Lamar Jackson hears radio silence from potential suitors after franchise tag… why? I The Rush
The Baltimore Ravens designated Lamar Jackson as their non-exclusive franchise tag, and surprisingly, several teams who are in desperate need of a quarterback are not interested in negotiating with the star. The New York Giants agreed to a contract extension with quarterback Daniel Jones and franchise tagged running back Saquon Barkley while the New York Jets are busy wooing Aaron Rodgers. Plus, Saquon Barkley, Darius Slayton, Sauce Gardner and J.J. Watt all take to Twitter to weigh in on NFL wheelings and dealings.
Video Transcript
- We gonna get good at it, you know? The little mistakes that we're making out there, try not to make them in the long run. I feel like if we clean everything up, we'll be-- the sky's the limit for us.
[AUDIO LOGO]
JARED QUAY: The NFL franchise tag deadline arrived on Tuesday, and six players were hit with non-exclusive franchise tags. At the top of that list is Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who famously represents himself in negotiations instead of having an agent.
- Who's the agent?
JARED QUAY: And is rumored to want a fully guaranteed contract.
- Can't guarantee that.
JARED QUAY: That's something that only one NFL player in history has been blessed with, and that man's name is Deshaun Watson.
- That could make sense.
JARED QUAY: The argument for throwing bags of money at Lamar is he won a unanimous league MVP, has broken all kinds of records, and the Ravens only seem to win with him under center.
- So what's the problem?
JARED QUAY: Well, injuries and illness have limited Lamar to playing only 12 regular season games in each of the last two seasons. And then there's that little part about guaranteed money. The Deshaun Watson contract set a precedent, but giving Lamar Jackson a fully guaranteed contract would set a trend. A trend that could lower NFL owners' profit margins.
- It all make sense now.
JARED QUAY: That could explain the reported radio silence from teams who desperately need a quarterback, despite the fact the non-exclusive franchise tag allows teams to negotiate with Lamar.
- Straight up about profit.
JARED QUAY: The New York Giants negotiated with Daniel Jones on Tuesday, signing the quarterback to a four-year $160 million contract, with $82 million of that money guaranteed. When Giants receiver Darius Slayton heard the news, he tweeted, dinner's on DJ. Damn right, Darius. Dinner's on you, DJ. You've got to send me some. I know you don't know me. Just DoorDash me.
Meanwhile, New York running back Saquon Barkley tweeted a message of congratulations to his teammate, despite the fact that he was franchise tagged while Jones got the contract extension.
- Wow, mensch alert. [CLAPS]
JARED QUAY: The New York Jets are busy too, trying to woo Aaron Rodgers away from the Green Bay Packers.
- Be careful what you wish for.
JARED QUAY: Rodgers has baggage for sure, but the Jets are truly desperate for a superstar under center. So desperate that quarterback Sauce Gardner went out here in these Twitter streets recruiting Rodgers with promises of going easy on him in practice and burning Cheeseheads. No word on whether or not Sauce got the invite to join Jets management on the trip to meet Rodgers in person. But you could imagine that the team is dangling some serious carrots in hope that Rodgers will agree to be traded from Green Bay to Gang Green.
If Aaron thinks he's been unfairly scrutinized during his 18 years in Green Bay, I don't know if he's ready to take the smoke that comes with eight weeks in New York. I mean, they don't play. Yes, they got good restaurants, and you can go see Broadway shows. But these folks will eat you alive. Jets fans are older than everybody else, man, so they don't use that Twitter. They don't got safe spaces. They cuss you out in person.