Arthur Blank Passing on Lamar Jackson 'A Mistake'? Falcons 'Thought Desmond Ridder Was QB Answer'
The Atlanta Falcons are suddenly in scramble mode when it comes to the direction of the franchise, and when that happens, the blame-laying sometimes makes it difficult for those involved to keep their stories straight.
Which brings us to Falcons owner Arthur Blank, now fielding hard questions about the just-ended coach Arthur Smith era ... one specifically about opting to not pursue Lamar Jackson this past offseason.
Blank, indicating he doesn't regret the decision, said on Monday that he would not concede that passing on Jackson was "a mistake."
"It's easy to say 'yes' given his year," Blank said. "And obviously he's an incredible player. We did not have the cap space ... I think the coaching staff always felt collectively we had an answer in (Desmond) Ridder without that kind of contract. ...
"It's not a criticism of Lamar ... Who knows if they would've matched any of the offers available. I don't know that but he's certainly a great player."
There is a lot to take in there - including the fact that this isn't what Blank said about the situation last spring. Let's do this item-by-item ...
*Didn't Atlanta have $75.4 million in cap space as of last January, and then $66.4 million in cap space last spring?
*If Blank is saying that paying one QB a monster contract can make paying the rest of the roster a challenge, he's right. But didn't Atlanta do exactly that with Matt Ryan during this team's most recent Super Bowl window?
*All of these teams that claim paying Jackson $52 million APY would prevent them from building a competitive roster ... Baltimore pays him that. And the Ravens are the most "competitive" team in the AFC, with the No. 1 seed going into the playoffs.
*At the risk of putting too fine a point on it: Blank inches toward suggesting that his braintrust believed that young QB Ridder "was the answer" with such conviction that the Falcons never seriously examined Lamar?
That might be grounds for firing right there.
*It is outrageous for Blank to say the only reason to "say 'yes'" right now is because Jackson had an outstanding "year."
Newsflash: Lamar Jackson has "years" like this ever year. He won the MVP in 2019; he's a favorite to do it again in 2023.
*The "who knows if they would've matched any of the offers available" take is a troubling one. That is exactly the job of a competent front office: To know.
And maybe the only way "to know" is to make an offer.
We're not into the collusion conspiracy theories that abound here; if other teams assumed Baltimore would match? That was probably the right assumption.
No, we've got other problems with all of this, including our recall of what Blank said in the spring regarding the team's decision to not bother chasing Jackson.
“Looking at it objectively," Blank said back then, "there is some concern about whether or not he can play his style of game for … how long can that last?"
Whoa. So it was Lamar's "style of play" that turned off Atlanta? Really? Isn't that "style of play" similar to that of Michael Vick, who once starred here? Isn't it similar to that of Georgia's own Justin Fields of the Bears, who might be pursued here?
So ... which is it? An embarrassing misunderstanding of the cap? A clownish misjudgment of Ridder? A horrible misevaluation of the incredible talents of Lamar Jackson?
This is a time in Atlanta Falcons history for stories. And when it comes to the "non-mistake" on Lamar Jackson? The Atlanta Falcons might want to get their stories straight.
