Brad Holmes: Jared Goff Has Proven This Offseason 'He's the Guy'
For the second straight year, Jared Goff will be the man under center for the Detroit Lions come Week 1 of the regular season.
The Lions had all offseason long, including free agency and the 2022 NFL Draft, to find a new signal-caller, and opted instead to give Goff another shot to prove his worth.
Goff, the No. 1 overall pick of the Los Angeles Rams in the 2016 draft, struggled in his first nine games in Honolulu Blue a season ago. He threw for just eight touchdowns, to go along with six interceptions. And, he averaged only 234.3 passing yards a game.
He played much better in his final five games of the season, throwing for 11 touchdowns (as opposed to just two interceptions), and he completed nearly 70 percent of his passes (69.57 percent).
In totality, Goff suited up for 14 games in 2021, and accounted for 19 touchdowns, eight interceptions and 3,245 passing yards.
Despite some rough stretches in his first year in the Motor City, Detroit has put its faith behind the former Rams passer headed into the 2022 campaign.
Lions general manager Brad Holmes stopped by the “Rich Eisen Show” this week, and talked about the confidence he and the organization have in Goff.
“We felt very confident going into this year with Jared being the guy, to lead us at quarterback. But, at the same time, we were open. We had very transparent conversations about you know, look, if the right guy’s there (in the draft) and it’s the right fit, we’ll look into that,” Holmes expressed to Eisen. “And, I will say, what we didn’t want to do is we didn’t want to force anything, in terms of well, we’ve got to grab a quarterback. And, if it’s not the right fit and player, you know, just still grab a quarterback. We just didn’t have that feeling, as we went through that process.”
Goff battled a litany of injuries in his debut season in Detroit, including a strained oblique and knee ailment. Holmes was pleased with what the veteran quarterback accomplished in the face of all the trials and tribulations he dealt with on the injury front.
“There’s times in the draft where it was looking like it could’ve happened. But, it didn’t. But, at the same time, we didn’t force it. We feel good about Jared, the way that he finished the year, with all the adversity that he faced last year, the way he finished,” Holmes said. “And, Dan and I just want to make sure he’s set up for success. We’re still going to put in efforts to do that going forward. And, Jared knows it’s, every year he’s got to come out here, compete and prove that he’s the guy. But, thus far this offseason, he’s done that.”
Holmes makes interesting player comp for Aidan Hutchinson
Aidan Hutchinson, the Lions’ No. 2 overall selection in the 2022 draft, has been compared to several past and current NFL players since being drafted.
The latest player he was compared to: Chris Long, who was selected by the Rams with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2008 draft. Long logged 11 seasons in the league, and compiled 70 sacks along the way.
Holmes, who was a scout with the Rams when Long was drafted, made the comparison of Hutchinson to Long during his interview with Eisen.
“When I first saw him (Hutchinson), he reminded me of Chris Long a little bit,” Holmes said. “And, I was with the Rams back when we drafted Chris Long, and the reason why that was such a unique comparison is because at the time, back in ’08, we were more of like a four-man front defense and Chris Long was running a 3-4 at UVA (the University of Virginia). And so then, we had to project him as kind of an EDGE guy. And so then, you fast-forward to Aidan and again (when I was) still with the Rams, I think Brandon Staley was on our defense at the time. We were running more of a 3-4 front at the time. And then, we were like, man, this guy (Hutchinson) can really be a 5-technique or be a bunch of different things. But, then you see him the next season, and he just shows a whole new toolbox that I was like, ‘Wow.’ And, it was just an uptick in excitement in light form. But, we’re really, really excited about him.”
The similarities between Hutchinson and Long don’t stop there. Holmes also shared an anecdote about the first time he met Long and its uncanny resemblance to when Hutchinson flew into Detroit from Las Vegas, the site of this past April’s draft.
“And I’ll never forget, the first time I met Chris Long, I was a combine scout. And, he shows up to catch the train, or I mean, to catch the tram to go to the hotel from the airport, and he had a jug of water, like a gallon-sized jug of water,” Holmes told Eisen. “And, Aidan walks in the building after he flew from Vegas, and he’s got a gallon jug of water in his hand. And I’m like, ‘Okay. I feel a lot of similarities there.’”
