The disrespect for Jared Goff continues in latest QB rankings

Jared Goff has led the Detroit Lions to several milestones in his four-year tenure as starting quarterback, including back-to-back NFC North division titles, two playoff wins, and a 15-2 regular season record in 2024. While Goff has had his critics along the way, he deserves credit for leading the Lions to these achievements.

Many have debated where Goff ranks among NFL quarterbacks throughout his career. Heading into the 2025 season, The Athletic released its NFL QB tiers that were voted on by league coaches, executives, and general managers

Goff was ranked by a majority of voters as a Tier 2 NFL quarterback. The former 2016 No. 1 overall pick ranked as the eighth-best NFL quarterback and third among tier 2 quarterbacks behind Justin Herbert and Jayden Daniels.

Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, Matthew Stafford, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson were placed in the top-tier category for NFL quarterbacks.

Goff receives criticism and high praise from a minority of voters

Some voters had a different perspective from the majority. Eight of the 50 voters ranked Jared Goff a tier 3 quarterback in the NFL. The voters who voted for Goff the way they did all shared the same viewpoint: Goff needs a significant amount of talent around him to succeed.

"He's a 3 because he needs the run game, he needs a defense, he needs all of those things," a voter said.

Goff received five Tier 1 votes, which included a vote by one NFL coach who had high praise for the Lions quarterback and Burrow.

"Goff and Burrow are probably the two best anticipation throwers that I have seen lately, so you have to put him at a 1," a head coach told The Athletic. "You might put him at a 2 from a pure quarterback standpoint, he struggles to extend plays, but the guy has played at a 1 level for three years."

Goff has been the starting quarterback of the Lions since the 2021 season and has slowly improved his game since getting traded from the Rams to Detroit in exchange for Matthew Stafford.

An aspect of his game that has improved is his ball security, a skill that didn't go unnoticed by a defensive coordinator who participated in the tier rankings.

"He has definitely grown over the last couple of years," a defensive coordinator said, "Early in his career, if you got him to be just a dropback quarterback, he would make a lot more mistakes. He is better in that area as far as protecting the football. He has a good run game, they have a good team, I'm not going to hold that against them.

Heading into the 2025 NFL season, Goff looks to lead a Lions team that will be experiencing its first year without offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. Many critics believe that Johnson's absence will be the reason that the Lions take a step back this season - but, we're a ways away from drawing that hefty of a conclusion.