'He Had Something to Prove': Why Jared Goff Was Right for Lions

Brad Holmes explains why Jared Goff was the right fit for a developing team.

The Detroit Lions were seeking a quarterback to replace Matthew Stafford, when the veteran signal-caller decided it was time to move on from the organization that made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. 

Then new-Lions general manager Brad Holmes had a player in mind when the deal was eventually made with the Los Angeles Rams. 

It has been made clear by Detroit's personnel leader that Jared Goff was not simply a player thrown into the Rams deal that included multiple first-round draft picks. 

The plan was to develop a young football team, with Goff as the leader of the offense. 

The MMQB's Albert Breer recently spent time with Holmes, Lions head coach Dan Campbell and quarterback Jared Goff to kick off his 2023 training camp tour. 

According to Detroit's third-year general manager, "When Jared came out of college, even as an underclassman, he was very young. And not to get too deep into the whole draft process, we took him No. 1 because we just saw so much upside with him and he was continually getting better. And then he had some early success.

"When we got here, I knew that he still had growth, and he was still a young quarterback, and he was still very talented," Holmes noted. "And then talking with Dan (Campbell), our conversations about how he’s going to approach player development, how he’s going to run the team, I just knew that he was very talented. He had a lot of upside. He’d been through a lot. And I will say this -- like I think all of us when we first got here, he had something to prove."

How Goff handled adversity in 2021, as the team was tore down and offensive weapons were sparse, proved to the organization he embodied grittiness, exactly what the team was seeking during the rebuilding process. 

Goff, entering his third season in Motown, is excited for training camp and to lead an offense that has the potential to execute at a high level. 

"I could barely sleep last night," Goff said early in training camp. "Excited. Feels like the first day of school and with early reports, it’s always like we get here, whatever it was Wednesday and it’s like, ‘Alright, when are we going to practice? It feels like it takes forever, but it’s finally here and we’re excited.”

The 28-year-old feels he is just entering the "prime" of his NFL career, which should benefit an organization now on the rise. 

"It always is exciting and every first day of every year is always fun and you look forward to it and, yeah, it’s really always fun," said Goff. "And then you try to stay young with it. I feel like I’m getting up there in years. Hopefully, not too old. But in football years, it’s getting up there. I like to say, ‘Just entering my prime. I’m not old.’ But yeah, it’s fun.”