Lamar tweeted on Monday that he requested a trade on March 2
The NFL’s yearly league assembly began off with several main fireworks on mon morning and those fireworks were given by someone who’s not even at the assembly: Lamar Jackson. The Ravens quarterback forwarded shockwaves over the NFL when he disclosed that he has requested a trade out of Baltimore. Jackson made the announcement in a tweet that he forwarded out at 10: 48 a.m. ET, which is mostly remarkable because almost any head coach in the AFC was assembly with the media when Jackson’s tweet came out.
There’s a coaches breakfast at the annual league meeting every year where members of the media can sit down with each head coach. The AFC portion of the breakfast was on Monday and most coaches were available beginning at 10:45 a.m. ET (so they were already talking when Jackson dropped his Twitter bomb).
Part of the coaches who was talking when Jackson tweeted out his trade request was new Colts coach Shane Steichen. The Colts are in dire need of a begining quarterback and as you might imagine, the media didn’t waste any time requesting Steichen about the likelihood of adding Jackson. but the media tried to pry several details out of Steichen, the Colts coach only provided a ambiguous reply when asked about the previous NFL MVP.
“Lamar Jackson, you know what, we do our due diligence on every position, whether it’s through the draft or free agency, but I’ve got no update for you on that,” Steichen said, via the Indianapolis Star.
OK, so that’s not such an exciting answer, but we did get one later in the day from Colts general manager Chris Ballard. He was asked about Jackson on Monday afternoon and he offered an answer that was far more intriguing.
“Anytime a special player is available, which he is, you’ve got to do the work,” Ballard said, via ESPN.com. “I’m not gonna get into deep discussions on where it’s at or what we’re doing or what we might do, but what I’ll tell you is he’s a really good player, really special player. But you never know how any of this will work out.”
Ballard then essentially confirmed that the Colts are at least tossing around the idea of going after Jackson.
“I think anytime, at that position, we have a chance to acquire a guy, you’ve got do your work on it to see if it’s doable,” Ballard said.
So could the Colts actually make a play for Jackson?
It would definitely make several sense. For one, there is no assure that they’re moving to be qualified to land the guy they desire in the NFL Draft. With the Panthers now acquiring the top choose and the Texans grasping the 2nd pick, the Colts are doubtless moving to eventually with the 3rd option of quarterbacks, which isn’t ideal.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that the Colts never really seemed to have any interest in trading up to No. 1.
“To move up there’s got to be a guy worthy of it,” Ballard said on March 1, via NFL.com. “I don’t necessarily know if (trading up is) the right course of business,”
According a March 13 report from The Athletic, the Colts didn’t look to move up to the top spot because they didn’t feel there was “a slam-dunk, sure-bet player at the top of this year’s draft.”
If you do not believe the a rough copy class, that leaves you with two opaque features for 2023: Make a splash subscribing or container over the season with hopes that you’ll accomplish a elevated prefer for 2024. Colts owner Jim Irsay isn’t concerned at producing splashy moves. This squad has learnt Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan and Carson Wentz over the former four years. but nothing of those moves worked out, nothing of those players were in their prime when they got to Indy, which is where Jackson is.
If the Colts do add Jackson, it’s definitely not traveling to be cheap. below rules of the franchise tag, Indy can deliver him an provide sheet and if the Ravens do not match it, then Jackson will move to Indianapolis. below that scenario, the Colts would need got to forward two first-round picks to Baltimore.
The other alteranative is a sign-and-trade. This would be where the Colts exercise a deal with Jackson and Baltimore. The Ravens would technically deliver Jackson the contract, then he’d brand it and get shipped off to Indy. below a sign-and-trade, the Colts perhaps not need got to surrender two first-round picks — they’d need to exercise the correct terms with the Ravens — but no issue what the last price would eventually being, it would nearly definitely be a steep price.