Lions Fans Wonder if Jared Goff Is Best QB in NFC North
Dustin Baker
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One is tempted to label it as satire at first glance, but a serious question was asked of a Detroit Lions roundtable via SI.com on Sunday. It pertained to the Lions new quarterback, Jared Goff, and his power ranking inside the NFC North among quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, and Andy Dalton.
The full Lions-infused FanNation mailbag can be read here. Most of it involves reasonable questions — with the exception of the Goff laugher.
In a hell of a deal, the Lions acquired Goff from the Los Angeles Rams at the end of January. All told, Detroit landed Goff, a 3rd-Round pick in 2021 and 1st-Round picks in 2022 and 2023 in exchange for longtime signal-caller, Matthew Stafford. The move kickstarted the oft-prophesied offseason quarterback carousel — a tilt-a-whirl that experienced Sam Darnold to the Carolina Panthers, Carson Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts, Ryan Fitzpatrick to the Washington Football Team, Andy Dalton to the Chicago Bears, and eventually Teddy Bridgewater to somewhere.
Back to Goff, the California alumnus had a magnificient season in 2018 when the Rams sprinted to the Super Bowl, only to lose to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in January of 2019. He was also quite good in 2017, but Goff has since been relegated to a mid-tier class of quarterback. And he doesn’t have any excuses — the Rams habitually surrounded Goff with talent, both on the offensive and defensive sides of scrimmage.
Last season, Goff ranked 23rd in the NFL per ESPN‘s QBR metric — a couple of points behind Buffalo Bills backup quarterback, Mitchell Trubisky.
The answer to the mailbag questions about the realism of Goff as the NFC North’s top quarterback? No.
He probably has a bit more sizzle than Andy Dalton at this point in their respective careers, but Goff does nothing to move the needle in proving he’s better than Aaron Rodgers or Kirk Cousins. What’s more, his career isn’t even trending as such.
Goff has started 69 career football games. Through 69 starts, here is how his TD/INT split stacks up versus Rodgers, Cousins, and Dalton:
- Rodgers = 150 TDs / 41 INTs
- Cousins = 118 TDs / 60 INTs
- Dalton = 110 TDs / 68 INTs
- Goff = 107 TDs / 55 INTs
So, Goff isn’t worlds apart from Cousins or Dalton — he’s just been underwhelming as of late. Consider this: When Goff was hurt and replaced by John Wolford in a wildcard playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks a few months ago — nobody cared. Wolford was not perceived as a sizable step down from Goff. Yikes.
Goff may indeed flourish in Detroit; it is possible. As of now, though, the proper power ranking of NFC North quarterbacks is Rodgers, Cousins, Goff, and Dalton.
And even the Lions writers responding to the mailbag questions know it.
Vito Chirco replied to the questions by saying:
“Until Aaron Rodgers leaves Green Bay, he will be the best quarterback in the division, and based on his performance last season, he’s still maybe the best QB in the league. Even though the Super Bowl-winning passer is 37 now, I don’t expect him to just hit the proverbial cliff all of a sudden. I also think Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins is better than Goff at this point. The only set of NFC North passers I’ll put Goff ahead of is the duo that the Bears possess — veterans Andy Dalton and Nick Foles.“