Jared Goff keeps piling up production, wins and proof that he belongs in a much better conversation than he usually gets. Yet the label attached to him still feels smaller than the body of work.
CBS Sports’ Bryan DeArdo released a ranking Tuesday that split every NFL starting quarterback into six tiers, and Goff landed in tier 2, “Borderline Stars.” He was grouped with Jalen Hurts, Sam Darnold, Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, Jayden Daniels, Brock Purdy, Jordan Love, Dak Prescott, Drake Maye, Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence.
DeArdo wrote:
""Goff appears to have reached his career arc unless the Lions make another deep playoff run. A former No. 1 overall pick, Goff has enjoyed a highly productive career that includes a Super Bowl appearance with the Rams, five Pro Bowl selections and leading Detroit to its first playoff wins since 1991. ""
Bryan DeArdo, CBS Sports
That’s a pretty strong résumé, but the suggestion is clear enough: Goff may already be at his ceiling.
It’s a familiar line of thinking around the Lions quarterback, especially as he heads into his 11th season. Since Detroit became a true playoff contender in 2023, Goff has thrown more touchdowns than any quarterback in the league.
He’s won plenty, too. Still, the conversation around him keeps drifting back to the people around him - the scheme, the line, the supporting cast - no matter how many times the pieces change.
And plenty has changed.
Detroit reached the NFC title game in 2023, then lost to the San Francisco 49ers and hasn’t been back since. The NFC North remains a difficult division.
Former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is now coaching a division rival. Salary cap problems have started to show up.
All of that has fed the idea that the Lions’ Super Bowl window is shrinking fast, maybe even already shut.
The bigger knock on Goff has always been the same: he’s not the kind of quarterback who can just drag a team out of trouble when things break down. DeArdo’s top tier - Matthew Stafford, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow - is built around that kind of quarterbacking. With Stafford as the exception, those are all players whose athleticism and improvisation give them a different kind of escape hatch than Goff has ever had.
But that’s also where the Goff criticism starts to miss the point.
In 2025, he played behind an offensive line that went from one of the league’s best to one of its worst in a single offseason, with Frank Ragnow’s June retirement and a wave of injuries wrecking the unit. The run game didn’t help much either, finishing with the ninth worst success rate in the NFL, according to SumerSports. Goff was sacked more than in any other season of his career.
Even with that pressure, he still finished with the NFL’s ninth-best passer rating under pressure, also per SumerSports. That’s not what you expect from the guy so often painted as immobile and limited.
He remains one of the league’s most accurate passers. He’s sharp before the snap. And when the run game is working, he can punish defenses with play-action as well as almost anyone.
There was more churn around him, too. The Lions replaced play-caller John Morton midseason, giving Goff his fourth different offensive coordinator in five years in Detroit. Through all of it, Detroit still finished top 5 in both yards and points per game.
That matters. Goff’s play is a huge reason why.
So when DeArdo places him in the same tier as quarterbacks whose production has often been tied closely to the system and play-caller around them - Hurts, Purdy and Nix among them - it feels like the ranking undersells what Goff has actually become. He has been more impactful than the reputation suggests, and more transformative than he gets credit for.
If Detroit’s offensive line settles down and the playcalling steadies in 2026, the results should show it. Even then, though, Goff will probably have to keep making the case all over again. A closer look says he’s already made it.
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