The talk of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson possibly switching teams picked up at Monday’s NFL owners’ meetings when Jackson tweeted he’d requested a trade on March 2.
One team continuously linked to Jackson is the Washington Commanders. Despite denials and actions that prove Washington wasn’t big-game hunting at quarterback this offseason, some, particularly Mike Florio, kept insisting otherwise.
Commanders general manager Martin Mayhew spoke Monday at the owners meetings and made it clear Washington was moving forward with Sam Howell and Jacoby Brissett at quarterback in 2023.
“Yeah, you know what, I’m not going to get into Lamar specifically, but I will talk about free agency in general,” Mayhew said via Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post. “There’s literally hundreds of guys that are free, and we probably end up making serious contract offers and having serious discussions with somewhere between 10-20 of those guys each year. So there are a ton of talented players that could help us, but we don’t end up talking to them for various reasons. And Lamar falls into that category.”
Mayhew said everything he possibly could. He isn’t denying Jackson’s talent or that he’s an outstanding player. But there are many circumstances that would prevent any chance of Jackson coming to Washington. It’s been said before, but there is absolutely zero chance that Baltimore is going to risk losing its franchise player — and most popular player — to a team in the same market.
And you factor in cost, in terms of draft picks and guaranteed money, and Washington’s ownership situation, this was never happening.
“I won’t get into specifics about him,” Mayhew said of Jackson. “I don’t want to sound critical of anyone. He’s a very talented guy. He’s one of the better quarterbacks in this league. But for us right now, we’re moving forward with Sam [Howell] and with Jacoby [Brissett].
Commanders GM Martin Mayhew says Washington is moving forward with Sam Howell and Jacoby Brissett and while Lamar Jackson is very talented the Commanders won’t pursue him pic.twitter.com/lImCqtsJjY
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) March 27, 2023