Regardless, Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff will face critics. Having a hefty new contract won’t change that, and it might just encourage those skeptics if/when he struggles. Regardless of his performance, league-wide quarterback rankings, whether in fantasy or otherwise, will most likely never look favorably on him.
Pro Football Focus has released a new list of NFL starting quarterbacks for the 2024 season. Patrick Mahomes is in a league of his own at the top, with everyone else following. If we rate based on mere talent, Goff falls behind some of his peers. “Tier 4” in the rankings is a significant tier just outside the top ten, and Goff falls into it.
At No. 16.
“For as much as Goff was already an efficient, in-structure quarterback, he took that to an even higher level last season. His 85.2 passing grade in 2023 was the highest of his career, his 3.4% big-time throw percentage was the highest single-season number since his Rams days and his 2.4% turnover-worthy play percentage was a career low.”
“Unfortunately, Goff’s play under pressure and outside of structure continues to leave a lot to be desired when compared to other top NFL quarterbacks.”
Jared Goff tumbles down PFF quarterback ranking for clear reason
Every quarterback has some drop-off in performance when pressured compared to when he’s kept clean in the pocket. And Goff remains one of the best quarterbacks in the league against the blitz.
Following the signing of the contract, Bryan Knowles of FTN Fantasy readily highlighted Goff in a recent essay regarding quarterbacks under pressure last season.
“We’ll start with Goff because he just got the oversized novelty check. In a clean pocket, Goff’s 60.4% DVOA was eighth in the league, in the same neighborhood as Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. When pressured, however, that fell all the way to -73.0%, which ranked 23rd and had him finish just ahead of Derek Carr and Mac Jones. That -133.4% drop was the eighth largest in the league, and the worst for anyone you could consider an established veteran starter; everyone above him was either very young, a backup, benched, or some combination of the three.”
The idea that Goff goes from elite when he has a clean pocket to borderline unplayable when he’s pressured is backed up by ample data, and it’s nothing new. The drop-off being so drastic is not very common though.
As Knowles also noted, Goff’s success against the blitz last season was really success against ineffective blitzes that didn’t get home. That can be chalked up to his own recognition and savvy to get the ball out of his hands quickly, and of course having the best offensive line in the league protecting him.
According to FTN’s charting data, Goff had the eighth-most passing yards in the NFL while pressed last season (749). However, he had the second-highest number of interceptions when under pressure, with seven, trailing only Sam Howell’s 14. Last season, Howell was fired a league-high 65 times, compared to 30 for Goff.
Goff’s strengths and weaknesses as a quarterback are well known. PFF ranked him 16th in their quarterback rankings, which seems extremely low, but they found a real, data-backed reason to knock him down.
