Getty Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff is a dark horse for the 2023 MVP award, according to The 33rd Team.
Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff followed similar career paths, both coming into the NFL as No. 1 picks before fizzling out with their original teams and being shipped away in blockbuster trades.
So it might make sense that Mayfield is a fan of Goff, who is having a career-best stretch in the second phase of his career with the Detroit Lions. Mayfield, now the starting quarterback with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, shared some praise for the Lions quarterback this week ahead of their meeting on Sunday.
Baker Mayfield: ‘Jared’s a Stud’
After a messy split with the Cleveland Browns and a trade to the Carolina Panthers, Mayfield has found a home in Tampa as he has led the Buccaneers to a 3-1 record and first place in the NFC South. He is completing a career-best 69.6% of his passes with seven touchdowns and two interceptions.
Speaking to reporters this week, Mayfield compared his own resurgence with the Buccaneers to Goff’s successful shift to the Lions.
The NFL has a new Quarterback at the top of the @PFF list and his name is Jared Goff of the Detroit Lions
“Coming from somebody that needed a fresh start as well, Jared’s a stud,” Mayfield said, via USA Today’s LionsWire. “I think he’s playing really well. You can tell his leadership —. all the things why he got chosen so high. He’s truly showing that now. Not every fit is perfect, and for him, I think, you see his confidence grow.”
Mayfield shared more praise for Goff’s game as well, saying the Lions quarterback has all the right tools to be a top-tier quarterback in the NFL. He pointed out Goff’s ability to run play-action passes and fakes, saying the Lions quarterback is “really, really good at that.”
“He’s got all the tools you want. Tall guy, got a good arm. Really, really smart,” Mayfield said.
Lions General Manager Sounds Off on Jared Goff
While Mayfield was sharing some praise for Goff, Lions general manager Brad Holmes was defending the quarterback against previous speculation that he was a bridge quarterback for Detroit. At the time he came to the Lions in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams, some questioned whether he would be a long-term fit or just a short-term solution until they drafted a young replacement.
While the Lions did use a draft pick on Hendon Hooker this year, Holmes made it clear that Goff is still the team’s quarterback of the present and future.
“Very, very proud of Jared,” Holmes said Wednesday on The Insiders on NFL+. “Again, like you said, I never thought of him of just a bridge or stop-gap or whatever just because I was all around the success he had early in his career in L.A. (with the Rams). It seems like when he got here (Detroit) when the trade was made that all that success was forgotten about. It was just this narrative that he was just a bridge. I always thought that was a lazy narrative. … Just because of, I guess, the narrative of how the trade went down and all of that.”
Goff already helped lead the Lions to a 9-8 record in 2022, their first winning season 2017, and has the team off to a 4-1 record so far this season.