Kelly: NFL Keeps Giving Lamar Jackson a Cold Shoulder, and Message Should Resonate with Dolphins and All Other Teams

Not one NFL team has brought Lamar Jackson in for a free agent visit.

For three weeks, not one of the NFL’s quarterback-starved franchises even explored having a conversation with the 2019 MVP, a talent who set franchise and NFL records in his first five seasons as a starter at the most important position in all of sports.

Not one physical to see how Jackson’s injured knee was.

Blame it on whatever you’d like — collusion, his injury history, Jackson’s playing style, his persona, the lack of an agent, the contract terms, the compensation the Baltimore Ravens might require for Jackson, the theory teams would be helping the Ravens re-sign the two-time Pro Bowl selection by sending an offer — but the lack interest is extremely telling.

DOLPHINS SEND JACKSON COLD SHOULDER

The Miami Dolphins, a franchise that argued about selecting Jackson during the 2018 draft, can’t tell the world enough how much they are in love with Tua Tagovailoa, and have finally stopped stepping out on him (Tom Brady and Deshaun Watson were flings) now that Tagovailoa is the NFL’s top-rated passer, concussions and all.

The Carolina Panthers would rather send the Chicago Bears a king’s ransom in picks and players to secure the No. 1 pick in this year’s NFL draft, where Carolina openly admits they aren’t sure what quarterback it'll take. And more importantly, has no clue how good that player — likely Ohio State's C.J. Stroud or Alabama's Bryce Young — could become.

The Atlanta Falcons are selling Desmond Ridder as the franchise’s savior.

We’re talking about the same Ridder who was picked 74th overall in the 2022 draft and produced an 86.4 passer rating while leading the Falcons to a 2-2 record late last season after he finally replaced Marcus Mariota.

The Washington Commanders are pretending that Sam Howell and/or Jacoby Brissett is going to save Ron Rivera’s job. That’s laughable, especially considering how mediocre Brissett was as a starter for the Dolphins in 2021 and the Browns in 2022.

Baker Mayfield is on his fourth — or is it fifth? — lifeline in Tampa Bay. The number depends on how you view his cup of coffee with the Rams late last season.

Gardner Minshew supposedly is the answer in Indianapolis, unless the Colts get lucky in the draft. And Ryan Tannehill seemingly is having his stay extended one more season in Tennessee. At least for now.

None of those franchises explored what it would take to acquire Jackson, which is why the South Florida native (Pompano Beach, to be specific) has a right to feel slighted.

But what he needs to do is face the fact he’s the new Colin Kaepernick.

The only difference is Jackson's crusade isn’t about social justice or pushing for police reform.

This cold shoulder is about finances, and comfort. It’s clear that a message is being sent to NFL players using Jackson’s saga as a cautionary tale, and the players, fans and media better be paying attention.

That message?

I suspect it’s that no matter how talented you are, you’re not bigger than the NFL shield.

And that the league’s employees — which is how these owners view the players, who see themselves as partners — will play the game the way these billionaires set it up, or else.

QUARTERBACK MARKET IS BEING RESET

This message doesn’t impact only Jackson. He’s a critical domino in a pretty important summer, if not calendar year, for quarterbacks.

Tagovailoa receiving his fifth-year option from Miami was the first domino.

The second likely will be Jalen Hurts, since he’s entering the final year of his rookie deal and the Philadelphia Eagles already have committed to locking him up to a long-term deal before the 2023 season.

Then there’s Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert, two other upper-echelon quarterbacks from the 2020 draft, who have elevated their teams with Pro Bowl-esque performances.

Because Burrow and Herbert each play for franchises, owners who have a reputation for being frugal, their contracts might become a bit more tricky, especially since the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Chargers have the fifth-year option in 2023 and franchise tag in 2024 at their disposal.

Don’t expect any of these quarterbacks to get in Deshaun Watson’s neighborhood, landing a contract that compares to the five-year, fully guaranteed $230 million contract Watson got from the Browns.

WHAT SHOULD BE NEXT FOR LAMAR

Jackson needs to focus on weathering the storm.

He might not like playing in Baltimore on the franchise tag, but he might not have a choice. If he sits out the 2023 season — like tailback Le’Veon Bell did in 2018 when he didn’t want to play on a franchise tag he received from the Pittsburgh Steelers — he’ll find himself in this exact same position a year from now.

The $32.4 million he’s slated to make under the franchise tag will be lost and Jackson can never make that money back.

An accrued season also will be lost because of the changes to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement to which his union agreed, and the Ravens still will own his rights. So a holdout for the entire season isn’t beneficial.

If Jackson plays their game in 2023, and let us say he has his typical season, a tag for the second year would jump to $39 million. The Ravens likely wouldn’t be able to stomach that steep price, so he’d either get a lucrative multi-year deal or potentially become an unrestricted free agent in 2024.

It’s possible that more teams would be interested in Jackson if they didn’t have to give the Ravens compensation for securing his services. And a season of riding out the current option might provide more clarity for teams like Miami, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Tennessee and Tampa Bay, among others.

That’s how Kirk Cousins became the first NFL player in the modern era of football to get a full guaranteed contract from the Minnesota Vikings. He rode out the franchise tag wave.

So we could be right back here next year.

Or Jackson could let Hurts, Burrow and Herbert set the quarterback market later this summer, and then pivot, whether that’s in 2023 or 2024.

Plenty can change by then. But right now it’s clear the NFL is playing an odd style of prevent defense with the dual-threat quarterback, treating him as if he’s not one of the league’s top talents.