The Los Angeles Rams spent 5 seasons and one massive contract on Jared Goff before deciding that it was in the franchise’s best interest to trade him for an upgrade, which ended up netting L.A. the rights to Matthew Stafford en route to a Super Bowl. Now 5 years and one massive contract into his Detroit Lions career, will Goff be traded for an upgrade again?
That’s the question that many are starting to come to terms with after the Lions were eliminated from the playoffs on Thursday in an embarrassing loss to the Minnesota Vikings that included five turnovers by Goff.
Through five seasons on the Rams, Goff had a record of 42-27 as the starter, although he was 42-20 with Sean McVay. In the playoffs, Goff went 2-3 and had a passer rating of 79.9, which was significantly lower than his 91.5 in the regular seasons.
Through five seasons on the Lions, Goff has a record of 47-33-1 as the starter, which isn’t much different than the success he had in L.A.. But that number was even better when Ben Johnson became the full-time play caller in 2022, and especially so as the Lions went 27-7 from 2023-2024.
However, the Lions are just 2-2 in the playoffs with Goff and they won’t get a win in 2025.
Without Johnson, without as good of an offensive line, the Lions are just 8-8 this season.
Although Jared Goff’s statistics are phenomenal in the past few years — 129 touchdowns, 38 interceptions, 103.7 passer rating since 2022 — the Detroit Lions really aren’t more successful because of him. More likely, the Lions are a well-oiled machine on offense with many talented pieces and Goff doesn’t screw that up when those pieces are gelling.
Unfortunately for Detroit right now they aren’t gelling and Goff doesn’t have the skillset as an immobile quarterback with almost no threat as a deep passer to elevate players around him when everything breaks down.
For example, Goff only has the 17th-most deep passing attempts (36) this season and on those passes he has a passer rating of 87.6, which also ranks 17th.
The Rams spent two first round picks to get Stafford, who leads the NFL with 9 TD/0 INT and a passer rating of 132 on those same throws. L.A. traded Goff for Stafford so that Sean McVay could have a quarterback able to make the difficult throws, not just one who doesn’t make too many mistakes. After all, the Rams weren’t going to have Andrew Whitworth, Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods, and Todd Gurley forever. It was easier to make sure that if all of those pieces left, at least the quarterback could still be a star.
That’s what the Rams have managed to survive from 2023-2025 as the supporting pieces around Stafford have changed.
The Rams are 30-16 over the past three seasons when Stafford starts, which is actually not as good as Detroit’s record (35-15) in that time with Goff. However, the Rams are 5-2 in the playoffs with Stafford (more wins than Goff’s 4-5 career postseason record) and they’ll be going to the postseason for the third season in a row.
The Lions haven’t been to the playoffs three seasons in a row since 1993-1995.
Now comes the time for the Lions to decide if the team is so historically talented that they can do something that no team has ever done before: Help Jared Goff win more than two playoff games in the same postseason.
Or if it’s time for Brad Holmes, the same GM who left the Rams for the Lions and has seen what happened when L.A. traded for an upgrade, to do the same thing for Detroit.
With Joe Burrow dangling out there as a potential blockbuster option on the market, would the Detroit Lions be willing to trade Goff and two or three first round picks for a better quarterback? Or do they still believe that all Goff needs is three or four or five more Pro Bowl quality players around him?
He wasn’t able to get the job done on the Rams in five years. He hasn’t been able to get the job done on the Lions for five years. How many more years is another franchise willing to bet on Jared Goff?
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