{"id":37810,"date":"2023-04-12T12:24:23","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T16:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=37810"},"modified":"2023-04-12T12:24:23","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T16:24:23","slug":"the-b-gap-three-under-the-radar-teams-that-should-be-in-on-lamar-jackson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2023\/04\/12\/the-b-gap-three-under-the-radar-teams-that-should-be-in-on-lamar-jackson\/","title":{"rendered":"The B-Gap: Three under the radar teams that should be in on Lamar Jackson"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sam Robb O\u2019Hagan<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Finding an appropriate landing spot for Lamar Jackson is a funny exercise.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jackson isn\u2019t the problem. He isn\u2019t a square peg being shoved into a round hole so much as he is the hole himself. He\u2019s a generational, once-in-a-lifetime talent \u2014 a fact that desperately needs reminding, here\u2019s <\/span>The Ringer\u2019s <\/span><\/i>Steven Ruiz summarizing Jackson\u2019s true value<\/span><\/a> \u2014 that will instantly change the fortunes of any franchise.<\/span><\/p>\n

The longer you engage in the exercise of mocking Jackson to prospective trade partners, the further it becomes apparent that the task at hand isn\u2019t finding a partner that makes sense, it\u2019s finding one that doesn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jackson is an elite quarterback. His level of play is one of five, <\/span>maybe <\/span><\/i>six, in the NFL today, and the skill set he uses to get there is truly one of one. There is not a quarterback in the league that plays the position like Jackson. There is not a quarterback that can do the same things, that can solve the same problems. The four teams that roster an elite passer \u2014 the Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills \u2014 can ignore the Jackson circus. The select few that feel like they might \u2014 the Philadelphia Eagles, Jacksonville Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears \u2014 should probably still do their due-diligence, because Jackson is that kind of quarterback, but their comfort is defensible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone else should be falling over themselves for Jackson\u2019s services. He\u2019s really that good. And he\u2019s really that rare.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, not a single team has even admitted interest in Jackson in the month that he\u2019s been available. Arriving at the conclusion that extracurricular motivations are likely behind Jackson\u2019s dormant market doesn\u2019t take much digging (our own Brendan Nordstrom <\/span>did more than enough<\/span><\/a>), but for the purposes of this article, it won\u2019t be unpacked. Assuming each team is willing to pay him what he\u2019d inevitably be worth to them, here are three underrated teams that should be leading the race to acquire one of the NFL\u2019s best players.<\/span><\/p>\n

San Francisco 49ers<\/b><\/p>\n

There\u2019s an old football jargon that goes something like \u201cif you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterback,\u201d a cliche that earned its wings during the 49ers\u2019 most famous quarterback controversy between Joe Montana and Steve Young in the late 90s. 25 years later, the 49ers have not two, but three quarterbacks, and they aren\u2019t exactly disproving the philosophy birthed by two of their team\u2019s all-time greats.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sam Darnold is, well, Sam Darnold; Brock Purdy was the very last pick in the draft for a reason, was certainly not the reason the 49ers finished the 2022 season as well as they did, and will now be coming off a critical elbow injury; Trey Lance has thrown 102 passes in two seasons, is recovering from a torn ACL, and the 49ers themselves keep trying to tell everyone they don\u2019t believe in him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jackson would solve San Francisco\u2019s quarterback conundrum, just about the only dilemma left on what could be the NFL\u2019s most talented roster. And just imagine what an offense with George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel, led by Jackson and orchestrated by Kyle Shanahan, could look like. San Francisco\u2019s offense finished last season with the fourth-best offense in the NFL by EPA\/Play, while enduring three different starting quarterbacks. Adding Jackson, who attacks the middle of the field as a passer far more potently than many realize, to an impossibly loaded offense that controls the middle of the field better than anyone else, is certainly a prize worth giving up on Lance and Purdy for.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only complication to this marriage is the cost for the 49ers to acquire Jackson, who don\u2019t have their first-round pick in 2023 and would therefore need to wait until after the draft to activate the much-discussed two-first round picks to fulfill the required compensation in Jackson\u2019s non-exclusive franchise tag with the Ravens. But in a completely dead market, waiting until after the draft is a gamble that could pay off.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the 49ers could go the sign-and-trade route, outlined by ESPN\u2019s Bill Barnwell <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>. This road would likely end with San Francisco surrendering more than two first-round picks to acquire Jackson, but again, Jackson\u2019s market is completely deserted. How much leverage would the Ravens even have, given that Jackson has already submitted a trade request and Baltimore has refused to meet Jackson\u2019s preferred contract?<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting Jackson in the building will be complicated, certainly, but the hassle will instantly make the 49ers Super Bowl favorites for the indefinite future (remember, Jackson is <\/span>26 years old<\/span><\/i>), if they aren\u2019t already in the conversation now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/b><\/p>\n

The 2022 Buccaneers were probably the worst playoff team of the last decade, and the only two quarterbacks that remain on the roster are Baker Mayfield, now on his third team in six months, and Kyle Trask, who is so unathletic that he wasn\u2019t even the starter for his high school team. The Bucs certainly have familiarity with unathletic quarterbacks, they won a Super Bowl with one less than three years ago, but if they\u2019re truly serious about Trask like they say they are, it means they believe he has comparable technical ability to Tom Brady.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bucs could use Lamar Jackson.<\/span><\/p>\n

But then again, just about everyone could. He is <\/span>that <\/span><\/i>good. But the Bucs are uniquely prepared to accommodate him, and then dream with him. The 2022 team finished completely out of their depth, but their incompetence was largely a symptom of poor coaching decisions and an aging, leaky offensive line ill-equipped to protect Brady\u2019s statue behind it. But the core that won it at all in 2020 is still intact. Jamel Dean re-signing with the team for pennies on the dollar was a convicted reminder, so the Bucs are plenty capable of making their timeline fit with Jackson\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris Godwin, Mike Evans and Russell Gage still make up an above-average receiving corps, a luxury that Jackson has won an MVP and established himself as an elite quarterback without. Tampa\u2019s defense is still excellent. The only questions that remain are the coaching staff, which was proactively addressed by the organization in the offseason, and the leaky offensive line, which wasn\u2019t, but it still has Tristan Wirfs. And it\u2019s difficult to come up with a quarterback more capable of surviving behind a subpar offensive line than Jackson.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bucs have a core that is still ready to win-now, without a quarterback, in a division with no clear leader. And how good would he look in those jerseys?<\/span><\/p>\n

Baltimore Ravens<\/b><\/p>\n

This is cheating, but it needs to be said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is not a team in the NFL that need Jackson more than the Baltimore Ravens, and there are plenty that need him. With Jackson on the field in 2022, the Ravens\u2019 offense was ninth in the NFL with an EPA\/Play of 0.060. Without him, Baltimore plummeted to 26th in the league at an EPA\/Play of -0.086. That means that the Ravens offense was over a full point in expected value added each play with Jackson than without him. Think about that.<\/span><\/p>\n

That Jackson even had the Ravens offense so high through the season\u2019s first 11 weeks is remarkable in itself. Jackson was tasked with overcoming a heavily maligned and outdated play-caller and a wide receiver room booned by a former first-round pick with less than 1,000 career receiving yards. In the time that Jackson was on the field, the Ravens defense endured heavy struggles, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, there Jackson was, carrying Baltimore to a 7-3 record and a division lead into the second half of the season. And now, here Jackson is, unable to convince the team he\u2019s lifted to the playoffs for three straight years to give him a contract in the same ballpark as others near or at his level of on-field value.<\/span><\/p>\n

Quarterbacks as abundantly important as Jackson, at his age, do not hit the open market. They are true, blank check, \u201cname your price\u201d players, and they always have been. Forget the extracurriculars. Forget the politics that come with becoming the second team to hand out a contract with $200+ million guaranteed in the last two seasons. Jackson is worth it; because what is the plan without him? All of the starting-caliber free agents are gone. The Ravens have the 22nd pick. Is it Hendon Hooker? It can\u2019t possibly be Tyler Huntley, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

To Baltimore, Jackson is worth whatever he says he is worth. The Ravens are, quite literally, nothing without him.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sam Robb O\u2019Hagan Finding an appropriate landing spot for Lamar Jackson is a funny exercise.\u00a0 Jackson isn\u2019t the problem. He isn\u2019t a square peg being shoved into a round hole so much as he is the hole himself. He\u2019s a generational, once-in-a-lifetime talent \u2014 a fact that desperately needs reminding, here\u2019s The Ringer\u2019s Steven […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21477,"featured_media":37811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1024,1050,1035,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37810"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21477"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37810"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37814,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37810\/revisions\/37814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}