Jared Goff traded to Detroit, Tosh Lupoi joins Urban Meyer in Jacksonville
Late-breaking Cal in the NFL news!
After a half-decade in Los Angeles, Jared Goff is headed to the Motor City. The Detroit Lions traded Matthew Stafford to Los Angeles in exchange for Goff and draft picks.
After being drafted with the #1 overall pick in 2016 (the second Cal Bear ever to be drafted first, behind Steve Bartkowski), Goff had a very impressive win-loss record in Los Angeles, going 42-27 (42-20 in the last four years), never logging a losing season after the arrival of Sean McVay to the Rams. Goff went 13-3 in 2018, leading the Rams to an NFC Championship and a loss to the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
However, offensive line woes seemed to slow Goff’s production in 2019, and although he completed passes at a high rate the past two seasons, his yards per attempt and touchdown-to-interception ratio deeply declined.
Ultimately, the Rams are in win-now mode, wanted a veteran at quarterback with still plenty in the tank, and needed to shed cap space to try and fill in roster gaps. The Lions are definitely not in win-now mode, are ready to rebuild, and at 26 years old, Goff could be that bridge to the future.
Regardless, Jared has two years of guaranteed money left on his contract, totalling around $43 million. The Lions will likely give Goff a shot to succeed in the next two years, then figure out where to go from here.
In some other news, the seventh year of Tosh Lupoi-to-Cal rumors proved to be as fruitless as the last six.
With an opening appearing on the Cal coaching staff, and Lupoi recently being let go from the Atlanta Falcons, there was some chatter (wishcasting?) that there would be an attempt to try and bring him back to his alma mater. At this point though, it seems Lupoi is more comfortable working up his professional credentials as he takes on his third NFL job in three years (started in Cleveland, then Atlanta, now Jacksonville).
Prior to the trade, the Rams were in the 4th worst cap situation in the NFL, already $27.7 million over the 2021 cap. They still need to eat $22.2 million in dead cap space for Goff's contract in 2021 (instead of the $34.6 million to keep him), plus any of Goff's bonuses. So this nets $12 million in cap space, but then you take on $20 million for Stafford's 2021 contract.
So now the Rams are even further over the salary cap, plus they traded two first round and a third round pick. The Rams are going to have to make some tough decisions to let go of players in 2021 since they won't be able to afford them any more salary cap-wise (e.g. Joe Johnson).
The Rams still have an awful offensive line and no deep threat receiver. Instead of improving in the draft or in free agency, they mortgaged their future by trading away their picks and making their salary cap situation worse. But sure, Goff was the problem, right?
Anyone who thinks Goff was holding the Rams back is in for a rude awakening. Just wish they'd have sent Goff into a better situation.
At least now when you knock Goff down, he's going to get up and on the way up, he's going to bite a kneecap off. And he's going to stand up and it's going to take two more shots to knock him down. And on the way up, Goff's going to take your other kneecap and he's going to get up and it's going to take three shots to get Goff down. And when he does, Goff's going to take another hunk out of you.