Saturday open thread: How long will Jared Goff be the quarterback of the Detroit Lions?

Oftentimes, finding a topic for the open thread of the day is right under my nose, and today’s Question of the Day is really no different.

Over in the Pride of Detroit Slack channel, things got into a spirited discussion about the Lions newest signal-caller, Jared Goff, and it was truly all over the place. Of course, the discussion revolved around whether or not Goff can reclaim some of that success he had early in his career, but it also had a great deal to do with how Goff fits into this “retooling” by Lions general manager Brad Holmes and Co.

Let’s get right into it with today’s Question of the Day...

How long will Jared Goff be the quarterback for the Detroit Lions?

Naturally, this is such a polarizing topic amongst Lions fans because of the importance of the quarterback position, and the stability the franchise has had at that position with Matthew Stafford for over a decade. These are unchartered waters for Lions fans who don’t remember watching someone like Joey Harrington flail for years, or had guys like Jon Kitna or Scott Mitchell who were good enough to win some games, but never considered the guy for the franchise.

I’m not entirely sure who Goff is considering his up-and-down career so far, how much of his success playing quarterback was predicated on having an elite defense and an all-world running game at his disposal when Todd Gurley was wrecking shop, but what I do know is this: he ain’t Matthew Stafford.

Of course, this is a discussion that naturally gives way to people loading Over the Cap’s salary cap table for the Lions and getting into the finer details of Goff’s contract. Dead cap numbers, the fear of restructuring the deal to give the Lions some salary cap relief, it’s all to be found on the web and it leads to a lot of handwringing.

But I think the discussion is a much simpler one because I don’t believe the salary cap matters all that much to a team looking to rebui... ahem, retool, the right way, and that’s through the draft.

Jared Goff should be the Lions starting quarterback for as long as he’s putting the team in a position to win football games. If he’s accomplishing that ultimate goal, Goff’s contract isn’t an issue.

Your turn.