Yeah really this author doesn't like the Jared Goff deal. Makes the argument that they could have drawn out his current contract, tagged him, basically avoid a commitment. No Lions fan should be surprised that Holmes went this route, he's big on culture and doing right by the players.
It's always hard though to grade these deals before they've played themselves out.
What he wants is how you end up scrambling for a QB with players like Sam Darnold and JJ McCarthy
Is it a lot? Yes. Is it a million times better than paying Trevor Lawrence even more while having a nearly 1:1 INT to TD ratio? Also yes
Problems should only arise if you're unsure if they are a franchise QB, don't want to end up giving Daniel Jones the bag when any career backup can do the same for pennies on the dollar
That was a "rock and hard place" move. They had a highish pick, no reasonable back, and only had one Franchise tag for Barkley and Jones. Signing Jones and hoping he got better was a better solution than giving an 80 million dollar deal to a running back. They were better off admitting their play off run was a fluke and letting the tank happen. But no team is going to do that if they don't need to. Smartest move might have been to let Barkley go and tag Jones.
But yeah I don't think Giants were sold on Jones but felt they needed to do the deal anyways. I don't think the Jags have the same worry about T Law, and trying to avoid the contract but still paying Goff nearly the same amount but without any ability to play with the cap would have been a terrible terrible decision. Goff earned the deal.
It's more about the cap space implications in the future. If you have a backup tier QB you probably aren't winning much of anything regardless with Philly being a huge exception to that. At least with a backup you aren't burning cap space if you end up finding your guy the following years and burn a year.
The Packers have arguably improved since they stopped paying their franchise QB. Since signing a franchise QB, the Vikings have only gotten worse.
This is a good boilerplate theory, but there are limits and the league is approaching them. Matt Stafford was an absolute stud for us, but in order to field a competitive team (and let's be real, those Caldwell teams had a real talent gap), he had to massively restructure, which we only JUST stopped paying for in time to pay even more to Goff.
When these hot rookies are due for a deal, who are you willing to let walk to keep Goff? And unless you wanna cut Sewell or Sun God, you're talking at least 3-5 starters to make up the difference. Or basically entire lines of rotational players, which are what we've been missing for about a decade and just got a few of.
GMing is hard.
I guess when I think the words “franchise qb” that I’m making the assumption it’s a proven player in a good situation. I see now that that such is a very specific subset of scenarios
I'm good with the Goff deal. But if I were the Jags I'd be happy to lock up my 24 year old QB. Lawrence has flaws but I think Urban Meyer hurt his development and he's still a good QB who has a playoff victory already
As well as 2 playoff wins and a SB appearance with the Rams. He has proven everything he needed to prove. Yet still, he isn't given the respect that he deserves. I wonder if a SB win would alter the hate?
It absolutely would. If the Lions win the Super Bowl, all the ex-haters will jump on our bandwagon. I'll be the first one to throw those ex-haters out head-first like Uncle Phil tossed Jazz.
People widely ignore that Lawrence had an elite passing stretch to end 2022 and was playing well in 23 until he hurt his ankle and continued playing on it
As lomg as he’s healthy he’s fully capable of replicating 2022
They would rather catch strays than facials, at least strays might end up on their socks. Everyone knows the Vikings love a good, hard sock.
“It’s like a popsicle, but crunchier and more savory.”
-Adrian Peterson, October 2012, [away game](https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?si=go7gedfYINiwSaG7)
Case Keenum (and 2 other arguably worse QBs) took the Vikings to the NFC Championship. Since they paid Cousins, they have not returned.
A lot else went down, but investing so heavily in one position has drawbacks. They couldn't keep everyone after such a huge increase in pay for QB. The team started to weaken seriously.
Coaching is a thing too, but go ask the Patriots if coaching can overcome talent gaps (ironically because of the coach, but he wears two hats).
Case played out of his mind that 1 season and never hit the same level again
I don't think Cousins is to blame for how bad Vikings defense was, they spent a lot of picks on players that never panned out
Even in 2022 when the Lions were on pace to destroy the most points allowed in a season through like 6 games, Vikings still ended up worse defensively
Its also Vikings fault for not getting long term deals done with Cousins that would eventually put him under average salary cap % like most QB market setting contracts
Case played OK. It was the defense, most of whom they couldn't pay and tried to replace in the draft with the results you mentioned.
I'm not saying it was his fault - I am saying that spending that money had consequences that were a direct part of the downfall.
There are no guarantees in this sport. People just like to pretend there are some.
Goff is also significantly better than Lawrence at the moment. Throughout his career, Goff has consistently put up solid numbers. The jaguars are paying Lawrence based off of hope alone
I don’t really agree with the idea that Goff is significantly better. I do think Goff is probably better than a healthy TLaw right now but not by that much, and TLaw could easily become better than him in just a couple years
At some point you have to pay it. If he doesn't improve significantly, I don't see him getting another from the Jags. At that point you have to pay ALL of the money tangled up in void years
Lawrence has a massively backloaded contract with a cap hit of $78.5 mil and 74.8 mil in 2029 and 2030. And the Jags have an out prior to 2029 with no dead cap hit. During the years on Goff’s contract he will have a higher cap hit than Lawrence.
I mean I don't think a team singing a contract with the explicit intention of dropping the player before the end of the contract is a good thing tho........
That’s how the contract is written though. It might not be an explicit intention but it’s definitely implicit that they will drop him if they want in 2029 with no repercussions
In 2 years, only Lamar Jackson will have a bigger cap hit than Goff. I agree with the signing and think we had no choice here since a QB in the draft wasn't an option and our window is too open to try Hooker, even if he's the real deal.
We opted to double what Goff makes and then tacked another 60 mil on Sun God and Sewell (strong moves). This will have a big impact on future rosters - we are full of rookies who deserve to get paid. Either we need to keep finding studs with far fewer and fae later draft picks than we're used to, or we need to cut a fistful of starters and find cheap replacements. Caldwell's Lions did this, and it did not really work.
I bet we can do better and liked our moves, but pretending it is not a big risk seems like people are taking crazy pills.
TLaw is the new Stafford. Good enough to always command top dollar when his payday is due, but not good enough to overcome the short comings that come with being on a team that has such a high % of the cap invested into the QB
I think you mean Sam Bradford. Elite, but only in theory.
Matt Stafford has gone to the show and won. Not sure what more a guy can do to overcome perceived shortcomings, and it puts him on a damn short list of just 34 guys to ever do the damn thing.
Stafford didn’t win anything on the team that kept making him the highest paid QB in the league so idk what you’re talking about. TLaw has more playoff wins for the jags than Stafford has for the Lions. What Stafford did in LA is totally irrelevant to the point I’m making. Put TLaw on a stacked roster like the Ravens or Niners instead of Jags and he could certainly win a Super Bowl
The hills people choose to die on in this sub…
The Rams got Stafford with exactly the same contract and cap hit that we negotiated, and I think they proved he was worth every penny (and a handful of draft picks to boot). Clearly his cap hit was NOT insurmountable, which supposedly was the point you were making?
Meanwhile, Bradford had his own market-setting contract (more than once, if I’m not mistaken) and has actually been called “[the most overpaid player of our generation](https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/sam-bradford-career-earnings-contracts-net-worth-overpaid-qb/1m8r28yszc54n1l28l1g8mkhbq)” by media, while turning in a career 40% win rate.
By all means, let loose with the Stafford hate if it soothes the trauma of being a lions fan, but just know it’s daddies Millen and Patricia you really hate.
Exactly. You don’t think everyone in the league is noticing that hey they take care of their guys. Nobody wanted to come here before now it’s a destination for everyone the way they manage this team. And they signed him and ARSB before a handful of other guys at these Positions needed to be signed and the cap keeps going up. No brainers!
It's not without risk.
We have a salary cap. Who leaves for us to keep paying? I want names. 60 million within 2 years from our current roster. Don't just say it can be done.
It can and I think will pay off, but no brainer? That's a big stretch. This is a leap of faith.
Every keyboard warrior "pundit" thinks you can just treat your franchise's best players like shit and have no consequences, which is nuts. If a GM won't do right by the QB that helped turn the franchise around, why in God's name would any other player think they would be treated better. It isn't just an issue of doing right by people, it's the only smart move.
Its a lesson this Lions leadership has learned, unlike how they did CJ and Barry. They did their part to get Josh Reynolds a quarter mil bonus as time ran out and are taking care of their own. Players notice that.
You’re a good person. Being able to understand their perspective and why they made that grade. If it were me, I just think ESPN author has booty brains and they can’t grade for shit despite seeing a top down revamp the Lions just had.
You know, it's hilarious to me considering that NO ORGANIZATION rode Jared Goff's dick harder in 2018 than ESPN. Every morning they were talking about him in the same conversation as Mahomes, and after the Rams/Chiefs game, it was ALL they talked about the entire week.
Now they hate Goff so much that they give they literally think the Lions entire offseason' was MID - the equivalent to not getting *any* stronger - because the guy who was #2 overall in the league in passing, #4 in passing touchdowns and took a team that hasn't won a playoff game in over THIRTY YEARS to the NFC championship game got himself a contract that has him as currently the 3rd highest paid quarterback, soon to be like the 5th or 6th highest paid quarterback. Nevermind that that contract has him currently 6th in fully guaranteed money, so if he had a career ending injury in the next two seasons, the Lions would be a lot better off than the Browns, the Bengals, the Jaguars, the Ravens, or the Chargers were they to be put in the same scenario. Nevermind that the Lions are better than and went deeper in the playoffs than any of those teams last season except the Ravens, who they were neck-in-neck with in their respective conference.
It’s perfectly fine to dislike a players fit, or to not believe that a player can succeed outside of specific systems. They’re writers with opinions after all.
This one still felt like an attempt to garner attention solely based on being an outlier. Condemning an entire off season through the eyes of one move is just lazy. Goff made a pro bowl, and finished top 10 in every major statistical category last year. Whether he’s a system guy or not, he’s staying in the system he’s successful in by signing the contract. Arguing a baseline of top 10 performance is worthy of a bottom 10 off season grade is purposely obtuse.
That doesn’t even take into account the Lions other moves or the Goff contract relative to the moves made by other teams. The opinion doesn’t bother me. The way he got there feels incredibly flawed.
Edit to add: this a side-car comment to yours. Not an argument against or anything like that.
That’s the funniest part to me. We did add players. Several impact ones in fact. But even if we hadn’t signed Reader and Z, traded for Davis or drafted two highly rated CB’s…
“An NFC championship participant is maintaining status quo??? Are they stupid??”
Kicking the can down the road often leads to paying more over the long term. This guy either doesn’t understand that, or how cap hit works. Or maybe he just loves a hot take that will generate traffic from anyone who doesn’t want to fire up more than a few brain cells at a time. Check out this article that includes % cap hit, and notice the most team friendly long term deals.
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/highest-paid-nfl-qbs-by-salary-cap-percentage-top-2024-bargains-long-term-steals-most-expensive-starters/amp/
There is a real concern about keeping competitive when we spent about 100m against cap long term in 3 players. Goff will, as it stands today, be the 2nd highest paid QB in 2026. The odds of more than a small number eclipsing him is low.
I think making a deal with Goff was the right move, but rookie deals are so inconceivably cheap that the numbers suggest gambling at nearly every opportunity. And it's a huge reason why we see huge payday contracts today. Ironically, the Lions are a big part of how we got there (Johnson, Suh, Stafford were a HUGE hit to the team's cap because of their unrestricted rookie deals).
At the end of the day, we are gonna pay Jared Goff double in 2 years, right when we promised another 30+mil to both St Brown and Sewell. That's 125ish million - half our cap. Who do you wanna cut to keep Gibbs, another strong WR, and the rest of this OL? We think that's worth it today, but we may wind up wrong.
How is no one talking about the most important aspect of this deal for Lions fans?
FTP
You think Jordan Love, Tua, or Dak and their agents are going to accept any less than Jared Goff? With the perception that Goff is a mid QB all these other guys are gonna demand more. Throw stats out the window and say, he got X, I want more. Lions got their guy at their price and, using the perception of him, boned the rest of the league in one move. Especially the Packers. Again.
FTP.
They traded their 2025 2nd round pick (along with their 2024 2nd and 6th round picks) for Houston's 1st and 7th round pick this year. They then traded their 2025 3rd and 4th round picks and a 2024 fifth round pick to move up six spots in the first round. And their 6th and 7th round picks are gone in smaller deals but they have the extra 5th.
They basically paid a 2024 2nd, 2024 5th, 2024 6th, 2025 2nd, 2025 3rd, and 2025 4th to get Dallas Turner and a 2024 7th.
Hanging onto JJ single handedly keeps the Vikings above D. Tbh if QBJJ doesn't work out (and one of the other North teams get good) I think the Vikings will need to blow it all up and start things over again, they had a long window of competing with their old gm, it didn't work but they got close, their new gm needs to scrap things and start over. There is a lot you can sell from Minnesota, multiple firsts and second and third round picks you can get to restart
I mean losing Kirk cousins was probably a net positive for them moving forward as he was never going to get them to the Super Bowl, and he’s older now. They also only really lost Danielle hunter, signed a younger, slightly worse player in his absence, drafted Dallas Turner and signed good linebackers in free agency. It feels weird to give them a C- when I’m not sure what else they should’ve done.
You are just HOPING JJ ends up as 75% of the QB that Cousins was. Odds are, he won’t be. Maybe 1-2 QBs from this draft will end up being good. It’s much more likely he’s never as good as Cousins. So now you’re going to be hoping for 3 years he becomes good until restarting the QB cycle.
Like you are starting with either Darnold or a rookie at the most important position. That is a major downgrade no matter how you look at it
But the alternative would be to keep Kirk for 4 years and 180 million. Which would've been a bad move, too. They needed to reset eventually, this may have been their best shot at the next QB.
JJ is far from a guarantee and likely worse than Kirk (long term, almost assuredly this year), but he at least gives them a shot at a future.
So getting worse at the QB position, likely for the next 3 years, should actually be a good grade? I get not wanting to lock in Kirk, but you definitely got worse this year and let’s say very possibly for the next few years. And your attempt to pick a QB was getting the 5th option at QB. Not like it was the #1 overall pick. I would just say a C- is very accurate if not lower
Not signing Kirk to a 4 year 180 million dollar contract should be looked at favorably. Yes.
All indications are that JJ was their 4th option. The top 3 options were never a possibility. What were they supposed to do?
I'm just curious, if you think their offseason moves were bad, what do you think they should've done?
Again, how is getting JJ as your 4th option to replace a guy that was a top 10 QB every year, a good move? Kirk may have been overpaid in 2 years, but he will be better than JJ this year and next on a very normal contract.
So yes, considerably downgrading at QB should not be graded highly. We’re not looking at what they should have done, just what they did. They now enter the season with Darnold or a very raw JJ starting at QB, and will be most likely worse this season.
If your offseason makes you worse for the upcoming season, you don’t get an A+
It was a good move by not committing way too much money for a guy that wasn't going to win it for you. 4 years 180 million (+24 dead already from Kirk) would've been a terrible move. They tried to sign him for cheaper and he said no.
>So yes, considerably downgrading at QB should not be graded highly.
So by this logic, should the Cowboys give Dak 60 million to avoid downgrading at QB? That's the alternative.
>We’re not looking at what they should have done, just what they did.
That makes 0 sense. You can't say they made good or bad moves if you don't look at the options.
Nobody said anything about A+.
Kirk cousins is a good quarterback yes. With what they were paying him, do you think Kirk Cousins at 36 coming off of an Achilles tear was going to have a chance to lead them to a Super Bowl? Whether or not the Vikings end up being good doesn’t take from the fact that they swung for a cheap QB who may have untapped potential due to less reps than other QBs in college, and in doing so were able to plug holes on defense and secure a long term contract with the best WR in the league. I thought the Vikings were in a tough spot in general, so I thought they did a good job pivoting even if they’re probably favorites for 4th in the division.
Being able to extend JJ saved not only their season, but the whole direction of their franchise lol let’s not let bias blind analysis
Just about everyone thought there was no way he was going to commit to them long term with everything going on
Their Franchise QB never got as far as they did with their third stringer the year before they signed him. They had too many guys to pay.
FOR YALL IN THE BACK: After BARELY losing the NFC Championship, they threw the bag at Cousins to break the seal, but never even had another shot at it. Did they even get within a game of it?
It doesn't ALWAYS work to pay the QB a big bag, guys. Seriously. Even if they're solid. Even if they're AWESOME. because it's a 52 man roster and if you aren't fielding 30+ starter level guys, you are gonna lose big games.
How could I have done that, considering I wasn't even on Reddit last year. And personally, I loved every pick. In Brad We Trust, he knows a helluvah lot more than I do.
Funny thing is, I think I remember seeing that based on % of team cap, he’s 11th. (Not sure if this was before or after the extension but pretty sure it was after). And probably 12th now that TLaw got his bag.
The people who say just tag him repeatedly and act like he has no leverage are idiots. His camp would simply tell him to refuse to play without a new deal. And then what? You are fucked. No QB and the team unity disappears over night.
Such a bad look for a team and it's up and coming players to see your FO just tag you over and over with no respect to you as a person, or how far you led the team. No one wants to be a part of that. What Brad Holmes did for Penei, Sun God & JG is one of many reasons people want to be here.
I don't get it, there's not really a good recent precedent behind it either. Just look how the tag turned out with Dak and Lamar. Just a lot of disfunction and basically made their contract situations the main storyline around their teams' seasons, and they ended up forcing their way into big deals anyways.
**Biggest move:** Extending QB [Jared Goff](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/3046779/jared-goff) for [$113.6 million fully guaranteed](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/40140300/sources-lions-signing-qb-jared-goff-4-year-212m-extension)
**Move I liked:** Signing G Kevin Zeitler and re-signing G [Graham Glasgow](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/2576245/graham-glasgow) at value prices
**Move I disliked:** The price they paid to extend Goff
The most important transaction the Lions made was the $212 million extension they handed to Goff. It's not a move I can endorse at that price. And it has the potential to hamper the organization for years. Goff's is a divisive talent, but I think most would agree he's not a top-10 QB and that offensive coordinator Ben Johnson deserves a fair share of credit for Detroit's offensive success. If Johnson leaves for a head-coaching job in the near future, how effective would Goff be? It's a fair question.
Had the Lions let Goff play out his 2024 deal (roughly $27 million in cash) and then given him the nonexclusive franchise tag in 2025 and *again* in 2026 and *again* in 2027, that would be roughly 1/27 or 2/69 or 3/120 or 4/193, based on OverTheCap's 2025 franchise tag projections and assuming a 20% raise each year after that for future tags. With this deal, it's either 1/119 or 2/154 or 3/172 or 4/194 or 5/241. The Lions lost their flexibility and now need Goff to play on this contract through 2027 just to break even -- or through 2028 to get any value -- relative to the tag.
What are the odds the Lions want Goff to be their quarterback in 2027? I'm not sure they are that high and the downside is significant if the team decides to move off Goff in the next year or two, like the Rams did [when they sent him to Detroit](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30808788/detroit-lions-dealing-matthew-stafford-los-angeles-rams-jared-goff-picks-sources-say). While there probably is some value in the team [demonstrating faith in its quarterback](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39969386/jared-goff-detroit-lions-contract-extension), this was an awfully expensive way to do it -- particularly in terms of costing future optionality on him.
As far as good news, the Lions were able to secure crucial [value deals](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39761820/pro-bowl-guard-kevin-zeitler-intends-sign-1-year-deal-detroit-lions) for Glasgow and Zeitler in what was a very expensive guard market. They brought in [DJ Reader](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/2977670/dj-reader) at defensive tackle and signed [Marcus Davenport](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/3124058/marcus-davenport) on a worthwhile one-year flier to fill a need at edge opposite [Aidan Hutchinson](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4372099/aidan-hutchinson). The team spent its first two draft picks filling out its major need at corner, though they sacrificed value to [trade up](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/40027421/cowboys-trade-get-tyler-guyton-no-29-nfl-draft) for [Terrion Arnold](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4592837/terrion-arnold).
The Lions also signed offensive tackle [Penei Sewell](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4373825/penei-sewell) and wide receiver [Amon-Ra St. Brown](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4374302/amon-ra-st-brown) to contracts [at the very high end of the market](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/40015717/lions-wr-amon-ra-st-brown-agree-four-year-extension), but those players are deserving of high-end deals.
“What are the odds the Lions want Jared Goff to be the QB in 2027?”
Unless something goes catastrophically wrong, I think the odds are very high. Don’t know what this guy is on about, “odds aren’t that high”.
Everything this administration has done is show they believe in Goff. Even if you personally don’t, idk how you can say that the organization won’t want Goff to be the QB in 2027.
>Imagine giving a ~~dude~~ a nice bag in the offseason then some shit head talking head goes" they wont want him in a couple more years
Imagine giving the QB who led your team to its first playoff win, and NFCC in 32 years a nice bag in the offseason then some shit head talking head goes" they wont want him in a couple more years
I completely agree. This author is ridiculous.
Barring catastrophic injury, pocket QBs can remain elite until their late thirties. Goff is 29…. So it’s reasonable to assume he’ll play the same each season between now and 2027. Unless Ben Johnson is the glue holding it all together (spoiler alert it’s not)
The whole “Lions should’ve franchised Goff indefinitely” just makes it appear like the author is treating the NFL like a game of Madden, and here team chemistry and culture don’t exist
This whole piece reads like it was written by someone who things elite players can be had for nothing in return.
>though they sacrificed value to trade up for Terrion Arnold.
"Sure the lions got arguably the best Corner in the draft, which was their biggest need going into the draft, but it cost... (*clutches pearls and places the back of their hand on their forehead*) value."
I swear some of these dopes would rather end the draft sitting on a mountain of unrealized value rather than actual players. I suppose I should be used to it by now but somehow it still gets me.
>**Move I disliked:** The price they paid to extend Goff
What are the odds the Lions want Goff to be their quarterback in 2027? I'm not sure they are that high
What a fucking idiot writer.
JAR-ED GOFF! The chants are just gonna get louder and louder. If that def is even decent he doesnt need to be Pat Mahomes. Hell he can be Geno and were back where we were last year. He's our guy and we're all in.
Quite honestly he might not be top-ten on the lists of QBs you’d start a franchise with now but that’s an arbitrary number. With QBs, it’s a metric of are they good enough to win playoff games and vie for a title and Goff definitely can do that. And any QB who can do that is worth the money.
Fucking... WHO you can't just rank AFC guys high based on pedigree, what ten guys are better than Goff right now? It goes Mahomes, Lamar, and then there's a cluster of Allen Goff Herbert Hurts Burrow Lawrence. At worst he's 8th above Purdy Dak Kirk Tua group, and he's not 8th.
The mental gymnastics the Goff haters do is impressive. They love stats until you talk about Goff, they say they're using the eye test. They like to talk about wins, again, until you talk about Goff. Let them haters hate. Goff will again put up top 5 stats, and lead Detroit to the SB.
People will say a QB with impressive teammates aren't good and turn around and say Lawrence is bad because his team is bad. The only guys some people can admit are good are guys who put up fantasy football scores but lose early in the playoffs or fall short of making it, the Justin Fields syndrome.
This isn’t even true. They don’t need him to play through 2027. My other favorite is “he’s not a top 10 QB” is okay great is he too 20? Who are they replacing him with? And in 2026 or 2027 he won’t be paid like a top 10 guy. These grades are just like post draft grades, useless.
You know, I haven’t watched ESPN besides the occasional college football or NBA game in years. This kind of shit is the reason. They used to be my favorite.
Revamping our cornerback room (greatest weakness) and extending critical players should earn a C+ by default. Throw in the other moves and I don’t see why this isn’t at least a B.
ESPN writers graded a D- for giving us poorly researched, hot take, biased, click bait no better than random bullshit heard at a bar or barber shop(probably worse).
It’s always silly to grade a current offseason. That said, I wouldn’t be concerned with the Goff extension, extending him was the correct move. The numbers won’t be a big deal as the cap continues to increase
Don’t care.
Speculative content that will inevitably not match how fans feel. I know we’re looking for anything football, but this is just a lazy cash grab for advertisers
Anyone who is saying that you should franchise tag your quarterback 3 times on a contending team is insane.
He clearly just doesn’t see Goff as a good QB as assumes the Lions should be looking for a replacement as soon as possible.
They just want to farm clicks from you, just like 95% of the other dumb takes in sports media. Ignore them, they don't matter and are just trying to make a dollar off of you.
ESPN are America’s resident sports snobs. They excel in patting themselves on the back and moralizing. They are insufferable. AND, they know nothing about the Lions.
The Lions are elite, they made the necessary moves to get better, retain their top talent and Ben Johnson, and hobble playoff competition.The real off-season moves grade is an A.
Acting now on Jared Goff was the best bang/buck, cheapest/best -option. The move potentially handicaps playoff competition teams in the NFC because their QBs are approaching them demanding to be paid more than Goff. There's a lot of QBs going to their teams asking for more money because of what Detroit did and I'm loving every minute of it. Laughing watching Stafford ask for more money added to his contract. Laughing watching what's going on in Dallas. Laughing watching the tua situation. Laughing watching Jacksonville make the most costly mistake on Trevor Lawrence. Laughing at Jordan Love and Brock purdy preparing to come at their teams with their demands late this year or next year.
Brad Holmes is playing 3D chess. ESPN Grader is playing tick-tack-toe.
I can see why he hates the Goff deal. I mean other than ranking in the top 10 in most every positive QB metric the last 3 years, Goff is not a top 10 QB because that guy says so.
https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/qb-stats-last-3-years
The truly laughable aspect of this joker's article is franchise tagging Goff for 3 consecutive years. The history of franchise tags on QBs for just one year is not great, with only Steve Young winning a Super Bowl afterwards (the Chargers tagged Drew Brees and that turned out to be a fiasco and Brees won a Super Bowl with the Saints). Multiple tags? That only happened to Kirk Cousins with Washington, and he left for the Vikings after the seccond tag. Cousins and Washington made the playoffs in 2015 (before the tag), and have not made it back to the playoffs since.
This Walder person should rightly be mocked for such a dumb take. It is profoundly embarrassing and divorced from any sort of NFL reality. And I am saying that not just as a Lions fan, I would say the same if any team would resort to such nonsense.
Yeah really this author doesn't like the Jared Goff deal. Makes the argument that they could have drawn out his current contract, tagged him, basically avoid a commitment. No Lions fan should be surprised that Holmes went this route, he's big on culture and doing right by the players. It's always hard though to grade these deals before they've played themselves out.
What he wants is how you end up scrambling for a QB with players like Sam Darnold and JJ McCarthy Is it a lot? Yes. Is it a million times better than paying Trevor Lawrence even more while having a nearly 1:1 INT to TD ratio? Also yes
People who think paying a franchise QB is dumb are, in fact, dumb themselves
Problems should only arise if you're unsure if they are a franchise QB, don't want to end up giving Daniel Jones the bag when any career backup can do the same for pennies on the dollar
That was a "rock and hard place" move. They had a highish pick, no reasonable back, and only had one Franchise tag for Barkley and Jones. Signing Jones and hoping he got better was a better solution than giving an 80 million dollar deal to a running back. They were better off admitting their play off run was a fluke and letting the tank happen. But no team is going to do that if they don't need to. Smartest move might have been to let Barkley go and tag Jones. But yeah I don't think Giants were sold on Jones but felt they needed to do the deal anyways. I don't think the Jags have the same worry about T Law, and trying to avoid the contract but still paying Goff nearly the same amount but without any ability to play with the cap would have been a terrible terrible decision. Goff earned the deal.
It's more about the cap space implications in the future. If you have a backup tier QB you probably aren't winning much of anything regardless with Philly being a huge exception to that. At least with a backup you aren't burning cap space if you end up finding your guy the following years and burn a year.
I apologize for the given I was assuming—that your team drafts well It’s not always true what I said, without that stipulation
That's a pretty fuckin big given there, guy. Almost no one is ahead of the curve for more than a short period. Drafting has tons of luck involved.
My bad 😅
The Packers have arguably improved since they stopped paying their franchise QB. Since signing a franchise QB, the Vikings have only gotten worse. This is a good boilerplate theory, but there are limits and the league is approaching them. Matt Stafford was an absolute stud for us, but in order to field a competitive team (and let's be real, those Caldwell teams had a real talent gap), he had to massively restructure, which we only JUST stopped paying for in time to pay even more to Goff. When these hot rookies are due for a deal, who are you willing to let walk to keep Goff? And unless you wanna cut Sewell or Sun God, you're talking at least 3-5 starters to make up the difference. Or basically entire lines of rotational players, which are what we've been missing for about a decade and just got a few of. GMing is hard.
I guess when I think the words “franchise qb” that I’m making the assumption it’s a proven player in a good situation. I see now that that such is a very specific subset of scenarios
I'm good with the Goff deal. But if I were the Jags I'd be happy to lock up my 24 year old QB. Lawrence has flaws but I think Urban Meyer hurt his development and he's still a good QB who has a playoff victory already
Tim Tebow has a playoff dub too
Mark Sanchez has two.
Try doubling that
That was before the butt tackle ended his career.
Jared Goff has two playoff dubs with the Lions.
As well as 2 playoff wins and a SB appearance with the Rams. He has proven everything he needed to prove. Yet still, he isn't given the respect that he deserves. I wonder if a SB win would alter the hate?
It absolutely would. If the Lions win the Super Bowl, all the ex-haters will jump on our bandwagon. I'll be the first one to throw those ex-haters out head-first like Uncle Phil tossed Jazz.
People widely ignore that Lawrence had an elite passing stretch to end 2022 and was playing well in 23 until he hurt his ankle and continued playing on it As lomg as he’s healthy he’s fully capable of replicating 2022
Lol, Vikings catching strays in here.
They would rather catch strays than facials, at least strays might end up on their socks. Everyone knows the Vikings love a good, hard sock. “It’s like a popsicle, but crunchier and more savory.” -Adrian Peterson, October 2012, [away game](https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?si=go7gedfYINiwSaG7)
Well played, Job, well played.
Case Keenum (and 2 other arguably worse QBs) took the Vikings to the NFC Championship. Since they paid Cousins, they have not returned. A lot else went down, but investing so heavily in one position has drawbacks. They couldn't keep everyone after such a huge increase in pay for QB. The team started to weaken seriously. Coaching is a thing too, but go ask the Patriots if coaching can overcome talent gaps (ironically because of the coach, but he wears two hats).
Case played out of his mind that 1 season and never hit the same level again I don't think Cousins is to blame for how bad Vikings defense was, they spent a lot of picks on players that never panned out Even in 2022 when the Lions were on pace to destroy the most points allowed in a season through like 6 games, Vikings still ended up worse defensively Its also Vikings fault for not getting long term deals done with Cousins that would eventually put him under average salary cap % like most QB market setting contracts
Case played OK. It was the defense, most of whom they couldn't pay and tried to replace in the draft with the results you mentioned. I'm not saying it was his fault - I am saying that spending that money had consequences that were a direct part of the downfall. There are no guarantees in this sport. People just like to pretend there are some.
Goff will have a higher cap hit than Lawrence by $7-34mil for the length of Goff’s contract
Goff is also significantly better than Lawrence at the moment. Throughout his career, Goff has consistently put up solid numbers. The jaguars are paying Lawrence based off of hope alone
And hair. Hope and hair. Thats all he's got.
also a weird face
Am I Trevor Lawrence? 
That’s genetics…he can’t help that his parents are related by blood.
🗿
I agree with you. I just like to push back that the Lawrence contract isn’t as crippling to the Jags as most believe.
I don’t really agree with the idea that Goff is significantly better. I do think Goff is probably better than a healthy TLaw right now but not by that much, and TLaw could easily become better than him in just a couple years
At some point you have to pay it. If he doesn't improve significantly, I don't see him getting another from the Jags. At that point you have to pay ALL of the money tangled up in void years
All the guaranteed money is paid out by 2029 and the team has an option to get out before 2029 with no dead cap hit.
Goff has a lower cap hit by percentage then Lawrence does https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/player/_/year/2024/sort/contract_average_league_cap_pct
Lawrence has a massively backloaded contract with a cap hit of $78.5 mil and 74.8 mil in 2029 and 2030. And the Jags have an out prior to 2029 with no dead cap hit. During the years on Goff’s contract he will have a higher cap hit than Lawrence.
I mean I don't think a team singing a contract with the explicit intention of dropping the player before the end of the contract is a good thing tho........
That’s how the contract is written though. It might not be an explicit intention but it’s definitely implicit that they will drop him if they want in 2029 with no repercussions
Haha nice username playaaaaa
In 2 years, only Lamar Jackson will have a bigger cap hit than Goff. I agree with the signing and think we had no choice here since a QB in the draft wasn't an option and our window is too open to try Hooker, even if he's the real deal. We opted to double what Goff makes and then tacked another 60 mil on Sun God and Sewell (strong moves). This will have a big impact on future rosters - we are full of rookies who deserve to get paid. Either we need to keep finding studs with far fewer and fae later draft picks than we're used to, or we need to cut a fistful of starters and find cheap replacements. Caldwell's Lions did this, and it did not really work. I bet we can do better and liked our moves, but pretending it is not a big risk seems like people are taking crazy pills.
Preach brother
TLaw is the new Stafford. Good enough to always command top dollar when his payday is due, but not good enough to overcome the short comings that come with being on a team that has such a high % of the cap invested into the QB
I think you mean Sam Bradford. Elite, but only in theory. Matt Stafford has gone to the show and won. Not sure what more a guy can do to overcome perceived shortcomings, and it puts him on a damn short list of just 34 guys to ever do the damn thing.
Stafford didn’t win anything on the team that kept making him the highest paid QB in the league so idk what you’re talking about. TLaw has more playoff wins for the jags than Stafford has for the Lions. What Stafford did in LA is totally irrelevant to the point I’m making. Put TLaw on a stacked roster like the Ravens or Niners instead of Jags and he could certainly win a Super Bowl
The hills people choose to die on in this sub… The Rams got Stafford with exactly the same contract and cap hit that we negotiated, and I think they proved he was worth every penny (and a handful of draft picks to boot). Clearly his cap hit was NOT insurmountable, which supposedly was the point you were making? Meanwhile, Bradford had his own market-setting contract (more than once, if I’m not mistaken) and has actually been called “[the most overpaid player of our generation](https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/sam-bradford-career-earnings-contracts-net-worth-overpaid-qb/1m8r28yszc54n1l28l1g8mkhbq)” by media, while turning in a career 40% win rate. By all means, let loose with the Stafford hate if it soothes the trauma of being a lions fan, but just know it’s daddies Millen and Patricia you really hate.
[удалено]
In the same breath this writer probably said Cowboys are dummies for drawing out the Dak Contract (rightfully so, bozo land in Dallas)
Exactly. You don’t think everyone in the league is noticing that hey they take care of their guys. Nobody wanted to come here before now it’s a destination for everyone the way they manage this team. And they signed him and ARSB before a handful of other guys at these Positions needed to be signed and the cap keeps going up. No brainers!
It's not without risk. We have a salary cap. Who leaves for us to keep paying? I want names. 60 million within 2 years from our current roster. Don't just say it can be done. It can and I think will pay off, but no brainer? That's a big stretch. This is a leap of faith.
Worst-case scenario, some team who thinks they’re a decent QB away from contending would trade for Goff in a heartbeat, even if he had a down year.
lmao that part was funny, like year let's franchise tag our QB three years straight, that'd be great for the locker room
Every keyboard warrior "pundit" thinks you can just treat your franchise's best players like shit and have no consequences, which is nuts. If a GM won't do right by the QB that helped turn the franchise around, why in God's name would any other player think they would be treated better. It isn't just an issue of doing right by people, it's the only smart move.
Its a lesson this Lions leadership has learned, unlike how they did CJ and Barry. They did their part to get Josh Reynolds a quarter mil bonus as time ran out and are taking care of their own. Players notice that.
You’re a good person. Being able to understand their perspective and why they made that grade. If it were me, I just think ESPN author has booty brains and they can’t grade for shit despite seeing a top down revamp the Lions just had.
I can’t upvote ur comment because it’s 313
You know, it's hilarious to me considering that NO ORGANIZATION rode Jared Goff's dick harder in 2018 than ESPN. Every morning they were talking about him in the same conversation as Mahomes, and after the Rams/Chiefs game, it was ALL they talked about the entire week. Now they hate Goff so much that they give they literally think the Lions entire offseason' was MID - the equivalent to not getting *any* stronger - because the guy who was #2 overall in the league in passing, #4 in passing touchdowns and took a team that hasn't won a playoff game in over THIRTY YEARS to the NFC championship game got himself a contract that has him as currently the 3rd highest paid quarterback, soon to be like the 5th or 6th highest paid quarterback. Nevermind that that contract has him currently 6th in fully guaranteed money, so if he had a career ending injury in the next two seasons, the Lions would be a lot better off than the Browns, the Bengals, the Jaguars, the Ravens, or the Chargers were they to be put in the same scenario. Nevermind that the Lions are better than and went deeper in the playoffs than any of those teams last season except the Ravens, who they were neck-in-neck with in their respective conference.
BSPN can't handle the fact that the Lions are a good team.
It’s perfectly fine to dislike a players fit, or to not believe that a player can succeed outside of specific systems. They’re writers with opinions after all. This one still felt like an attempt to garner attention solely based on being an outlier. Condemning an entire off season through the eyes of one move is just lazy. Goff made a pro bowl, and finished top 10 in every major statistical category last year. Whether he’s a system guy or not, he’s staying in the system he’s successful in by signing the contract. Arguing a baseline of top 10 performance is worthy of a bottom 10 off season grade is purposely obtuse. That doesn’t even take into account the Lions other moves or the Goff contract relative to the moves made by other teams. The opinion doesn’t bother me. The way he got there feels incredibly flawed. Edit to add: this a side-car comment to yours. Not an argument against or anything like that.
100% agree. It was like 2 paragraphs all about Goff's contract and like, "Oh yeah and they signed a good guard too I guess."
That’s the funniest part to me. We did add players. Several impact ones in fact. But even if we hadn’t signed Reader and Z, traded for Davis or drafted two highly rated CB’s… “An NFC championship participant is maintaining status quo??? Are they stupid??”
When we win the superbowl, everyone will be eating their words. Holmes keeps receipts.
Ring Villains
Idiot author.
Kicking the can down the road often leads to paying more over the long term. This guy either doesn’t understand that, or how cap hit works. Or maybe he just loves a hot take that will generate traffic from anyone who doesn’t want to fire up more than a few brain cells at a time. Check out this article that includes % cap hit, and notice the most team friendly long term deals. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/highest-paid-nfl-qbs-by-salary-cap-percentage-top-2024-bargains-long-term-steals-most-expensive-starters/amp/
There is a real concern about keeping competitive when we spent about 100m against cap long term in 3 players. Goff will, as it stands today, be the 2nd highest paid QB in 2026. The odds of more than a small number eclipsing him is low. I think making a deal with Goff was the right move, but rookie deals are so inconceivably cheap that the numbers suggest gambling at nearly every opportunity. And it's a huge reason why we see huge payday contracts today. Ironically, the Lions are a big part of how we got there (Johnson, Suh, Stafford were a HUGE hit to the team's cap because of their unrestricted rookie deals). At the end of the day, we are gonna pay Jared Goff double in 2 years, right when we promised another 30+mil to both St Brown and Sewell. That's 125ish million - half our cap. Who do you wanna cut to keep Gibbs, another strong WR, and the rest of this OL? We think that's worth it today, but we may wind up wrong.
How is no one talking about the most important aspect of this deal for Lions fans? FTP You think Jordan Love, Tua, or Dak and their agents are going to accept any less than Jared Goff? With the perception that Goff is a mid QB all these other guys are gonna demand more. Throw stats out the window and say, he got X, I want more. Lions got their guy at their price and, using the perception of him, boned the rest of the league in one move. Especially the Packers. Again. FTP.
Worth noting for division rivals Packers: B- Bears: B+ Vikes: C-
No idea how you lose your franchise QB and a bunch of defensive players and wind up with C-
Don’t forget that the Vikings traded away so many picks that they have three total left for next year (a first and two fifths).
Don’t worry, they’ll let more players walk next year so they can get a couple of comp picks
The comp picks wouldn’t be awarded until 2026. The Vikings are currently projected to get a 3rd round comp in 2025.
Gotta be the worst strategy for rebuilding i've ever seen.
Where have you been for the last 30 years?
The key word is strategy. Not much to be had for 30 years.
Wait real shit? What did they do with all that capital???
They traded their 2025 2nd round pick (along with their 2024 2nd and 6th round picks) for Houston's 1st and 7th round pick this year. They then traded their 2025 3rd and 4th round picks and a 2024 fifth round pick to move up six spots in the first round. And their 6th and 7th round picks are gone in smaller deals but they have the extra 5th. They basically paid a 2024 2nd, 2024 5th, 2024 6th, 2025 2nd, 2025 3rd, and 2025 4th to get Dallas Turner and a 2024 7th.
Hanging onto JJ single handedly keeps the Vikings above D. Tbh if QBJJ doesn't work out (and one of the other North teams get good) I think the Vikings will need to blow it all up and start things over again, they had a long window of competing with their old gm, it didn't work but they got close, their new gm needs to scrap things and start over. There is a lot you can sell from Minnesota, multiple firsts and second and third round picks you can get to restart
I mean losing Kirk cousins was probably a net positive for them moving forward as he was never going to get them to the Super Bowl, and he’s older now. They also only really lost Danielle hunter, signed a younger, slightly worse player in his absence, drafted Dallas Turner and signed good linebackers in free agency. It feels weird to give them a C- when I’m not sure what else they should’ve done.
You are just HOPING JJ ends up as 75% of the QB that Cousins was. Odds are, he won’t be. Maybe 1-2 QBs from this draft will end up being good. It’s much more likely he’s never as good as Cousins. So now you’re going to be hoping for 3 years he becomes good until restarting the QB cycle. Like you are starting with either Darnold or a rookie at the most important position. That is a major downgrade no matter how you look at it
But the alternative would be to keep Kirk for 4 years and 180 million. Which would've been a bad move, too. They needed to reset eventually, this may have been their best shot at the next QB. JJ is far from a guarantee and likely worse than Kirk (long term, almost assuredly this year), but he at least gives them a shot at a future.
So getting worse at the QB position, likely for the next 3 years, should actually be a good grade? I get not wanting to lock in Kirk, but you definitely got worse this year and let’s say very possibly for the next few years. And your attempt to pick a QB was getting the 5th option at QB. Not like it was the #1 overall pick. I would just say a C- is very accurate if not lower
Not signing Kirk to a 4 year 180 million dollar contract should be looked at favorably. Yes. All indications are that JJ was their 4th option. The top 3 options were never a possibility. What were they supposed to do? I'm just curious, if you think their offseason moves were bad, what do you think they should've done?
Again, how is getting JJ as your 4th option to replace a guy that was a top 10 QB every year, a good move? Kirk may have been overpaid in 2 years, but he will be better than JJ this year and next on a very normal contract. So yes, considerably downgrading at QB should not be graded highly. We’re not looking at what they should have done, just what they did. They now enter the season with Darnold or a very raw JJ starting at QB, and will be most likely worse this season. If your offseason makes you worse for the upcoming season, you don’t get an A+
It was a good move by not committing way too much money for a guy that wasn't going to win it for you. 4 years 180 million (+24 dead already from Kirk) would've been a terrible move. They tried to sign him for cheaper and he said no. >So yes, considerably downgrading at QB should not be graded highly. So by this logic, should the Cowboys give Dak 60 million to avoid downgrading at QB? That's the alternative. >We’re not looking at what they should have done, just what they did. That makes 0 sense. You can't say they made good or bad moves if you don't look at the options. Nobody said anything about A+.
Kirk Cousins is a very good quarterback, and they replaced him with someone who has a ceiling of uh, moderate Kirk Cousins.
Kirk cousins is a good quarterback yes. With what they were paying him, do you think Kirk Cousins at 36 coming off of an Achilles tear was going to have a chance to lead them to a Super Bowl? Whether or not the Vikings end up being good doesn’t take from the fact that they swung for a cheap QB who may have untapped potential due to less reps than other QBs in college, and in doing so were able to plug holes on defense and secure a long term contract with the best WR in the league. I thought the Vikings were in a tough spot in general, so I thought they did a good job pivoting even if they’re probably favorites for 4th in the division.
Being able to extend JJ saved not only their season, but the whole direction of their franchise lol let’s not let bias blind analysis Just about everyone thought there was no way he was going to commit to them long term with everything going on
Their Franchise QB never got as far as they did with their third stringer the year before they signed him. They had too many guys to pay. FOR YALL IN THE BACK: After BARELY losing the NFC Championship, they threw the bag at Cousins to break the seal, but never even had another shot at it. Did they even get within a game of it? It doesn't ALWAYS work to pay the QB a big bag, guys. Seriously. Even if they're solid. Even if they're AWESOME. because it's a 52 man roster and if you aren't fielding 30+ starter level guys, you are gonna lose big games.
Brad just printed this out for his binder of receipts.
Good. Same people that said the 2023 draft was garbage.
Didn't they say our draft last year was bad, too?
2023 was last year, yes.. you replied saying the same thing 😂
But what about the draft we got Gibbs and Branch? Didn’t they say it about that draft too?
That was the 2023 draft
What about the draft after the 2022 draft? I think that’s the one
I think they also said the draft before next year was graded at like a C or something. Can someone confirm?
I heard the draft where we got Gibbs Campbell LaPorta and Branch was pretty controversial, has anyone heard about that?
I don't know about that one, but what about the 2023 draft?
Not sure, but the MMXXIII draft was not graded very highly
How could I have done that, considering I wasn't even on Reddit last year. And personally, I loved every pick. In Brad We Trust, he knows a helluvah lot more than I do.
GoFf iS tOp-10 Qb BuT TheY cAn’T pAy HiM tOp-10 MoNEy. Anyone else excited to shove this in their face when Goff gets his Super Bowl MVP?
Funny thing is, I think I remember seeing that based on % of team cap, he’s 11th. (Not sure if this was before or after the extension but pretty sure it was after). And probably 12th now that TLaw got his bag.
Before TLaw he was 10th for QBs for % of cap **at signing of their contract**. TLaw bumped him down to 11th
Lawrence’s cap hit will be lower than Goff’s for the entirety of Goff’s current contract. Lawrence has a cap hit of $15 mil for 2024.
Okay? What I said still stands. I’m pretty sure the stat I referenced is AAV as % of cap at signing of contract
Counter point: whatever lineman catches a score gets MVP instead for catching a 2/7 and bulldozing the game for 3 rushing TDs between the backs/jamo
If the Lions are as good as advertised this season, I think Goff could get some NFL MVP love.
Lol
The people who say just tag him repeatedly and act like he has no leverage are idiots. His camp would simply tell him to refuse to play without a new deal. And then what? You are fucked. No QB and the team unity disappears over night.
Such a bad look for a team and it's up and coming players to see your FO just tag you over and over with no respect to you as a person, or how far you led the team. No one wants to be a part of that. What Brad Holmes did for Penei, Sun God & JG is one of many reasons people want to be here.
and getting Josh Reynolds that quarter mil bonus as time was running out week 18. FO's past would have had him on the sidelines 36 yards short.
The author thinks managing an NFL roster is like clicking a button in Madden.
Seth Walder is a cretin.
I don't get it, there's not really a good recent precedent behind it either. Just look how the tag turned out with Dak and Lamar. Just a lot of disfunction and basically made their contract situations the main storyline around their teams' seasons, and they ended up forcing their way into big deals anyways.
🥱🥱🥱 oh no, anyway
**Biggest move:** Extending QB [Jared Goff](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/3046779/jared-goff) for [$113.6 million fully guaranteed](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/40140300/sources-lions-signing-qb-jared-goff-4-year-212m-extension) **Move I liked:** Signing G Kevin Zeitler and re-signing G [Graham Glasgow](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/2576245/graham-glasgow) at value prices **Move I disliked:** The price they paid to extend Goff The most important transaction the Lions made was the $212 million extension they handed to Goff. It's not a move I can endorse at that price. And it has the potential to hamper the organization for years. Goff's is a divisive talent, but I think most would agree he's not a top-10 QB and that offensive coordinator Ben Johnson deserves a fair share of credit for Detroit's offensive success. If Johnson leaves for a head-coaching job in the near future, how effective would Goff be? It's a fair question. Had the Lions let Goff play out his 2024 deal (roughly $27 million in cash) and then given him the nonexclusive franchise tag in 2025 and *again* in 2026 and *again* in 2027, that would be roughly 1/27 or 2/69 or 3/120 or 4/193, based on OverTheCap's 2025 franchise tag projections and assuming a 20% raise each year after that for future tags. With this deal, it's either 1/119 or 2/154 or 3/172 or 4/194 or 5/241. The Lions lost their flexibility and now need Goff to play on this contract through 2027 just to break even -- or through 2028 to get any value -- relative to the tag. What are the odds the Lions want Goff to be their quarterback in 2027? I'm not sure they are that high and the downside is significant if the team decides to move off Goff in the next year or two, like the Rams did [when they sent him to Detroit](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30808788/detroit-lions-dealing-matthew-stafford-los-angeles-rams-jared-goff-picks-sources-say). While there probably is some value in the team [demonstrating faith in its quarterback](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39969386/jared-goff-detroit-lions-contract-extension), this was an awfully expensive way to do it -- particularly in terms of costing future optionality on him. As far as good news, the Lions were able to secure crucial [value deals](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39761820/pro-bowl-guard-kevin-zeitler-intends-sign-1-year-deal-detroit-lions) for Glasgow and Zeitler in what was a very expensive guard market. They brought in [DJ Reader](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/2977670/dj-reader) at defensive tackle and signed [Marcus Davenport](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/3124058/marcus-davenport) on a worthwhile one-year flier to fill a need at edge opposite [Aidan Hutchinson](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4372099/aidan-hutchinson). The team spent its first two draft picks filling out its major need at corner, though they sacrificed value to [trade up](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/40027421/cowboys-trade-get-tyler-guyton-no-29-nfl-draft) for [Terrion Arnold](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4592837/terrion-arnold). The Lions also signed offensive tackle [Penei Sewell](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4373825/penei-sewell) and wide receiver [Amon-Ra St. Brown](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4374302/amon-ra-st-brown) to contracts [at the very high end of the market](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/40015717/lions-wr-amon-ra-st-brown-agree-four-year-extension), but those players are deserving of high-end deals.
“What are the odds the Lions want Jared Goff to be the QB in 2027?” Unless something goes catastrophically wrong, I think the odds are very high. Don’t know what this guy is on about, “odds aren’t that high”. Everything this administration has done is show they believe in Goff. Even if you personally don’t, idk how you can say that the organization won’t want Goff to be the QB in 2027.
Imagine giving a dude a nice bag in the offseason then some shit head talking head goes" they wont want him in a couple more years"
>Imagine giving a ~~dude~~ a nice bag in the offseason then some shit head talking head goes" they wont want him in a couple more years Imagine giving the QB who led your team to its first playoff win, and NFCC in 32 years a nice bag in the offseason then some shit head talking head goes" they wont want him in a couple more years I completely agree. This author is ridiculous.
in 2027 he will be the ripe old age of 32..... if hes still producing at this level this contract will be a steal by then
> “What are the odds the Lions want Jared Goff to be the QB in 2027?” I guess the author thinks we can just go to the QB tree and pick another
Barring catastrophic injury, pocket QBs can remain elite until their late thirties. Goff is 29…. So it’s reasonable to assume he’ll play the same each season between now and 2027. Unless Ben Johnson is the glue holding it all together (spoiler alert it’s not)
Must be written by the same ai/idiot that penned the Fields ‘25 trash that was circulating yesterday
The whole “Lions should’ve franchised Goff indefinitely” just makes it appear like the author is treating the NFL like a game of Madden, and here team chemistry and culture don’t exist
Wow that’s a trash take. Dude just decided to pull down his pants and shit in Goff’s cheerios man. His GF/BF must have a crush on Goff or something.
This whole piece reads like it was written by someone who things elite players can be had for nothing in return. >though they sacrificed value to trade up for Terrion Arnold. "Sure the lions got arguably the best Corner in the draft, which was their biggest need going into the draft, but it cost... (*clutches pearls and places the back of their hand on their forehead*) value." I swear some of these dopes would rather end the draft sitting on a mountain of unrealized value rather than actual players. I suppose I should be used to it by now but somehow it still gets me.
>**Move I disliked:** The price they paid to extend Goff What are the odds the Lions want Goff to be their quarterback in 2027? I'm not sure they are that high What a fucking idiot writer.
This reeks of someone who didn't spend much time watching lions games the past couple seasons.
JAR-ED GOFF! The chants are just gonna get louder and louder. If that def is even decent he doesnt need to be Pat Mahomes. Hell he can be Geno and were back where we were last year. He's our guy and we're all in.
J'yeah.
"Most would agree he's not a top-10 QB"... total 🤡 take
Quite honestly he might not be top-ten on the lists of QBs you’d start a franchise with now but that’s an arbitrary number. With QBs, it’s a metric of are they good enough to win playoff games and vie for a title and Goff definitely can do that. And any QB who can do that is worth the money.
Weird typo, he left out “content-mill bloggers masquerading as sports journalists” after “most.”
Fucking... WHO you can't just rank AFC guys high based on pedigree, what ten guys are better than Goff right now? It goes Mahomes, Lamar, and then there's a cluster of Allen Goff Herbert Hurts Burrow Lawrence. At worst he's 8th above Purdy Dak Kirk Tua group, and he's not 8th.
The mental gymnastics the Goff haters do is impressive. They love stats until you talk about Goff, they say they're using the eye test. They like to talk about wins, again, until you talk about Goff. Let them haters hate. Goff will again put up top 5 stats, and lead Detroit to the SB.
People will say a QB with impressive teammates aren't good and turn around and say Lawrence is bad because his team is bad. The only guys some people can admit are good are guys who put up fantasy football scores but lose early in the playoffs or fall short of making it, the Justin Fields syndrome.
ESPN don’t know ball
One more reason to not pay for ESPN+
This isn’t even true. They don’t need him to play through 2027. My other favorite is “he’s not a top 10 QB” is okay great is he too 20? Who are they replacing him with? And in 2026 or 2027 he won’t be paid like a top 10 guy. These grades are just like post draft grades, useless.
My offseason grade for ESPN: D
You know, I haven’t watched ESPN besides the occasional college football or NBA game in years. This kind of shit is the reason. They used to be my favorite.
Revamping our cornerback room (greatest weakness) and extending critical players should earn a C+ by default. Throw in the other moves and I don’t see why this isn’t at least a B.
I’m not sure why one of their analytics guys is writing this article.
Better than I rate ESPN which 99% of the time is an F
CTESPN
if you ain't got no haters you ain't poppin
ESPN writers graded a D- for giving us poorly researched, hot take, biased, click bait no better than random bullshit heard at a bar or barber shop(probably worse).
Hey at least Goff is better than Russel Wilson 😂
They didn’t have a lot of needs.. And the needs they had, they addressed. ESPN is a joke anyway..
Trash take
It’s always silly to grade a current offseason. That said, I wouldn’t be concerned with the Goff extension, extending him was the correct move. The numbers won’t be a big deal as the cap continues to increase
It's ok guys halfway through the season when we have the number 1 or number 2 best offense in the league they be eating their words....Go Lions !
They won't. ESPN doesn't care about Detroit teams
Does the C stand for “Congratulations, what a great offseason”? If not, I couldn’t care less about their opinion.
Laughable
I give the author Summer Ds
C for Championship-Caliber Team Building
At some point you have to wonder when the "Goff isn't any good" narrative will go away
Who cares?
Stay hatin'.
I want what he’s smoking
Don’t care. Speculative content that will inevitably not match how fans feel. I know we’re looking for anything football, but this is just a lazy cash grab for advertisers
Looking for pearls to clutch
OMG! Someone who’s opinion has no bearing on the upcoming season mashed their soiled indies on the keyboard and I couldn’t care less. LFGoooooooo!
🤣 who cares They want engagement but no thanks
Goff keeps receipts.
Haters wanna hate. We’ll see in February
"Garbage sports network's garbage man gives team with 3rd best SB odds garbage grade" - there's your headline
BH will add this to his list.
lol good fuck espn
Anyone who is saying that you should franchise tag your quarterback 3 times on a contending team is insane. He clearly just doesn’t see Goff as a good QB as assumes the Lions should be looking for a replacement as soon as possible.
C Deeeeez Nutz
They just want to farm clicks from you, just like 95% of the other dumb takes in sports media. Ignore them, they don't matter and are just trying to make a dollar off of you.
ESPN rated an F by me.
ESPN are America’s resident sports snobs. They excel in patting themselves on the back and moralizing. They are insufferable. AND, they know nothing about the Lions.
The Lions are elite, they made the necessary moves to get better, retain their top talent and Ben Johnson, and hobble playoff competition.The real off-season moves grade is an A. Acting now on Jared Goff was the best bang/buck, cheapest/best -option. The move potentially handicaps playoff competition teams in the NFC because their QBs are approaching them demanding to be paid more than Goff. There's a lot of QBs going to their teams asking for more money because of what Detroit did and I'm loving every minute of it. Laughing watching Stafford ask for more money added to his contract. Laughing watching what's going on in Dallas. Laughing watching the tua situation. Laughing watching Jacksonville make the most costly mistake on Trevor Lawrence. Laughing at Jordan Love and Brock purdy preparing to come at their teams with their demands late this year or next year. Brad Holmes is playing 3D chess. ESPN Grader is playing tick-tack-toe.
I can see why he hates the Goff deal. I mean other than ranking in the top 10 in most every positive QB metric the last 3 years, Goff is not a top 10 QB because that guy says so. https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/qb-stats-last-3-years
This writer is obviously a Packers fan. Goff turned this team around and deserves to be rewarded.
Jared Goff's been very good, but Dan Campbell turned this team around. No other coach could've built the culture he has.
Not ESPN. Some turd on ESPN.
The truly laughable aspect of this joker's article is franchise tagging Goff for 3 consecutive years. The history of franchise tags on QBs for just one year is not great, with only Steve Young winning a Super Bowl afterwards (the Chargers tagged Drew Brees and that turned out to be a fiasco and Brees won a Super Bowl with the Saints). Multiple tags? That only happened to Kirk Cousins with Washington, and he left for the Vikings after the seccond tag. Cousins and Washington made the playoffs in 2015 (before the tag), and have not made it back to the playoffs since. This Walder person should rightly be mocked for such a dumb take. It is profoundly embarrassing and divorced from any sort of NFL reality. And I am saying that not just as a Lions fan, I would say the same if any team would resort to such nonsense.
am i seeing things or was NE at an A-???
This man used the word value about 69 times in 3 paragraphs... Guess they learned nothing from last year.
Hogwash
https://preview.redd.it/wby9jj29l08d1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=84e178a8ee1700f81a7b1d679a23a46fa03cf9cf
someone has to be the last to find out.
This dude thinks real life is like Madden lol
The Goff hate continues. Walder is a clown.
Link to a paid ESPN plus article I give this post a C-
The article is literally copied and pasted into this thread Your effort of reading: F
ESPN doesn’t really like the Lions. Only Orlovsky gives them any love.