Jared Goff NFL Week 15 Special Props: Lions’ Future At Quarterback?

The Detroit Lions are the only team in the NFC yet to play in a Super Bowl. That’s not going to change this February outside of Phoenix, but the Lions are playing their best football in years and could be a playoff team.

They started the season 1-6 and there started to be rumblings that the job of second-year coach Dan Campbell was in trouble. And it was assumed then that the Lions would use a high first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, either their own or the one owed from the Los Angeles Rams in the Matthew Stafford-Jared Goff trade, on a quarterback.

Maybe Detroit still takes a quarterback next year, but Goff is playing the best football of his career and Detroit has won six of seven games to reach 6-7 and get right into the wild-card hunt. Should Goff & Co. win out – very possible with games at the New York Jets (Sunday), Carolina Panthers (Week 16), vs. the Chicago Bears (Week 17) and Green Bay Packers (Week 18); only the Jets have a winning record – the Lions probably will be in the playoffs and could have a good problem on their hands with Goff.

Let’s break down a few Week 15 specials on Goff’s future with the club.

Goff On Reasonable Contract

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) passes against the Minnesota Vikings during an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rick Osentoski)

Goff, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft by the Rams, has two years left on a four-year, $134 million contract with cap hits around $30.6 million in each of those seasons. That’s actually not terrible for a good quarterback in the NFL.

During this impressive seven-game run for Detroit, Goff has thrown for 1,769 yards, 11 touchdowns and one interception for a rating of 104.6. That would be fourth in the league over the full season, and Goff’s overall 97.9 mark is seventh and ahead of the likes of Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Aaron Rodgers and Dak Prescott. Goff, who ranks third in the NFC with 3,352 passing yards, was interception-prone early in the year but hasn’t thrown a pick in five straight games.

Since entering the league in 2016, Goff has 24,768 passing yards in 96 career games. With 232 passing yards at the Jets Sunday, Goff would tie Hall of Famers Peyton Manning (97 games) and Kurt Warner (97) as the third-fastest player ever to reach 25,000 career passing yards. Only the former Lion Stafford (90 games) and Dan Marino (92) reached the mark in fewer games.

While it seems that Goff has been around forever, he’s still only 28. That he’s the Week 1 starting QB for the Lions in the 2023 season is -600 with no at +350. Even if Detroit takes a quarterback in the first round of the draft, at worst Goff could serve as a one-year bridge and let the rookie sit and learn for a year like Patrick Mahomes did.

That Detroit takes a QB in the first round is -120 with no at -120. It is expected to be a great QB class and the Lions have some maneuverability with their first-rounder and the one from the Rams.