The Lamar Jackson Story
February 3, 2013. That day that is known for three things. A stadium blackout, a Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl victory and the day the NFL changed forever. With the keys to the franchise in one hand and the Lombardi trophy in another, Joe Flacco was king and with his crown came the spoils. A 6 year, 120 million dollar contract making him the highest paid quarterback in NFL history. In the following months, Tony Romo, Matt Ryan and Arron Rodgers would all sign deals either matching or breaking Flacco record setting amount. However the NFL has a hard salary cap, meaning there is a set number of dollars teams are allowed to spend on players. Where quarterbacks make bank, franchises must make sacrifices. With less firepower to equip quarterbacks with on both sides of the ball, you must be sure your guy is the guy. The guy that can get it done, the guy that can make magic happen where there is none and the guy that will be a leader on and off the field. Now what if I told you that your team needed that guy and in your hands you have a man who has won a MVP, 2 division titles and 36 games out of 45 starts all before the age of 25. How about a player who has made the playoffs every year he’s been in the league, has had a playoff victory and has led the league in touchdown passes. Or a guy who has thrown for more touchdowns than Jared Goff and Carson Wentz, recent members of the big contract clubs. How about to top it all off, his top three receivers have combined for a total zero all-pros and zero pro bowls. His number one target is a tight end.
Sounds like a guy who can make magic out of nothing. I am referring to Lamar Jackson. He is electricity personified and the most disrespected player in the national football league. He is now and always has been. A Heisman winner who was the fifth quarterback selected in the 2018 NFL draft, he wasn’t even the Ravens first pick of the draft (Hayden Hurst) who went on to break records and lead his team to success. However, there is still a debate in the NFL community arguing that the Ravens shouldn’t sign Jackson to his rightfully earned mega-extension and the fact that a deal has not come together yet, even after fellow 2018 first round pick Josh Allen signed his 6 year, 258 million (150 million guaranteed) contract is telling of a franchise who wasn’t hesitant to shell out the dough nine years earlier. Now some may argue that with big money, it takes time to iron out the details. It is a fair argument if Buffalo, Dallas, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Houston and the Los Angeles Rams didn’t sign their shot callers to mega deals within the last two years. It would be fair if Carolina didn’t shell out for Teddy Bridgewater and Jacksonville didn’t shell out for Nick Foles just for them to be gambles which ultimately failed. The Ravens have the sure thing and are still hesitating. Why? Maybe it’s the pressure of what to do next? Maybe they're afraid they won’t have enough money after signing Marlon Humphrey and Ronnie Stanley to big extensions. Well that’s false because Calais Campbell and Brandon Williams contracts are expiring, freeing up over twenty million per year in cap space so that’s false. If everyone else can figure out the numbers, Baltimore is more than able to. Maybe it’s his off the field conduct? He was criticized for playing beach football and running routes on a basketball court. Funny because other quarterbacks are playing backyard football, golf, basketball and yet they’re not criticized. Funny that in the criticism of Jackson, no one brings up that he was spending time with his family and was at a youth event but yes, the family and community man isn’t the guy for me. Maybe it’s because he’s a running quarterback, he’s susceptible to injury. Well he hasn’t missed a game due to injury in the pros or college so that should speak volumes regarding health. Maybe it’s because he is in the bottom half of the league in passing yards? Well wouldn’t we all be if our number one receiver is 5’9 with a history of dropping passes. So now I ask, what’s the real issue?
I think if you ran the franchise, you’d sign him the first second you got but you don’t run a franchise. You don’t get paid to run a franchise, you don’t feed your family by running a franchise. In fact, your career doesn’t live or die based off what you think of Lamar Jackson. The reason Lamar hasn’t gotten the spoils of his crown is because of everyone but him. Coming out of college, several NFL executives wanted him to convert to running back or receiver. A player like him couldn’t succeed in the NFL was common thought. Jackson was drafted 32nd, the last pick in the first round. In fact, Baltimore traded New England for that pick. That means every GM in the NFL could’ve gotten him and didn’t. That’s fine if you got Mahomes or Brady but those are two men and there are thirty-two teams. With a new deal, that is the evidence that everyone was wrong and when you are wrong, people start asking why. Fans, players and owners all ask how did you get this so wrong. In fact, the GM that drafted Lamar (Ozzie Newsome) retired so his replacement must be the one to pull the trigger, a trigger that’s hard to pull when it goes against the football philosophy we we’re all educated with. Lamar will get his deal and will continue to prove us wrong but while names like Allen, Mahomes, Rodgers get revered, Jackson’s gets disrespected because not only did majority of NFL teams and media voices reject Jackson’s ability to succeed in the league, they rejected the notion that a player like him could play and that’s worse. We’ve all had our fair share of bad picks but to say that his style won’t work means you are behind the curve in an ever-evolving industry and to be behind is to be out the door, closing the dream these GM’s try desperately to hold on to. Even if that means bashing a guy who has achieved so much more at 24 then most of the players they draft will ever do in their careers.
