Detroit Lions' quarterback Jared Goff said he was initially shocked and confused when he was traded in 2021 from the Los Angeles Rams to Detroit. But those feelings changed.
On the videocast/podcast, "Wilbo Trading Cards" recorded at his Los Angeles home, he said the trade in hindsight was "the greatest thing that ever happened to me for my career and my development as a human."
Goff, 29, said when he came here the Lions had broken everything down to the ground floor, and he was there to start the rebuild.
"The first year was really hard, really really hard...but the the last two years we've had some pretty good success and being able to see it kind of grow into what we're at now where we're coming into a season...with pretty high expectations and standards for ourselves, with the aspirations of winning a Super Bowl and, you know being so close last year, that's so exciting and so worth all the all the heartache." (Watch the full interview below)
He says it's been so fun to give local sports fans "something to like really be proud of in the last couple of years."
He says he has grown as a leader in Detroit.
"I've learned a ton from Dan (Campbell). The way he leads, I think is really special and one of a kind, but just seeing him do it daily over and over and over again, guys respond to it, it's been really fun."
He also said at times the Detroit media is just too negative, and refers to the time Detroit News columnist Bob Wojnowski asked before the San Francisco playoff game about all the great players that team had. Goff shot back that Detroit had a lot great players as well.
"I have this like, I probably need to drop it pretty soon here because I'm hopefully gonna be in Detroit for a long time, but I have this thing with our local media where like they almost like relish in negativity at times. And maybe that's what gets clicks and that's what sells, but it's no longer what they need to live in. Like, hey guys, we have a good team. We've had success. We can be happy about that we can celebrate that and not have to write about how we're constantly the underdog. No, teams are gonna be gunning for us now. We won the divsion and all that. I'm probably overthinking it in my head just becaaus it's the chip on my shoulder and the competitor in me."
"In that moment I was just giving that guy a hard time, I actually like him."