Lions' Draft Shows Confidence in QB Jared Goff

Ex-Cal star now seems entrenched as Detroit's starting quarterback for 2022

Former Cal quarterback Jared Goff can exhale.

Although Goff said prior to the NFL draft that he wasn’t concerned about the possibility of the Detroit Lions drafting a quarterback, the fact that they didn’t take a signal-caller has to ease his mind and confirm that the Lions trust him as their quarterback for one more year.

The Lions’ eight draft selections consisted of six defensive players, a wide receiver (Jameson Williams) with the 12th overall pick and a tight end (James Mitchell) with a fifth-round selection. Their two undrafted free agent signings so far are an offensive lineman and another wide receiver (Kalil Pimpleton).

There was predraft talk the Lions might draft a quarterback somewhere along the line, either to replace Goff as the starter in 2022 or to groom for the starting spot in 2023. They didn’t do it. Every move seemed designed to enhance the current quarterback’s chance for success.

Of course, the fact that this draft was considered a weak one for quarterbacks may have had something to do with Detroit's drafting. No quarterback was taken until the 20th overall selection, and a second quarterback was not drafted until the third round. So maybe the Lions just felt stuck with Goff.

In any case, barring an unlikely trade, Goff will be the Lions’ starting quarterback again in 2022. Goff, David Blough, Steven Montez and Tim Boyle are the only quarterbacks currently on the Lions roster, and there seems to be no reasonable way that Detroit could acquire a quarterback before the start of the 2022 season who would be an improvement on Goff.

The Detroit Free Press ran this headline on Shawn Windsor’s story following the draft: “Lions say they believe in Jared Goff. NFL draft proves it’s more than just talk.”

Anytime a team goes 3-13-1, as the Lions did in 2021, the quarterback position is up for review, especially in the case of Goff, who was viewed by the media and the public as a temporary place-holder for the quarterback spot after he was acquired in the trade that sent Matthew Stafford to the Rams.

Goff struggled through much of last season, but he improved significantly over that last half of the year. Over his final six starts, Goff threw 11 touchdown passes and two interceptions, and the team went 3-2-1 in those six games, including a 16-14 loss in which Bears kicked the game-winning field goal on the game’s final play. The fact that the Lions lost all three games in that span in which Goff did not play made Goff’s performances look even better.

He was showing flashes of the form that earned him selections to the Pro Bowl in 2017 and 2018.

Of course, Goff’s performance over the first half of the 2022 season will be closely scrutinized by Lions fans and officials, probably determining his long-term future with the team.

The Detroit Free News’ headline on columnist Dave Birkett’s story read: “Brad Holmes’ second draft as Detroit Lions GM sets Jared Goff for season of no excuses.”

And it started with this sentence:

The Detroit Lions spent the vast majority of their resources on defense in this week’s NFL draft, which was the clearest indication yet what they think about Jared Goff at quarterback.

So three days of draft picks showed that Goff still has the job. For now.

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Cover photo of Jared Goff by Raj Mehta, USA TODAY Sports

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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