There’s a funny thing about following the Baltimore Ravens for a living, or loving this organization as a fan. There’s never any shortage of spotlights. What more can you expect from a franchise that is home to one of the game’s star quarterbacks?
It’s an organization that is enduring its largest transition in more than 18 NFL seasons. There’s a new coach in town, Jesse Minter. Yes, friends.There is plenty to talk about.
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Just this past season alone, Baltimore’s name kept finding its way into the churning rumor mill. Were we really discussing Lamar Jackson as a trade piece and possible landing spots?
No one knows for certain what the Ravens’ plans are moving forward. We can only offer educated guesses. One thing hanging over this discussion is his massive cap number and the obvious need for an extension/restructure.
Some believe that’s where some of the trade rumors began. Most believe they began because of a deteriorating relationship with the former coaching staff, but here we are, hoping the Ravens work through this. An NFL insider believes that they will.
Mike Garafolo throws cold water on a rumor we’ve heard long enough.
In truth, we haven’t heard many of the Lamar Jackson trade rumors since Jesse Minter was introduced as Baltimore’s new head coach. Still, hearing them as frequently as we did was still much too often.
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On a recent episode of The Insiders, Mike Garafolo challenged some of those thoughts in that vein. He began his theory by challenging those who had bought into the discussions about him landing elsewhere.
“I know the speculation has begun. Could the Baltimore Ravens potentially trade Lamar Jackson? No! [I’m] not feeling that.”
Thank you, Mr. Garafolo! Heaven knows the rest of us weren’t either.
“Let’s turn our attention to a potential contract extension. The Ravens have talked about this. It is a $74.5 million cap hit for Lamar Jackson this season. They’ve got to figure out a way to lower that, smooth that over, and also give themselves another window here to potentially compete with Lamar. I mentioned the trade talk or the trade speculation. Forget about that because Lamar Jackson was part of the head coaching [hiring] process. He was on the virtual interviews with head-coaching candidates. He was consulted for the offensive coordinator job, which went to Declan Doyle.”
Garafolo also mentioned Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti’s admiration of Baltimore’s franchise signal-caller and lamented that this organization would be “flabbergasted if the Ravens potentially moved on from Lamar Jackson.”
Everything he’s saying sounds about right to us, as it should for anyone else who is paying attention, and that’s really where this conversation should end.
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Franchises don’t consult quarterbacks they’re preparing to move on from. They don’t build coaching staffs around them, invite them into hiring decisions, or reshape their financial future with them in mind if divorce is imminent. The Ravens know exactly who and what they have in Lamar Jackson. He’s a rare, franchise-altering talent, and despite the noise, the speculation, and the cap gymnastics still to come, Baltimore’s path forward remains clear.
The spotlight isn’t going anywhere. Neither is the quarterback standing in it, and the next era of Ravens football will begin the same way the last one did, with Lamar Jackson standing at the center of it all.
This article originally appeared on Ravens Wire: NFL insider slams the door on Lamar Jackson trade rumors