Lamar Jackson’s latest news of a trade request from a month ago dropped like an anvil on the NFL world.
Not only did it put Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh in an impossible spot, it re-prompted questions about which NFL teams should actually trade for the star quarterback.
One of those squads should, theoretically, be the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts don’t have a quarterback of the future and missed out on a trade for the No. 1 overall pick. You’d think owner Jim Irsay would be all over a 26-year-old former MVP. And he seems to be … just so long as he doesn’t hand out a fully-guaranteed contract.
Wait, did he say that out loud? Yes, yes, he did … right to The Athletic’s Zak Keefer.
Colts owner Jim Irsay, asked tonight about fully-guaranteed contracts and the NFL:
"As an owner I do not believe in fully-guaranteed contracts. I think that a percentage is one thing, but from what I’ve seen from the NBA and baseball, I don’t see it as a positive competitively."
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) March 28, 2023
After various teams immediately bowed out of the Lamar Jackson sweepstakes once he received a non-exclusive franchise tag, speculation ran rampant that some NFL owners did not want to establish this fully-guaranteed precedent.
While we still have tons of names who haven’t confirmed it, Irsay seemed so outrageously comfortable giving the game away here. Another development in the Jackson saga, and it surely won’t be the last.