DETROIT -- Surrounded by close friends on the patio of his Hidden Hills, California, home, Jared Goff received an urgent call on the evening of Jan. 30, 2021.
"I have to take this," Goff said, while walking inside the house.
Shortly afterward, the classic "da-da-da, da-da-da" alert notification from ESPN landed on the phones of the pals he had left behind with breaking news that Goff, who had just completed his fifth NFL season, had been traded from the Los Angeles Rams to the Detroit Lions for veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford. The deal marked the first direct swap of former No. 1 picks in NFL history.
"At the time, their reputation ... the Lions, hadn't had a lot of success, and that wasn't a mystery. Even I was thinking, 'He's being cast off in a way,'" said Cam Croteau, Goff's childhood friend who was at Goff's home that day. "Once [Lions head coach] Dan Campbell called him and kind of told him his vision, he was all-in.
"From then on it was, 'OK, we're gonna get this thing right.' It wasn't like 'poor me.' It was 'let's get to work.' It took him about two minutes before he was locked in."
Prior to the deal, Goff had experienced an up-and-down career with the Rams. Selected No. 1 out of Cal in 2016, Goff reached consecutive Pro Bowls in 2017 and 2018 and led Los Angeles to an appearance in Super Bowl LIII following the 2018 regular season. But after a poor performance in the 13-3 Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots, the Rams were looking for a change at the position two years later.
They found a trade partner in Detroit, which was looking to rebuild after hiring Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes to usher in a new era for the franchise. To lead the change, they chose Goff, whom Holmes -- the Rams' former director of college scouting -- had known from their time together in L.A.
The partnership brought about a career revival for Goff, who has become one of the faces of the Lions' remarkable turnaround, while reestablishing himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL.
Yet, despite that status, he remains one of the lesser-known stars off the field.
According to his close friends, family members and former coaches, Goff's rebound in Detroit was not unexpected. It's the result of a resilience and toughness that's been with him since childhood.
But Goff can do more than bounce back from adversity. He's also a compassionate leader who orchestrated a touching surprise for a longtime Lions security guard's retirement, a loyal friend who makes those around him feel like family, and, at one point, a tireless freshman basketball player whose player comp, friends say, was "a poor man's Dennis Rodman."
When the Lions visit the Rams at SoFi Stadium on Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox) -- Goff's fourth time playing his former team since the trade -- the stakes will be high. The Lions (8-5) enter Week 15 with a 55% chance to make the playoffs, per ESPN Analytics. Those odds improve to 73% with a victory but drop to 42% with a loss.
One thing those who know Goff best are sure of: He never shies away from difficult moments.
"He's tough, man. This whole transition wasn't for everybody. It was a hard deal," said his father, Jerry Goff, a former Major League Baseball catcher. "It was not easy and not everybody can do it, and that's what we're so proud of is what he's been able to do with a couple different franchises, and he kind of did it in college to a certain extent.
"... For him to bring this city to relevance, he loves Detroit, and he loves the fans. He loves being here and it will always be special to his heart for sure."
No pool basketball allowed
Don't mention pool basketball. Ever.
"We don't play no more," Goff said, smiling.
It's an unspoken rule within the group chat of Goff and his close childhood friends Robbie Terheyden, Croteau and Patrick Conroy.
"It got so competitive and intense that we just had to say that we're never playing it again," Croteau said, laughing.
As high school teenagers at Goff's family home in Novato, California, the group's competitiveness got the best of them on a hot summer day in 2010. So much that Croteau recalls Goff's mother, Nancy, had to come outside of the home to calm things down.
"I think Nancy heard how loud we were," Croteau said. "Nancy came out and was like, 'Yeah, you guys should probably stop.' Like, she agreed."
In pool basketball, there's no rules to the game. There's no dribbling. So hard fouls were exchanged and the next thing you know, things got way too intense among the quartet of buddies, particularly between Goff and Croteau, but they were back to normal once the situation deescalated.
"We got in a big fight in the pool, and I said, 'You have to go home,'" Goff told ESPN. "[Cam] walked home. We were at my parents' house in the back playing pool basketball. It got too reckless."
Ever since Croteau could remember, Goff has always been competitive at everything. Growing up in the same town, they initially met as fourth-grade teammates for the St. Anthony's CYO basketball team before Croteau moved in the same neighborhood as Goff during eighth grade.
"We always played sports growing up, so I knew who he was because he would always beat me," said Croteau, who played tight end at Boston College.
Their bond strengthened in high school at Marin Catholic in Kentfield, California, where they continued to play sports together, including varsity football and baseball.
Terheyden also played high school football while Conroy was a basketball star at Marin Catholic. He walked on for hoops at the University of Nevada, Reno.
"We had a core kind of friend group. But he was always the most competitive one I would say. He's probably the most competitive person I've ever met in my life, and I've met a lot of competitive people," Croteau said. "He knows how to have fun and lighten a scenario by playing a prank.
"Because he's so competitive and I'm pretty competitive, when you're friends and in high school, sometimes you can butt heads a little bit, and that's why our friend group till this day, still doesn't talk about or play pool basketball anymore."
'Poor man's Rodman'
There was a buzz about a rising sophomore named Jared Goff around 2010, who was making a name for himself as a three-sport athlete at Marin Catholic.
Everyone knew that baseball and football were his top sports, but he also excelled on the freshman team in hoops.
However, in his first year as head coach of the boys' varsity basketball team, Mike Saia initially assigned Goff to play junior varsity during summer league action.
"Going into it, I just got hired and I didn't quite figure out the landscape," Saia said. "And then that summer, I went to a JV game, because I put him on JV, and watched him play and said, 'This kid needs to come with us and be on the varsity.'"
Goff wasn't overly skilled in any area.
In fact, he spent much of his time training for baseball and football, so he barely worked at basketball. But Saia was impressed by his tenacity and athleticism. As a gangly, 6-foot-3, 165-pounder at the time, Saia envisioned Goff playing somewhat of a utility role with his hardwood toughness and knack for doing the dirty work.
"I could say kind of a poor man's Rodman. Really, the only way offensively he was gonna touch the ball was to go get a rebound," Saia said. "We had capable ball handlers, capable scorers. Capable guys you could slot in to do the basketball stuff, but to do the winning stuff and to do the dirty stuff, that's where Jared got in and got some minutes."
For Croteau, who began shooting hoops with Goff as early as elementary, he agrees with the Rodman comparison wholeheartedly.
"He was. That's actually a good comp. He was a ball hawk," Croteau said. "He just knew where to be for rebounds. He was aggressive. But I don't know if he has the same off-the-court qualities as Dennis Rodman."
Goff now likens himself more to Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green.
"Rodman and Draymond Green are similar, though. But I was a [power forward]. I was not a scorer," Goff said. "But I was really good on defense, and I was a good rebounder, and I was a good piece of the team, but I was definitely not leading the team in scoring.
"I would score a few points a game and maybe I'd get 10. A few layups, but I was a hustle guy 100 percent."
Goff would emerge as the seventh or eighth man for a Wolverines team that finished 20-12 during the 2010-11 season, with an 11-5 mark in league play as he wore No. 2.
Conroy, his close friend, was the second-leading scorer as a sophomore that season, averaging 8.6 points, while Goff averaged 2.4 points, according to MaxPreps, but was third on the team in rebounds (4.2) and blocks per game (0.4) while also logging 1.0 steals in 30 games played during that lone basketball season on varsity.
"We probably weren't so sophisticated back then to look at plus-minus but I've gotta get his plus-minus was always good when he got in the game," Saia said.
After the year, Saia tried to persuade Goff to return to the hardwood, but he began to specialize in football, where he became a four-star recruit and All-American quarterback who signed to play at Cal.
Although he didn't suit up for basketball again, Goff continued to support the program.
"He became a huge fan at the basketball games, his junior and senior year. Rooting on his buddies," Saia said. "He was very visible, very vocal and was still part of the program even though he wasn't playing."
'We've got a special guy'
Not even a full week into his new job, Tony Franklin showed up to the Home Depot Center on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, in Carson, California, to witness Goff's final high school football game.
Franklin, Cal's newly hired offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, was blown away by Goff's toughness early on, despite being hit often against Madison's defense in a California state championship contest.
Midway through the action, Franklin called Cal head coach Sonny Dykes.
"We've got a special guy," Franklin told Dykes. "This guy has got the 'it' factor. He played the last play of the game as he did the first play of the game. He was physically tough."
Marin Catholic would lose to Madison 38-35, and Goff would end his prep career with a 39-4 overall record over three varsity seasons. He was listed 34th among ESPN's top players in his region and ranked No. 20 nationally within his position, for the class of 2013.
"Sometimes guys can grow into that, but in Jared's case, his high school coach was phenomenal, his leadership by his parents was incredible and he was prepared for the horrible team that we had at Cal in Year 1 when we go 1-11," Franklin said of Goff's freshman season. "A lot of guys can't withstand what he went through physically because he was just getting his brains beat out, and you could see in high school in that championship game, that this guy could withstand the storm."
Goff would become the first quarterback in Cal history to start as a true freshman when he suited up in Week 1 against Northwestern on Aug. 31, 2013.
That's no small feat as Cal has produced some top quarterbacks who were high draft picks, including four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers [24th pick in 2005], Steve Bartkowski (No. 1 in 1975), Craig Morton (No. 5 in 1965), Rich Campbell (No. 6 in 1981) and Kyle Boller (No. 19 in 2003).
By Week 3, unranked Cal suffered a 52-34 loss at home to No. 4 Ohio State in which Goff went 31 for 53 with 371 passing yards. He also threw three touchdown passes with one interception but didn't back down from the moment, which stuck out to Dykes.
"Ohio State had Joey Bosa, I mean this is a real Ohio State team. And he starts, we get killed, he gets hit no telling how many times in the game and never blinked, never flinched," Dykes said. "Kind of midway through the third quarter, I just remember thinking, 'Man, this guy just keeps standing in there, keeps throwing the football, keeps getting knocked down and gets right back up.' And that's just who he is."
Goff would grow from that 1-11 experience. He finished 5-7 as a sophomore in 2014 then 8-5 as a junior in 2015, ending a career in which he set 26 school records -- including career passing yards (12,220) and touchdown passes (96) -- before becoming the No. 1 pick by the Rams in 2016. But those tough losses, particularly against Ohio State, helped shape his resiliency.
"We ended up winning one game that year so you can imagine where we were at, but [Ohio State linebacker] Ryan Shazier was the best football player I've ever seen in my life in that game, and I was like, 'holy s---,'" Goff said. "And they beat us, but we scored on them, so offensively we're like, 'If that's a top-5 team in the country, we can score on anybody.'
"There was a lot of getting hit, bouncing back and we scored some touchdowns late, kind of showed some resilience but it was definitely a moral victory because we did get our ass kicked."
'When you get in with Jared, you are in'
An emotional Goff fought back tears as he surprised a special guest with a memorable gift during his private event in downtown Detroit with Jared Jewelers.
Elton Moore, longtime Lions director of security, was weeks away from retirement when Goff decided to honor him unexpectedly.
Two days ahead of Detroit hosting its first NFL draft in April 2024, Goff brought Moore to the stage at The Detroit Club, a private social club, to hand him an expensive Breitling timepiece as a token of appreciation after 13 years with the Lions.
"When I first got here, he might've been the first person I've met off the plane, taking me to the stadium," Goff told ESPN. "Just his belief in me and him vocalizing that to me, before he really had to and knew what I was or who I was, just means a lot.
"He's a guy who's seen it all, he's been here for a long time and hasn't seen much winning, and for him to put his faith in me in a lot of ways and let me know that means a ton."
For Moore, the gesture was meaningful with his family and friends in attendance.
Elton Moore, longtime #Lions Director of Security, who is retiring in May also gets honored by Jared Goff during the private event with a "retirement" gift by Jared Jewelry and Goff. Goff gets emotional when bringing him on the stage. pic.twitter.com/rB6xMIoBHB
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) April 23, 2024
"I had no idea I was a part of this. None," Moore said. "I kept telling everybody, I didn't want anything, but yeah, that was a surprise."
For Goff, loyalty is a big deal. So, it was important to honor a person he respected just months after helping the Lions reach their first NFC Championship Game since 1991.
Goff also led the Lions to two playoff victories in a single postseason for the first time since 1957, while collecting their first division title in more than three decades as Moore exited just as the franchise was ushering in a new era of Detroit football.
"You'll never find someone that is as loyal as Jared. He loves his people. He really deeply cares about the people that are in his life," said Goff's friend Joey Mahalic, who also played backup QB at Cal. "And I think that it gets reflected on the team, where all those guys are bonding with Jared because Jared makes people feel like he's part of their family.
"When you get in with Jared, you are in, and he will do whatever it takes to maintain that friendship and to do whatever he can for you. He's just that kind of guy. I think that goes back to his parents."