Detroit Lions cornerback Jerry Jacobs recently listed Jared Goff as one of the top five best quarterbacks in the NFL. Last season, Goff's QBR - an all-comprehensive rating system used to evaluate the performance of NFL quarterbacks - ranked him fifth in the regular season standings, behind giants like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Tua Tagovailoa, and Jalen Hurts.
Jacobs recently appeared on Sirius XM's NFL Rewind - one of the flagship audio podcasts of the radio station's 24/7 NFL coverage. During the conversation, the 25-year-old called Goff the best QB in the NFL but then reduced his bold claims to the top-five status.
"Jared Goff is the best quarterback. He's really top five in the NFC if you want to be honest, if you pull the stat stuff and all that," Jacobs said.
"I'm gonna be honest, I've played against a lot of quarterbacks. Aaron Rodgers would be in my top five, but Jared Goff's up there. Everybody sleeps on my dog, and I love how he take it in like he don't be cocky or nothing like that. He just soaks it in and plays ball to this game, that type of reaction. He's a great quarterback and I can't wait for him to go out and prove everybody wrong."
It should be noted that last season's QBR rating of 61.1 does not necessarily dictate how great Goff has played throughout his career. However, Goff's 92.8 passer rating ranks him No. 13 among all active passers in the league.
Last season, Goff was a catalyst that propelled the Lions' defence to unpredictable new heights, placing third in the NFL in passing rating and yards categories. He also threw for 29 touchdowns, which was good for the fifth in the league statistically.
While Goff's developments shocked NFL viewers, Lion's Head Coach Dan Campbell believes that giving the QB more responsibility within the offense gave him the confidence to succeed on his new team.
"I mean, he is a better quarterback than he was there [as a member of the Rams], in my opinion, because he can do more things, he's mentally on it," said Campbell to NFL reporters.
"I mean, we've come light-years ahead of where he was two years ago when we walked in to start teaching him protections. He really dove into that, and he's got a really good grasp of what we're doing, where the issues are, what the problems are, and that's something that we really wanted him to get good at, and he wanted to get good at. And he's worked at it and improved, so that helps too."
The 2022 version of Goff was not the best of his NFL career. However, his stat logs were reminiscent of his best season during 2018 as a member of the Rams, where he threw for 4688 yards, 32 touchdowns, and a passer rating of 101.1.
