Courtesy of AP Photo/Paul Sancya
Superstar Goff Stays
It’s official: the Detroit Lions have signed quarterback Jared Goff to a contract extension through the 2028 season.
This four-year contract extension is worth over $200 million, with a massive $170 million guaranteed. When speaking in terms of average annual salary, this new deal makes Goff the current second-highest paid QB in the NFL. It also makes 29-year-old Goff, who will be 34 when the deal expires, the highest-paid player in franchise history.
With this extension, Goff will enter his fourth season with the Lions, after originally joining the team via trade from the Rams in 2021. In 48 games played and started for Detroit, he has completed 1,121-of-1,686 passes (66.5%) for 12,258 yards, 78 touchdowns, and 27 interceptions for a 96.5 passer rating.
Courtesy of Pride of Detroit
Extension Deemed “High Priority”
Many believe an extension for Goff was well-deserved. After leading Detroit to its first NFC North Division title, as well as to an appearance in the NFC Championship game, it’s hard to imagine that the Lions would miss out on the opportunity to continue with him. But these deals take time. Around the 2024 NFL Draft, ESPN reporter Adam Schefter even reported that a new deal for Goff was not “imminent,” but it certainly appeared that one was in the works.
Goff’s extension was up in the air until May 9th of this year, when GM Brad Holmes spoke with local Metro-Detroit sports radio, 97.1 The Ticket, giving fans some hope. Holmes told hosts Costa and Jansen, “He’s earned an extension. It’s important, it’s a high priority for us. Both sides are working really, really hard. These things just take time.”
With massive extensions for Penei Sewell and Amon-Ra St. Brown coming out just three weeks before Goff’s extension, Holmes said “in a perfect world,” he would have liked to have gotten all three extensions done at the same time, but “these things just kind of take a while.”
Goff being a quarterback in today’s market also added a different level of complexity to the situation. “There’s some uniqueness there in some different areas, but still, he’s performed at a high level. You look at what the results have been, and we still feel good about where he’s at,” Holmes told 97.1. “He’s not one of the guys that was recently drafted and all that stuff. But that’s even better because we even have more of a body of work to examine and analyze.”
Despite all the back and forth, Holmes emphasized that both sides — the Lions and Goff’s team — had put in a lot of work towards getting a deal done, which has all since paid off.
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What This Means for the Lions
Lions GM Brad Holmes and Head Coach Dan Campbell have made it clear they never considered Goff to be a bridge quarterback when they traded for him in 2021. Goff’s extension is proof that he is their guy, and they believe they can win a Super Bowl with him as their starter.
The former first overall pick in 2016 led the Lions to a 12-5 record, tying the single-season franchise record for victories, en route to helping the team capture its first division title in 30 years. He ended the season passing for 4,575 yards and 30 touchdowns with 12 interceptions.
Among all NFL quarterbacks in 2023, Goff ranked first in passing first downs (227), second in passing yards (4,575), second in 20-yard completions (69), tied-for-third in 300-yard games (five), fourth in touchdown passes (30) and ninth in passer rating (97.9).
It is abundantly clear that Holmes, Campbell, and the entire Lions organization wanted to bring back the quarterback who not only helped lead the team to its first playoff win in three decades, but also had them only one half away from their first-ever Super Bowl appearance. With Goff’s extension, the Lions are sure they’ll finally see themselves on the Super Bowl stage.
Edited by Emilia Morello