The Lure Of Lamar Jackson
March 28th, 2023
Demands trade.
So yesterday the hammer finally fell. Lamar Jackson demanded a trade from the Crows.
And Joe happens to know of a team in Florida that doesn’t know who it’s quarterback is in the final days of March.
(Yes, the Cardinals didn’t know Kurt Warner would start for them. And the Seahawks didn’t know Russell Wilson would start for them. So that’s two teams out of 32 for the past 23 seasons? Joe doesn’t like those odds.)
Jackson, a former MVP, is in a contract dispute with the Crows. He doesn’t have one. The Crows tagged him with a non-exclusive label and he won’t play for what the tag offers — and he potentially could be had for two first-round draft picks. That’s a damn bargain when you consider what the Stinking Panthers traded to obtain a rookie quarterback (two first-round picks, two second-round picks and a stud receiver).
Jackson, 26, has one major issue. He hasn’t been able to finish the last two seasons due to injuries. That’s significant. Just that alone should bring his salary demands down.
Since the Bucs want to run the ball more now, and new Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales wants his quarterbacks outside the pocket from time to time, you will not find a more talented quarterback for Canales than Jackson.
Trading for Jackson instantly would bring the Bucs back to relevance (which Team Glazer embraces) and make them a favorite to win the NFC South. And consider Jackson has never remotely had weapons to throw to like the Bucs have.
The only thing that spooks Joe about Jackson is injuries. If the guy cannot get on the field for the playoffs, what’s the point?
As far as his contract and the Bucs’ salary cap, Joe will remind folks that the team in the greatest salary cap hell outside the Bucs this season was the slimy Saints. And they just signed Derek Carr to a four-year, $150,000,000 pact. So please spare Joe “the Bucs don’t have room” blather.
Last Joe checked, teams can still backload contracts.
March 28th, 2023 at 2:38 am
The Bucs DO have a starter and it’s Kyle Trask. They all know it. As I posted in the Arians recent article comments…
Trask will start the season for many reasons…
1. The Glazers aren’t stupid. They know a large % of Bucs fans and ticket holders are Gators fans. Trask set all kinds of records at UF and not letting him start the season with the starting team will make a lot of those fans angry.
2. Licht doesn’t want to look stupid by having a 2nd round pick not even have a chance to play and prove himself (one way or another) on the field.
3. If Trask starts and stinks it up, it lets the Glazers and Licht off the hook because fans will have seen him not do well and will understand having Mayfield take over.
4. The Bucs are in cap hell. The last thing they want is for Mayfield to ball out and then command a $250M+ guaranteed multi-year contract next season; or to potentially lose him as a free agent after they let him be the starter this season. Trask’s upside has them with another cheap year with him playing in 2024.
The Bucs have every incentive and reason to have Trask start.
March 28th, 2023 at 2:42 am
The Glazers would look like idiots if they traded valuable draft capital and made their cap situation worse, only to have Jackson come in and get hurt. There is way too much downside risk.
March 28th, 2023 at 2:49 am
I’m willing to bet that last years “season ending surgery” was not an injury at all. It was more of a sit out over the lack of a contract.
Besides: Lamar & Baker= A coin toss, with one side of the coin set at a max of 8 million and the other set at a minimum of 35 million. Lamar aint coming here but the story makes good click-bait 😏
March 28th, 2023 at 2:58 am
Do you believe everything happens for a reason? Then believe that Lamar Jackson getting injured while the Ravens played games with him over a new contract the last two seasons made him decide (rightly) he’s never playing for them again. View everything that’s happened this off-season with him through that lens and you’ll realize his end game was always to get off a team that didn’t value him.
Would you play injured or just ride it out and head into the off-season and rehab and get to your next team? Licht should go get him! Oh and they should throw Trask in as part of any deal. The ol Mike Glennon Mob folks won’t stop clamoring for him to start. Based on what? Nada
March 28th, 2023 at 3:32 am
No,nope,nada…thank you
March 28th, 2023 at 4:12 am
For Jackson to be asking for a 5 year quarter-of-a-BILLION guaranteed contract shows he’s in need of a severe reality adjustment.
An important ability of a QB is availability. And Jackson’s style of play makes him vulnerable to injuries. It”s too big of a risk for the Bucs given their salary cap situation.
March 28th, 2023 at 4:14 am
No no no no no. Injury prone, getting older, can’t throw. No!
March 28th, 2023 at 4:37 am
He let his team mates down and sat on the bench during a PLAYOFF game. That dude would never be my team mate
March 28th, 2023 at 4:41 am
It’s a good thing we have a strong LT and guards to protect Lam— wait what’s that?
March 28th, 2023 at 4:41 am
I would like to thank Trask to the future. I have not laughed so hard in years!
March 28th, 2023 at 6:13 am
Hard pass on Lamar – the guy is one hit away from being RG3
When the legs slow his career is over
March 28th, 2023 at 6:20 am
Trask is trash and Baker is done, both is a bust, I Lamar is the one to change our team to a championship team again. We have the right pieces wide receivers, line and if we can get Jahmyr Gibbs from Alabama.
March 28th, 2023 at 6:29 am
Trade baker and Trask and get Lamar and draft Hooker in the second round
March 28th, 2023 at 6:49 am
Someone has to want to trade for you jack@ss…
There’s not alot of teams interested in a injury prone running back pretending to be a QB1…
March 28th, 2023 at 7:25 am
The continued pining for Lamar Jackson is ridiculous. To give up 2 #1 picks and a boatload of money we don’t have is absurd in particular AFTER we have signed Mayfield.
Forget it.
As far as freeing up cash from the cap…..we’ve already done that……and SMB & Edwards are gone because we couldn’t pay them……..we still have many holes to fill and perhaps 9 draft picks to pay.
March 28th, 2023 at 7:27 am
Nancy Reagan said it best Joe
“Just say No!”
to the hypnotic appeal of Lamar Jackson.
He is a far less accurate passing version of Michael Vick. If you really want that then package a couple of picks and trade up for the kid from Florida who will be a Lamar Jackson lite for less than one tenth the cost.
March 28th, 2023 at 7:38 am
Lamar Jackson will be a Buccaneer right after Kay Adams swings by my house with a bottle of Dom Perignon and a satchel of caviar. But it has nothing to do with Kyle’s Trashk.
Trashk to the Dumpster, stop ingesting those heavy hallucinogens. They’ve drastically reduced what was already, obviously, your feeble mental game.
March 28th, 2023 at 7:52 am
I thought cavier came in tins?
March 28th, 2023 at 7:57 am
Trask To The Bench-
Angry Gator. Lol
March 28th, 2023 at 8:00 am
Trade White for a high #2 draft pick then select the best offensive tackle available right or left save 11 mil trade for Lamar Jackson send them Baker Mayfield as a deal sealer.
March 28th, 2023 at 8:02 am
Doosh, normally it does come in tins, but Kay is bringing a lot of it in a satchel I just know it.
March 28th, 2023 at 8:03 am
There is no evidence whatsoever showing that Licht would part with draft capital beyond a 4th round pick for a future hall of fame tight end. They will ride with the two they have, that ship has sailed and Lamar is out on a limb on his own.
We don’t have guys who hold our due to contracts, not a guy we want
March 28th, 2023 at 8:09 am
Lamar would win some games, then blow out his ACL and go on IR for the rest of the season. The guy is a running back who plays QB. These types of QBs have a limited shelf life. Hard Pass.
March 28th, 2023 at 8:20 am
Lamar wants $250 million guaranteed. The team that is built for him knows it is too big a risk, thus Ravens haven’t gotten a deal done. All the talk of “Ravens have to sign him, they score 11 less point per game without him” is the exact reason you can’t sign him with fully guaranteed contract. There is too much data from the games he missed, he will get you into the playoffs but will be on the sidelines for them. Plus he just isn’t that good of a passer. No thank you, the fact that he is representing himself doesn’t help either. Look at the grammar of the press release, ugh.
March 28th, 2023 at 8:23 am
Atlanta is his final destination.
March 28th, 2023 at 8:40 am
Just Saying, I’m a grammar Na*i who came to say this too: “the fact that he is representing himself doesn’t help either. Look at the grammar of the press release, ugh.”
Lamar, ask you neighbor’s 15 year old kid to proof-read before you hit “send”! It’s not like it remains on the internet forever?!
March 28th, 2023 at 8:50 am
He has played 20 of 36 games, completed 33 TDs and 20 pick offs, but sure make him the highest paid ever for 5 years and give up 2 firsts, no way.
March 28th, 2023 at 8:53 am
Him going to a division rival with a boatload of guarantied cash would be sweet. We all know he won’t be heathy for a good portion of that contract so that’s good for the Bucs.
March 28th, 2023 at 9:01 am
And then there is the Kaaron Rodgers fiasco. The Jets and Browns keep vying for most woeful franchise in the NFL. Looks like Dan Campbell has pulled the Lions out of that trash heap, although the Cardinals look to be replacing them in it.
If the Bucs didn’t have Licht, who will terminate the Bloweszo after his fifth consecutive losing season as head coich, I’d put the Bucs in there with them.
New coach and a new day in Tampa Bay for 2024.
March 28th, 2023 at 9:03 am
Only insane people would want to trade for a guy that will cost THAT much in compensation and also want a contract that would crippled the team from being competitive… oh… and the guy can’t stay healthy, doesn’t play a style that would allow him to stay healthy, and hasn’t shown signs that he can adjust and be a good player not being reckless. No WR wants to play with a run first QB… just look at Vick’s early years in Atlanta. He was a highlight reel… but he couldn’t win consistently because he wasn’t a true passer. Just stop on the Lamar Jackson chatter. That’s a big NO from me.
March 28th, 2023 at 9:11 am
Clearly Lamar doesn’t have a command of the language. Did he even go to school? Hard pass on this clown. We don’t need another running back.
March 28th, 2023 at 9:30 am
Demanding a trade when he’s literally been on the trade block all offseason. Not the sharpest tool in the shed.
March 28th, 2023 at 9:45 am
“He hasn’t been able to finish the last two seasons due to injuries. That’s significant. Just that alone should bring his salary demands down.”
Wait…he’s unwilling to play for the Ravens because they are not offering enough, and you think it will suddenly change with his new team?????
March 28th, 2023 at 9:49 am
Wake me when this is over…
LOL.
Lamar Jackson isn’t going anywhere until he comes back down to earth and negotiates a contract that matches his abilities.
March 28th, 2023 at 9:50 am
NFL owners have to get salaries for quarterbacks under control or at least change the rules so quarterbacks are not in the salary cap.
All thats happening is teams signing veteran average to better-than-average QB’s are so strapped vs the cap that after a couple of years the team loses its complimentary players who leave for teams with lesser quarterbacks that have the money.
Ends up that your Panthers/Jets type teams have the money to sign the big name QB’s and other teams can’t.
The Bucs mistakes have been on WR and offensive line, they have too much money tied up in Gage/Evans and Godwin. When Smith, Marpet and Jensen were together, too much money in the offensive line.
Teams need to draft and get younger NFL ready linemen to keep the balance.
March 28th, 2023 at 9:52 am
And……what are your thoughts again on the coach Goatfarmer?
March 28th, 2023 at 9:52 am
gotbbucs Says:
March 28th, 2023 at 9:30 am
“Demanding a trade when he’s literally been on the trade block all offseason. Not the sharpest tool in the shed.”
i was thinking the same thing, lol.
March 28th, 2023 at 9:55 am
I think teams should be able to designate one starter per year as immune to the cap. That would make teams much more competitive.
March 28th, 2023 at 9:58 am
I’ve heard people say he quit on the Ravens, that he could’ve played but didn’t. That’s up for debate, but he DIDN’T TRAVEL WITH THE TEAM TO THEIR PLAYOFF GAME. Did the team decide that, or did Jackson? If it was him, he MOST DEFINITELY QUIT ON HIS TEAM.
March 28th, 2023 at 10:03 am
I personally love Lamar Jackson, I think he is is somehow an underrated QB even though he is a former MVP winner. HOWEVER, he messed up 2 things: 1) being his own agent, and 2) turning down Ravens contract offers because not enough guaranteed money, when he has not proven he can stay healthy. If I were a franchise, I would not feel comfortable handing over a boatload of guaranteed money to a player who has missed significant time at the most important position, and whose playing style is risky for further injury. Risk vs reward. The dude is a generational talent, but you know what they say; the best ability is AVAILABILITY. I am very curious what will happen with Lamar, as many franchises are likely spooked for the exact reasons I am. Let’s see what we have in Baker and Trask and go from there.
March 28th, 2023 at 10:32 am
Amazing talent, but brittle.
And so selfless, “my dream is to help a team”… err, cough, cough… as long as they guarantee me $40+ million/year for 5 yrs. What a humble ambassador of the game. With a 1-3 playoff record, 4 tds and 7 turnovers, and a 68 playoff passes rating, not to mention he doesn’t seem to finish seasons, he may deserve the money, but he does not deserve any guarantees
March 28th, 2023 at 10:34 am
250 mil guaranteed for an injury prone qb who hasn’t led his team anywhere? Put your crack pipes down…. hell to the no. Roll with Mayfield or Trask.
Speaking of Kyle Trask – you Gainesville mafia gator fans make it impossible to root for the guy, with your myopic blind allegiance to him. You guys are worse than the FSU Winston homers. Makes me wish the Bucs would avoid drafting QBs from in state schools, so this fanbase can look at them objectively. Hell, “Trask to the future” all but argued for anointing him the starter just to make the Gainesville Goobers happy.
March 28th, 2023 at 10:38 am
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Joe is shoveling this sh!t.
Sorry, the Bucs have been clear that this is a cap cleanup year. They’re not trading for the “privilege” of giving a guaranteed cap crushing 40+ million per year to anyone. Might I also remind you that next year, Winfield will be looking for a big contract, and they’ll probably want to lock in Wirfs as well.
Also, Lamar Jackson is a dumbass.
March 28th, 2023 at 10:42 am
For Bowles this is the stuff that dreams are made of. He may even win 2 games.
March 28th, 2023 at 11:01 am
As the jason leitch loving Joe-Joes well know, Lamar will not be a buc. To expensive plus he doesn’t fit the bucs offense.
March 28th, 2023 at 11:22 am
Lamar makes us definite winners of the NFC South. And ensures we are at the top of the league. Don’t worry about having an average O line, Lamar can run for 50 easily.
March 28th, 2023 at 11:29 am
Bucs do NOT need the Most over rated player of all time on their team….
Much like Cam Newton, the closer Jackson gets to 30, the slow he becomes and ends up dead weight on the roster taking up space because his passing sucks…
The Ravens have seen him up close and personal FOR YEARS and know what he can truly do AND YET still don’t want him..
LJ will TORPEDO and sink any team he goes to at this point!
March 28th, 2023 at 11:46 am
Wins 3 out of every 4 games he plays. Will improve our league lame rushing game. Better than every NFC South QB currently on roster. No agent. Painted himself and the Ravens into a corner- There is every possibility this kid moves onto another franchise, and likely for nowhere near the guaranteed monies people are so worried about. Why cant that franchise be ours? Im ok with the Baker project, but winning 9+games a season when Lamar is healthy still has more upside, and it would be a total shame if he ended up with a division rival like Atlanta.
March 28th, 2023 at 12:07 pm
Joe it almost sounds like you are Jacksons agent trying desparately to find a new home for this dude! It isn’t gonna happen so please stop it!
March 28th, 2023 at 12:11 pm
Lamar would be a steal, he didn’t miss the games last year due to injury it was a business decision based on the lack of support and backing by the team that drafted him. They made him the whole offense didn’t give him any real help outside of 1 tight end and you expect him to make the super bowl. Yet he became the only unanimous MVP without a legit Number 1. You bring him to Tampa he will ball out and we will win several super bowls. He fits what Canales wants to do and is a true baller. @ whoever said he quit on his team and can;t be a teammate of yours. Newsflash dude thats easy for you to say when you would’ve gotten paid. or better yet how can you try to make your teammate feel bad about potentially playing hurt for a playoff game where the team hasn’t shown any real support nor did they give him security to assure him that if he does get hurt for the “cause” they’ll have his back. Would you go play injured for team that won’t sign you long term yet pretends to care and would most likely use you for all you have and not pay and say the reason their not paying you is because you got hurt but they begged and pleaded you to play for the cause but then they dont lookout for their investment after it has made them all this money and taken them places they haven’t been in ages. LJ8 Would be the steal send over baker and lets get our QB of the future who fits exactly what we want to do schematically and money wise. Lamar to Mike would be unstoppable
March 28th, 2023 at 1:39 pm
Dude wants a fully guaranteed contract. Even without the injury issues he has. Hard pass. If he lowers his demands then I would do it. Doubtful that happens
March 28th, 2023 at 2:06 pm
Lamar is a head case that only an idiot would do business with. Let him rot on his couch. Run far far away!!!!
March 28th, 2023 at 2:07 pm
Lamar & Aaron find a team already! These soap operas are getting both old and bothersome. I would rather focus on the upcoming draft and 2023 season.
March 28th, 2023 at 2:47 pm
Kavorka…. The lure of the devil.
March 28th, 2023 at 8:10 pm
Lamar Jackson is only for Lamar Jackson he could care less about a superbowl he just want 5 years of guaranteed money so when he blows his knees out in two years because hes a lousy passer that can only run he will have three years to sit on his ass and get paid. And all the teams in the nfl knows this so the Baltimore Buzzards are stuck with him.