'Off-Script': NFL Analyst Questions Jared Goff's Play-Making Abilities

The grit and toughness demonstrated by quarterback Jared Goff last season appealed to new Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes.

"The last time I saw him, he was starting a divisional playoff game on the road and completing over 70 percent of his passes and doing that with a broken hand," Holmes said on The Athletic's "Football Show" podcast. "The one thing that I have always known about Jared is his toughness -- his physical and mental toughness. That’s always stood out to me ever since he was a rookie, when he got thrown in with the Rams. It wasn’t a great situation from an offensive line standpoint, and he took a beating. But, he kept getting up. So, I knew that Dan’s vision of having a team that has grit and toughness, I knew Jared would fit that."

For Goff, despite the support of Detroit's new front office, living up to the standards set by former signal-caller Matthew Stafford may end up being challenging to supersede.

Across the league, Goff is being dismissed as simply the "throw-in" of the Lions-Rams blockbuster trade earlier this offseason.

"To me, it’s a major drop-off," analyst Greg Cosell of NFL Films recently told the "Stoney & Jansen Show" on 97.1 The Ticket. "I think it’s a style thing. First of all, I’ve always been a big Matthew Stafford fan. I think he’s always been a high-level talent. You know there’s a toughness and a competitiveness to him that he’s shown throughout his career. So, I really like Matthew Stafford."

Cosell added, "Goff is a different player. I think Goff's a solid NFL quarterback. It gets down to this argument that seems to be more of a discussion every year: If you don’t have some ability to make off-script plays, are you limited in some way to not being a truly high-end starter? And, it fits the Stafford-Goff conversation, as well, because certainly, Matthew Stafford can do that. That’s not Jared Goff. Jared Goff is a pocket quarterback. He needs the system to work for him."

For Detroit's front office, Goff's resume speaks for itself.

On the football field, if Goff intends on taking a leap forward in his career, he may just have to excel at going "off-script."

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