Getty Jared Goff gets sacked and fumbles the football in a 2019 game.
The Detroit Lions have a player coming to the mix in Jared Goff who has been through some things in the NFL to this point in time. Goff will have a lot to prove as he transitions to his next team, and many who watch understand just what he’s up against.
It’s been no secret that Goff hasn’t played elite football lately. Just how bad has it been? Goff has been a turnover machine the last few seasons on the field, and Pro Football Focus has taken notice. Since 2018, Goff has had a total of 70 turnover-worthy plays on offense, which is the highest total in the league.
Jared Goff: 70 turnover-worthy plays since 2018
Most in the NFL
There’s been plenty of rumors about where it all went wrong for Goff in Los Angeles as well as why the team was so quick to give up on him, but it’s clear this could have been a big reason why this was the case. Goff might not be valuing the football enough for the Rams, who may have been frustrated with his inability to do the little things to help them win games.
Obviously, the Lions will have to reverse this trend with Goff in order to get him more consistent. It’s clear the turnovers and mistakes he made were a big part of why the Rams were so quick to give up on him. If the team wants to find their solution at quarterback, Goff will have to limit the mistakes he makes to get on lists such as this.
Jared Goff Happy to Be With Lions
Though the optics have been bad for Goff recently, he’s got a major chance to turn things around with Detroit. Recently, Goff admitted that he was disappointed at first to learn of the trade considering it felt as if the Rams were giving up on him and simply letting him go after blaming him for the failures of the team. As a result, he was upset in the aftermath of the deal. That feeling lasted until he talked to his new Lions coaches as well as the team’s general manager. After that, Goff began to feel much better about the future.
Farmer wrote:
“Goff said he was “extremely disappointed and upset” upon learning of the trade, but his mood brightened within 30 minutes after speaking to the Lions, whose new general manager, Brad Holmes, was director of college scouting for the Rams, and whose new offensive coordinator is former Chargers coach Anthony Lynn.
Talking to the Lions, Goff said, “is what made me go, ‘oh my God, this is how it’s supposed to feel. This makes me feel great,’ how excited they were, how fired up they were.”
He added: “As time has gone on over the last few days, and even the end of that night, it becomes a positive and you start to feel really good about yourself again. You start to feel, I don’t want to say relief is the word, but you start to feel happy, grateful, ready for a new opportunity. That’s the biggest feeling that I was overcome with that night, and even in the days following.”
Goff has said in the days since the deal was revealed that he is excited to get to Detroit to turn over a new leaf on his career. Obviously, the Lions are just as ready to turn over that leaf as well, and hope Goff can help them get that job done in the future with the team.
Obviously, there are two sides to every trade. Goff clearly is ready to prove that he was not a mere throw-in for this deal or a washed up player. It’s clear the Lions don’t think any of those things are true either given their reported excitement to land him and get him in the mix.
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Jared Goff’s Split With Rams
The Rams have had plenty of playoff success in the last few seasons on the field, and Goff has been a big part of that success, even as he has not received tons of credit for what he’s done. He’s been overlooked on the Rams at times given the coaching staff and other big name players on the team. Other things went wrong for the Rams other than just Goff, so he gets a chance at a clean slate and a brand new start which could help bolster his career.
Goff might look like the scapegoat for Los Angeles right now, but it’s true that the team had other problems which helped in their struggle the last few seasons. With a good start in Detroit, Goff can make others begin to realize that fact if he’s able to play well in his new surroundings. It sounds like both he and the team are motivated to make this happen.
In order to find success, it’s clear a big part of the plan will have to be cutting down on turnovers to maximize Goff’s opportunity. Arguably, this was the biggest reason why the Rams gave up on him when they did.
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