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Lions new quarterback coach Mark Brunell believes his own playing career can show Jared Goff how a fresh start can help him.
Goff does not officially become a Lion until the beginning of the league year, when Detroit will send Matthew Stafford to the Rams in exchange for Goff, a choice of the third round in 2021, a choice of the first round in 2022 and a choice of 2023 in the first shift. But Brunell is already thinking about how his own career, which included a trade from Green Bay to Jacksonville, then another trade to Washington and two late stops with Saints and Jets, could be a model for Goff.
“But I think this is really going to hit these guys, listen, I was negotiated, I was cut, I was suspended, I was booed, I heard, ‘you’ are just not what we want, ‘I was kicked to the curb. I’ve been through almost everything that an NFL quarterback can go through, ”Brunell told the Lions website. “So, for sure, I can identify with Jared Goff, or whoever we are, but I can also identify with the boy who is new to the building, who is young and no one really expects to even form a team. I was that guy too. I think players can respect that. I hope they can, at least. “
This will be Brunell’s first season as a coach, but what he lacks in coaching experience, he makes up for in playing experience – experience he believes to be directly relevant to Goff.