Wading through all of the purple lies and smokescreens

Luke Jones and Nestor continue to wait for Ravens purple smoke to clear as NFL Draft approaches and the standoff with Lamar Jackson continues with no end in sight.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

ravens, lamar, quarterback, lamar jackson, wide receiver, draft, year, eagles, picks, point, talked, darius slay, roster, week, players, play, team, marlon humphrey, positions, trade

SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Looking back at W and S, G, Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive reminder that if you’re listening out there and I am 1570 set a place on your dial for us for the baseball season, the spring season, the Baltimore positive season, the Maryland crabcake tour season. We’re gonna begin that thing on Wednesday Costas, I’ll be giving away the instant lottery old schoolers because it’s the 50th anniversary of the Maryland lottery. We’re celebrating John Martin’s gonna be with us. Cost This is one of the original people that sold lottery tickets 50 years ago. There aren’t many of those left. We’re starting to celebration it cost us on Wednesday afternoon for two of the five will be at faithless on Friday the new arena. We’ve had some arena memories around here some wrestling memories some opening day memories around here this week. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in town on Friday and of course on Saturday the Eagles will be on Friday morning celebrating the downtown Renaissance. at Bally’s in the old Lexington market next to the new Lexington market you can check out on Friday morning. I’ll be checking out downtown all weekend. Come on back downtown. Great excuses to come downtown with Oriole baseball, Bruce Springsteen and the legendary eagles. Speaking of eagles, Luke Jones, football segment, Darius slay there’s nothing going on with Lamar. The only news made over the weekend was the baker Mayfield turned down the ravens and Darius slay turned down the Ravens right so like it’s been very quiet since the weird Arizona press conference last week. But now that sort of the it’s quiet around here other people are talking around the league and it’s fascinating. Yeah,

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Luke Jones  01:37

I mean the Darius slay thing we let’s be clear, the Eagles never officially released him. He had requested the trade it looked like they were going to release him he said is goodbye in that period at some point in time. He according to him, and of course the Ravens were denied because he was under contract still, but we know tampering and back channel conversations happen all the time in the NFL, but he said he came quite, quote close to signing with the ravens and ultimately the ravens, according to him, offered him a deal that ultimately Howie Roseman and the Eagles gave him to stay in Philadelphia. So I think it’s interesting from the standpoint of it does reflect a willingness as much as we’ve talked about Lamar Jackson, and this offseason being hijacked or being in a holding pattern, whatever you want to does reflect that the ravens are willing to spend and sign the right free agent. And clearly, in their mind, they had some interest in Darius slay which, again, the way Marlon Humphrey was tweeting at the time led you to believe that there was there were some legs to that, even if Eric Decosta would deny it publicly. But hey, slays back with the Eagles. So it’s, you know, it’s a moot point anyway, you mentioned Baker Mayfield I mean, the Ravens had kind of sniffed around some of the veteran quarterbacks who have found chairs elsewhere. I don’t think that was something that was shocking, necessarily, I don’t think they were looking for any of those individuals. They weren’t doing that with those individuals being starters in their mind, but just understanding the reality of where they are with their franchise quarterback right now, beyond that, nothing’s really changed with Lamar, other than the fact that we know he made a trade offer and he made it public last week. But it’s something that’s been there for a month now. You know, that was March 2, we’re now into April. And it does not appear that it made any difference in terms of drumming up interest, it’s

Nestor Aparicio  03:34

fair to say, I’ve been trying dude, I’ve been trying, you know, like,

Luke Jones  03:40

Well, I mean, whether he’s been trying or not, I mean, the interest isn’t there with all the variables in place now. Now, if Lamar Jackson were a traditional free agent, there would be teams sniffing around there. I have no doubt or they should be, quite frankly, because lots of teams have lousy quarterback situations and Lamar is way better than a ton of quarterbacks in this league. Yeah, I’m stating the obvious there. But with all of the list of circumstances, all of the variables at work, it’s led to where we are, which is the ravens and Lamar continuing to be in this impasse from a contract contract standpoint, and Lamar not finding the necessary interest to get the number that he’s looking for, whether it’s from another team, or whether it’s from the Ravens being pressed to step up their offer. So it leads us where we’ve been for weeks and even months now, which is Lamar Jackson’s only suitor in terms of the team that wants him the most is the Ravens. And on the flip side, the Ravens haven’t been able to get a deal done with Lamar, but what’s their alternative at this point? So yeah, I mean, it’s not as though you know, it’s easy to say, one side or the other wants to move on or maybe both sides want to move on deep down. But until there’s an avenue for that to become possible. We’re left talking about the same thing over and over and over again. So It’s led to a not very enjoyable offseason when Nelson Aguilar is your only outside edition. But it’s where the ravens are is we’re now a few weeks away from the draft. And it’s there’s just not a lot of buzz right now as it relates to this fan base, there’s not a lot of enthusiasm because they are in this holding pattern where even if Lamar Jackson is going to be the quarterback in 2023, you then ask the question, well, what have you done to get better? And that’s what’s frustrating if you’re a Baltimore Ravens fan right now.

Nestor Aparicio  05:31

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Alright, so traps three weeks away. And they have their picks. Anybody I’ve talked to smart about the draft, I’ve had my 20 year on, you know, I’ve JT the brick. I mean, just people in the league and around the league, people that have been at the owners meetings, feel like they’re going to deal back anyway like that number 22. Where they are, if they if there’s not a Lamar deal, they don’t have the Colts pick that up. And that’s still in play. Right? I mean, they still have this dangling quarterback to your point that it only takes one owner in whatever way to feel however they feel about draft picks. We don’t really know how the Ravens feel but Dennis and I are pretty strongly in our opinion that they’d like to move on because of all the uncertainty and the overall uncertainty that if they don’t sign him, he’s not coming in for practices. He there’s nobody believes he’s showing up here and throwing a football in a purple practice jersey, as things are without some massive movement on the Ravens part. That’s not going to happen before August 30 When he starts to get paid or whatever that date is in late August. So the rest of it pretend that doesn’t exist. I know. That’s impossible. We haven’t done that the last eight weeks. But just if we’re about to have a serious 15 minute conversation about anything else, and I don’t know you and I have I don’t really know that we have I know we’ve talked about Aguilar, we know we talked about Marcus Peters. I know we talked about clays Campbell, I you know, and that’s changed. I know we talked about what they’re gonna do Patrick queen, and maybe they throw that into the Lamar deal to get something that feels like another draft pick back. Are they throwing the tent in here on Lamar and saying, Look, we’ll survive a 567 win season, whatever it is this year. shotty Arbol de Costa they’re safe. The fans have got tickets? Fine. We got ro Quan Smith, fine. We have $40 million in cap space. Fine. I don’t know what that would be. But what what else? Is there oxygen for? If we don’t talk about Lamar for a couple of minutes?

Luke Jones  07:34

Well, I mean, I think you just look at the other positions of need they have right now. I mean, Marcus Peters is still out on the market, but he’s unsigned. And who’s your starting corner opposite Marlon Humphrey at this point? I don’t think it’s Brandon Stevens. So you look at the draft there potentially at 22nd. Overall, obviously, wide receiver, which you know what we’ve talked about, we’ll continue to talk about, because that’s what we do every year here in Baltimore. So those are the two positions I look to in the first round. As far as your trading back comment. I agree. However, and this has happened in the past where the Ravens even knew at the time or usually after the fact that deep down, they wanted to move back. And especially this being a year where they only have five picks, they don’t have a second round pick, I think they’d certainly like to move back. But you’ve got to have someone who wants to move up. And that’s where you look at this draft class. And certainly there are positions where there is depth, or there are intriguing options. But when you have a draft class that maybe doesn’t have quite as many of the lucrative upside kind of talents. Sometimes it’s a little more difficult to do that. So I think they’d like to trade back but you got to have someone who wants to do it, right. And that’s where you look at it. And you look at the four quarterbacks that have been talked about, obviously, Bryce young, and you know, he and CJ Stroud are gonna go quick, you know, they’re gonna go quickly. You know, what happens with Anthony Richardson? I think that’s, you know, he’ll go sooner rather than later, just gonna be a matter of whether it’s 123. And, you know, Indy tries to move up, assuming they’re not in the Lamar Jackson sweepstakes. No will Lavis is the interesting one, because I think people see some of the raw talents and say, okay, but the production, the fact that he transferred to Kentucky, from from Penn State and couldn’t beat out, you know, Sean Clifford, at Penn State, you know, there’s questions that error. So anytime you have a quarterback that potentially slides and last a little bit later into the first round, that’s then when it becomes interesting if there’s a team that wants to try to get that quarterback. So again, that’s just one scenario. And look, those four quarterbacks might all be gone in the first eight picks. So I mean, certainly there are scenarios where that plays out. But if you’re the ravens, yeah, I think you’d like to trade back. But you got to have someone who wants to come up. So I don’t know if that’s necessarily going to come to fruition and it’s impossible to predict that when we have no idea how the first safe 15 or 20 picks play out as far as how the board unfolds. So, but I think it’s obvious when you look at the Ravens right now they have to not counting quarterback and you know, if we’re making the assumption that Lamar, oh, he’s their quarterback, he’s on the franchise tag right now. So putting that aside its corner or wide receivers, so sort of wide receiver like, say flowers. Is that a corner? I mean, Joey Porter is probably not going to last that long. As much as that would be fun seeing the former Steelers son become a raven is a terrific talent watched him at Penn State a lot. He’s a he can really play. I’m guessing he’s going to be long gone by 22. That’s my gut. So, you know, the, the usual suspects will be talked about between now and draft night. But that trade down scenario, I agree with you. But again, you’ve got to have that right prospect that falls that that team, you know, whoever’s picking in the late 20s are moving back into the first round, whatever it is, where they’re so hot and bothered to say we must have that guy, what do you want? And then that’s the scenario that you try to take advantage of. So, you know, sort of that, you know, you make the pick at 22. Like I said, I’d be not that I would ever say shocked or 100% Because it’s the ravens and they’re going to talk about best player available. And there have been instances where they take best player available even if it’s not their biggest need per se. But this being very clear where their roster stands. They need a wide receiver. They need another cornerback that’s obvious. We can talk about edge we could talk about a guard. There are clearly other positions that you could add to defensive line with class Campbell, having now officially signed with Atlanta knowing he’s not coming back. But the two big ones continue to be wide receiver in corner and based on where the free agent market is now at this point other than like an Odell Beckham at wide receiver options are pretty, pretty sparse unless you’re going to make a trade. But then we go back to the Ravens don’t have a whole lot of draft capital. So it’s where it leaves them in this position where the cost is going to have to be surgical in terms of how he tries to address this roster. Understanding the Lamar Jackson thing hanging over the entire organization right now.

Nestor Aparicio  12:11

Well, and I do want to point this out that the Coleus Campbell thing, my buddy Rick blue, who I work with at Sporting News Radio 20 years ago, he’s done sports radio on part of the Jacksonville Jaguars team, much like I mentioned brick earlier is in Vegas. You know, all part of being legitimate media members. I have these relationships over 30 years that they’re trying to take away from me but the Rick blues situation he called me in because glass cable visited down there and said what did you have left in the tank or whatever. And I kind of had to talk eloquently about Coleus Campbell, and I didn’t think about him not coming back. And then I think about him not coming back and think about dude, he did a lot of contributing around here, the last couple years and maybe in some sort of quiet way where you don’t notice him like a Steve Smith or an Anquan Boldin or one of those veteran guys you bring in here, he was just sort of in there. He’s the big old guy. He’s the biggest guy fingers into kicks that he blocks and things like that. But more than that, like he’s a grown ass man. You know, when I walked in that locker room in Pittsburgh, the one time had a precipice, I went over to him, talk to him, a grown up. Are you like a guy you want on your football team? I don’t know how you’re replaced that. And I think these are sort of the shrapnel in all of this war with Lamar, that they they can’t get their own guys back. And even if they could get them back, they have to ask what’s up with Lamar? I don’t want to come back there. But now Chris Campbell, son and Lana kind of shocked me he was about money. I thought he wanted one. I don’t think he’s you know, he feels to me like he’s getting paid. And that’s okay. Yeah, he

Luke Jones  13:40

is. Right. He is. I mean, he’s 7 million is the reported full guarantee. I mean, that’s what the Ravens didn’t want to pay him right. I mean, they had a base salary. And I think once he was a roster bonus off the top my head, I don’t have the contract in front of me. But you know, it was $7 million in new money and they didn’t want to pay him that they had talked about reworking a deal. You know, whether you turn it into incentives or straight pay, cut, add some void years, whatever you want to do. But we know the Ravens released him two days prior to the new league year. I was definitely surprised from the standpoint of you heard some of the reported interest. I mean, I’ve even done a radio hit with Jacksonville. And there was a lot of excitement about the mayor of Saxon Ville, you know, as he was called when he was there, his first time around with the Jaguars potentially coming back and knowing that the Jags had made the playoffs last year. I was talking to someone over the weekend that through some back channels that I had heard that class was really interested in joining the Buffalo Bills even but he winds up in Atlanta. This is where I’ll remind one, it is a business and it’s still about money and guarantee dollars. And class Campbell. He’s an NFL pa guys so that’s where you do have to keep in mind if the offers elsewhere were substantially lower than what Atlanta was offering him. Then I’m not as surprised but Certainly I was looking at him. One, I thought there was an outside chance that he could come back with the thought that that was certainly possible. Yeah,

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Nestor Aparicio  15:08

I think at the end of the year, he might regret that.

Luke Jones  15:12

He might and not even so much Atlanta as opposed to the ravens, because again, was, you know, was he going to have to take substantially less money to be back with the Ravens but Jacksonville?

Nestor Aparicio  15:23

You think of the Ravens winning a Super Bowl if you’re him? I don’t think I am. You know what I mean, like all things equal, I don’t think you just think I’m going to Baltimore right now with their Lamar. And if you love Lamar, and you want to play with Lamar Gray, your wide receiver, you probably don’t, to some degree, right. But I would say the general feeling is ro Quan Smith, maybe he doesn’t make Marlin Humphries is born into here and right, these guys that have money here, they have to say they’re happy to be here. But when you get a chance to sign here, and you’re Darius slay and you’re like, am I better? Am I gonna win there? Am I gonna win here? The Ravens aren’t a place you’re gonna win right now. I’m I mean that as a fan, as a journalist, as I just if I’m looking at it and flying in as a 37 year old football player, and saying is this year the year for the Ravens? No bueno. Not right here right now. And not even if Lamar gets his money, and he’s happy, and he’s back, I, I’m still not convinced that they don’t have the fifth or sixth best quarterback in the conference, if they signed Lamar at this point, because of what I’ve seen with these other players.

Luke Jones  16:28

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Oh, okay. I’ll push back on the last sentiment. I mean, if they sign him long term, you can lower the cap figure. Look, you’re still even if you think he’s fifth or sixth. I mean, Joe Flacco was never the best comp quarterback in the AFC, you know, and this team does have a really good defense. What else can you do? Do you do you hit on a wide receiver, but your your initial point, there is a lot of uncertainty, there’s no question about that. And that’s where you look at it and say, Is Lamar gonna be here? One, one factor that we’ve talked about as far as wide receivers and not that the Ravens have necessarily been in that market because it was a very tepid, very underwhelming wide receiver free agent market, but you’re talking about individuals where they look at that situation and say, okay, unless you’re gonna really overpay me, which we know the ravens, They don’t pay wide receivers, whether whether they’ve been right or wrong about that. That’s back to I mean, when was the last wide receiver that they really paid? It was Anquan Boldin, I guess they tried to pay Ryan grant and that fiasco in 2018, the guy who flunked his physical but but I think you just look at it if you’re one of those other wide receivers. I don’t even think it’s so much the I don’t want to play with Lamar Jackson thing. I, I still think that was much more Greg, Roman thing, and Greg Roman is not here anymore. So you can even say, you just ask though, is Lamar gonna be here? Like, is he gonna be here? Are you guys gonna trade him? Or is he gonna not show up. So it does knock them down a couple pegs in that way, not to the point where they’re bad, they still have a really good roster in most areas on either side of the ball. So it’s not as though they have nothing going for them. But when your quarterback situation is unsettled, and it’s perceived to be holding up the rest of your attempts to roster build, when Nelson Aguilar is the one outside addition you’ve made, and we’re now into April, I mean, come on. Now, how can how can you not look at that and look at the Ravens right now and say you’re either the John Harbaugh always likes to say it and Bo Schembechler and others have said this, too, but you’re either getting better, you’re getting worse, right? How could you look at the Ravens this offseason, and say in any shape, or form that they’re getting better? Yeah. Just look at the, you know, not that they’ve lost a ton of players that you’ve say, would kill them, but they’ve lost players and they’ve added one. So

Nestor Aparicio  18:49

well, that would be why am I’m saying if I’m looking at her, I’m an agent, directing a player at that at a tender point in their career about winning, not making money. I mean, Nelson Aguilar, he needs a job, right? It’s a job right? And like, and they gave him a job, and that’s great. Well, whoever the quarterback is, he’s happy. And they’re gonna have these draft picks to come in here. They kind of have to come and play, but recruiting players, and they’ve had a hard time recruiting wide receivers, as we’ve talked about in this offense. They’ve had a hard time recruiting players in a general sense, because they haven’t had a lot of money. They’re never a Money Team out trying to sign some other teams Von Miller, you know, I mean, they’ve never been that franchise. I don’t know that they’re about to be that franchise, but they’re about to have some money. If Lamar is not here, if whatever, transpires that he’s not here, and I know you think he’s stuck here, and we’ll have to come back and play and have to make nice and have to figure it out. I think we’re getting closer to that. I don’t even know the odds. We’ll have to play that out after the draft, as far as this non exclusive franchise tag and two number ones and a one and 2425 instead knew what it could be and what the odds are and all that but I can’t it keeps me up at night. I’m up at night thinking like how is this really gonna play out? You know and I’m writing about the owners This week I’m writing about Little John running around with you know, being the baseball owner and doing media and and big shot he often is boat hiding and all the mess around the ravens and this weird energy around the Orioles this time of year at least for the time being and you know till somebody gets hurt with the Orioles Radley rutschman goes to the Hall of Fame. But it’s a fascinating time to see the Ravens in sort of this murky mysterious place. And Nicholas Campbell signing to your point, taking the money pa guy hear all that? But like, is this attractive anymore? Is this a place you feel like I can go and win right here right now and it’s not right here right now this minute. Maybe it is with a happy Lamar or a quarterback of soy milk. But they’re they’re a long way away from that right now. And this is the strangest offseason that we’ve had you and I talking about this and 15 years, I think.

Luke Jones  21:02

Yeah, it’s very strange. And I mean, it’s tough. What what do you hang your hat on right now again, they’ve got plenty of positions on the roster where they’re in good shape, right? They’ve got one of the very best tight ends in the NFL, Ronnie Stanley finished the year healthy. And he kind of looked like Ronnie Stanley, especially as he played more and more play last season. So you’re happy about that you’ve got Lindenbaum at center that looks like that was a successful first round pick, you know, regardless of trading Marquis Brown in order to do it. So you go down the list of

Nestor Aparicio  21:34

running backs. It looks like he’s healthy again. Maybe? Yeah,

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Luke Jones  21:38

I mean, you know, I think the interesting thing with that is Dobbins and Edwards are both in a contract here. So that’s interesting. But yeah, on paper, so it’s not as though the cupboard is entirely bare. But

Nestor Aparicio  21:49

if you believe in bait went into on that, let’s play positive here. I mean, I’ve always had purple, badminton, number one who looked like a decent player got hurt, give them the benefit of the doubt His name’s not Perriman or Taylor or any of the guys from 30. You know, maybe he comes back and will look like an ad reception guy in this offense. If this offense throws the football in a way that doesn’t look like Lamar left Lamar, right running the ball 1518 times again.

Luke Jones  22:20

Yeah, sure. I mean, I like we’re shot Bateman’s potential, but he’s got to stay on the field. But you’re right. And look, that’s not you know, you can’t do what you did last year where you’re all of your eggs are in the Bateman basket, but that doesn’t mean that you’re not counting on him this year. So and the defense corner is a legit question opposite Marlon Humphrey, you’ve got to do that, whether it’s going to draft whether it’s bringing back Marcus Peters. So you have, look, those are two really important positions, wide receiver and corner. Those are premium positions. So I’m not trying to make light of that. But it’s those

Nestor Aparicio  22:53

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ads, by the way, and they gotta get somebody to get after the quarterback because they don’t have that yet. Right?

Luke Jones  22:58

Well, I mean, it’s time to go for Ole and David Jabo. I mean, first round, second round, and a job it was a first round talent who got hurt, it’s time to go, like, they need those guys to be good. They need them to be really good. Otherwise, they’re failed unsuccessful picks, and then that falls back on scouting.

Nestor Aparicio  23:16

These guys think they’re gonna stink, right? If payments. Thanks for real, and, you know, Queen look better, right? But these ones have to like they have to bake, we can’t be waiting on Mark Andrews in Orlando browns and tackles that are going to wind up getting $50 million someplace else or guards that you know, aren’t going to be here long term anyway, at some point, the ones to your point, we took away, you know what I mean? We use draft capital, and that has to that cake has to bake. And that and whoever they draft here, they gotta get draft eligible players. And these players have to come in and play. And that’s, that’s hard.

Luke Jones  23:54

Yeah, they’re first, assuming they don’t trade back. And again, you have to have a team that wants to trade up in order for that to happen. But their first round pick needs to be someone that makes an impact. There’s no doubt about it. And their third round, you know, their third round pick needs to at least be in that mix, right? At least be part of some meaningful depth for you, you know, you never count on the third rounder to start year one. But it’s got to be someone that isn’t just riding the pine and as a non factor, so I don’t think they’re, let’s be clear. If Lamar is not there to quarterback then I mean, I don’t even know what we’re, what we’re even talking about here there. You know, maybe can they be the Can They contend for the number seven seed in the AFC? Maybe? Sure. What’s that getting you? I don’t know. But my point is this roster is not terrible by any stretch of the imagination or anything like that. But what you just mentioned some of these young guys, if you’re talking about your upside, if you’re talking about moving up in the pecking order from wherever you think they are right now seven 6/5, whatever it is, with the caveat of Lamar being the wildcard as

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Nestor Aparicio  24:55

Joe burrow wants during the regular season and having a chance to do it in January. That’s Really the barometer Well, right.

Luke Jones  25:01

And in fairness they did that with Tyler Huntley even as their quarterback. So what does that tell you? I don’t know if he also did

Nestor Aparicio  25:07

it with glaze Campbell and, you know, on and on and on with players.

Luke Jones  25:11

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Sure, sure, sure. So yeah, I mean, it’s, there’s, there’s just a lot of uncertainty right now. Look, I don’t think this team, even if they don’t have Lamar, I don’t know if they’re bad enough that they’re going three and 14 either.

Nestor Aparicio  25:25

But they won’t be clearly next year’s quarterback unless they really take it.

Luke Jones  25:29

All right. Yeah, I think it’s gonna be tough just because you’ve got enough good players and other spots to avoid that happening, which look, we can debate whether that’s a good thing or not, because you don’t want to be in that purgatory standpoint of where if you’re picking 15th, you’re still not going to get a franchise

Nestor Aparicio  25:44

quarterback. As a Ravens fan, we’ve had the opportunity that some like browns fans, we’ve had, we could yell we suck less. Because you know what I mean? Like, you know, we’ve never picked one, and we’ve picked four, you know, but we’ve never picked one. There’s a whole different level to how you get that quarterback, and Steve shot, and John Harbaugh and Eric Decosta probably don’t want any part of that.

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Luke Jones  26:07

Well, and that’s what’s tough about and that’s why I continue to push back on notions that they’re done with Lamar, Look, I I do I think if the right if a team came calling and gave them a really attractive package, that they wouldn’t trade, Lamar, I think they I think they would under that scenario. But who is that team? You know, I mean, we can only get

Nestor Aparicio  26:30

a buddy’s gonna give him anything because no one wants to give him 200 million. It’s not about the draft picks. It’s about they they can’t, if I’m really people ask me. Why it’s not happening. I would say it’s not about the draft picks. It’s not about Jim mercy. It’s about $200 million in the in the Union and the original sin in the Garden of Eden. And that that’s it, they’re the owners aren’t going to guarantee in that money after not playing football the last two years, no matter what the Browns did for the show, and therefore, that is the stalemate. I don’t think there’s any coming back tail between his legs and taking 138 of guaranteed money for three years here and hitting the market. I don’t think the Union wants him to do that. I don’t think I think if he was set up to do that he would have done that a long time ago.

Luke Jones  27:16

Yeah, I mean, look, I I’ve said all along, I’m not going to try to assume what Lamar Jackson is going to do. Because there are lots of elements of this that that I’ve disagreed with, from his standpoint, even just from the standpoint of if you run into a fully guaranteed deal, I said over and over to me the time to make that play was last summer, before he had a second straight year where he finished with an injury and wasn’t able to finish the season. And now people talk about that more and more. But it’s all of those variables tied in together. And look, we can sit here as fans or media and my goodness, you see a ton of it, especially a ton of former players, just saying over and over again. The Ravens need to give Lamar what he wants, but you know, they’re disrespecting him yada, yada, yada all the conjecture and all the opinions that we hear and look, everyone’s entitled to their opinion. But the reality is, other than saying, Oh, it only takes one team. And we’ve all said that. I’ve said that too. But until that’s there, this is what it is. He has, we assume the Ravens last offer to him, whatever that might have been, you know, at some point earlier this offseason, and he’s, he’s hoping, and certainly announcing his trade request making that public two and a half weeks after he had done that, him tweeting that out last week. He’s hoping to drum up some interest, whether it’s to leave, whether it’s truly him wanting out, or whether it’s just to push the ravens to up their offer. And until that happens, we can all sit here and say that he deserves this or he’s better than Deshaun Watson and going through and look, those things can be true, but it’s dictated by the market. And the market is made as the silence is deafening right now. Right. I mean, it really is, in terms of what he’s asking for in terms of the trade compensation in terms of a lack of an agent, in terms of the injuries the last couple of years, in terms of going all the way back to pre draft perceptions of him as far as how many teams passed on him on draft night. Now, how many of those teams were wrong? How many of those teams would have made a really smart decision by drafting Lamar back in 2018? And doing what the Ravens did over the last five years? Absolutely. There are teams that should have done that. But we all have our biases, and, you know, people that can’t get out of their own way there. There are franchises that you kind of you pull back the curtain you see why they haven’t had any success for decades. But we can list all those different factors. The reality is Lamar Jackson doesn’t have anyone else that’s seriously sniffing around him at this point unless they have been so sneaky about it. that they’re completely under the radar. We can keep pointing to Indy but Jim Irsay said what he said, Chris Ballard has said what he said. And until they do something, and let’s be clear, as we’re getting closer and closer to the draft, even if they have some designs of pursuing Lamar Jackson, closer we get to the draft, the more it makes sense for them to say, well, we’ll wait. And then we’ll we’ll give up. Yeah, well, we’ll do our full court press and try to give up the 2024 and 2025, which, if Lamar Jackson is our quarterback, we’re probably not gonna be picking fourth overall. So and even if you’re not a huge Lamar fan, he he’s won every every, every team he’s played on, he’s won in the NFL and won a lot as a Baltimore Ravens. So that’s where you just keep looking at this thing and saying, what’s going to change? You know, I think when he tweeted out his trade requests, the news of that, I think there was the shock, there was this unsettling feeling. There was this, oh, my gosh, the you know, what’s getting ready to hit the fan. But then you process it for a few hours. And you realize, how is that really all that different than the non exclusive offer sheet process? It’s kind of it’s the same thing, really, other than just saying, okay, maybe we can forego that by just trading with the ravens and acquiring his rights after he signs the tag. Other than that, yeah, we’re kind of just in the same place that we’ve been in. And we’re waiting for tweets and updates from Lamar or anything else to happen. And, you know, it’s just been a whole lot of nothing as it pertains to teams really looking like they’re after him. And again, does that change as we get closer to the draft? Or maybe get on the other side? Hypothetically, it could. But again, how are teams clearing the necessary cap space, this deep into the offseason? In order to do that? I think that element is something that a lot of people have undersold in terms of the challenge of doing that, so can it be done? Sure. I’m not gonna say it’s impossible. But with each day, I just keep asking, who’s the suitor who’s changing the narrative here, and that’s where I just keep coming back to Lamar and the Ravens kind of, for lack of a better term being stuck with one another whether one or both sides would much prefer moving on. If they’re being honest. Jim Jones

Nestor Aparicio  32:16

is here he will be there and Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Thursday. We will be a Costas on Wednesday, during the Maryland crabcake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery I have these it’s a lottery scratch offs to give away. Everybody costs us again on Friday to fade these in the morning, getting ready for the opening of the arena and for Springsteen and the Eagles not the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles that I liked the Don Henley Eagles the Joe Walsh Eagles so convinced killed is going to be in town I talked to Barry trots last week back some country music in Nashville and all that stuff, man. The Read is gonna be alive. Janet Jackson and Anita Baker, Bryan Adams, Joan Jett, John Mayer, Adam Sandler, blink 182 all this great stuff coming downtown. We’ll be celebrating that the Lexington market the new market, the old market, lots of great Baltimore positive stuff going on here this week. All have presented by our friends as well and when donation 8669 donation now five years 0% financing, get in on it. That’s the 60 months, five years. That’s a better deal than they gave me last summer maybe I should have waited till April to get my but you can get them right now. 866 90 nation make sure you’re checking that out. We get lots of great things happening around here including the Maryland crab cake tour at Pappus in Bel Air on the 13th and then on the 27th to be back downtown at Captain Larry’s that afford Avenue. I’ve heard great things about their crabcake and Mara down there and our friends Vicki and we’re gonna it’d be good. This is gonna be a good good month around here. Orioles playing every day every other day at least till it rains. We got Adley rutschman Fever. We have the greatest controversy in the history of controversies with the Ravens that we’re following all of that. And for some of you it’s even lacrosse season. I’m Nestor we are wn st am 1570 Towson Baltimore and we never stop talking Baltimore. Positive Stay with us.