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It’s safe to say the perception of Jared Goff has changed some since the Detroit Lions acquired the quarterback from the Los Angeles Rams after the 2020 season. Goff has gone from a player many considered a throw-in to help make the “Matthew Stafford trade” balance better to a Pro Bowler and consummate leader of a Lions team poised for another deep playoff run.
The Lions brass, namely GM Brad Holmes, never considered Goff a mere throw-in. Holmes believed in Goff’s ability to bounce back from a sour ending in Los Angeles, and that belief has been rewarded handsomely. Head coach Dan Campbell has an appreciation for what Goff has become in Detroit, too.
“I think he’s been everything that we’ve hoped he would be and then some,” Campbell enthused before Monday’s practice. “I think what he brought was – at the least, he brought a stable piece for us. A steady, reliable guy who behind center is going to do what we ask him to do. We take care of him, he’ll take care of the football. He’s going to move it, he’ll be efficient, he’ll be our captain.
That’s at the least, and what we got was so much more. So, we got that and through the years, these last three years, he’s just continued to grow and gotten better and gotten better.”
From open wondering about which highly-touted quarterback the Lions might draft to replace Goff to having his name chanted at different sporting venues all around Michigan, it’s been a very redemptive rise for Goff.
“I think he just wants more, and he continues to challenge himself and the more he does that, the more we load him up,” Campbell continued on Goff. “The more we ask him to do, the more we put on his plate because he can handle it and he wants it. So, where he’s able to go, our offense is able to go. So, we ask him to do a lot, and we’re going to ask him to do a little bit more than he did last year because he can handle it. He’s proven that. He’s playing at a high level, and he also knows he doesn’t have to do this all on his own.”
Goff has humbly and firmly risen above the early skepticism, and he deserves all the flowers Campbell and others are justifiably giving him.