In the hours after the announcement of his non-exclusive franchise tag, many NFL teams feigned disinterest in the Ravens starting quarterback. We don’t believe them. Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio have very different opinions about the options and choices that will be available to Lamar Jackson in the coming days and weeks leading up to the NFL Draft and beyond.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
lamar jackson, ravens, lamar, point, quarterback, thought, ray lewis, talking, year, teams, deal, felt, team, deshaun watson, draft, tag, money, owners, steve, luke
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Looking back, w n s t tests Baltimore and Baltimore positive I shaved for this one so you know this one’s gonna be big. There’s purple smoke billowing out of the castle in Owings Mills. We’re gonna begin to Maryland crab cakes were back in under and I can’t wait. I’m putting together a pretty aggressive schedule into April in May, because I need some crab cakes and I need some oysters and they need some things and eat some conversations and I need some politics and I need some spring in my life. The spring in my step to Maryland lottery, the incident scratch offs. It’s old school, it’s 50th anniversary. I’ll be given these. You can also get these really cool like $50 ones and apparently they’re selling the heck out of them. But it’s $5 million. You can win five there’s there’s so John Barnes will tell me about that. Also our friends at Goodwill. I’ve got my Is this a Shannon Sharpe pad or a Tony serogroups and I’m not sure Luke I think a goose when I get the floppy half that’s of this color. Now if it’s orange Of course I think a beer in summer. But when donation 866 90 nation a way to get them you buy two you get two free 24 months 0% financing. Look, Jones joins us now. And you know Luke and I know Luke and we’ve all waited for whatever this is because we don’t have a solution. But we have some sort of resolution. Do you know it never bet against her on Eric de Costa are trying to figure out a read tea leaves as to how this is I’m utterly convinced now they’re gonna give him $250 million. He’s gonna I don’t know what to think at this point. Look.
Luke Jones 01:27
Yeah, and I think that’s something that I’ve tried to drive home a lot in our discussions where I feel like there’s been so many people that have been convinced about something, right, whether there were all these teams that were gonna give Lamar Jackson a fully guaranteed deal whether the Ravens were low balling them, whether Lamar was doing this or that, or, and I think the the theme of this entire saga has been the unknown, right? I mean, how much of it has been what happened two years ago, long before the Deshaun Watson deal? Was kind of that the inflection point of this process? We all presume. So, you know, we come to a head as far as the franchise tag deadline. I had talked about this with you even going back to January, even though it wasn’t my prediction, and I thought the Ravens would indeed give him the exclusive franchise tag. I said back in January, the question that so many people were missing throughout this decision, as far as which tag to use is, what did the Baltimore Ravens want to accomplish from this? We know what Lamar Jackson wants? What do the Baltimore Ravens what? And I think the question always was, Are you looking to deal? And if that’s the case, you probably are looking at least you know, where they were weeks ago, looking at the exclusive tag because
Nestor Aparicio 02:46
box A so I am in the camp that are you still in that camp, they want to move on? They want to maximize? I think the internet thought, Oh, my God, they’re gonna get Herschel Walker, they’re gonna get Ricky Williams, they’re gonna get three. No, I don’t think you and I ever thought that certainly not. This is not an accomplished quarterback in that way where it’s Patrick mahomes. Like guys that have like, and I know, you will not say he’s an MP, you go through all that he is he is at the end of the year, though. And that would be a knock on anyone. It just would. It just would if you haven’t played at the end of your season, the last few seasons, and you want to set records for your quarterback. Do you know in most cases, if this isn’t Lamar Jackson and Steve Ashati. And if this were just Team X and team y over the last 30 years, and the guy’s been injured, you’d say, Dude, I love you and I’ll over take care of you a little bit but you got to come play, you got to come play in order for me to give you a five year deal. It’s different with Lamar with his legs and his value and saying which the 26th year of his life gonna be versus the 31st year of his life in regards to quarterbacking and in regard to tread on the tire of a guy that unprecedentedly runs into in the linebackers that has always made me squeamish. It would make me squeamish if my job depended upon it. And and the wild thing that you and I didn’t have on our punch card, but we should because we know better, right? What if the owners just collude and Steve got together dropped the dime on Arthur Blank, and they all just said, we’re just all going to agree not to give this kid 300 mean, because he’s Miss games because I remember Bushati losing his mind was Sam Bradford, right? The guaranteed money that those cats were getting to walk into the campus was crippling, and I remember Steve talking about and Steve had no no dog in the hunt. He wasn’t a number one overall pick kind of guy that was gonna get stuck on that. But I think it was in their room 10 years ago, this was back when Steve used to meet with the media get together. I have him talking to gaggles you know, back of the podium about all of this kind of stuff in regard to suppressing salaries or organizing things in a way that was more distributive to do deeds and accomplishments versus your uh, number one overall and we’re just gonna give you $100 million to walk in the door right? So somewhere in between here and look, we can big ticket this in any way you want, even to your point with ro Quan Smith, but this is the biggest the big, big, big, big big tickets and the NFL is involved in this and to some degree there’s been some damage of lumbars reputation, Twitter of the sign negotiating for like all of that, that would be anti Lamar. But then there’s the hey look, he’s the best quarterback on the market. They were spend the $50 million a year on all the rest of these cats. Why is he being given this bad treatment and it dude it’s it’s Colin kapernick all over again, but a little different. You know what I mean? It’s what is the value of him and I see it you don’t see it and we don’t see it and we don’t need a quarterback that bad in in the NFC South. You know, so I think the first couple of hours were very telling in regard to owners putting their PR out every ravens Chad steel, every PR person putting their thing out, and then the internet going mad. And at some point there’s going to be settling of he’s really good quarterback. Somebody’s gonna pay him a lot of money. I think the ravens, I will take box A so I that’s where I am on this.
Luke Jones 06:20
I see I’m the exact opposite. I’m more confident now that he’s gonna stay Raven, because everything you just said, why wouldn’t the rate why would the Ravens relinquish control about where he’s going to go? Because now you end look, your point about potential collusion. And look, is the NFLPA gonna be able to prove anything? No, I don’t think there’s any way they’re gonna buddy bids.
Nestor Aparicio 06:41
If nobody bids on Lamar Jackson, the array, then the Ravens write the number down and whatever the number is, that’s the number kid. You know what I mean? Like, this is filthy. I mean, to some degree, if nobody bids on him, it’s filthy. It’s capper, Nikki, if five teams and on Lamar Jackson, and he’s available, but then again,
Luke Jones 07:04
at the same time, you’ve spent so much time saying why you wouldn’t sign him and why the Raven should move on from him. So if you’re saying that, then I think
Nestor Aparicio 07:10
he’s a high risk proposition for anybody. And I like the kid. I’m not like, I’m fine. But he’s one linebacker away. And they all are, right. I mean, we can go back to tomorrow, Hamlet and everything back to Stingley. Right. Like, I get that, but, and I’m not even against guaranteed money for guys that play this do this job. I would be the lobbyist day, I’ve seen the guys with CTE. I’ve spent the week by the way, it’s Brain Injury Awareness Month, Luke, I want to put that in in here. We had a great conversation locally, about concussions and about. And so I’m not anti Lamar, I just think every bit shoddy doesn’t want to pay him, every hardball and the cost to have to say to themselves, if I bring him in here, and he gets hurt, I’m losing my job. Now, you could probably say that about any quarterback, but we’re gonna lose a lot of games if we’re going to, and are we currently equipped to bring him in and run that game and do it quickly, quick enough for me to keep my job and keep going back to the egos of these men, which I’ve been studying a lot lately, Luke. And they all want to keep their job. And one thing about the caster and hardball is they have jobs for life in the public perception and in the maybe in the reality world, right. So they’re not afraid of moving on. And I think they’ve seen the experiment on the inside, and they were willing to pay X amount for it. And I have no information on I mean, none. But I don’t think they should give him away for a 23rd pick in the draft and a 28th pick in the draft. And he goes and makes another place better like Atlanta in a bad division. And like Eric’s not dumb, but I don’t think there are there’s there’s nobody that wants to give him $230 million. And that’s not a reflection upon Steve, I think that’s a reflection upon all of them for all of the collusive awful and reasons that, you know, we want to talk about here. And the NFL pa wants to scream about, right? There’s all of that, that with the calluses that Dennis talks about Akun sport, like, there’s all of that, that bakes into this, that makes this really caustic. And to your point. If he gets stuck here, man are gonna have some splainin to do.
Luke Jones 09:29
Well, I mean, or it becomes Lamar Jackson sees that there isn’t that team out there that’s going to give him Deshaun Watson fully guaranteed money and he comes back to to the ravens and says, Well, maybe maybe you guys were right, and maybe you do value me the most. I mean, I guess for me, because you know, you’re you’ve always over the last couple of months, you’ve been much more on the train of thought of the Ravens trading him and I’m just at this point if there isn’t a market for them at He’s Yeah. And well, that
Nestor Aparicio 10:01
makes me dead wrong if nobody in the league wants him that that and that’s what. But that’s what it’s what the league thought and what the NFLPA and all these people thought. But that’s what’s crazy.
Luke Jones 10:12
If no one wants him that’s, that’s when you look at this and say, Come on, this doesn’t smell right now. Any single team and we talk about this all, you know, this has been talked about with head coach hiring practices, executive hiring practices, any individual team with any individual candidate or individual quarterback in this case, and in this case, a very unique quarterback for many of the reasons that you stated, I have a higher opinion of Lamar Jackson than you do. I think I think that’s pretty evident and how we’ve talked about this, but I fully acknowledge elements that are significant risk, especially now on the heels of a second straight year, where he hasn’t been healthy to finish the season. But you can go through the list and find individual teams where you say, okay, that doesn’t know that that makes sense. That’s a, that’s defense, you know, you can defend that position. But when you have so many teams coming out so quickly, and let’s be clear, just because Team A, B, C, and D, say on March 7, that they’re not interested in Lamar Jackson. That doesn’t actually mean that’s going to be the case next week, or the week after that. I mean, look at the Cleveland Browns, they were out on Deshaun Watson until ownership stepped in. And let’s be clear about this. This isn’t an Eric to caster decision. This is not a general manager manager decision for any of these. Well, this will go across
Nestor Aparicio 11:31
sports to say like how Manny Machado wind up San Diego and the sooner shakes with Korea in the offseason, right? And where any superstar would go, everybody’s going to shut their mouth and try to deflate the value because the Falcons want to get get in for less right in less money and less dread, like, in general. And if the ravens are done with them, then they’ll we’re gonna find out. I mean, I always say that like people are Hey, who’s Eric gonna draft? Who’s we’re gonna find out? Well, I mean, we’re gonna find out in like six or seven weeks, because if he’s back, then they really did love him a lot more than it certainly felt in December, when John’s holding those press conferences, doing the, you know, the Scarecrow thing, and he’s not on the sideline in Cincinnati. Like if this was bargaining all along. I I just don’t think Steve shoddy bargains that way. And I would just be shocked. And I would think that the him being his agent thing. Dennis even said this the other day, which I thought was wasn’t he said, Don’t ever draft the quarterback without an agent, the first round again, because it’s just too difficult. It’s just an especially because this kid blossom. This kid is a flower. This gets a rose. You know, and I it’s just unfortunate. It’s unfortunate, all the way around. And I do think I still, and I didn’t make this wage when I should have because I can do it legally. Now in Perry, Phil on my barstool. I could do all of that. But if I would have wagered I felt very strongly on Monday that he’d wind up in another uniform. I never thought that they’d be colluding, who was the media guy that’s been kicked out to think that they would ever collude. And the Colin kapernick thing would pop in that, in the end, they want to fight the Union. In the end, in the end, they want to beat the Players Association to kind of always that’s, that’s the that’s the Garden of Eden for them. That’s the original sin for them. Right. So I guess I didn’t think about it in those terms, that the only thing that would make him a raven would be is he had nowhere else to go. And the Ravens got him on a discount, see, kid, it’s 48 million a year, and it’s four years, and it’s 118 million, whatever the number is, whatever, wherever they are. And it’s not like he’d be a popper. It’s not like it would be out of line with Josh Allen or some of those other people, I think the Ravens would put it there and no problem because they beat the union doing that. And Steve beats the union doing that. And I think that there’s levels of this, that go on that even the smartest guys like you and me or take put Peter King or anybody else in there, that we really didn t leave this out as the political play, it would become in the first two hours, where every media bunkie that’s connected to wherever, to whomever, in whatever organization had a source that said, My team’s out. I mean, it was just astonishing, man. It really was.
Luke Jones 14:19
Yeah, and but again, is that truthful? And it comes back to All it takes is one team now. How many teams have the cap space to structure a deal in a manner in which the Ravens would say we’re not matching that whether it’s fully guaranteed or whether it would be a case of okay, it’s not fully guaranteed, but it’s structured in a way in which the Ravens would have to make however many player cuts to to fit this under the salary cap and you look at a team like Atlanta, although the Falcons were one of the first teams that, you know, leaked out to local reporters that they were out and I actually was even talking to someone recently, you know, about the Combine there was some some conflicting information there even as far as the Falcons interest, so it wasn’t just
Nestor Aparicio 15:06
does he make them better? Okay. $50 million. He makes everyone bags. And if they liked this kid they have even a little bit on the cheap, then. And, again, Mr. Blank can go into the draft and you know, drafted, you know, we’re because they all think the owners think differently. The fans want to win yesterday, the players want to win now, the owners, Steve’s winning by breathing this game $600 million, his franchise is worth 5 billion whenever they figure out this Snyder thing and kick his ass out in three weeks. You know, like this, this train to train rolls on it. There’s a quote, The Great Gary rossington and Leonard Skinner train rolls on, you know, and that’s where i That’s why I’m trying to think like the shotty in regard to Lamar, like we love Lamar at our price, in the same way that Ozzy loved every player at his price since they overpaid John Ogden on day one. Right.
Luke Jones 16:03
Right. Right. And I mean, you mentioned some of the hurt feelings and all that. I mean, we forget in this town how sour the Ravens relationship was with Ray Lewis had a couple of different points, go back to 2005 at the hamstring. And I mean, he was nowhere to be found the second half of the season. I mean, I remember that as being a 22 year old fan who wasn’t paying nearly as close attention as I remember, that is a 37 year old reporter. But But my point is at that point that Ray Lewis, his future with the Ravens was very much not looking healthy. Let’s say whether a trade was going to be imminent or whether a departure was imminent, it certainly wasn’t looking healthy. And my goodness, you know, and the conversation you recently played on our airwaves of talking to him in 2009, as he was getting ready to become a free agent. I mean, he became a free agent. I mean, we’re talking about Lamar Jackson now having the opportunity, regardless of how it goes, regardless of how many teams ultimately talk to him of talking, the Ravens still have some protection there. Ray was an unrestricted free agent now, much different point in his career, different position, different value. We understand all of that. But the point is, they still came back together and there was still kumbaya over the last few years with Ray Lewis, so to speak. So
Nestor Aparicio 17:18
anyway, back to the Orioles.
Luke Jones 17:21
Right. But anytime you’re talking about these friends, especially these franchise tax situations, they can get very contentious, they can get very ugly, and then they’re not anymore. Whether it’s the team caving or a player finding out the value is not there. Typically an agent is very helpful in learning that and that’s what’s why I said all along, even with the notion of trading Lamar Jackson, even if the Ravens had made up their mind that we want to move on from Lamar Jackson. So I said to you, over and over, that’s not a guarantee to happen because of the challenge of no agent and other teams wanting to talk to Lamar and other teams potentially running into the same problems the Ravens have had with negotiating. And, again, this comes back to I want to be clear, because I’ve said for a while now, this is not a case where the ravens are at fault, or Lamar Jackson is even at fault. At the end of the day. Both of these sides are coming from a very fair position. Lamar Jackson looks at Deshaun Watson, and whether you want to say it’s an outlier or not, it is a reality. Right? That contract exists. No, it’s not pretend. You can say the Browns are idiots, but they’re still one of 32 teams are still one of 32 ownership groups. Oh,
Nestor Aparicio 18:33
by the way they can afford it. Let’s throw that in when it comes to billionaires. Right.
Luke Jones 18:37
And that’s part of it. And that’s part of this conversation. And that’s where I think it’s gonna be very difficult for the Union to cry collusion and actually have a case to prove it because of that simple fact of escrow and being happy needing to be cast for cash rich. So but the point is Lamar has a very fair argument to make that he deserves at least that much. And if you’re the ravens, you’re saying, well, if one ownership group wants to jump off a cliff, that doesn’t mean the other 31 owners are obligated to do that from their position. And they would say, all the quarterback deals that have occurred since Deshaun. Watson, even if they’re not players of the caliber of Lamar Jackson have not been fully guaranteed. So what’s the outlier? And what’s the new standard? You know, that’s the argument is that they’ve gone back and forth on to some degree or another. So, I mean, it really does become now a case of waiting, at least for a short period of time. I think what’s difficult about this with the ravens and why it still was surprising to me that they went the nonexclusive route is you’ve now invited Lamar to just wait and wait and wait some more and he’s under no obligation to sign the franchise tag. I mean, that’s what
Nestor Aparicio 19:55
I want to hear because you were shocked a lot of people shocked at at Oh, surprised wasn’t shocked. But that was the issue that that I guess we didn’t think or talk enough about. And we did, which is their cap position, right, which is where you tag him affects cutting two players three play like, like, give me your inside scoop on that because you thought more about that than I have, quite frankly.
Luke Jones 20:18
Well, it comes down to this I mean, the nonexclusive tag is 13 $32.4 million, it now puts the Ravens roughly where they stand right now before making any cuts, or contract restructures, which they can always do that there’s a number of guys you can do that with from Marlin Humphrey, to mark Andrews to even Ronnie Stanley even though I would be reluctant to try to touch on a Stanley’s contract at this point, just because of his history. Well, the only way
Nestor Aparicio 20:43
you can move big money around is to affect big money. I mean, literally, right. But there
Luke Jones 20:46
are a number of there are a number of ways for them to create what at this point, they’re a little over $9 million above the salary cap. Now they don’t need to be in compliance until the 15th, the start of the new league year. So they have from the time they placed the tag on the mark eight days roughly to get compliant.
Nestor Aparicio 21:03
So what you’re saying is there gonna be some text this week from wn St. and could before it could be
Luke Jones 21:07
could be I mean, we’re not going to send out a text on a reach a contract restructure, we typically don’t do that. So there could be a number of restructures. And they could do it that way. It could be something as I don’t know if I’d say drastic, because I think people have seen this coming but a release of a chuck Clark, that would save about close to three and a half million dollars. So you have things you can do of that nature. I mean, clay as Campbell, Eric de Costa was asked about him in India, and he was non committal in the general sense that he is about any players who are up there and age and up there and cap number wise. So you know, they definitely have some work and maneuverability that that’s going to go on here in the coming days leading up to the
Nestor Aparicio 21:50
clay said he’s coming back. They haven’t said he’s coming back. Right, right, right. But keep in mind,
Luke Jones 21:54
this isn’t as simple as you create $9 million in space and then you’re good that’s as you’re currently constructed. That’s without tendering any exclusive rights guys and restricted free agents. I mean, Tyler Huntleys, a restricted free agent, for example, I would think you want to bring him back as your backup quarterback unless you’re planning on drafting one which of course that gets into, you know, the disc, the big picture discussion about the Morris future. By the
Nestor Aparicio 22:19
way, I had somebody on Facebook and it’s hilarious to me like it’s it’s way more entertaining than my radio show ever was. I went on and saw that somebody was sharing Harbaugh’s quotes about Tyler Huntley about how much he loves Tyler Huntley. Like, and I’m like, okay. It’s, it’s a data dream, isn’t it? You know,
Luke Jones 22:40
I mean, I’m sure he likes Tyler Huntley. Yet, that doesn’t mean that he’s going to be their starting quarterback. I mean, that’s why. One thing I do have to laugh about, and you and I have argued about Lamar and elements of, you know, things that you’ve said that I push back on, and vice versa. But one thing that has just been laughable to me, is to see people use the Ravens record when Lamar hasn’t been on the field as some kind of ammunition that they can’t bear it up. It’s like breaking news teams are worse when they’re starting quarterbacks aren’t on the field. Like? I mean, what is that supposed to tell me? I mean, it’s just it’s bizarre to me. But the point that I’ve always made about that was the fact that there are so many games that the Ravens have played the last two years without Lamar Jackson is much more problematic than what the record has been without Lamar Jackson. Anyway, I digress on that. But but the point I was making about the cap, is you need nine, basically, you need to make moves that are worth $9 million, just over $9 million in cap savings to get compliant. But that’s not even considering. Are you going to try to bring back Marcus Peters, are you gonna try to bring back some restricted free agents? Are you going to try to resign some other guys. So the point is, they still have a lot of work to do now, that the exclusive tag number, which is $32.4 million, compared to the exclusive which has not been set yet, that is not set for several more weeks. So they wouldn’t have wouldn’t have counted this much, but was projected to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $45 million, they would have had to have accounted for that eventually. So things become that much more problematic from a cap standpoint. But one point that I made and I haven’t mentioned this in my latest 12 ravens thoughts before the deadline earlier this week, Baltimore positive.com was if you’re in fact, moving on from Lamar Jackson, and again, I’m of the thought now, I’m less convinced that that’s going to happen because of where we are now and because of what we’re already seeing from teams. Although again, it takes one one team with the you know, the the determination that they’re going to step out of their comfort zone so to speak with fully guaranteed money, but I think with with me it was always if you will are thinking of moving on from Lamar Jackson, then why are you gonna worry about keeping clay as Campbell then I mean, you know, it’s you’re not a Super Bowl team, or you’re not fancying yourself as a Super Bowl contender anymore, at least for the coming year, you know, unleash till you draft your replacement or find your replacement. So, you know, I think the point is, at the end of the day, I didn’t think the Ravens would take the risk to be in a position where a team could sign him to an offer sheet that you would want to say, wouldn’t be able to match but would not want to match because of how how much it would compromise your cap and your roster. And understanding that if they didn’t match it, they would only get two first round picks. But I think the fact that they use the nonexclusive is a sign of reflection of their confidence in the market, that there is not going to be another team out there that offers Lamar Jackson a deal that they’re not willing to match. So that’s why I am more of the thought that I’m more inclined to think that Lamar Jackson is going to remain a Baltimore Raven, rather than I never thought he was gone, you know, I’ve never felt as strongly about it as you that they were going to trade him. But for me, if you give him the exclusive tag, then then then both sides dig their heels in even deeper, and it was a case of while the Ravens can control we’re going to go, they can broker a deal with Team X. And understanding Lamar doesn’t have an agent and all the challenges of that. But in this case, and this is why I was an advocate of this idea, at least even if I wasn’t convinced they were going to do it, you know, going back a couple months, but the thought was all right, Lamar, you want to fully guarantee deal, or you want more fully guaranteed money than we’ve offered. And you know, we’ve tried to work on this. We’ve been at this for two plus years, but a year now since the Watson deal. Go see what you can get. And you know, it’s the Ravens have done this with players before they did it with Ray Lewis, as I mentioned. And for me, this method was a signal of trying to force some action, trying to get some thing done something that will force some movement from one side to the other. Okay, but let’s let’s pretend let’s assume that there are at least going to be a couple teams interested in the large accident, the early indication on Tuesday afternoon aside in collusion talk aside, let’s say there’s at least a couple teams that are interested, let’s say those teams aren’t willing to give Lamar a fully guaranteed deal. But they are willing to give him an offer sheet that is superior to what the Ravens were offering. Lamar offers that. And then the ravens are put to a to a choice. Do we got? Are we going to match this? It’s not the Watson deal, but it is a little more total guaranteed money than we were offering. Hey, Lamar was right, that his market was a little more than what we were saying. But we still think this is a reasonable deal for keeping our franchise quarterback who we’ve won a lot of games with, will match it. And then if you do that, great, you’ve got to deal done. Well, everybody saves face in that case, to some degree. Yeah, yeah. So that’s what I’m looking at this. And that’s why I’m feeling a little more, a little more confident that Lamar Jackson is going to remain a raven after Tuesday. And look, that’s not that’s not a 100%. fully confident, because I haven’t been fully confident about any aspect of this. I mean, that’s why we were talking about this a year ago. And I was just wondering, and and it felt off and it felt like it shouldn’t. It shouldn’t be this difficult if both sides want to continue their relationship continue a marriage. So I think what’s interesting here, what’s going to be fascinating here is and we haven’t we didn’t hear anything from Lamar Jackson on Tuesday. Will we hear anything in terms of a statement or anything like that maybe the NFLPA putting out something on his behalf? Who knows? Because we haven’t heard from Omar other than Tweets and Instagram post since a couple of days before he hurt his knee against Denver back in early December. But I do think what’s interesting here is the personal side to this the side to this where the Ravens aren’t just giving him the franchise tag, but they gave him the nonexclusive at $32.4 million. That nesta $32.4 million is well below
Nestor Aparicio 29:21
what has never come to BWI again, until that gets fixed.
Luke Jones 29:26
So what well, I’m
Nestor Aparicio 29:27
seriously like, right, like he’s never gonna play for $33 million.
Luke Jones 29:31
Wow. And that and that’s what’s you know, and you mentioned collusion. You mentioned Colin kapernick. How much conviction does Lamar Jackson and you know, the Union, but ultimately it’s him, right? I mean, he’s 26 years old, he’s an adult, you know, he, he’s the one who’s made choices of representing himself and not having an agent. And yes, the NFLPA can advise him and they can try to get him as much as they want to, they can try to get him to keep firm here and dig his heels into the ground, but Where’s Lamar? From a personal standpoint here as it pertains to the ravens and now getting the nonexclusive tag and understanding that’s less money. And understanding that, at least the early indications aren’t a great sign that there’s going to going to be another team that’s out there. Although again, the Browns came along late in the Watson process and changed everything about that. I mean, it’d been, you know, it was assumed Watson was gonna go elsewhere, the Browns had been rolled out until they weren’t anymore. So you never want to dismiss that. But assuming that doesn’t happen, does is more willing to come back to the table with the ravens and say, All right, let’s talk and whatever the Ravens were offering, assuming that’s still the offer, and I think from a standpoint of you don’t want to embarrass the guy, because you have won a lot of games with him, and he has been your quarterback,
Nestor Aparicio 30:52
well, I think that’s a real are sort of come back here with bad feelings and, you know, 47 million a year and not feeling good about it, that, and I, based on what we’ve seen from this kid, you know, show me the money and like all of that. I don’t think he could come back here and play less than he
Luke Jones 31:14
wanted to be patient because he because he held up a sign though. I mean, what what has he been? So
Nestor Aparicio 31:23
it was a little weird, you know, just I think that’s the way he is negotiating.
Luke Jones 31:27
i But I, but I already gave you an example of Ray Lewis doing that back in oh, five. I mean, he wasn’t, but he tore his hamstring. And he was gone. And there were questions about how hurt he was. And all of that. I
Nestor Aparicio 31:39
mean, I remember he Lewis was already at the Hall of Fame. No point to it didn’t have a statue yet in Miami, you know. So.
Luke Jones 31:49
I know. But I don’t I don’t understand why that’s relevant. I think there’s
Nestor Aparicio 31:53
fragility because Ray came back and said, My town my town. I don’t think Lamar has ever felt that way about here. You know what I mean? I think we’re dealing with it’s, it’s, it’s not apples and oranges. It’s apples and pears, maybe you know what I mean? But it’s still two very different human. It’s not three times, you know, and what, where Lamar is in getting his money right now and getting this decision, but
Luke Jones 32:16
if no one else is giving him, so if no one else is giving him the money, so he’s just not going to take it from the Ravens? I mean, my point then, is, and it’s not to compare, my point is if Ray Lewis can have those types of feelings, and there to be an apparent fracture, with a town where he has been entrenched for a longer period of time, as you mentioned, and things can end up being fine. I don’t see why the ravens and Lamar Jackson can’t be fine. But that was the question I was asking in terms of how willing is Lamar Jackson? You know, how far is he willing to go to try to get what he wants? But the reality is, if he’s out on the open market, and no team is willing to give him what he wants, fully acknowledging there’s also two first round picks attached to this, then, what’s he going to do? I mean, is it going to sit out the season? You know, I mean, he could, theoretically he could do that. But then he’s right back in the same place next year. So that’s where I just look at this thing. And, you know, I feel Unlike you, I feel more confident now about Lamar Jackson potentially staying and signing for what the Ravens had been offering. We’ll see I’ll
Nestor Aparicio 33:27
agree with you, by the way, too. I didn’t have collusion in and I didn’t have no one. And again, it goes back to and this is an honest assessment for me that having done this for 30 years, owners got to be on board with a quarterback that runs in the linebackers at the highest price
Luke Jones 33:44
gotten hurt. And you took the last two years because you keep you keep saying that, but he’s gotten hurt in the pocket. I hear you but it’s just well
Nestor Aparicio 33:53
turning the team over to this style of offense and saying we’re going to win a Super Bowl. And the owner is gonna say, Well, what have the Ravens done last two years, the last two years, he’s been on available to play and he’s gotten hurt. And and that’s what you know, analytics aside, it’s just the he he gets hit. He runs the ball 100 times and needs to do that in order to be effective. And not everybody needs to like that. Not everybody knows he needs to do that as much. Does he need to do that as much to be effective as he that accurate as a pocket passer?
Luke Jones 34:26
I think he’s more accurate than you give him credit for. But this is also why I’m
Nestor Aparicio 34:31
worried enough for me to turn my franchise over put $50 million in him give two or three or more. first round draft picks away. And are we in the next three years winning a Super Bowl here in Atlanta, Carolina, or are we going to live what we have go into the draft? Do it that way and say when we find our Lamar Jackson, we’ll give him $50 million. The Ravens found their Lamar Jackson and haven’t and now they’ve been given scoring on this, but to your point in the next couple of weeks. If nobody steps up, they would have still been the outlier that picked him last in the first round, turn the whole thing over to him how to be successful all kept their jobs, right. But this is a unique place in that way really, really is. And you know this, you go to these combine, you see one guy one year with the Jets thing on the next year he saints, these guys move around and they’re all afraid of getting fired. They’re all afraid of risk. It’s risk management for all of them. I keep my job if I have my four string quarterback around your, you know, for the next two years, maybe, because that’s how they’re all thinking John and Eric don’t think that way, Mike Tomlin. But all these guys do, man.
Luke Jones 35:39
Well, but the one thing I will say I’ll go back to this, signing a player of this caliber and this price range, whatever it’s ultimately going to be whether it’s what the Ravens have been offering, and he ultimately signs for that, or whether there is that team. That’s an ownership decision. I mean, let’s be clear. I know we and especially in this town, we’re sensitive to that, because of Peter Angelos and meddling and all that ownership, when you’re talking about that kind of a ticket, you know, this isn’t signing someone for $10 million a year, this is a 200 to 300 Potentially plus million dollar investment that you’re making in a player. That’s an ownership decision. I mean, in the same way that do we want
Nestor Aparicio 36:20
to turn our franchise over to Lamar Jackson, that’s really the question or another
Luke Jones 36:26
team, right. And that’s where, a couple minutes ago, I was confused. I thought you were talking about that from the Ravens perspective. Another team? I mean, well, and that’s the thing. See what you’re just saying there that? Doesn’t that poke holes in the collusion thing, then I have otherwise you’re making?
Nestor Aparicio 36:43
If I’m in Atlanta or character, whoa, what are my other options other than giving away? To a guy that runs in the linebackers? We have to change everything? You know? Is my coach comfortable? That is are we built for that is our Do you know? Where are we where’s our meeting room when he comes in as the anointed one. And we give him all this money? You know, he didn’t even he didn’t even show up for his teammates and sincerely, I can just hear a billionaire saying, we get other options. I mean, it’s not we’re not that desperate. We’re desperate. But we’re not. I mean, we won five games last year, we might win seven day, but we’re not desperate. And I felt the desperation of the Deshaun Watson thing last year, everybody felt the desperation of those franchises. I do wonder what’s changed in 11 months in regard to that.
Luke Jones 37:28
Right. And that’s, I mean, what you just said, I mean, owners who have that kind of mindset, and look, I’ve I’ve spelled out reasons why I’d be very reluctant to give Lamar Jackson a fully guaranteed deal. I think that’s fair, but owners with that kind of mindset that you just laid out, and I don’t think you’re wrong. You look at the track record and then you start to see why some of these guys want nothing, and they don’t get it and they make lousy decisions and they’re not a model organization so well the
Nestor Aparicio 37:57
Seahawks made a decision to go with Geno Smith last year he played so well they actually had to pay him they’re happy to pay him when he plays well. They’re happy to you know mean you play in January they’re happy to pay you no matter you know, like that’s that’s where it is. Look we’re gonna talk a lot about this i We’re gonna have to bear like crap but yeah, it’s not over. Yeah, we’re not done. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery their 50th anniversary. I got these really cool wins the lottery scratch I’ve got a bunch of them. Looking forward to giving them out to our listeners, our friends out of the Maryland crab cake tour, including our friends at Goodwill and in wind donation as well. 866 90 nation two by two you get two free 24 months 0% financing through the end of the month. Make sure you’re taking care of that. And of course, Dennis is with us on Thursdays the cruise forward wn st text service. Luke’s got his fingers on the button. And you know it’s a soap opera now it’s on tag tag and tag away with a free agency next week Luke’s on the job find him in Baltimore Luke Luke at wn St. dotnet. All complaints to him all praise to me on nasty at wn St. dotnet or Knesset Baltimore positive.com We are wn st dotnet am 1570 Towson Baltimore. We never stopped talking Lamar Jackson, Baltimore positive.com Stay with us.
