Lions quarterback Jared Goff is under contract through the 2024 season. And while Detroit’s 2023 season keeps playing onward into the postseason, the talk about Goff’s long-term future never drifts too far out of some minds.
A Goff contract extension has been a topic of conversation for months. The 29-year-old Goff will earn just over $26 million in 2024, the final year of a contract extension he signed with the Rams back in 2019. That’s below market value for Goff’s performance in Detroit the last two seasons.
While Goff himself has downplayed any talk of a new contract, his agent has not. Ryan Tollner of Rep 1 Sports is angling for the best possible deal for his client.
In an interview this week with The Athletic’s Kalyn Kahler, Tollner had this to say,
“They said all the right things to Jared and to me, that (this season) is not about him having to prove himself for another year. Inevitably, players always feel that way. If you don’t make a long-term commitment, then they feel like you don’t completely believe in them.”
There are any number of ways to interpret Tollner’s statement. Personally, I read it as, “We’d like a lot of money to stay in Detroit for a long time.” That’s an agent doing his job. Goff is not someone who wants the distraction or likes the negotiation process; that’s why he pays an agent.
There will be lots of potential numbers thrown around, many of them working off recent contracts signed by other quarterbacks. It’s very similar to a realtor evaluating the asking price for a house hitting the market by determining comparable houses in the area that have recently sold.
The trick for the Lions and Goff is to agree on which comps for Goff are the most relevant. If the Lions want to use Derek Carr ($37.5 million per year) and Daniel Jones ($40 million per year) as comps, but Tollner and Goff are in the Jalen Hurts ($51.5 million per year) or Deshaun Watson ($46 million per year fully guaranteed) market, that’s where trouble could arise.
The Lions have a little leverage after drafting Hendon Hooker in the third round of the 2023 NFL draft. However, Hooker has done nothing at the NFL level and projects as Goff’s long-term backup more than as a future starter capable of leading the Lions to a division title. Tollner could call the Lions’ bluff — if it is indeed a bluff — if the team tries to leverage Hooker’s potential into impacting Goff’s next contract. Again, that’s an agent doing his job, plain and simple.
It should make for some interesting discussion once the Lions postseason run ends. The deeper the run and the better Goff plays, the higher Tollner’s asking price becomes.
