Lamar Jackson is the best free agent left on the market and yet no team seems to want him.
The Atlanta Falcons are a team that could use his services but Arthur Blank, the Falcons’ team owner, made clear he was going to stick with Desmond Ridder as the starting quarterback despite the former Cincinnati standout only having two touchdown passes in the four games he started.
This is shocking news considering the Falcons were in the market for a quarterback last season as they were finalists for Deshaun Watson, despite Watson being in the middle of two dozen civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct. Now, the Falcons are not trying to give Lamar Jackson a fully guaranteed deal.
Blank told a group of reporters on Tuesday that the Lamar Jackson situation is “very different” than Deshaun Watson’s last year.
“I think we explored the one last year, which is what our responsibility was,” Blank said of a potential Watson deal, via Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We didn’t explore it deeply, deeply. We spent some time on it from a legal standpoint, personal standpoint, value standpoint on the player and a variety of things. Soon after we got into exploring, we decided it wasn’t a very good match.”
He added, “I think Lamar’s situation, and I don’t really want to spend a whole lot of time talking about players on other clubs, but Lamar’s situation, I think is very different. A different player. Different time.”
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Social media ripped him up:
Atlanta was in the mix for the NFC South title, finishing 7-10. The team has not made the playoffs since the 2017 season. That was also the final time they finished a year over .500.
The team has not recovered since blowing a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl against Tom Brady. With excuses like Blank is giving, it’s no wonder his team continues to trend in the wrong direction.
