Two weeks ago, Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff said he had yet to hear from the team regarding a possible contract extension. But following the NFL Draft, there’s suddenly some positive momentum on that front. According to general manager Brad Holmes, in an interview with 97.1 The Ticket, the two sides have had some conversations about extending Goff’s future in Detroit.
“Yeah, we’ve had internal dialogue there and we’ve had dialogue with his agent,” Holmes said. “We’re in a good place right now.”
For Holmes, who typically doesn’t discuss anything regarding contract negotiations, even that low-level acknowledgment of talks is noteworthy. Still, there’s still no rush for the sides to come together on an extension, given that Goff has two years remaining on his current deal.
Coming off one of the best seasons of his career, Goff completed 65.1% of his passes for 4,438 yards, 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions. It was the way he ended the season that was particularly impressive, finishing on a franchise-record streak of 329 attempts without an interception, as the Lions won eight of their final 10 games.
Entering the third year of a four-year, $134 million pact he signed with the Los Angeles Rams, Goff is set to carry cap hits of $30.98 million and $31.65 million in the next two seasons. His average salary has morphed into a relative bargain, as the salary cap has steadily risen in recent years and several of his peers have secured much larger deals.
Most recently, Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson have reset the market, becoming the second and third quarterbacks to sign deals averaging more than $50 million per season. Once Jackson officially signs his contract with the Baltimore Ravens, a five-year, $260 million package, Goff’s average salary will rank 13th at the position.
Goff isn’t likely to land an extension in the range of Hurts’ or Jackson’s, but he could easily see something similar to or exceeding the four-year, $160 million deal the Giants awarded Daniel Jones this offseason, which included more than $80 million in guarantees.
Detroit seemingly doubled down on its commitment to Goff this offseason by not aggressively pursuing one of the top four quarterbacks in the draft. Instead, they grabbed the consensus fifth option, Hendon Hooker, when he fell to them in the third round.
Hooker, whose draft stock was anchored by his age (25) and a November ACL injury, is primed to be a high-level backup for Detroit once he’s fully recovered from the knee injury. With veteran Nate Sudfeld also in the fold, Holmes also noted there’s no rush to get Hooker on the field.
“That’s a great thing about Hendon and him falling into the situation he’s in now,” Holmes said. “There’s no pressure. He can get healthy. When he’s ready to go out there, he’ll be out there. We’ll make sure that we’re smart with how we kind of manage his rehab and his return to play, but again, it’s just a guy who is really talented, has a lot of upside, and fits all the intangibles we’re looking for in a Detroit Lion.”
Hooker is coming off back-to-back stellar seasons at Tennessee, where he completed 68.8% of his passes with 58 touchdowns to just five interceptions in 24 games.
Here are some additional comments from Holmes from his 97.1 interview Tuesday morning:
▶ Holmes said he was somewhat surprised safety Brian Branch fell to the middle of the second round, but he was happy to trade up a couple of spots to add the Alabama defensive back, even if he won’t be penciled in for a significant defensive role as a rookie.
“I thought he may have been picked a little bit earlier, maybe later in the first, top of the second, somewhere around that range,” Holmes said. “But, once he made himself available, the grade that we had on him made us very encouraged to go up there and grab him. We were jacked to get him. We’ll just see how far Brian goes. He’s a great football player. He can do a lot of different things. Fortunately, we’re at a spot with our roster, from a roster standpoint, that you might take guys as high as the second round who might not play an immediate impact. But, it all goes back to, dude, we don’t acquire these players just for right now.”
▶ Holmes similarly pointed to the bright future of third-round selection Brodric Martin, another player the Lions traded up to get. The difference between Branch and Martin is the former was a known commodity from a top program, while Martin was a relative unknown who played at Western Kentucky.
“He was just a favorite for me and (coach) Dan (Campbell) — not in terms of what Brodric is right now, we were so excited about what Brodric can become,” Holmes said. “When you identify a guy at that size, that’s that powerful, is that athletic, and has that kind of rare length that he has — and look, there are a lot of defensive linemen that are big and have length and are powerful — but he plays hard, he plays like how we want to play. He’s relentless, he chases the ball, he’s instinctive, he can find the football. It’s all those things (that) really kept moving Brodric kind of up the charts for us as the process moved along.”
▶ Holmes also reiterated and expanded on some of his comments following the draft about why the team selected tight end Sam Laporta ahead of Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer, who went one pick later and was viewed by many observers as the best prospect at the position in this class.
“That’s the beauty of evaluation; that’s the beauty of scouting,” Holmes said. “When you look at the totality of the draft, there are 31 other draft boards, there are 31 other rosters, there are 31 other teams looking for different things. Laporta felt best for us. He fit us, in terms of the total player. I think Mayer is going to be a really good player. He’s going to be a productive guy for Las Vegas and I have no doubt about that.
“Laporta, what intrigued us about him is just his versatility, his intangibles, his effort,” Holmes continued. “Yeah, he can do some stuff in the run game, and block, but he really aligns in multiple different spots, whether the slot or outside or as a wing. He was playing wildcat quarterback for them, I think in the bowl game vs. Kentucky. He’s a guy who can do a lot of different things. I really like his ball skills and his run after the catch is really intriguing for us, so we’re excited to get him.”
▶ Finally, responding to the perception the Lions didn’t get great value on some of their picks, particularly first-rounders Jahmyr Gibbs and linebacker Jack Campbell, Holmes provided a lengthy answer about how he respects people who provide analysis on the draft, but it pales in comparison to the work NFL teams put into their decision-making process, including the character and medical evaluations that aren’t public information.
“You know, the person who doesn’t have much information, and put in less time of work, is kind of disappointed (with) the person who has all the information and put in the most time of work,” Holmes said. “Again, it’s no disrespect. They’re not supposed to have that information. They’re not supposed to grind it for hours and hours, hundreds of hours over weeks for nine straight months. And also, I always say just because a player plays another position doesn’t automatically make them a really good player. Just because somebody plays defensive end or offensive tackle or whatever those ‘premium positions’ are, that doesn’t automatically make them instinctive, productive, smart, top intangible, those things that we look for as a Detroit Lion.”
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers