Mark Brunell says he can identify with Jared Goff after trade to the Lions
Former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell, who took the team to AFC Championship appearances in 1996 and 1999, was hired by the Detroit Lions and new coach Dan Campbell to be their quarterback coach on Jan. 28. The position is in influx after more than a decade of stability with Matthew Stafford under center in the Motor City.
Stafford, who is 33, was recently traded to the Los Angeles Rams (though that trade hasn’t officially gone through yet). In exchange, the Lions received Jared Goff, who is 26 and heading into his sixth season in the league. Goff had a strong start to his career and took the Rams to Super Bowl LIII. But he has regressed a bit the last two seasons, and L.A. decided to move on.
Goff will hope for a career resurgence in Detroit under Brunell, who can relate to being traded early in his career. He was a fifth-round pick in 1993, appearing in a handful of games behind Brett Favre before he was moved to Jacksonville, where he became a starter.
“What I hope resonates with the quarterbacks I get to coach is the fact that I’ve been in their shoes,” Brunell said. “I was a late-round draft pick, a backup for really half my career. I’ve been in a supporting role. I was a starter for a long time, been to the Pro Bowl, on a Super Bowl team, led the league in passing, so I had some really cool moments. I was the guy in Jacksonville for a long time.
“But where I think this will really hit home for these guys is that listen, I’ve been traded, I’ve been cut, I’ve been benched, I’ve been booed, I’ve been told, ‘you’re just not what we want,’ I’ve been kicked to the curb. I’ve gone through just about anything an NFL quarterback can go through.
“So sure, I can identify with Jared Goff, or whoever is our starter, but I can also identify with the kid who’s just new to the building, who’s young and nobody really expects to even make a team. I’ve been that guy, too. I think players can respect that. I hope they can at least.”
Goff can only hope he does as well with his second chance as Brunell did when he turned a struggling startup franchise into an immediate competitor.
