One of the weirder things that have happened in the NFL offseason is how there doesn’t seem to be a market for recent MVP Lamar Jackson.
He wants a new contract and should have had pretty much every penny he asked for by now, but no one, including the Ravens, want to give it to him, and he will now be playing under the franchise tag, which will pay him $32.4 million unless he can find a new home.
There are a few teams that could use him as an upgrade at QB, but it would also take draft picks to get him. One of the teams that could make a run at Jackson is the Patriots according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
“Right now there’s no real firm offer sheet for Lamar Jackson that I’m aware of,” Fowler said. “Teams are probably slow-playing this. The draft could be a good indicator because you have a team like the Colts at number four. If they feel like they can’t get the quarterback of the future they wanted to draft maybe they pivot to Lamar Jackson. The Jets, if they strike out with Aaron Rodgers, certainly that’s not expected, but they could pivot. And then you got some wild cards like Tennessee or New England. Teams that like to run the ball. You never know.”
The Patriots could be back in Super Bowl contention if they got Lamar, so we’ll see if they become serious contenders for him.
It is clear that a healthy Lamar Jackson makes some of these teams Super Bowl contenders and other just contenders, so I expect the market for him to heat up very soon. A lot will be decided around the NFL Draft if teams aren’t able to select a QB that they like during the draft, they will likely circle back to Jackson.
