The nice folks at ESPN Radio in Indianapolis asked Nestor Aparicio the pros and cons and realities of having Lamar Jackson follow the Irsay family to the friendly heart of the Midwest to bring a Super Bowl back to Indiana.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
lamar, franchise, quarterback, baltimore, lamar jackson, ravens, nestor, week, draft, play, suitor, indianapolis, traded, jim, negotiating, years, baltimore ravens, organization, agent, talking
SPEAKERS
ESPN Indianapolis, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Welcome back. WNS T tested Baltimore and Baltimore positive reminding you make sure you set a place on the dial for us somewhere on the am dial. The preset always helps us on the radio. So we are preset in Indianapolis, Indiana. I was invited on this week by ESPN Radio there to talk about Lamar and the possibilities of Lamar much like the Mayflower vans moving to Indianapolis had some fun with the Indianapolis hosts hoped to enlighten them they were asking me about the chances that Lamar would wind up there. And this is what I had to say.
8
ESPN Indianapolis 00:36
Halfway through the eight o’clock hour jacory along with Kevin bow and Mark Dyson here as well, warm start to the morning, which is a good thing, not necessarily Sunsplash this morning, but Happy April to you, Connecticut, your national champion. The other big story we’ve been talking about for the last couple of weeks, even though I feel like it’s kind of cooled from the Indianapolis side. So I wanted the Baltimore perspective, and decided to reach out to Nestor Aparicio, who I met a couple of years ago on radio row at the Super Bowl, and kind of a lightning rod of Baltimore sports, which I love, because he’s not afraid to share his opinion on all things. Baltimore sports. He joins us now on the palest liquors hotline, W NS T, is where you can hear him in the state of Maryland. Nestor, let’s begin with this. Good morning, and thanks for your time. But from the Ravens standpoint, you know, what’s the the narrative or the thought process? Is this all smokin? Lamar Jackson is going to end up staying a raven? Or do you think they are actively looking to find him a home elsewhere?
Nestor Aparicio 01:38
Well, I think there’s definitely bruised feelings on both sides. I think they don’t want an angry quarterback that’s going to hold that at OTAs. I mean, hardball is the guy that gets wrung up by the League for practicing too much, you know, breaking the rules in that way that he doesn’t like not having his quarterback around, he’s got a new offensive coordinator. So it’s a fascinating push and pull for everything that happened here over the last year, beginning with the OTAs, the fact that he’s his own agent, which is its own nightmare that’s built into this. I mean, it’s one thing to be your own agent, when you’re only negotiating with your team trying to get a deal. When you’re trying to pit other teams against each other. This has been an epic failure for him to maximize his value. And his agent has failed him as well. But he is his own agent, right. So same as a guy who has his own lawyer. But during the season, the injury, the fact that it looked like he made some business decisions during the year. And after the injury, the fact that the team told the NFL Network told the media, he’ll be back at Christmas, he’ll be back for the playoffs, he’ll be back and he was really never heard from again. And when he was heard from he was heard from on social media in a very untoward way. He went after a fan and Pennsylvania with some profane tweets after a loss. And it really wasn’t heard from much until he announced his injury and said he was injured more than they said he was injured. And this is of course after he didn’t show up for the playoff game. And there’s two sides of that story as well as to why he wasn’t just waving a towel at a playoff game is the franchise leader. So there’s definitely problems in the relationship. Can they be solved? I you know, that’s between Lamar and the franchise at this point, I would say for for him and this last three, four weeks. I don’t think it’s the internet believe that there’d be no bidding on him. I don’t I’m not sure what Eric figured out in your fair count a few weeks ago, when Eric de Costa was in town sniffing around late night talking to other general managers, other ownership groups, people saying who wants him? What’s the real price? Where does the negotiation begin? And of course, the Maurice Smith screaming collusion, right. So this is as thick a story I’ve been on the air 31 years. I mean, I go back to not having a football team. You know, being on the radio, your Cal Ripken, 2131, Ray Lewis, all sorts of things. You got two parades here. I’ve never seen a story like this, because I really don’t know where it’s going to end up. I just can’t imagine he’s going to happily roll back into camp in August in play for $32 million. That the thought that that’s going to happen here. It seems foolish,
04:18
necessary when you bring up business decisions you bring up in not showing up to the playoff game, you know, for us in this market. When Chris Mortensen talks, it carries a little bit of weight. And I say that because Jim are saying in a very close relationship. Mortensen mentioned last week that among other things, the contract the draft picks you’d have to give up. There are some questions about nutrition and sleep habits when it comes to Lamar Jackson. Is that like well known in the Baltimore area? And is that true?
Nestor Aparicio 04:44
8Oh, you know what this is? First. I’ve heard of it. Keep in mind Lamar doesn’t do any interviews with anymore. The only time he sort of stepped out of the box, Rolling Stone did an interview with him that really worked into race and politics and issues. fresher but Kodak Black and it got cut off instantly. So I’ve never really heard Lamar sit and talk about anything really his background, his thoughts, his hopes He’s right. He’s not suited and he has no agent. He’s his aide, you know, like this notion that this guy was calling around with his goofy gym two weeks ago. Showing nutrition we seem Umar’s that we see that he’s a kid that plays video games. He’s a kid that hangs out on the internet. He had this great relationship with Hollywood Brown. He tweeted at the franchise last year in the middle of the draft WTS when they traded Hollywood Brown when everybody in the organization swears they told him that they were trading his buddy because his buddy asked to be traded. So this has just turned into sort of a nightmarish scenario, I think, for Steve shoddy, and Eric Acosta, John Arbol, that they had this special kid that special talent, they haven’t been able to negotiate with him. He hasn’t played a football game in December or January, the last two years. He wants top of market because of what Jimmy Haslam did in Cleveland. And there’s no one to negotiate with, including his mother, who’s always been implicated as being, you know, a bit of a front for him. And obviously, on draft night, you seen the pictures of him in the green suit, in the green room waiting, waiting, waiting, it’s all hearing his name called when the Ravens dealt back into the first round. This has become a business problem for the ravens, you know, in a way that, you know, maybe Andrew Luck leaving Indianapolis in the way he became a problem for the franchise, but Dave owns the team. hardball feels like he has a job for life. Eric de Costa waited 15 years to get the gig and has the gig now, those are made guys. And they behave in every way with the media in the town with this arrogance that life will go on. I don’t know, they haven’t had a whole lot of foreign Thirteen’s around here, and we haven’t drafted in the top 10 much in 27 years. But if it comes down to being held hostage for three, four or five years, by Lamar Jackson, when whatever they know about Lamar Jackson is more than anybody else knows about Lamar Jackson. But I don’t think they’re of the mindset that he’s going to come back and play for what the franchise tag is. And I think they’re now thoughts are starting to wither that there’s going to be any suitor, that if Jim Mercer is not the guy, and if Arthur Blank is not the guy, and if Steven Ross wasn’t the guy, and if the Glazer brothers aren’t the guys who, who wants to sign him who is going to get him what he wants, which is, you know, in excess of $200 million guaranteed money, and basically, the keys to your franchise for the next four to six years, depending on how you would structure a deal where the guarantees would lie. And meantime, the ravens are negotiating with themselves, the Ravens put them out there on this non exclusive franchise to say, hey, go find your best deal, go find a suitor. And it’s really is amazing. And it’s amazing for the Players Association as well, how quickly the suitors all dried up. I mean, to our knowledge Lamar never got on a plane right. Lamar never flew and talked to anybody anywhere. You know, we monitor these jets and everybody seems to know where Jim mercy and the gym or a collection or I’m always looking for where Mike Mills and melachim spand are, by the way, but but I you know, I love Jim Irsay, by the way on the Baltimore guy that has a relationship with him. But I mean, I don’t know why another team with a top four draft pick would want to give away a draft unless they’re absolutely in love with Lamar Jackson. And I don’t think Lamar Jackson, the agent has done to him his client Lamar Jackson the player, it this has been one of the worst agenting jobs in the history of the National Football League. When you look at his talent, his MVP trophy where he is where the franchise is the fact that nothing ever gotten negotiated. And now he’s sitting here with this crazy bad franchise tag thing and no suitor in the league and the the NFL Players Association in these years saying, You’re being Kaepernick here dude. You know what I mean? You’re You’re you’ve been colluded against they are suppressing your value and your salary based on the system and the system eating him up right now you think
ESPN Indianapolis 09:26
Nestor that Nestor Aparicio is our guest in Baltimore. He’s on the palest liquors hotline do you get the impression? I think sometimes organizations are franchises. You know, Baltimore’s, the Ravens had been a very good franchise, you know, they’d been competitive virtually every year through through different rotations and they seemingly again, outside perspective, they have stability, you know, they have we know who is in charge and they are they seem to always have the right pieces. But when they have a dynamic talent like Lamar Jackson doesn’t organization that has had success, then suddenly fool itself into thinking that the success is all theirs and that he is a guy that can immediately be replaced. In other words, hey, we’re the Baltimore Ravens, you might have been an MVP, but we’re the Baltimore Ravens. We’ll just put another one in there. And they’ll be an MVP, because that’s the culture that we have. Is that a dangerous thing to get into? But is there a chance that Baltimore feels that way? In this situation?
Nestor Aparicio 10:25
Well, there are two for two picking quarterbacks going back to oh eight, right. I mean, they’ve nailed their quarterbacks without having to suck. They haven’t had to pick first suck for luck or whatever you guys did, right? Like, they haven’t had that here. Because Flacco was a guy they traded up to get they fell in love with him. They saw him as a division, one quarterback who went to Pitt, and fell out of favor and did everything he needed to do with Delaware. And then he came in and took him to the playoffs five years in a row. What a Super Bowl. Right? You couldn’t want to we should have been in Indianapolis and Billy couldn’t have made the kick every time out. We probably would have been the ones there that that day, right. So I can go back to that and all of that is Shawnee is made himself into a billionaire. Eric de Costa has biding his time and still has Ozzie Newsome on he still has an office in the building. Are they still there? Plenty, obviously still a part of what they do. And then there’s John hardball who Eric de Costa was in on the hiring process where John Harbaugh was hired in 2008 and my partner Brian Billick was thrown out. And that’s 1616 seasons now ago that that happened. So they throw out the two quarterbacks they traded back into the first round. They listen John was talking revolution around he’s like Fidel Castro and, and Che Guevara coming out of the revolution revolution. Now, four years later, they’ve had this revolution where they can’t sign wide receivers in the free agent market, they haven’t done a very good job of drafting them. So putting talent around Lamar was a problem. They had a left tackle that was hurt for a year and a half. And now Lamar is a guy that I think anybody who’s watched him play, watch the style of football, he runs into linebackers. I didn’t like that. From the beginning. You know who else didn’t like that? 31 other teams passed on him and said, he runs into linebackers, that’s not going to be a success, a formula for success for us that he’s going to run the ball 1215 Touch, he ran the ball 21 times in an NFL game a year and a half ago, and literally was never heard from again that season. So the organization built everything around him. And then when it came time to pay him, they begged him to take their money the last two years and get to a market contract where he was making 4045 $48 million a year. He refused to do that, because there’s never top of class. And quite frankly, now that we see this play out, I’m not sure he had the sophistication level or the or the people around him, explaining to him what the risk reward ratio would be. That Lamar if you what happens if you don’t play the end of the 21 season you get injured what happens if you don’t play the end of the 22 season? And you get injured? Who’s going to want you? Well maybe Jimmer say and maybe not. And, you know, I saw Kravitz this piece last week I had Bob on my show as well. I mean, we’re at a seats here I’m in Baltimore. I’m I’m I’m Lamar Athan, now we’re fatigued. You’re on the story, right? I mean, literally,
ESPN Indianapolis 13:17
why we called you Nestor.
8Nestor Aparicio 13:19
It’s six months of talking about this. And at the end of the day, we’re talking about whether a billionaire is going to want to front $200 million, and the keys was franchise to a guy who tweets poop emojis, you know what I mean? Like, literally, and that’s what his agent does. And I think this is, this has been a cautionary tale for guys without agents, and how the business of the league really works. And the Players Association is going to be heard from they’re going to scream bloody murder threw up all of this. But this is to your point, exactly what the Baltimore Ravens have managed to avoid since Ray Lewis was in handcuffs, right. And Jamal Lewis had some off the field issues. They had a kid die in the middle of camp last year. I mean, a veteran guy was found dead in there. You know, you can Google that Jalen Ferguson. I mean, this is a franchise that had Ray Rice punch his wife and a glass elevator and then everybody, no speed, no seat it and so it was week one and it’s all on DMC. So this is an organization that’s had problems. It’s had drama, but it never invites drama. And to me, thinking you’re gonna have a disgruntled quarterback play for 32 million, who’s ghosted and who’s out on the internet is literally attacking the coach as he’s coming to the podium to sit down at the owners meetings by dropping the I’ve asked for a trade tweet. I mean, this it’s really a war between the two of them right now. And the only thing that can save them is Jim or say Arthur Blank. I mean, you name these guys. And then after the draft, what might happen? Dreams are going to draft a quarterback. I don’t think there’s any question about that. And whether it’s Stetson Bennett or whoever it would be. That’s an Not in that, that top tier, but they’re preparing for life after Lamar. It’s always I mean, Baker Mayfield said that they quartered him right. And they tried to spend $30 million on Darius slay, to play quarterback so they were a little more quietly active behind closed doors in regard to what his cap number represents for them to have to cut football players. They couldn’t resign Coleus Campbell they can’t resign Marcus Peters right now because of his cap number. This is not a team Steve shoddy, did not become a billionaire and horrible and and the cost of did not gain their arrogance and this level of respect that you have for them at a town by allowing their quarterback to hold the franchise hostage, like seriously. And that’s kind of where this has been for quite some time now. And I can’t imagine that the franchise is going to sign up for six more months. It is leading up to the first week football,
15:56
Morrison poop emojis we’re trying to get our daughter not to say the word poop right now. So I guess I can empathize with the Ravens organization a little bit on that front. All right, Nestor last one from me. Week one, Lamar Jackson is under center for the Baltimore Ravens or are you taking the field? He’s somewhere else?
Nestor Aparicio 16:16
I did opening day at the local casino here. And you know, it’s all new betting gambling. I’m not a betting guy. Listen to me knows that. But I actually went up to the window and said, Can I bet on this? You know, like I really because it’s worth betting on? I can’t fathom the ravens are going to sign on for more than this. I can’t fathom that. Lamar comes back with his tail between his legs and says, Okay, I’ll just take 130 million guaranteed. What do you play
16:43
8on the franchise tag?
Nestor Aparicio 16:44
Man, I can’t imagine he will. I thought it was bad business for him to do it last year, when you add his money next to Josh Allen’s money made almost $100 million less than a guy drafted in the class. And he’s the MVP, because he’s done a poor job of negotiating for himself. He played for $25 million less than he should have last year. I mean, he’s already way upside down. And maybe nobody wants him. Right. I mean, I think he could hold out and I think he might not play and I think the Players Association, maybe baking up something that’s litigation oriented. I mean, we’re not sad parts. Lamar fallen, but we’re not at the end of this. I mean, I don’t think anything’s going to happen quickly. Because Jim Irsay didn’t bite right you guys are on the phone with me because of that. So nobody’s biting on this. So they’re kind of stuck with them. And he stuck with them. And I think that that’s, that’s not good for either one of them. But certainly it’s not comfortable territory for the Ravens organization going into the season. Feeling like who’s our quarterback
ESPN Indianapolis 17:47
Nestor final minute here. I’ve got to ask him and during the 2012 Super Bowl on radio row. I thought you I wouldn’t say that you were the star radio row but you’re a little boy versus a doll was you had a small kind of cute little doll above her say that you the late barber say the owner of the Baltimore Colts than the Indianapolis Colts that you I think you took around, took them around a different landmarks in town and took
18:10
pictures of him with Don Shula and stuff. It’s awesome.
8ESPN Indianapolis 18:14
So do you still have the little doll? You know,
Nestor Aparicio 18:16
I had it until last year, I do business with a place called Nacho Mama’s here. You can go Yeah, a couple of occasions. There’s a nacho mom is in Towson that and Scotty was the founder who passed away about 10 years ago. He’s an old friend of mine, old Baltimore Ocean City guy who collected stolen Memorial Stadium stuff and natty boh stuff and Elvis stuff. It’s kind of a kitschy place, and I donated it to them. He fits little bob is at the bar in Towson. Big Bob big bar. There’s an original Buck micro SIG Liano is the artist who made them. He was the longtime Baltimore Sun sports cartoonist and dear friend of mine. He made a paper mache version of Bob back in 8485. A face got punched in it Shaffers bar. It was gifted back to me when the franchise came in. I brought its head on it’s thick into your square and took it through a circle center back in 96 when Jim Harbaugh was your quarterback so the originals in a casket as not your mom is a captain on the wall
ESPN Indianapolis 19:16
that’s painted like a Mayflower truck right? Well, I’m sorry say they get the casket is painted like a Mayflower truck.
Nestor Aparicio 19:25
8No, it’s just a little black. I don’t know. It’s not like that. It was when I was there. At least really? Yeah. I haven’t been to Canton in a couple of minutes.
ESPN Indianapolis 19:33
Got a Dodge Shafer quote on the side that says he lied and died. So like no hard feelings.
Nestor Aparicio 19:39
That is That’s correct. You should see what they did the art in Cleveland did. But if you want to see the beanie Bob, it’s at the back bar at Nacho Mama’s cute and it had dollar bills coming out of it and you know, it’s all good.
ESPN Indianapolis 19:53
Beautiful, beautiful.
819:56
That’s great stuff. Master bars.
ESPN Indianapolis 19:58
The three of us here I’m the one that took the feels to win more games than the Diamondbacks or the A’s. And I got a six pack of PBR riding on it. So go cute fella go birds.
Nestor Aparicio 20:07
Bad things have happened to the birds to start the season here, but, you know, we have the best player in the world. Adley rutschman Just ask anyone.
20:14
8Nestor love the energy. Thank you. Appreciate you
20:17
guys have a great week.
