Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff is unquestionably an important piece to the team’s championship puzzle. But how important is he?
According to ESPN NFL analyst Peter Schrager, Goff is “the most pivotal player of the NFL season.”
In an episode of ESPN’s “Get Up” aired on Monday, July 14, Schrager made his pick based on how the Lions finished the 2024 season, with a surprise 45-31 divisional round loss to the Washington Commanders.
“He’s got all the accolades, the Pro Bowls, the whole thing. They were the No. 1 seed in the NFC,” Schrager said, “and yet Jared Goff lost in the divisional round to Jayden Daniels and then basically had his entire coaching staff raided from other teams.”
Schrager said the same thing in June — that Goff was the most important player in the NFC.
Goff had arguably his best statistical season in 2024, setting career-highs in touchdown passes (37), completion percentage (72.4%), yards per pass attempt (8.6) and QBR (68.4). He was also named to his fourth Pro Bowl and finished fifth in the MVP voting, his best finish ever.
But there will be one key piece missing from Goff’s corner this season.
Schrager highlighted the team’s loss of offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, now the coach of the Chicago Bears, as the “quarterback whisperer” the Lions offense may miss in the upcoming season.
“To me, the biggest difference is whether Jared Goff is ‘that dude,’ or Jared Goff is that guy that so many have doubted over the course of his career,” Schrager said.
Former Lions quarterback and current ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky disagreed with Schrager’s doubts.
“What does Jared Goff have to prove to solidify the type of quarterback that he is and has been?” he asked. “A guy that has not had a losing season but once since his rookie year … there’s a lingering doubt about the type of player he is?”
Earlier in the episode, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler revealed a survey of NFL executives, coaches and scouts who said Goff was the eighth-best quarterback in the league, though no other NFC North quarterback cracked the top-10. Interestingly, defending Super Bowl champion Jalen Hurts came in one spot below Goff, while Matthew Stafford, for whom Goff was traded in January of 2021, came in at No. 6.
In a recently-aired episode of Netflix’s “Quarterback,” Goff went off on the Los Angeles Rams — who drafted him No. 1 overall in 2016 — for the way in which they communicated the trade to him.
“You wish that it wasn’t such a blindside, and you wish that there was some sort of maturity, I guess, to have that conversation and to be able to let me know what’s going on and how things went down and why this is happening.”
After a historic 15-2 season, Goff and the Lions look to make the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance in the 2025 season.
You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.
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