Quarterback Jared Goff grew up in tony Marin County, was the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NFL draft after a decorated career at Cal, started in a Super Bowl in his third season and signed a $134 million contract extension before his fourth.
Given that, it would seem Goff, 26, could be ill-equipped to deal with his recent fall from grace.
On Saturday, the Rams agreed to trade Goff to the rebuilding Lions for quarterback Matthew Stafford and included a draft-pick bounty that made it clear how eager they were to rid themselves of Goff and his contract after his disappointing season.
Goff’s ability to overcome adversity will be tested in Detroit, but, despite his golden-boy bio, it won’t be for the first time.
Goff, after all, became the NFL’s No. 1 pick … after he went 1-11 in his first season at Cal. He won an NFC title … only after he didn’t win a game — going 0-7 — as a rookie starter.
Former Cal offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, who coached Goff in each of his three seasons at the school and has a close friendship with his former pupil, is convinced Goff will get off the canvas yet again.
“I’ll be shocked if this doesn’t make him a much better football player,” Franklin said. “I can’t wait to see it.”
Franklin says he first saw what Goff was about in 2013 when he was a true freshman who was benched twice during Cal’s one-win season. Franklin, 63, yanked Goff in a 55-16 loss at Oregon before pulling him in a 49-17 loss to Oregon State.
“He’s been through controversy,” said Franklin, who recently retired after spending five seasons at Middle Tennessee State. “He’s been knocked on his ass. He’s been doubted. … And he always responded exactly the way he will now. He just got better. He’s a competitor. He came back in, went to work, had a chip on his shoulder and just got better.”
Goff, who has not lived outside California, is known for his laid-back personality. But that conceals a grit he’ll need after landing with the Lions, who haven’t won a playoff game since January 1992, in the midst of a career downturn.
At Cal, Goff didn’t miss a game in his 37-start career in which he was sacked 81 times. In the NFL, he has missed one game because of injury in five seasons.
In a December loss at Seattle, Goff finished the game after he pulled his dislocated and broken right thumb back in place on the field. Two weeks later, after undergoing thumb surgery to insert three pins, he replaced his injured replacement, John Wolford, in the first quarter of a wild-card win at Seattle. The next week, he completed 21 of 27 passes in a divisional-round loss at Green Bay.
Still, the end of the season didn’t mean Goff stopped taking hits. Last week, Rams general manager Les Snead, echoing head coach Sean McVay, declined to declare Goff would remain the starter in 2021. Snead even took the unusual step of publicly speculating how the Rams could part with Goff.
“Moving on from Jared Goff, the money we’ve invested in him, that’s not easy to overcome,” Snead said to reporters. “But this is a cap-based system. ... Anything can be done in a cap-based system. Every team right now that’s over the cap, I bet all those teams figure it out. There are ways to do it.”
Said Franklin: “It seemed personal. It was, to me, a taunting that I haven’t seen in pro sports since, I don’t remember when. To see someone go on and taunt your starting quarterback like that? I don’t get it. I know Jared pretty damn well. We have a really good relationship. We communicate. There’s nothing that young man has done to deserve that.”
In backing his former quarterback, Franklin wondered why McVay hasn’t taken more blame for some of the Rams’ offensive issues. However, Franklin acknowledged Goff’s role after he committed 13 turnovers in his final seven regular-season starts in 2020.
“Now, did Jared have a good year?” Franklin said. “Did he play great? No. It’s obvious he didn’t play as well this year. But there are a lot of reasons as to why that could be, besides him being a crappy player all of a sudden.”
On Saturday night, McVay and Stafford reportedly enjoyed a celebratory dinner in Cabo San Lucas, where they both happened to be vacationing. Meanwhile, Goff was processing his move to Michigan.
“I’m just excited to be somewhere that I know wants me and appreciates me,” Goff said to NFL Network on Sunday. “I’m moving forward and couldn’t be more excited to build a winner there.”
Eric Branch covers the 49ers for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: ebranch@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch
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