Baltimore Ravens Trade of QB Lamar Jackson To New England Pushed by Patriots Ex
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Employing Lamar Jackson as the QB of your football team doesn't seem like an attractive enough idea for the Baltimore Ravens' opponents to want to get involved in the "dirty work'' of making a contract bid on the franchise-tagged superstar.
But players get it.
“If you’re another football team like, I don’t know, the Patriots – if you’re the Patriots and you go and you make an attempt to get Lamar, that changes everything. Absolutely everything,” Rob Ninkovich said on Friday’s “Get Up!”
Ninkovich offers a notable perspective, because the former linebacker turned ESPN NFL analyst is obviously "rooting,'' in a sense, for his old New England Patriots team.
But there is something else going on here - just in terms of X's and O's.
Ninkovich stressed how much he has admired Jackson’s game ever since he entered the NFL, in large part because of his ability as a dual threat. The 2019 league MVP is the first quarterback in NFL history with two different seasons of rushing for 1,000 yards, is the the first quarterback to record at least 700 rushing yards in four different seasons, and - well, Ravens fans don't really need an education here ...
Lamar is dangerous in every possible way.
Said Ninkovich: “Listen, I’m a huge fan of Lamar’s style of game and what it puts on a defense and what it stresses.”
Ninkovich, who knows his Pats, noted that with Mac Jones on the team, quarterback isn’t necessarily a "need'' for his old team. And of course, there is the matter of giving up the two first-round picks, and working out a Deshaun Watson-sized $230 million (or so) fully guaranteed contract - at least if Lamar (billed by some as a "loser'' here) is to get his way.
But if New England coach Bill Belichick - who is a fan of Jackson's - wants to get the Pats back toward that title ceiling?
“There are needs and wants. A ‘need’ is a necessary for life. A ‘want’ helps your quality of life,” Ninkovich said. “I don’t need Lamar here. But I sure as heck want to see Lamar running around with a New England Patriot logo on his helmet because if you see it out there, the Patriots instantly become the division favorites and, to me, get right back into that Super Bowl hunt.”
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