Lions' Campbell: Goff better QB now than he was with Rams

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell is impressed with the maturation of quarterback Jared Goff.

The coach said Tuesday that the 28-year-old passer is better now than he was as a member of the Los Angeles Rams. Goff was traded to Detroit in a deal that included Matthew Stafford in March 2021.

"He hung in there and I think what you're seeing is a guy who just put his head down and worked on what he could, tried to improve on what he could, and now his confidence is really - it has grown, and along the way, he's matured as a quarterback," Campbell said, according to ESPN's Eric Woodyard. "I mean, he's a better quarterback than he was there (with the Rams) in my opinion because he can do more things. He's mentally on it."

Campbell said the Lions "ask (Goff) to do a lot more" than the quarterback did during his L.A. tenure and described Goff as "light years ahead of where he was two years ago."

"They had a lot of pretty good pieces out there as well, as we know," Campbell said. "Damn good defense. All those things, but I just feel like, I know from speaking with him and watching him really over the last two years, I just feel like ... we put a lot of things on him where I'm not so sure that was ultimately what they were doing."

Goff led the Rams to success early in his career after he was selected first overall in the 2016 draft. The Cal product elevated his game when the club hired head coach Sean McVay prior to the 2017 campaign. Goff then took L.A. to a Super Bowl LIII appearance after the Rams went 13-3 in the 2018 regular season.

Since joining the Lions, Goff has passed for 4,438 yards, 29 touchdowns, and seven interceptions, and he set the franchise record with a 4.14 touchdown-to-interception ratio in 2022. He also completed 324 passes without throwing a pick, the fifth-longest streak in league history, on his way to earning the third Pro Bowl nod of his career.

Detroit posted its first winning season since 2017 with a 9-8 finish in 2022, narrowly missing out on a playoff berth.