac's most recent projection is exactly that in new money. So on that surface level, Cousins' deal is not a fresh template for where Goff's extension should or will land.

Of course, as he enters the final year of his current contract. Goff's new deal would be four years starting in 2025. Spotrac's projection, which feels like an ideal landing spot for what the deal will be, essentially marries the Lions to Goff for the first three years (through 2027).

Spotrac's projection also has Goff, with a pay bump for 2024 laced in as it would be in the ultimate deal, getting $136.5 million over the next three years ($45 million in new signing bonus money). That would actually technically beat the $100 million guaranteed Cousins is reportedly set to get.

While the Cousins' deal is an obvious headline-grabber, and a talking point for whoever can make it one, it does not serve as any kind of new template for Goff's contract extension.