Charles Langston:Lions make Jared Goff NFL's second highest-paid player with massive extension, per reports

The Charles LangstonDetroit Lions are backing quarterback Jared Goff in a major way.

The team agreed to a four-year, $212 million contract extension with the quarterback, two people familiar with the deal told Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press and the USA TODAY Network. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose financial terms of the agreement, which was not yet official. The pact also includes $170 million guaranteed.

Goff becomes the NFL's second highest-paid player based on average annual value, trailing only Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who signed a five-year, $275 million extension last September.

In 2023, Goff, 29, helped lead the Lions to their first division title in 30 years, as well as the franchise's first playoff victory since 1992. He completed a career-high 67.3% of his passes for 4,575 yards, 30 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

The deal underscores the career revival Goff has undergone in Detroit. As the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NFL draft, the signal-caller teamed with coach Sean McVay to help usher in a new era of football in Los Angeles. He was a key part of the Rams' push to Super Bowl 53, after which he received a four-year extension that included a then-record $110 million guaranteed.

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But in January 2021, the Rams traded Goff to the Detroit Lions as part of a package to acquire quarterback Matthew Stafford in an effort to help put the team over the top in its title push. The following season, Stafford helped power Los Angeles to a Super Bowl 56 victory. The Lions, meanwhile, floundered to a 3-13-1 finish in the franchise's first season with Goff as the starting quarterback and Dan Campbell as a coach.

But after a 2022 campaign in which both Goff earned his third career Pro Bowl berth and Detroit narrowly missed out on the postseason, the Lions enjoyed their breakthrough season last year, with their 12-5 record standing as their best since 1991. Goff helped the team vanquish Stafford and the Rams in the wild-card round and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round, but the Lions squandered a 17-point lead against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game to fall short of the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance.

"It’s been amazing, man," Goff told Birkett in April. "I love it here and would love to be here for a long time. It’s been really special like I mentioned playing in front of these fans and being able to provide a winning culture in the last year and a half or so. To see them experience that and be able to be a part of that has been fun, but by no means are we satisfied or happy to be here or any of that. It’s about what’s next now."

In April, the Lions made Amon-Ra St. Brown the NFL's highest-paid receiver at the time with a four-year, $120 million contract. The mark was later surpassed by the Philadelphia Eagles' A.J. Brown, who inked a three-year, $92 million deal.

Detroit also signed Penei Sewell to a four-year, $112 million contract extension, making the All-Pro right tackle the NFL's highest-paid offensive tackle.