Detroit Lions' Jared Goff gets new contract extension: Four years, $212 million

Jared Goff's future isn't up for debate anymore.

The Detroit Lions finalized a massive four-year contract extension worth $212 million with Goff on Monday, tying him to the team through the 2028 season, two sources close to the negotiations have confirmed to the Free Press. The deal calls for $170 million guaranteed.

Goff, 29, had one year left on the extension he signed with the Los Angeles Rams in 2019, after he led that team to a Super Bowl appearance. He was scheduled to make $27.9 million next season, including a $5 million roster bonus paid earlier this spring.

The Lions acquired Goff and three draft picks from the Rams in a 2021 trade that sent Matthew Stafford to L.A.

Stafford led the Rams to a championship in his first season as quarterback, while Goff struggled at the outset of the Lions' rebuild.

The Lions went 3-13-1 in Goff's first season in Detroit, adding to the perception Goff was a bridge quarterback keeping the seat warm for someone not on the team. But Goff led the Lions to a 9-8 record in 2022 and 12 wins and a playoff appearance last season, when the Lions won their first two postseason games since 1991 and reached the NFC championship game.

"When he came to us, I always had belief," Lions general manager Brad Holmes insisted after the season. "So, him doing what he did this past year or even the year before, it’s not a surprise to us. I just know how he’s wired. I know the talent he has, I know the leadership he has, I know his mental and physical toughness, I know what he’s made about and I think his peers, and definitely his teammates recognize the same things. So, just happy that what he’s done and just couldn’t be more proud of everything he’s achieved."

Holmes said in a radio interview last week Goff had "earned an extension" and the deal was "a high priority" for the team after signing Amon-Ra St. Brown and Penei Sewell to long-term extensions earlier this spring.

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Sewell's four-year extension, which ties him to the Lions through 2029, made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in the NFL. St. Brown, who also got a four-year deal, briefly became the league's highest-paid receiver.

A.J. Brown of the Philadelphia Eagles has since signed a three-year extension with new money that eclipses St. Brown's deal.

"The whole process of budgeting and preparation and all that, that kind of goes into it, we’ve been preparing for a while,” Holmes said on WXYT-FM (97.1). “And look, in a perfect world, we’d have had all three of them done, bang, bang, bang, but these things just kind of take a while, especially with the quarterback market. But I do have faith that it’s going to get done.

Goff had one of the best seasons of his career in 2023. He finished second in the league in passing (4,575 yards) and completed a career-high 67.3% of his attempts. He threw for 837 more yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions in the playoffs, when the Lions beat the Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Goff was serenaded by fans with chants of his name.

He said in January that fan support helped make last year a "really special" season.

"With that being said, it was two games short and I wish I could be standing up here today talking about getting ready to play in the Super Bowl and we all feel like we should be," Goff said at the time. "That’s a good thing, that we think we should be and we know we belong. But yeah, it’s been a fun year, it’s been a lot of learning, a lot of growing and really special group to be a part of."

The Lions will enter 2024 as one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl, led by an offense that finished top-five in points scored, and total, passing and rushing yards.

Along with Goff, the Lions return St. Brown, top tight end Sam LaPorta, leading rushers David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, most of their offensive line and coordinator Ben Johnson, who has called plays the past two years.

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Goff said after the season he hoped to stay in Detroit long-term, and that signing a new market-level deal was "just how the league goes."

Under his new deal, he joins Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts as the only quarterbacks in the NFL to average more than $50 million per season. All six have signed extensions or restructured their contracts within the past year:

Burrow is the NFL's highest-paid quarterback at $55 million per season. Mahomes restructured part of his contract last fall to guarantee him $210 million over the next four seasons, while Goff's new deal averages up to $53 million per year, though full details are not yet known.

In all, the Lions have written contracts for more than $444 million this offseason to keep their top offensive stars, Goff, St. Brown and Sewell in place. They also signed Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell to contract extensions.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff's new contract: 4 years, $212 million