You got that one right, at least 5 NFL teams you would expect to go all the way in to get Lamar Jackson to be their QB look to be indifferent towards the fact the Ravens had put him on a non-exclusive franchise tag which leads me to the main question, why or how?
Because obviously, this isn’t how I personally expected things to go. I don’t think there are many that could have expected the way this has played out in the few short hours since Baltimore’s announcement just a few hours ago.
Kinda crazy to think about teams with zero irrelevance on a national stage like the Carolina Panthers who could have gotten multiple prime-time games every season while ramping up the chances of competing for the NFC South, and the same thing goes with the Falcons or the Browns.
Having these kinda teams avoiding themselves from pursuing after Jackson, a 26-year-old former MVP who has done wonders in the league over the past years is absolutely something I can wrap my mind with. Seriously aren’t they even gonna check in with him to see what he wants and under what terms. The lack of attempt is mind blowing indeed, and sure, quarterbacks needy teams’ owners typically shy away from negotiating because they can’t promise long-term contract even to one of the most electric players that the NFL has ever seen.
Jackson’s predicament was created when the Cleveland Browns traded for Deshaun Watson and gave him a guaranteed $230 million deal, despite Watson facing double-digit accusations of off-field sexual misconduct? I mean what gives? I just find it a bit suspicious after weeks of speculations involved no less than 5 or 6 teams if we include the Dolphins, Commanders and the Raiders which I couldn’t care less about them so screw them, but overall, all those teams individually had a great opportunity to strike a deal with Lamar and be a trade partner and negotiate about it but instead, we saw the New York Giants strike a deal with Daniel Jones and the Saints with Derek Carr while the Jets are moving vigorously to get their hands on Aaron Rodgers, not to mention that in a very odd way, the Atlanta Falcons Retweeted a report of their disinterest even if the reporter himself who tweeted that is in fact a Falcons’ employee, but Lamar’s name was mostly linked to the Falcons and I believe he could thrive in Arthur Smith’s offense and make the Falcons immediately relevant which is why I think it’s very weird but that’s just me.
My point is all these chains of events and how they played out seem just a bit too coincidental to me. I don’t know it seems to me that there is some sort of unspoken agreement among teams’ owners and maybe they’re trying to send a strong message to the NFLPA, who hasn’t been shy about their involvement with Lamar’s situation, but as I said it is weird to me and it gets even weirder now but let’s just hope new reports will shed some light on Lamar’s Predicament
I hope we get more reports that will shed some light on Jackson’s predicament.