He may have four Pro Bowl appearances, three All-Pro titles, and two regular-season MVP awards, but he’s also lazy? Those things don’t seem like they would go together, but that’s what the latest column from the Baltimore Sun would have you believe about Lamar Jackson.
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Despite being one of the most talented signal callers in the National Football League, Jackson has come up short time and time again in the postseason. Injuries have also plagued his career, but according to Mike Preston, that’s likely because Jackson is staying up “late at night playing video games” and “falling asleep during team meetings.”
Preston even went as far as to dub Jackson as “an overgrown kid in an adult’s body” who does the bare minimum when it comes to preparing for the season. Suffice to say, the scathing review of the 28-year-old has proven to be one of the most controversial reports of the entire week, especially within the city limits of Baltimore.
It has now resulted in trade rumors and even additional questions for the team’s coaching staff. John Harbaugh has done his best to dispel the notion that their relationship with Jackson has been strained, but according to one former NFL CEO, Amy Trask, the Ravens need to think very carefully before making their next move, regardless of what that may be.
“There’s been chitter chatter about the Ravens moving on from Lamar, about the Ravens possibly moving on from John Harbaugh… If the Ravens are considering either of these moves, they’d best ask themselves and answer ‘And do what?’,” she said, before adding, “If you’re going to move on from Lamar or you’re going to move on, John, and your answer to ‘And do what?’ is not at least as good as the status quo, then what the heck are you doing?”
In defending both Jackson and Harbaugh, Trask explained that there is a ton of risk involved when attempting to replace either a quarterback or a head coach, let alone both of them. The Ravens may not have been able to secure the Super Bowl appearance that they had been hoping for throughout the past few seasons, but they’ve still managed to produce six 10+ win seasons and have missed the playoffs only twice since drafting Jackson in 2018.
So while the current state of the team is certainly frustrating, perhaps both the fan base and the front office should check their privilege a bit. “He’s a good head coach,” Trask noted in defense of Harbaugh. “He’s made some questionable decisions this year. Not putting Derrick Henry in the Week 16 game for the last 12 minutes and 50 seconds? I think that was nuts. Good coaches make bad decisions at times as well.”
According to the former Raiders executive, if there is actually some kind of rift in Baltimore, then the best course of action is “to get the head coach, to get the management, to get the players… in a room and sit down and tell them ‘figure this out.'”
For better or worse, there aren’t many people on planet Earth, let alone in the NFL, who are capable of giving the Ravens a better chance of winning than Jackson, so until that person is discovered, fans shouldn’t expect any major departures from the Baltimore/Washington International Airport.
