Every year we are reminded with absolutely zero uncertainty the NFL is ~a quarterback league~. This is a non-negotiable take. You have or you have not. And even when you have, sometimes it's not enough. Just ask the , who shuffled into into a newly signed contract extension. Teams routinely pay outrageous prices in terms of current and future draft capital to move up and take a flier on an unknown commodity in the draft.And yet, when Lamar Jackson became available for any on their starting quarterback ... not one NFL team is interested?This is a former MVP we're talking about, one of the most electric athletes in all of profe sional sports, a legitimate franchise quarterback who turned 26 years old in January.We've never seen a case of a quarterback being dangled like this for all of the quarterback-needy to come after him. This is a cutthroat league where the margins are thin and having a quarterback separates you, not just in the ability to pursue a , but also in fan interest, both locally and nationally. The are largely irrelevant on a national stage. The Panthers with Lamar Freaking Jackson? That's a team getting multiple prime-time games every year and the immediate favorite to win the NFC South. The exact same case could be made for the . And, my goodne s, Lamar recreating Vick 2.0 in some red, white and black unis
Derrick Gore Jersey would be incredible.We'll be denied that aesthetic, however, because Atlanta, much like Carolina -- along with seemingly every other quarterback-needy team in the NFL -- to even pursue Jackson. They're not even going to check in and see what Jackson might want.The than Jackson being opened up to the entire league for negotiation. And the reason seems painfully obvious: NFL owners are adamant about squashing out the idea of quarterbacks getting fully guaranteed contracts. Jackson's predicament was created when the traded for and gave him a guaranteed $230 million deal, despite Watson facing double-digit accusations of off-field sexual misconduct. As our own Jason La Canfora reported in March 2022, the deal Cleveland owner Jimmy Haslam gave Watson .The Browns weren't really in on Watson until Haslam was willing to break rank -- and precedent -- and give Watson a deal no one else in the league was
Darrel Williams Jersey willing to offer up.Watson hadn't played football in well over a year, required multiple high draft picks to acquire, wanted a monster contract extension and was dealing with unprecedented off-field i sues. Yet the Browns were in on him, as were the Falcons and Panthers according to plenty of reports. Jackson is in the exact same spot, only he has been more productive, has a better injury history (Watson has multiple torn ACLs dating back to college), has an MVP and there's no negotiation with the about the compensation if an offer sheet is signed.Despite that, no le s than five NFL teams very publicly leaked out their lack of interest in Jackson with an incredible quickne s. Following the Ravens announcing on Twitter they were tagging Jackson at 3:02 p.m. ET on Tuesday, we got a flurry of reports from various reporters.The Falcons -- a consensus best landing spot for Jackson -- let Dianni Ru sini of ESPN know they were out by 3:16 p.m. ET. The Atlanta Falcons will not be pursuing QB Lamar Jackson, per sources. Dianna Ru sini (@diannaESPN) I can't even pick out what I
Jarran Reed Jersey want for lunch that fast, much le s make a franchise-altering decision. Jackson would THRIVE in Arthur Smith's offense and make the Falcons immediately relevant, but sure. The Raiders quickly followed suit, letting it be known they were "unlikely" to chase after Jackson. If you are wondering if the will be involved in Lamar Jackson, the answer is very unlikely. Vincent Bonsignore (@VinnyBonsignore) Acknowledging Mark Davis likely doesn't have the liquidity to actually pay Jackson (more on that in a minute) and ignoring what his father would have done (trade for Jackson in a freaking heartbeat), I'd like to point out the only quarterback currently on the Raiders roster is . I'd gue s at least 50% of the people reading this can't be 100% sure if I made that name up or not.By 4:30 p.m. ET, the Panthers let it be known they weren't likely in the Lamar Jackson busine s either. Scott Fitterer certainly will discu s and has discu sed Lamar Jackson b/c that's what he does.But Panthers are not expected to be in the Jackson market, per league sources. Joe Person (@josephperson) David Tepper has been rejected multiple times in an attempt to trade for a franchise quarterback, including Watson, and -- not even joking here -- . Lamar Jackson is on the block and he doesn't even want to check in on what it might take to acquire him? Again, sure.The got the word out as well, citing their satisfaction at the QB position with . The Dolphins will not be pursuing Lamar Jackson or any other starting QBs this off-season, multiple team sources tell me. As one source said, Mike fully believes Tua is the perfect fit for his system. Jeff Darlington
Harrison Butker Jersey (@JeffDarlington) This would be reasonable if there weren't 1) medical concerns surrounding Tua's future and 2) a persistent buzz about and the Dolphins constantly lingering. Even Danny Snyder's don't want in on the Jackson biz. Been trying to gauge league-wide interest in Lamar Jackson since placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on him.Washington is a team that, on paper, makes sense (just like the Falcons). But based on what Im hearing, the are not likely to pursue Jackson. Kimberley A. Martin (@ByKimberleyA) I've covered the NFL in some capacity for 15+ years. I've seen a lot of weird stuff, even if you just want to narrow it down to Tag Day. One time the lost because they screwed up a fax to the league office. Never, ever have I seen an actual, legitimate franchise quarterback come available and have five-plus NFL teams *immediately* leak out their disinterest in him.Either we're all drastically undervaluing the concerns with Jackson or something else is afoot. So what are those concerns, exactly? Some of them are quite viable, but I'm mostly in the interest of presenting both sides.Giving up multiple first-round picks is not something NFL teams want to do. Two first-round picks for any NFL player is a fairly steep price, but it's absolutely in line with what we've seen other franchise quarterbacks go for in the trade market recently. The and Broncos gave up similar hauls
Josh Gordon Jersey for Matthew Stafford and . And this isn't two firsts for a cost-controlled player you would get in the draft. This is the big one here. Jackson, by all accounts, wants a fully guaranteed deal. The Ravens chose to let the market tell him what his value was and the market magically dried up! We won't ever know what he might be willing to take because teams aren't even floating out offer sheets. A fully guaranteed deal would require matching every dollar in escrow (an antiquated rule from a time when not every NFL owner had hundreds of millio
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