Earlier Tuesday afternoon, the Baltimore Ravens made their official decision on quarterback Lamar Jackson.
After weeks of speculation, the Ravens placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on the star quarterback. The decision means that other teams can offer a contract, which the Ravens could decide to match. If not, the team offering Jackson a deal would also send two first-round picks to Baltimore.
In the immediate aftermath of the decision, five teams made it clear they don’t intend to make a trade for Lamar. The Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders, Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders all voiced their intentions through the media.
The announcements from all five teams lead to plenty of conspiracy theories about potential collusion. Well, former Ravens quarterback Robert Griffin III finally gave some insight into what’s going on.
“Ravens hope negotiating with other teams will give them and Lamar an unbiased look at the market for him,” Griffin reported. “Ravens aren’t reluctant to give Lamar a top QB market deal, but hope the Non-Exclusive Franchise Tag will speed up their own stalled negotiations with him.”
This makes sense from the Ravens side of things. However, it still doesn’t explain why other quarterback-needy teams turned down the option of trading for Lamar without even talking to him.