Presumably, aside from the lucrative financial reasons, Odell Beckham Jr. signed with the Baltimore Ravens because he thinks Lamar Jackson will be the quarterback. Even as Jackson wages a war of words with Baltimore in the media, the superstar apparently recruited the veteran receiver, signaling he plans to potentially continue his career with the Ravens.
But Beckham Jr. was strangely a little noncommittal about what might happen with Jackson during his Ravens’ introductory press conference on Thursday. While sitting alongside head coach John Harbaugh and general manager Eric DeCosta, Beckham Jr. kept Jackson’s Ravens future up in the air before passing the buck.
This line of thinking doesn’t rule out Jackson launching dimes to Beckham Jr. per se, but it’s not exactly a ringing guarantee either. And Beckham Jr. deferring to Harbaugh and DeCosta’s “leadership” is, well, what everyone’s been doing for the better part of a year!
On whether he got assurances from Lamar Jackson that the QB will be here, Odell Beckham Jr says "life is uncertain." And says, "My thoughts would be, he''ll be here and I know these two want him here."
GM Eric DeCosta reiterates that he wants Lamar here.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 13, 2023
“Life is uncertain,” … what?
Someone, please tell me: Did Beckham Jr.’s signing actually shift anything tangible with the Ravens’ most important player? Anything at all?
To me, from an outsider’s perspective, it seems pretty evident that both Jackson and the Ravens are still valleys apart in their conversations behind the scenes. To me, from an outsider’s perspective, what else is Beckham Jr. going to say after signing a contract with play incentives up to $18 million?
The man probably needs a quarterback like Jackson to hit the requisite benchmarks. Of course, he’s going to hold out hope he returns. At the same time, aside from texts and video calls in the car, Beckham Jr. doesn’t hold any real influence on ensuring Jackson continues to wear Baltimore’s purple and black uniforms.
Any real momentum we thought Beckham Jr.’s addition would create on the Jackson front seems foolhardy. Nothing has really changed here, has it?
All we needed was Beckham Jr. to confirm our suspicions.