Brinson basically calls "collusion," but essentially says it's nearly impossible to prove

[top dawg]

Will Brinson says what many are thinking:

 

"The idea of Baltimore dangling Lamar to the entire league, and no one having ANY INTEREST WHATSOEVER, is just wild. A 26-year-old former MVP simply DOES NOT become available in the NFL with no interest from other teams. 

"And not just no interest but a very quick lack of interest from a host of teams who have been aggressively pursuing quarterback solutions for the last 3-5 years. 

"There's a virtually zero percent chance of anything happening here. Good luck proving a bunch of NFL owners don't want to acquire Lamar Jackson simply to suppress a rogue contract given to another player in a similar situation just a year ago. But that reality makes a lot more sense than the idea of no one even wanting to consider acquiring a 26-year-old former MVP."

 

Yeah, he pretty much lays it all out, including using the Panthers as a prime example of how nonsensical all this is.

 

"The Carolina Panthers are largely irrelevant on a national stage. The Panthers with Lamar Freaking Jackson? That's a team getting multiple primetime games every year and the immediate favorite to win the NFC South..."

 

Yeah, we've been largely irrelevant on a national stage since Cam's downfall. It still stings for Brinson to say it. People, especially in NFL circles, have bought into the narrative of Moneybags Tepper being hellbent on landing a franchise QB though, even if it makes him seem kinda like a clown (at least how Brinson wrote it).

 

"David Tepper has been rejected multiple times in an attempt to trade for a franchise quarterback, including Watson, Matthew Stafford and -- not even joking here -- Carson Wentz. Lamar Jackson's on the block and he doesn't even want to check in on what it might take to acquire him? Again, sure."

 

I mean I think that it's only the naive that can't smell a rat. There certainly seems to be something fishy going on, but as an old Fox used to say, "It is, what it is." Not paying Lamar like Deshaun Watson has obvious justifications. Hell, not paying Watson like Watson had justifications. Mind you, this Lamar Jackson story is far from over, but we'll see what happens when the brash and charismatic Joe Burrow is on deck.

 

Brinson's piece is compelling to say the least.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/no-nfl-teams-want-to-acquire-lamar-jackson-and-the-reason-why-seems-painfully-obvious/amp/

Edited March 8, 2023 by top dawg

[OneBadCat]

I think the apprehension has more to do with the injuries more than anything else. 
 

And it’s especially unfair to lump the Panthers in that category. We have a fan base and owner that is still reeling from a goat whose career was stolen by injuries and POS ass clown refs in SB 50. 

[csx]

It's possible. It's also possible everyone doesn't want to pay that much for him. 

He can be quite good and still not worth the fully gaarunteed contract he's asking at the same time. Fully gar

[Sean Payton's Vicodin]

 

[Aussie Tank]

Or maybe teams know what he wants in a contract and don’t want to pay it and give up 2 first round picks 

[Sean Payton's Vicodin]

Definitely no collusion, its just a coincidence!!

 

Edited March 8, 2023 by Sean Payton's Vicodin

[LinvilleGorge]

Collusion is certainly possible but it's also possible that the NFL at large has caught wind of Lamar's contract demands and has no interest in coming close to them. If Lamar had played at an MVP level and stayed healthy last year there would likely be no shortage of potentially suitors.

The reality is that Lamar has struggled with injuries the past two seasons and his play has suffered for it. He's not in a great position at the moment to demand a historic contract.

[OldhamA]

It's collusion that nobody wants to pay an oft-injured QB $200m guaranteed and lose 2 first round Draft picks in the process?

Yeah, ok. We saw with Watson that NFL teams really don't give a fug if they think the player is good enough. 

Edited March 8, 2023 by OldhamA

[BrianS]

Setting aside Watson's off the field catastrophe, the two players aren't really comparable.

Watson has been available for every game of his career.  He didn't play until later in rookie season, and he sat out the last game of 2019 as the Texans rested a bunch of starters for their playoff game.

Further, Watson got a STUPID contract.  No one is looking at his contract and thinking it's a good deal - off field problems aside.  It's just not a good deal.

I'm waiting for the day NFL QB's finally realize that if they want to compete for a ring consistently, they can't be sucking up 15+ percent of their team's cap.  Brady won obscene numbers of playoff games and SB's with the Patriots, yet never had a cap number over 23 million.

[FugginPoo]

The price with the picks is too high, without the picks the QB deals in relation to the cap are crippling.

the play now is to hit on a rookie and his 5year cheap contract and spend your cap on position players, then if you have to pay at the end it’s time to hit on the picks at positions you are losing key players to free agency because you can no longer afford given cap space 

[stan786]

I do think there is some sort of unspoken collusive esque agreement from a lot of owners not to go down this fully guaranteed path. You saw the Falcons and Panthers balk at guaranteeing the full Watson deal and that gave the Brown the edge in that discussion so its not surprising we balked now.

I also think the timing has a little to play with this with teams not being able to negotiate with him till the start of Free Agency and then having to wait to see if the Ravens match or not. Potentially could be sitting out the first week or two of Free Agency due to money wrapped up in Lamar and end up with nothing to show.

A lot of sides to this, I think the Ravens are going to match any deal thats not fully guaranteed, i'm interested if some teams start showing more interest post draft though if their plans dont work out as expected.

[OldhamA]

2 minutes ago, BrianS said:

Setting aside Watson's off the field catastrophe, the two players aren't really comparable.

Watson has been available for every game of his career.  He didn't play until later in rookie season, and he sat out the last game of 2019 as the Texans rested a bunch of starters for their playoff game.

Further, Watson got a STUPID contract.  No one is looking at his contract and thinking it's a good deal - off field problems aside.  It's just not a good deal.

I'm waiting for the day NFL QB's finally realize that if they want to compete for a ring consistently, they can't be sucking up 15+ percent of their team's cap.  Brady won obscene numbers of playoff games and SB's with the Patriots, yet never had a cap number over 23 million.

I mean Murray got an absurd contract. Daniel Jones - who was 17 games away from being cut, just got paid $40m a year ($82m guaranteed).

That's, sadly, just the market for QBs in the NFL now.

NFL franchises aren't colluding to keep Jackson's money down - they simply don't think he's worth it. 

[Khyber53]

6 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Collusion is certainly possible but it's also possible that the NFL at large has caught wind of Lamar's contract demands and has no interest in coming close to them. If Lamar had played at an MVP level and stayed healthy last year there would likely be no shortage of potentially suitors.

The reality is that Lamar has struggled with injuries the past two seasons and his play has suffered for it. He's not in a great position at the moment to demand a historic contract.

This ^ more than anything.

And the QB market has been a buyer's one rather than a seller's this year. Carr, Jones, Garropolo, Rodgers, Smith were out there in play at the beginning with four popular draft QBs in the waiting, too. Some of those things are settling into place as we speak, a few others are out there as more affordable options.

Lamar is also his own agent and that can be problematic, too. He may be a great QB, but he may not be a deal maker or much of a salesman. He might be saving 10% of his contract wages by doing so, but he may have also driven down his market value by more than that by representing himself.

 

[Raleigh PF]

If you look at the Ravens offer to LJ ($250M, $133M guaranteed), it falls in line with other QB contracts at that time. The Ravens are looking to reset the market based upon the Watson deal being an anomaly, not the norm and the other owners are in line with that attempt.

That being said, let's see what happens when Burrow and Hebert get new contracts. You don't think they are going to settle for less guaranteed money, do you? The difference here is they have an agent and LJ does not. In this case, it is really going to hurt his negotiating ability.