Tag: Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson

It’s deja vu for Commanders head coach Ron Rivera

Ron Rivera is familiar with what he’s facing in 2023.

It’s deja vu for Commanders head coach Ron Rivera.

He has no doubt, previously been down this familiar road. Rivera has raised eyebrows at times with his responses with the media during his time in Washington. However, he may actually be the right coach for this time in the Commanders transition to new ownership.

The Carolina Panthers were 2-14 for the 2010 season. Rivera was subsequently hired to replace John Fox. Rivera was not naive. He had been in the NFL long enough as a player and assistant coach to know Fox could certainly coach, having led the Panthers to 11 wins twice, 12 wins once and an NFC championship before losing the Super Bowl on a last-second Adam Vinatieri field goal.

Fast forward eight seasons to 2018. The Panthers had a new owner in David Tepper. In 2019, the Panthers struggling on their way to a 5-11 season, Tepper was ready for a change. He was ready to hire his own head coach.

Rivera came to Washington in 2020 and has coached the team to 7-9, 7-10 and 8-8-1 seasons. Longtime owner Daniel Snyder is on the way out, ready to sell. How long will the new owner want to stay with Ron Rivera?

It’s not an enviable position for Rivera. He must win big or will be shown the door. Many fans and some in the media will be unfair to Rivera regardless of what he does. If he does not trade the next two No. 1 draft choices and pay $35 million for Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, he doesn’t want to win badly enough and is, in their eyes, a buffoon.

On the other hand, perhaps the new owner will not want to take over a team with no cap room and no first-round choices in 2023 or 2024. In one sense, next year’s money and next year’s choices are actually not Rivera’s. They are the next owner’s property and right to do with as he chooses.

As teenagers never realize until later, it is one thing to order a meal for yourself. It’s quite another as the responsible adult to pay for all of the family’s meal with your own hard-earned money.

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Commanders, others could learn from Ravens front office

Some may not like it, but the Ravens did the right thing with Lamar Jackson.

Wise men learn from wise men.

In particular, could NFL front offices learn from the Ravens’ front office?

The Ravens have been negotiating with quarterback Lamar Jackson on a new deal, and the Ravens’ front office has revealed that you don’t have to simply bend over and tremendously overpay for a quarterback in today’s NFL.

With Daniel Jones signing his new deal with the NY Giants, there are now nine quarterbacks averaging $40 million a year in their contracts. Nine!

How many quarterbacks going into the 2023 season average between 20 and 30 million dollars a season? It should be more, correct? I mean, only the elite performers should be paid at the elite level. Yet, the answer is one. Yes, a mere one, Ryan Tannehill, averaging $29,500,000 a season.

So, the NFL owners pay nine quarterbacks $40 million per while only one pays between $20-30 Million? That is insane, unreasonable and illogical.

The nine in descending order are Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray, Deshaun Watson, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Matt Stafford, Dak Prescott and Daniel Jones.

Jackson demanded more, and the Ravens, unlike the Giants, Cardinals, Cowboys and Browns simply didn’t cave in. The Baltimore front office placed the non-exclusive tag franchise tag on Jackson and raised his salary up to $32,416,000.

Yes, Jackson’s playing style made him the elite running quarterback in the NFL and the 2019 AP MVP. Jackson led the Ravens to 13-2 and 11-4 records in games he started in 2019-20. But if you are going to use that stat for those two seasons, what about the last two seasons when the Ravens were only 7-5 and 8-4?

The Ravens know better than anyone why Jackson has missed ten games over the last two seasons. They also know that though Jackson led the NFL in that 2019 season in Touchdown Percentage (9.0) they have seen it the last two seasons at 4.2 and 5.2. He led the NFL in 2019 QBR (83.0). The last two seasons have been 50.7 and 59.0.

The trend of ill-advisedly paying any good quarterback $40 million plus was foolish to the Ravens. They simply said they believe his value to still be high, but not among the highest elite. Any team that believes the Ravens are absurdly in error can go grab him for those two draft picks.

The Commanders got all excited for Carson Wentz, yes. But the price tag was two third-round choices and a $28 million dollar salary. Jackson wants much more, and now his price tag is set much higher as two first-round choices.

Frankly for TV analysts and writers to reflexively knee-jerk charging NFL teams with collusion is quite near-sighted on their part.

The Ravens have thus far shown they are not going to pay a player five years later for what he did four years earlier. They are willing to pay for what they feel he is worth five years later.

Perhaps might fans need to stop bad-mouthing the Ravens and think of what they can learn from the Ravens’ front office.

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Florio: Commanders make the most sense for Lamar Jackson

Florio continues to link the Commanders, mainly because of owner Dan Snyder, to Lamar Jackson.

One NFL football commentator believes the Commanders make the most sense for quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio tweeted the following Thursday:

Notice that, according to Florio, the Commanders would not simply be a good place for Jackson. He also didn’t say the Commanders would be one of the better locations for Jackson. No, Florio went as far as saying the Commanders are clearly the one place, making the most sense for Jackson.

Oh, and not for a stated reason, not for one overwhelming reason, but for various reasons (plural) and on multiple levels.

Florio’s apparent major reason in his article would make the most sense was not Ron Rivera as head coach. Nor was it Eric Bieniemy as the new offensive coordinator. Brian Robinson, Jr, Antonio Gibson, Terry McLaurin, Curtis Samuel and Jahan Dotson were not listed as reasons either.

No, the major reason for Jackson to become a Commander, according to Florio, is outgoing owner Daniel Snyder himself. Even more, the reason is not that Snyder likes to spend money acquiring NFL players (which he does).

For Florio, the overwhelming reason to make Lamar Jackson a Washington Commander is that Florio believes Daniel Snyder to be a big enough jerk to stick it to the team on his way out, putting them in deep cap trouble.

Florio even suggests Mr. Snyder would be ornery enough to actually guarantee the entire deal, knowing he would not be the one picking up the bill. Such a move would erect a new bar surpassing that of the ridiculous Cleveland deal for Deshaun Watson.

It’s understanding that Florio has often spoken in opposition to the antics and behavior of Daniel Snyder. Frankly, who hasn’t had sufficient cause?

Florio can be often entertaining, but here, it might be Florio’s ever-present dislike for Snyder appearing to be driving that train.

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