Jared Goff isn't officially a member of the Detroit Lions yet, even though he will eventually be the team's next franchise quarterback. The Lions and Los Angeles Rams agreed to a deal that will send Matthew Stafford to the Rams in exchange for Goff, two first-round picks (2022, 2023) and a third-round pick (2021) in the biggest blockbuster of the offseason.
Since the trade can't become official until the new league year begins on March 17, Chris Spielman (the team's special adviser to the CEO) is very limited in what he can say regarding Goff. Spielman did find a loophole in commenting on the 2016 No. 1-overall pick, using his previous employer as a way to get a quick point across on his next quarterback.
"You look at a guy like Jared Goff, when I watched him during my time at Fox when he played for the Rams, there's a lot of good things you like about him — his accuracy, his toughness," Spielman said, via Justin Rogers of The Detroit News. "I think that I've always had a great admiration for him. He's a hard-working guy. ... (Rams coach) Sean McVay, although he might have a little bit of disagreement with him, always saw the potential in Jared."
Spielman was a color commentator for Fox since 2016, so he's covered plenty of games Goff played for the Rams. Even though Spielman was hired as a Special Assistant to Chairman and President and CEO, he still has vast knowledge of Goff and can comment on him from his days as a television broadcaster.
Goff has completed 63.4% of his passes for 18,171 yards with 107 touchdowns to just 55 interceptions for a 91.5 passer rating. A Pro Bowler in 2017 and 2018, Goff has the eighth-most passing yards through a player's first 69 games (since the AFL-NFL merger) and the 11th-highest passer rating.
While Goff is 42-27 as a starter with a Super Bowl appearance, he has completed 64.89% of his passes for 8,590 yards with 42 touchdowns to 29 interceptions and an 88.1 passer rating over the past two seasons. Out of the 32 quarterbacks with over 500 pass attempts during that span, Goff was 17th in completion percentage, 18th in touchdown passes, 23rd in passer rating, and threw the fourth-most interceptions in the league.
The Lions are hoping to revitalize Goff's career as the franchise is in the midst of a rebuild. They'll take on the remaining four years of Goff's massive contract, which doesn't have any guaranteed money tied to Goff after 2022. Basically, Detroit will have two years tied to Goff before the Lions can decide what his future holds.
