Even With Jared Goff, Expect the Lions to Explore QB Options in 2023

The former Rams quarterback was adequate in his first season, but with a nonguaranteed salary next year, he will be playing for his job this season. Plus, Kenny Pickett’s improving starter odds, the Raiders’ offensive line conundrum and more.

FORT LAUDERDALE TO NEWARK — I’m somewhere over the Maryland/Virginia line as I write this mailbag. Got a little ways to go until I land in Jersey for my final camp visit. And you had questions to help me pass the time up here …

From Craig Ginsberg (@CraigAdamG): What is the outlook for Goff’s future in Detroit? Will the Lions be looking to draft QB of the future next year?

Craig, I think Goff suddenly looks pretty affordable. He played fine, for the most part, last year. He’s due $25.65 million next year (nonguaranteed) and $26.65 million in 2024. The contract he did with the Rams in 2019 ranks 11th in average per year ($33.5 million), but the $25 million or so he’s been making as a Lion (with the Rams having paid the bonus money) puts him right in the middle of the league between 16th and 17th.

Is that a lot for a quarterback who might not be your guy five years from now? Sure. But Goff is a good player who’s been in a Super Bowl and can give the Lions a fighting chance week to week, and he’ll buy the front office time to find a long-term answer without feeling it has to happen tomorrow.

Goff's salary is affordable for the Lions but his future is up in the air in Detroit.  :: Kirthmon F. Dozier/USA Today Network

So, yeah, I do see the Lions kicking the tires on potential franchise guys in the spring. Which veterans might suddenly become available? How high will the Lions be picking? That remains to be seen. And how the college season shakes out—with guys such as Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Alabama’s Bryce Young, Kentucky’s Will Levis and Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke all having shown promise, but needing another year to sew up their draft position—will be a part of the equation for the Lions and a few other teams, too.

Which means I’m giving this question a big, fat, boring TBD.

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From Moose Block (@moose_block): Will Kenny Pickett be a starter by Week 3?

Moose, that would be a weird time for the Steelers to pull such a switch, given that they’re playing Thursday night that week at the Browns—meaning the offense would barely be given any time to work with its new quarterback. Making the switch after they play the Thursday-night game ahead of a Week 4 home clash with the Jets would make a lot more sense, to give the team 11 days to prepare Pickett.

That said, I really don’t think Mike Tomlin is going to be that wishy-washy. We haven’t really seen him in this spot before (remember, he got to Pittsburgh for Ben Roethlisberger’s fourth season). My guess would be he’s going let the competition play out, pick a starter and then give that starter plenty of backing and rope so he won’t go out there thinking his next mistake will be his last as the No. 1.

I still think it’s Mitchell Trubisky as starter with Pickett as backup. But I’m not anywhere near as confident saying that as I was three weeks ago. While Pickett hasn’t been lighting it up in practice, his reputation for being a gamer has manifested with the lights on, and there’s something to be said for that.

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From LA Sports for Life (@RaiderMatt5204): What is the raiders plan at Right Tackle??

Raiders fans seem very concerned about this one. I’d say going into this week’s joint practices with New England, the Raiders had three options at that spot—Jermaine Eluemunor, Thayer Munford and Alex Leatherwood—in the aftermath of the injury to steady veteran Brandon Parker. Eluemunor has good background with the staff from his time in New England. Munford is a rookie that, they think, was undervalued in the draft. And Leaatherwood is the Raiders’ 2021 first-round pick who’s clearly on shaky ground.

If I had to guess right now, I’d say Josh McDaniels is going to want to just get functional at that position with so much strength elsewhere on offense. And that’s why Eluemunor, again, with his background, probably makes sense as the starter (especially with Munford nursing an injury). Then, maybe Munford will pass him, maybe not, and Parker obviously will get back in the mix when he’s ready to roll.

I also know the Raiders have at least explored trading Leatherwood, who started all 17 games. Whether they’d cut him would be another story since he’s on a fully guaranteed rookie contract.

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From Jason Crawford (@bobcat2498): How will the Raiders upgrade their offensive line?

Get Parker healthy?

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From PanninhoS (@PanninhoS): When do we get the (details) on Washington?

At some point over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to get to the eight teams I haven't seen this summer—Jaguars, Falcons, Saints, Texans, Commanders, Ravens, Titans and Lions—and give all of you updates on their camps. So don't worry, I didn't forget about you.

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From SB LVI Champs - TheMikeBar3 (@themikebar3): There has to be someone on the Rams that could have run the Pats offense?

From Stephen Cue (@cue_stephen): If Pats have an underwhelming season, do you see Krafts moving Bill upstairs and going after Bill O'Brien?

Well, offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell got a head coaching job. Shane Waldron, the pass-game coordinator from a couple of years back, is calling plays in Seattle. Matt LaFleur’s offensive staff in Green Bay got picked clean, as did Kyle Shanahan’s in San Francisco.

The problem I have here is the implication that this was ever going to be a clean conversion over to the Shanahan system—mostly because I don’t think that’s what Bill Belichick was doing. The intention going into the offseason was, first and foremost, to untangle an offense that had gone through 20 years of addition without much subtraction. As we said before in this space, the Patriots’ offense was specifically for Tom Brady, and that needed to be undone because the point of entry for skill players was so high.

Bottom line, the past couple of years the Patriots saw the downside (tough to assimilate new guys) of the scheme getting to where it was, more than they did the upside (it was much tougher to weaponize the offense’s complexity without Brady commanding it).

So, yeah, the Patriots leaned on outside zone concepts and worked to tie the passing game more intimately to the run game, and both are Shanahan tentpoles. I personally think that part of it was more about making quarterback Mac Jones comfortable (he played in such a system under Steve Sarkisian at Alabama), and playing to his strength than it was trying to catch a trend that’s already run through the league a few times over.

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Gesicki will need to become a more complete tight end to earn a top contract at the position.  :: Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports

From Manuel Malo (@manuma17): Gesicki has been struggling mightily with blocking in McDaniel's new scheme, which seems to have rendered him expendable. Which team would be a good fit for him and what can Miami realistically get for him in a trade?

Manuel, I wouldn’t buy into the idea that Mike Gesicki is on the block—the Dolphins haven’t shopped him at all. What they are trying to do is develop him as a blocker. Tight ends coach Jon Embree used the offseason to drill Gesicki on what he needed from him in the run game. That meant a lot of drill work through the spring and summer. It meant studying George Kittle, who played for Embree as a 49er and turned himself into a great blocker in the pros, and how he started a long way from that as a rookie.

They’ve put a lot of work into getting Gesicki where he needs to be as a true “Y” tight end in the offense, and I think they’re going forward with him as a key piece.

After that? We’ll see what happens. I would say that for Gesicki to earn a deal from the Dolphins near what Mark Andrews or Dallas Goedert got ($14 million average per year), or what Kittle or Travis Kelce received, he’ll need to become a more complete player. And the truth is, up until now, he’s been more of an oversized receiver than a total tight end.

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From Matt Ramas (@matt_ramas): The Bill defense gave up a lot of big plays in the Chiefs playoff game last year, ultimately ending their season. Can they take the next step this year in a loaded AFC?

Matt, the answer is yes, for a couple of reasons.

First, the Bills didn’t have Tre’Davious White, one of the game’s top five corners, for that game, and that’s not an insignificant piece to why they struggled that night. And when White comes back, he’ll do it in all likelihood with first-round pick Kaiir Elam having taken Levi Wallace’s place in the rotation. Wallace, now in Pittsburgh, was a good player, to be sure, for the Bills. Elam’s got a chance to be better, and right away.

Second, Buffalo should be much better on the edge than it was a year ago. Last year’s first-rounder, Greg Rousseau, was coming back after a year away from football (he opted out of the COVID-19-wracked 2020 season) and was plenty raw. He’s a lot better now, and he, A.J. Epenesa and Boogie Basham have the benefit of an all-time pass rusher in Von Miller joining their position group.

Add that to the Bills’ strength up the middle (Ed Oliver, Tremaine Edmunds, Matt Milano, Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde), and they should be a much-improved defense for the presumptive Super Bowl favorites.

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From A mcginnis (@Amcginnis78): Any chance you see the Eagles make a play for either Kareem hunt or Jessie Bates before the season starts?

A, I think if there’s trade action, Howie Roseman will be involved—I just don’t think it’ll happen yet. Safety’s an area where I do think they’d consider some reinforcements, but trading for Bates would be tricky. Since he’s a franchise-tagged player, you wouldn’t be allowed to extend him until after the season. And in the case Bates comes in and plays great, then he’d be holding all the cards, à la Laremy Tunsil a few years back.

Hunt’s another interesting option, especially because the Eagles got to see him last week during joint practices against the Browns. The Eagles have dealt for help at that particular spot in the past (Jay Ajayi), and are a little thin behind Miles Sanders, with Kenneth Gainwell and Boston Scott there as Sanders’s backups.

But given Roseman’s track record, it’s hard to rule much out. Still, it seems more likely that whatever happens would happen a lot closer to the trade deadline on Nov. 1.

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