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The Detroit Lions appeared to make a roster commitment to Jared Goff when they held off on taking any top rookie quarterbacks in each of the last two years, and one insider believes the franchise is now ready to make a significant financial commitment to the veteran quarterback as well.
Goff is coming off a season where he completed 65.1% of his passes for 4,438 yards with 29 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, leading the Lions to a 9-8 record. The Lions head into the next season as a favorite to win the NFC North, and the team still appears committed to the former No. 1 draft pick.
Pro Football Network analyst Dallas Robinson believes the Lions will now look to lock down Goff for the immediate future with a contract extension that puts him among the league’s top-paid quarterbacks.
Jared Goff Could Be Headed Toward Big Payday
Robinson noted that the Lions likely don’t feel a sense of urgency to give Goff a long-term contract extension, as he has “manageable” cap hits of $30 million and $32 million over the next two years. But he suggested that the Lions could lock him up for a shorter deal that would give the veteran quarterback some guaranteed cash.
“A short-term extension could work out for both sides,” Robinson wrote. “A two-year, $82 million pact would place Goff just above Daniel Jones, Dak Prescott, and Stafford in average annual value and put him on schedule to reach free agency in advance of his age-33 season.”
But Robinson added that Goff may prefer to wait to ink a new deal, as the upcoming contracts for Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert will likely raise the market and help him score a bigger deal.
Lions Grooming Replacement for Goff
While the Lions have not taken a swing on a top prospect at quarterback since landing Goff in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams, some analysts are high on third-round draft pick Hendon Hooker. NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal believes the former University of Tennessee signal caller could eventually make a play for the starting spot.
“The Lions needed to upgrade their backup quarterback situation and did so with third-round pick Hendon Hooker,” Rosenthal wrote. “Give Hooker a year before he’s challenging Jared Goff for playing time.”
But Hooker will not be a threat to Goff anytime in the immediate future. After suffering a torn ACL last season, Hooker is headed to what Lions head coach Dan Cambell called a “redshirt” season as he focuses on rehab and recovery.
“This is a redshirt year for him,” Campbell said. “He’s gotta get this leg right first, and then he’ll learn under Jared [Goff]. And then let’s see what happens.”
Hooker has already been hard at work getting acclimated to the team. The rookie quarterback said he reached out to Lions tight end James Mitchell, his former Virginia Tech teammate, shortly after being drafted to get an early look at the playbook
“I just asked him if he could shoot me the formations really quick and try to get a little headstart,” Hooker said, via MLive.com. “He just gave me the formations. That’s where it starts. You’ve got to know where everyone aligns. Then the plays, the protections and the concepts come after that. That’s just the basics. If you get those basics right, then everything else can kind of follow suit.”