A long list of all the times we were wrong about Jared Goff

On Monday, Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions agreed to a new contract extension that makes the Lions quarterback the highest-paid player in franchise history. It’s a remarkable redemption story for Goff, who was unloaded to Detroit with a haul of draft picks so the Los Angeles Rams could chase (and win) a Super Bowl with Matthew Stafford.

It is truly a best-case scenario for Goff because many—if not most—athletes who are treated like he was with the Rams never fully recover. And it speaks to Goff’s incredibly high character that he was able to mentally persevere that time (and the 3-13-1 year in Detroit) and come out an even better quarterback.

But it’s also worth taking a moment to look back at our own feelings back in 2021 when the trade first went down. The overwhelming feeling about the trade was that Goff was a bridge quarterback, a salary-cap dump to maximize draft capital return, or somewhere in between. Were there some believers in Goff? Sure. But landing in Detroit of all places—with a brand new head coach people were already ridiculing, and an under-the-radar first-time general manager—certainly seemed like long odds for Goff’s career to resurrect.

So let’s look back at Pride of Detroit back in 2021, not just in an effort to ridicule ourselves or “pull receipts” before Brad Holmes can. But let’s celebrate how both Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions managed to beat the odds and get to a place where nearly everyone believed they weren’t truly capable of reaching.

An analysis piece from myself just a day or two after the trade went down. There is nothing egregiously wrong here. In fact, my conclusion was actually quite accurate:

John Whiticar posed this question in the short aftermath of the trade. And like many people around the time, he pretty much viewed Goff as a bridge quarterback.

This one goes in a minor win category for Mike Payton. Though he starts out saying it’s quite possible we’ve seen the best from Goff, he points out that the landing spot in Detroit may be a little better than most were saying.

Things definitely took a turn for the worst for Goff in October of his first year in Detroit. He was turning over the ball a lot and the Lions were winless. The knives were starting to come out for him.