NFL
By Jalen Willingham
Lamar Jackson’s future with the Baltimore Ravens have been in the air for quite some time, and the Atlanta Falcons may have a chance to seal the deal with him. The failure of the Ravens to lock in the former MVP quarterback for the foreseeable future has led to many people speculating which team that the young quarterback should go to next.
Despite the 26 year old quarterback now having back to back seasons cut short due to injury, Jackson still has a career 45-16 record while throwing for 12,209 yards, 101 touchdowns and making the pro bowl twice. Many teams, who are in desperate need of a quarterback, would be stupid to not consider Jackson as their quarterback. The true elephant in the room however is how contract talks between Lamar and the Ravens will turn out.
Lamar Jackson had his team at the top of the AFC North while being on pace for 4,645 total yards and 30 total touchdowns. The Ravens offense averaged 25 points a game while also having a top five defense on the other side. After Jackson went down early in the 2022 season, the Baltimore Ravens failed to score more than 17 points without him before being outed in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
Right at the start of the 2022 season, Jackson turned down a five year extension that was over $250 million total with $133 million guaranteed. Jackson wanted a fully guaranteed deal much like Deshaun Watson who the Falcons were also interested in at one point.
Before taking Desmond Ridder in the third round out of Cincinnati in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons made an aggressive attempt at getting Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans. This was done despite the fact that Watson dealt with a multitude of cases involving sexual misconduct.
A potential trade for Lamar Jackson would cost the Falcons a ton of picks. I’m sure many Falcons fans and players would also welcome Lamar with open arms. He fits their offense very well with how much Atlanta ran the ball along with Kyle Pitts being his new Mark Andrews and an emerging young receiver Drake London to throw to on the outside. The only problem here is that Atlanta isn’t exactly a team that is a quarterback away from contention. They went 7-10 for a reason. The team still has an abysmal pass rush on defense that tallied up just 21 sacks last season. They could also use more weapons and pass targets offensively as well.
Overall, only time will tell what truly happens with Lamar Jackson. If the Ravens ultimately cannot agree to a deal with Jackson, then the Falcons should no doubt try to make a move on him.
