Tag: Jared Goff
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Lions QB Jared Goff: ‘More fired up than ever’
Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff made his goals clear on Thursday, the day the team announced his signing to a contract extension through the 2028 season.
“I’m more driven and more fired up than ever to go even harder and put the pedal to the metal even more to bring a Super Bowl to the city and that’s what’s most important,” Goff said.
The team didn’t disclose financial terms, but multiple outlets reported the four-year extension was for $212 million with $170 million guaranteed.
Goff, acquired in the 2021 trade that sent veteran QB Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams, is entering his fourth season as the starter in Detroit. In 48 regular season games with the Lions, he has completed 66.5 percent of his passes for 12,258 yards with 78 touchdowns and 27 interceptions — resulting in a 96.5 passer rating.
Among NFL QBs last season, he was first in passing first downs (227), second in passing yards (4,575), second in 20-yard completions (69) and tied for third in 300-yard games (five).
Detroit finished 12-5 last season and won its first division title in 30 years. The Lions posted playoff victories over the Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and held a 24-7 halftime lead before falling 34-31 to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.
The Rams selected Goff with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Goff’s reported $53 million annual average value ranks second in the NFL behind Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who has a $55 million AAV. Burrow signed a five-year, $275 million deal last September.
–Field Level Media
Report: Lions, QB Jared Goff to talk contract extension
Quarterback Jared Goff has the Detroit Lions within one win of the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance.
With Goff and the Lions preparing to play in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the host San Francisco 49ers, NFL Network reported that Detroit is expected to engage in contract extension negotiations with the quarterback during the offseason.
Per the report, the projected deal would make Goff one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league.
Goff has one year remaining on the four-year, $134 million contract extension he signed with the Los Angeles Rams in 2109 and is due to earn $26.9 million in 2024. He spent five seasons with the Rams after they made him top overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, then was traded to Detroit as part of a deal that involved fellow quarterback Matthew Stafford on March 18, 2021.
Goff, 29, recorded a career-best 67.3 completion percentage and threw for 4,575 yards with 30 touchdowns and 12 interceptions this season. He is knocking on the door of making his second Super Bowl appearance, with his first coming with the Los Angeles Rams in a 13-3 loss to the New England Patriots on Feb. 3, 2019.
In a season that saw the formerly pitiful Lions finish 12-5 and win the NFC North and two subsequent postseason games, Goff has become a fan favorite in Detroit. Fans at other sporting events — including the NBA’s Pistons and NHL’s Red Wings — have taken to chanting his name.
–Field Level Media
Wild Card Weekend: Rams-Lions Preview, Props, Prediction
Matthew Stafford returns to Detroit in a Los Angeles Rams uniform. Jared Goff faces the team that gave up on him. The Lions are hosting a playoff game for the first time in 30 years.
The preamble to Sunday night’s first-round playoff matchup has all the fixings of a script, but neither team wants to discuss much more than the primetime wild-card meeting and the spot in the conference semifinals at stake.
The Rams are two seasons removed from winning a Super Bowl with Stafford after the Lions traded him for Goff and several high draft picks.
PREDICTION
This is arguably the most intriguing matchup among the six wild-card games, and not just because of the quarterback plot line. The Rams are a dangerous opponent with rookies Kyren Williams and Puka Nacua providing a massive boost to the offense while a young defense has continued to improve throughout the season.
Detroit’s offense will give that unit fits, with the ability to move the ball on the ground or through the air. The game could come down to whether the Lions’ defense can get off the field on third downs and which team makes the most of its red-zone opportunities.
Prediction: Lions 27, Rams 24
TRENDING
The Lions opened as 3.5-point favorites at BetMGM, where it has shifted to 3.0 points with Detroit backed by 54 percent of the spread-line bets and 55 percent of the money. However, the public has been fond of the Rams’ +140 moneyline, which has drawn 60 and 59 percent of the action, respectively.
The line also has moved to 3.0 points at DraftKings and BetRivers, where it;s the Rams who have been slightly more popular with 53 percent of the spread-line bets and 51 percent of the money backing them.
BetMGM has the lowest Over/Under total among the three, sitting at 50.5 points on Sunday after opening at 48.5. The total was 52.5 points at BetRivers and 53.0 at DraftKings.
PROP PICK
Rams QB Matthew Stafford Over 1.5 Passing TDs (-150 at DraftKings): This has been the most popular player prop at the book for this matchup. Stafford has thrown multiple touchdown passes in five of his past six games and has a healthy Cooper Kupp pairing with Nacua for a dangerous tandem. The Lions had the 27th-ranked pass defense during the regular season.
THE NEWS
The “bad guys” have been rolling along since their bye week.
The Rams (10-7) have won seven of their past eight games, with the lone loss coming in overtime to AFC top seed Baltimore in Week 14.
With a playoff berth secured, coach Sean McVay rested Stafford and numerous regulars in the regular-season finale — a win against the NFC’s top seed, the San Francisco 49ers, who also rested the starters. Stafford still finished with 3,965 passing yards and 24 touchdowns.
Nacua (105 receptions, 1,486 yards and six touchdowns) and Kupp (59 receptions, 737 yards, 5 TDs in 12 games) provide formidable targets for Stafford.
“He’s put our team in a position to go play a meaningful game,” McVay said of Stafford.
Williams gives the offense balance. He racked up 1,350 combined rushing and receiving yards and scored 15 touchdowns despite missing five games.
Goff piled up 4,575 passing yards and 30 touchdowns while leading the Lions (12-5) to the NFC North title. He’s got a star wideout in Amon-Ra St. Brown (119 receptions, 1,515 yards, 10 TDs) supported by the running back duo of David Montgomery and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs.
Goff admits he had his differences with McVay in his final season with the Rams but is focused on taking the Lions franchise to new heights. That includes earning a playoff win that Stafford never recorded in Detroit.
“I so badly want to win a playoff game for this city, that hasn’t had one in so long,” Goff said. “That’s so much more important than anything personally for me.”
The Lions have played well in primetime games this season, so coach Dan Campbell isn’t concerned about the team feeling the pressure.
“I’m not worried about that — the stage, all of those things, because we’ve dealt with that for a while now. I feel like we’re prepared for that,” he said.
Campbell also said he expects Goff to remain calm and poised.
“He’s wired the right way,” he said. “He’s been through this. He’s been to the Big One. He’s dealt with this a number of times.”
Campbell instead is concerned that his players might try to do too much, instead of focusing on their assignments.
“You want to make a play so bad, you jump out of your gap,” he said. “All of a sudden, they hit you on a run.”
INJURY REPORT
The big injury concern is Lions tight end Sam LaPorta, who hyperextended his left knee in the regular-season finale against Minnesota.
Campbell said LaPorta, who set an NFL rookie tight end record with 86 receptions, was “improving” on Wednesday. LaPorta boosted Campbell’s confidence on Thursday by going through live reps and coming out of the workout “optimistic” he can play with a knee brace this week. He is officially questionable for the game.
Detroit wide receiver and kick returner Kalif Raymond (knee) was ruled out, along with tight end James Mitchell (hand), linebacker James Houston (ankle) and cornerback Jerry Jacobs (tight/knee). Defensive end John Cominsky (illness) is questionable.
The Rams listed six players as questionable: tight end Tyler Higbee (shoulder), offensive linemen Joe Noteboom (foot) and Kevin Dotson (shoulder), nose tackle Bobby Brown III (illness), linebacker Troy Reeder (knee) and defensive back Jordan Fuller (ankle).
THEY SAID IT
Lions fans were generally thrilled to see Stafford reach the mountaintop when he led the Rams to the Super Bowl title. Now, they’ll be rooting hard for his season to end.
“I understand what the people of Detroit, what the city of Detroit, meant to me in my time and my career. What they meant to my family. I hope they feel that back,” Stafford said. “But at the same time I’m not a stranger to the situation and understanding I’m the bad guy coming to town.”
–Field Level Media
Broncos Lions Pick, Goff Passing Prop
Dan Campbell: Hype around Lions ‘out of control right now’
As his Detroit Lions opened training camp on Sunday, coach Dan Campbell cautioned it’s time to start work and tone down the buzz around his team.
Fueled by a combination of their appearance on “Hard Knocks” last preseason, a charismatic head coach in Campbell and a young roster than won eight of the final 10 games in 2022, the Lions have become a fan favorite across the country as the new season approaches.
Even the sports books have bought into the Lions, with BetMGM offering Detroit at +2000 to win Super Bowl LVIII. This time of year, there’s usually another “0” at the end of that betting line.
“I think as always, the thing that’s gonna worry you is the hype train,” Campbell said at camp in Allen Park, Mich., per ESPN. “I mean, as with most coaches, this thing is just taking off and it’s out of control right now and that’s fine, as long as we stay focused on the job at hand and the work. I just keep going back to that. We’ve got to put the work in and earn it.”
The Lions won four NFL championships, the last of them coming in 1957, but are one of just four teams — the Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars the others — never to play in a Super Bowl. Since 1993, they’ve made the playoffs eight times and lost in the wild-card round each year.
But this year, they are the betting favorite to win the NFC North. Campbell said it’s his job to remind the Lions they have work to do.
“I think you just keep the message consistent, and you call it what it is, and it just goes back to the work,” Campbell said. “And when you see it not going that way or we have some guys that are deviating a little bit, or they think they’ve arrived and they haven’t, you call them out on it.”
Quarterback Jared Goff, who played in Super Bowl LIII with the Los Angeles Rams, said Campbell is good at keeping the locker room humbled and that the attention surrounding the team hasn’t been earned. Yet.
“I think it’s funny to me that like you go 9-8, you don’t make the playoffs and now you’re all of a sudden the favorite,” Goff said, per ESPN. “Of course, we’ve got good players, we’ve got good coaches, we’ve got a good team, but we haven’t done anything.
“We have a lot of work to do. Minnesota won 13 games last year, Green Bay’s won the division a handful of times in the last handful of years, so we’ve got some work to do to put the stamp on who we want to be and are nowhere near that yet, but are on our way.”
The Lions will be put to the test immediately when they open the season Sept. 7 on the road against the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. It’s the first of four games for the Lions in prime time, in addition to their annual Thanksgiving game.
–Field Level Media
Reports: Lions lean toward keeping Jared Goff in ’23
When Jared Goff was traded to the Detroit Lions on the first day of the league year in 2021, the widely held belief was the former No. 1 overall pick of the Rams would be looking for a new team in 2023.
According to reports, the Lions haven’t bought into that theory and, in fact, are leaning the opposite direction — toward keeping the 28-year-old Goff for at least the final two years of his contract.
Goff is owed a $5 million roster bonus in March but has a base salary of $20.65 million for 2023. Parting with Goff would cost the Lions more than $10 million.
With only one interception in his past 193 pass attempts covering six games, Goff is driving Detroit’s second-half run. The Lions are favored against the NFC North-leading Minnesota Vikings (10-2) on Sunday.
“Goff is playing at a very high level,” coach Dan Campbell said last month. “He’s certainly given us a chance to win these games. I can’t say enough good things about him. Hhe’s built a camaraderie with these receivers, he trusts them, they’re all on the same page. That goes a long way.”
Goff has the Lions (5-7) thinking playoffs this season in a rapid turnaround marked by a potent offense. Goff has 19 touchdown passes and seven interceptions in 2022.
In his seventh NFL season, Goff has a 50-44-1 record as a starter. He has completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 24,438 yards with 145 touchdowns and 70 interceptions.
The temptation to draft a quarterback of the future didn’t lead general manager Brad Holmes to use the 2022 No. 2 overall pick on a passer. Instead, the Lions drafted defensive end Aidan Hutchinson.
Holmes spent 17 years with the Rams’ organization and was extremely familiar with Goff when he traded for him.
In the latest return from the Rams as part of the Matthew Stafford-Goff swap, the Lions will receive Los Angeles’ first-round pick in the 2023 draft. That selection is likely to bring another top-five pick based on the current standings, and Holmes has two first- and two-second round picks to work with in April.
–Field Level Media
Jared Goff: ‘No concern’ if Lions draft a QB
Detroit quarterback Jared Goff said it’s “no concern” if the Lions decide to draft a quarterback next week.
He passed for 3,245 yards and 19 touchdowns in 14 games (3-10-1 record) in his first season with Detroit in 2021.
Goff, 27, was acquired in a March 2021 trade for fellow signal-caller Matthew Stafford, who went on to lead the Los Angeles Rams to a Super Bowl LVI championship.
“I trust those guys,” Goff told reporters Thursday, referring to the Lions’ front office. “They’ve expressed a lot of confidence in me and feel good about where I’m at and where I’m at with them and where we’re headed. I’m excited about. But if anything were to happen there (with drafting a QB), no, no concern.”
Goff has two years remaining on the four-year, $134 million contract he signed with the Rams in September 2019. He carries a cap hit of $31.15 million for the 2022 season, per Spotrac.
The Lions have the No. 2 pick in the first round of the draft, which begins on April 28. They also have the 32nd pick in the opening round, courtesy of the Rams from the Goff-Stafford trade.
–Field Level Media