Lions quarterback Jared Goff is hitting the final two seasons of a contract extension, signed when Goff was with the Los Angeles Rams, that pays him $134 million over four years. While $33.5 million a season might not seem cheap, it’s a relative bargain on the NFL quarterback market.
ESPN evaluated the remaining contracts for the starters around the league. It effectively weighs the 2022 quarterback performance against the average annual value (AAV) of the rest of the contract. In this light, Goff comes out looking like a great value.
Dan Graziano was the analyst who wrote Goff’s section. Here’s what Graziano opined about Goff’s contractual potential,
Jared Goff is a steal for the Lions at an average of $26.5 million over the next two years. He could be looking for a raise after his big season, but the fact that he’s two years from free agency hurts his leverage. Detroit could try to work something out with him like Las Vegas did last offseason with Carr — guaranteeing his 2023 salary and injury-guaranteeing some of his 2024 salary — to keep him happy and reward him.
Fresh off his first Pro Bowl nod since 2018, Goff is indeed a great value for how well he played in guiding the Lions to an 8-2 finish in 2022.
Note–Goff has restructured the contract terms twice so that the cap hit is just over an average of $31 million for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, which is different than the average annual value.
