How Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff helped WR Josh Reynolds find peace in a difficult year

Josh Reynolds was in a bad place last fall, dealing with one injury after another and grieving the loss of his grandfather when Jared Goff made a small gesture that neither knew would give the receiver and his quarterback an unbreakable bond.

Reynolds, who had a short-lived stint with the Tennessee Titans in 2021, was planning a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, during the Detroit Lions’ bye week to move his belongings.

Goff, who was making a personal trip to Nashville the same weekend, caught wind of Reynolds’ plans and offered up a seat on the private jet he was taking to town.

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Reynolds had been teammates with Goff most of his NFL career. The two played four seasons together with the Los Angeles Rams; when Reynolds was cut midway through his first season with the Titans, the Lions, short on receivers, claimed him off waivers to give Goff a familiar face in the passing game.

But as friendly as they were, Goff and Reynolds enjoyed mostly a surface-level relationship. Reynolds was the private type, an introvert who kept to himself in the locker room. He and fellow receiver Robert Woods grew close during their time together with the Rams, but Reynolds didn’t have many teammates he truly confided in.

On the plane ride to Nashville, Goff and Reynolds talked about their time together in L.A. and what they were building in Detroit, and Reynolds suddenly opened up about the death of his grandfather and the pain he was hiding in plain sight.

“I started crying on him,” Reynolds recalled this week. “Like, ‘Man, I wasn’t expecting to come out here and start (bleeping) crying on you, either. Sorry.’ It was something I kind of needed at the time and it was good.”

More than anything, Goff was a shoulder for Reynolds to lean on, an ear for Reynolds to vent to about the agony he was feeling in life.

Reynolds’ grandfather, Chuck, was one of his biggest fans, a retired Air Force officer who was a regular at most of his games. Chuck died in his sleep; the sudden nature of his death shocked Reynolds’ entire family. And the injuries Reynolds was dealing with — he sprained his ankle in a Week 3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, which caused a knee problem later in the season, which led to back problems that hampered him the second half of the year — amplified his grief even more.

“I was kind of going through a bad time last year. I mean that, with just all the injuries I was having as well, it just, I wasn’t in a great mindset, state of mind,” Reynolds said. “I was able to open up a little bit to him. We got to talk about a little bit of everything, our time in L.A.; we hadn’t been able to do that before that, so it was nice.”

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At 28 and seven seasons into an NFL career that could have been a cup of coffee as a fourth-round pick, Reynolds has learned that just as important as what he’s doing — catching passes for a living — is who he’s doing it with.

And in Detroit, the veteran has found his zen.

He, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Kalif Raymond are in their third season together atop the Lions’ receiving corps. He and Raymond have forged an especially close bond; Reynolds opened up to Raymond about his struggles last season, too. He’s healthy after devoting his offseason to strengthening his legs. And he remains one of Goff’s most trusted targets on the field.

“For me, this is just a brotherhood, man,” Reynolds said. “You’re going out every day with a guy, working out, sharing tragedies and just everything. Somebody you’re just grinding with every day. You see him day in and day out, kind of how he carries his self and just be able to talk about deeper things, for me that’s everything.”

Reynolds played some of the best football of his career early last season, before the injuries set in.

He caught six passes for a season-high 96 yards against the Vikings and followed up that up with seven- and six-catch games the next two weeks against the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.

After stumbling to the finish last season with four catches in the Lions’ final four games combined, Reynolds was back making big plays for the team in last week’s season-opening win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

He had four catches for a game-high 80 yards and caught two big passes for first downs on the Lions’ go-ahead touchdown drive. Reynolds converted a third-and-12 with his first catch — an 18-yard pass that Goff made while being hit by a Chiefs defender — and he had a 33-yard catch-and-run later in the drive.

“I trust him, I really do,” Goff said. “And I’ve played with him for a long time now and we have a good rapport and I know where he’s going to be, when he’s going to be there. I’ve got a good feel for his body language in and out of routes. He’s got sure hands. He’s very reliable at the catch point, so I trust him a lot and can throw with some anticipation to him.”

Reynolds said that feeling is mutual, and after a difficult 2022, it’s a broader sense he has with the entire team.

“Locker room(s) don’t get much better than this around the league when it comes to like comradery with the team, guys jelling with each other,” Reynolds said. “I’m going to just enjoy the time while I got it, ball out this year and help us win as many games as we can.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff helped Josh Reynolds find peace in 2022