Earlier this month, the Baltimore Ravens placed a non-exclusive franchise tag on Lamar Jackson which allowed him to speak with other teams during free agency.
If the former league MVP was to reach a deal with another team, the Baltimore Ravens have a few days to match it and re-sign him or take that team’s draft picks instead. So far, it does not appear that any team appears interested in even talking with Jackson.
NFL Players Association (NFLPA) executive director DeMaurice Smith is making some harsh comments against all NFL owners, saying, they’re “criminally gaming” the system against Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Smith is not happy with the draft and franchise tag systems. He says it’s a way to “restrict” the market when it comes to free agency.
“The NFL Draft and the franchise tag system exist because owners have colluded in the past to both depress and restrict markets,” Smith writes per Pro Football Talk. “This time, they are criminally gaming the game itself.”
Smith also pointed out that teams are not reaching out to the QB at all since being tagged. The rumor out there is that Jackson wants a fully-guaranteed contract like Deshaun Watson received by the Cleveland Browns following his trade from the Houston Texans.
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“We are all staring at the same answer to the obvious questions,” Smith writes. “Why did [Kirk] Cousins and [Deshaun] Watson get fully guaranteed contracts while others didn’t? Or to be more specific, why have the Baltimore Ravens and other teams publicly (at least initially) made such a point to say they are not going to compensate Lamar Jackson with a fully guaranteed contract like Cousins or Watson?
“Let’s be clear, in my nearly 15-year career as Executive Director, I have never witnessed teams being so quick to publicly announce their lack of interest in an MVP quarterback, who is in his prime and who is also going to get an injury guarantee, regardless of his contract.”
A blind man can see that NFL owners are basically colluding by not speaking to Lamar Jackson as a message to any other players who try and get fully guaranteed contracts.
Watson and Kirk Cousins may have gotten them, but these owners will not allow them to become a normal thing which is sad for the amount of money the league generates every single year.
