Quarterbacks Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford's careers will forever be intertwined with their blockbuster 2021 trade. This season in particular has really shown just how long ago that trade was.
During the Detroit Lions' 41-34 loss to Stafford's Los Angeles Rams, Goff had to watch as Stafford passed him for fourth on the Rams' franchise passing yards list. Stafford entered the game 117 yards behind Goff and finished the day with 368 (18,422 total with the Rams). Shortly after, the Rams posted a graphic on X celebrating Stafford's move ahead of Goff.
Nine just keeps climbing. 📈 pic.twitter.com/iP5a9lPb9D
— x - Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 14, 2025
Goff played 69 games for the Rams, which Stafford surpassed the previous week. Earlier this season, Stafford (132) passed Goff (107) in touchdown passes as a Ram. Currently, Goff is sixth in TD passes, while Stafford has since climbed to third on the Rams' list.
Stafford is now 5,336 passing yards behind Jim Everett and 22 TDs behind Roman Gabriel for the Rams' all-time lead in those respective categories. Stafford is also two regular-season wins away from surpassing Everett for second in Rams history. Gabriel leads the way there with 74 regular-season wins, while Goff finished his Rams tenure with 42 regular-season wins.
Goff has a ways to go to pass Stafford in Lions' history
After a rough first season with the Lions, Goff has since strung together the best and most consistent statistical stretch of any Lions QB in the Super Bowl era, including Stafford. Goff has now played in the same number of seasons with the Lions as he did with the Rams, but has played ten more games with the Lions.
Despite the loss, Goff showed out against his former team with 338 passing yards to three TDs and zero turnovers. Goff is now top five in passing yards (3672, 3rd), passing TDs (29, 2nd), completion percentage (69.3%, 4th), and passer rating (110.4, 2nd), with only five interceptions thrown. Goff trails Stafford in all but completion percentage, but matches Stafford in INTs.
With the Lions, Goff has well surpassed his Rams' totals in wins (47 to 42), passing yards (20,559 to 18,171), and passing TDs (144 to 107). Goff's completion percentage is 4.7% higher (68.1% to 63.4%), and his passer rating is 10.4 points higher (101.9 to 91.5). Enough though Goff is top two in Lions' history in most statistical categories, some of his numbers still pale in comparison to Stafford in his Lions tenure.
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Stafford still leads the Lions franchise in regular-season starts (165), wins (74), passing yards (45,109), and passing TDs (282). Goff, in his 79 regular-season starts, is only 27 behind in wins, but is still 24,550 passing yards and 138 passing TDs away from matching Stafford in Lions' history. Goff would need at least five more seasons with the Lions to move past Stafford in both passing yards and TDs.
Goff currently has three more years left in his Lions' deal, with the team able to opt out after two. If Goff plays out those three years, he'll be 34, which is still young by modern QB standards, as we see now with 44-year-old Philip Rivers with the Indianapolis Colts and Stafford's current MVP campaign at 37. If Goff is still playing at his current level, it's easy to see the Lions extending him again, as Brad Holmes has said in the past, "It's a lot easier to get worse at QB than to get better at QB."
Time will tell what the future has in store for Goff and the Lions' QB position. It's a mobile QB league now, which Goff isn't compatible with, but few QBs can say they throw a better ball than Goff right now. However, time is ticking on the Lions' Super Bowl window, which will draw increasing eyes toward a successor in the coming years. If Goff does stick around Detroit long enough to surpass Stafford's records, it likely means Goff proved to be the guy who could take the Lions to the promised land -- leaving no doubt who the greatest Lions' QB ever is.