One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
That’s how Lions head coach Dan Campbell feels about quarterback Jared Goff as he prepares for his third season in Detroit after spending the first five seasons of his NFL career with the Rams.
“I think what you’re seeing is a guy who just put his head down and went back to work, worked on what he could, tried to improve on what he could,” Campbell said. “He’s a better quarterback than he was [in Los Angeles], in my opinion, because he can do more things. He’s mentally on it.”
Statistically, there is some merit to Campbell’s claims.
Last season, Goff threw for 4,438 yards, 29 touchdowns to only seven interceptions and earned his third Pro Bowl selection in the process.
The stats weren’t career-bests for the 28-year-old, the No. 1 pick in the 2016 draft, though Campbell isn’t basing his assessment off numbers alone — he’s looking at the role Goff is being asked to play in Detroit.
“We ask him to do a lot more, in my opinion, than what [the Rams] were actually doing out there,” he said. “They had a lot of pretty good pieces out there as well, as we know, damn good defense, all those things.”
The quarterback led the Rams to a Super Bowl appearance in 2018, though the Goff-led offense was stifled in a 13-3 loss to the Patriots.
Los Angeles declined offensively in the next two seasons, dropping from third in scoring in 2019 to twelfth and tied for 22nd the following year.
The blame shifted to Goff — who endured public criticism by Rams head coach Sean McVay — who was shipped to Detroit in a one-for-one swap for Matthew Stafford.
This past season the Lions ended the season 9-8.
Although they missed the postseason, the team did win its last 8 of 10 games and Goff felt excited about what this team could accomplish this year.
“I know it’s exciting, I know our team is better, I know we’ve made key additions on defense, and even on offense in a lot of places,” Goff said. “… But we’ve got a lot of work to do and need to continue to get better if we want to reach that potential that we think we can do.”
Campbell may need Goff to do even more this season, with the Lions having lost several key offensive pieces to open the campaign due to betting suspensions.
