Getty Dan Campbell meets with Jared Goff before a Lions vs. Packers game in 2023.
The question has been swirling for months with regards to the Detroit Lions. Will the team take a quarterback early in the 2023 NFL draft?
Answers to that query have been far from concrete, but as the process begins to come to a head and narrow down, Dan Campbell may have in fact theoretically dropped the mic on the situation.
Speaking to The Rich Eisen Show, Campbell was asked directly by Eisen about the impending quarterback decision. As he has done throughout the process, Campbell provided a pretty direct answer. This one, though, felt as if it may have served as a final word of sorts on the matter before the draft.
“I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I love (Jared) Goff. We love Goff and he is our quarterback. Nothing’s going to change that. But we’re always looking to upgrade the roster at any position, and if the right guy presents himself at one of our picks and we feel like it’s the right thing to do, we’ll do it. So we’re keeping all our options open,” Campbell said on the show.
That means the Lions are likely to consider quarterback additions during the whole process, both early on in the draft as well as late. Nobody should be surprised if the Lions add a quarterback that they like, nor should they be surprised if the team elects to wait and pick somebody up much later on. If that player is drafted, it also won’t mean he is replacing Goff immediately.
The question will persist until the draft actually plays out, but give Campbell credit for answering it as directly as possible one final time before his team gets into the war room to make their final picks.
Lions Digging Deep on Quarterback Market
The Lions have struggled developing young quarterbacks, and it’s a fact that their general manager Brad Holmes has discussed openly since the offseason began. With this in mind, it seems wise to predict the Lions will spend a draft pick on the position this year eventually.
Even with that said, Goff is entrenched as the starter, and isn’t going anywhere. Goff’s play down the stretch when he would finish with 29 touchdowns and 4,438 yards passing as well as a 2023 Pro Bowl birth was good enough to solidify his role with the team.
Still, with free agent Nate Sudfeld back in the mix as his backup, and an offer apparently still on the table for Teddy Bridgewater, the Lions could be hunting for some upside behind Goff. They could also elect to look for a younger player to develop behind Goff for the future, as Campbell has alluded to.
So far in the process, the Lions have done most of their homework on Hendon Hooker, an electric talent from Tennessee. Hooker sustained an ACL injury late in the 2022 season, but looked good enough to post 3,135 passing yards and 27 touchdowns in addition to 430 rushing yards and five touchdowns before injury, showing how dynamic he could be.
In addition to Hooker, the Lions have gotten closer looks at Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, who figures to be one of the first quarterbacks taken. They have also showed their interest in Fresno State’s Jake Haener, who could be a day-three option at the position. Many have also affirmed that the Lions should be looking at players like Houston’s Clayton Tune as well as Stanford’s Tanner McKee in the middle-rounds.
With the Lions doing homework and sniffing around the quarterback market in plenty of ways, it stands to reason that folks should pay attention to anyone and everyone during the rest of the process.
Dan Campbell: Lions Draft Decisions Remain in-Flux
As it relates to this year’s draft, the Lions are continuing to do their homework on all prospects, quarterbacks included. Right now, there hasn’t been a firm decision made for the Lions regarding what happens with the team’s top pick on any front.
Would the Lions move down or even up in the draft? That decision is also in-flux according to Campbell, because the Lions are working hard to vet players. Once they manage to nail that down, the coach said that some bigger decisions can be made.
“It’s just like I said before, we are still in the process of vetting guys. We want to verify the mental on a number of guys, just football intelligence, things of that nature. Once we get it down to where we want it, then we’ll really start deep-diving those conversations,” Campbell told Eisen on the show.
In terms of the trade question, Campbell admitted that the team is open to moves and flexible, whether that means staying at the spot and simply selecting a talent, or trading backwards and adding more picks. The scenarios have not been played out as of yet.
“For me, I’m open to do whatever and so is Brad (Holmes). We are very flexible, but we’re not going to just go back to go back either,” Campbell said. “If it’s somebody we really love sitting at six, then we’re probably going to make our selection but until we put ourselves in that in moment and go through those scenarios, all our mock drafts, all the things that could come up, then it’s kind of a moot point.”
In just over a week, the draft will begin to sort itself out for the Lions and everybody else. Until that point, fans can continue to expect anything to play out, including the team making a potential bold choice at quarterback.