Lamar Jackson is the best free agent left on the market, even if a team other than the Baltimore Ravens is looking to acquire him and he may have to give up multiple first-round picks.
The Atlanta Falcons are a team with young players prepared to excel during the upcoming season. Falcons team owner Arthur Blank made it clear that he would stick with Desmond Ridder as the starting quarterback even though the former Cincinnati standout only had two touchdown passes in the four games he started.
Blank said Tuesday that he was impressed with how far Ridder has come from the first day he walked into the facility through the final game of the 2022 season.
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Desmond Ridder, #4 of the Atlanta Falcons, fights with the ball against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on January 8, 2023 in Atlanta. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
But what about Jackson? The Ravens’ quarterback could be a game changer for the franchise, and it seemed like the Falcons were in the market for a quarterback last season as they were finalists for Deshaun Watson, even though Watson was in middle of two dozen civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual abuse. bad behavior. The team reportedly refused to give Watson a fully guaranteed contract.
Blank explained that the situation this year was different from last year, and lamented the restrictions the team would have if they invested a quarter of the team’s money in just one player.
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Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, #8, warms up before their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at M&T Bank Stadium on December 20, 2020 in Baltimore. (Todd Olszewski/Getty Images)
«I think we explored last year, which is our responsibility,» Blank said of a potential Watson deal, via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. «We didn’t explore it very, very thoroughly. We spent some time from a legal standpoint, a personal standpoint, a player value standpoint, and a variety of things. Shortly after we started exploring, we decided that It wasn’t a very good game.»
He added: «I think the Lamar situation, and I really don’t want to spend a lot of time talking about players at other clubs, but the Lamar situation, I think is very different. A different player. Different time.»
The explanation did not sit well with the NFL world.
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Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank looks on before the game against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field on September 25, 2022 in Seattle. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Atlanta was in contention for the NFC South title, finishing 7-10. The team hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2017 season, the same year they last finished with a record over .500.