Another team pulls out of Lamar Jackson sweepstakes
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has been seen as a generational talent since his college days at Louisville.
In his first season as a full-time starter back in 2019, Jackson tallied 43 total touchdowns compared to six interceptions en route to winning the NFL MVP. He’s the only quarterback in modern NFL history to put up two consecutive 1,000-yard seasons on the ground.
So, what is happening with Jackson? He’s still technically a free agent after Baltimore placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on the quarterback. Since then, the 26-year-old has requested a trade.
Meanwhile, yet another team has bowed out of the sweepstakes for Jackson.
“Everyone knows Lamar’s skill set. Lamar’s a stud. I’m sure they’ll work it out there. But Lamar’s a great player,” San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said earlier in the week. “We’ve got three quarterbacks we’re pretty good with right now, and we’re pretty set with how we’ve built our roster salary cap-wise.”
That’s pretty much San Francisco’s way of announcing that it has no interest in acquiring Jackson right now.
Sure, there are a lot of layers to this. With Baltimore having placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson, other teams can sign the quarterback to an offer sheet. If the offer is not matched, said team yields two first-round picks to the Ravens while paying Jackson top-of-the-market money (roughly $50 million annually).
No one said acquiring a top-five quarterback was going to come cheap. It never really does. Despite this, San Francisco now joins a number of teams who have made it clear that they are not going to chase after him:
- San Francisco 49ers
- Atlanta Falcons
- Washington Commanders
- New England Patriots
In addition to these four teams, others have made moves that indicate they are going in another direction. The Las Vegas Raiders signed Jimmy Garoppolo. The New Orleans Saints brought in former Raiders quarterback Derek Carr.
Meanwhile, the Carolina Panthers acquired the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft to use on a quarterback. Simply put, Jackson’s market is slipping.
