Ravens HC John Harbaugh tries to clean up Lamar Jackson's trade request mess
Lamar Jackson evidently requested a trade from the Baltimore Ravens on March 2.
On Tuesday morning, just as Ravens head coach John Harbaugh was beginning to meet with a flock of reporters, the former MVP quarterback decided to tweet out his trade request and let the entire world know.
The ill-conceived timing put Harbaugh into scrambling mode, just as Jackson frequently has been seen doing on the field over the years.
Harbaugh did his best to dance around the subject, noting that he hadn't seen the post on social media and he has faith that the speedy signal-caller will be under center for Baltimore in Week 1 next season.
The Ravens placed the nonexclusive franchise tag on Jackson (who represents himself and can sign an offer sheet with another team) earlier this month. If there is no offer sheet, the two-time Pro Bowler would earn $32.4 million in the 2023 season if he plays under the tag.
If the 26-year-old Jackson does sign an offer sheet and Baltimore doesn't match it, the team would receive two first-round picks.
The NFL sent out a memo last week warning teams that they are allowed to negotiate only with the quarterback since he doesn't have an NFLPA-certified agent.
Jackson missed the final four-plus contests of the 2022 regular season and the team's lone playoff game due to a sprained PCL, after it was reported that he'd only miss one-to-three weeks following the Week 13 injury. In his 12 games, Jackson posted his worst numbers since 2018 in a number of categories including completion percentage (62.3%) and passing yards (2,242), while posting a 17 to seven touchdown to interception ratio.
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