Lamar Jackson: Atlanta Falcons Reveal Why They Won't Trade for MVP Quarterback
Lamar Jackson has requested a trade from the Baltimore Ravens, which should mean NFL teams that need a quarterback should be going after him since he's a former MVP winner and has won a lot of games. That is not the case as several teams have reportedly said they have no interest in trading for Jackson, who is looking to get a monster contract. The Atlanta Falcons are in need of a quarterback, and when Falcons head coach Arthur Smith spoke to Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show last week, he said the Falcons considered the idea of trading for Jackson.
"Those discussions happen all day, every day," Smith said, per Sports Illustrated. "I understand some players get more attention than others, but absolutely we did (look at Jackson ideas).'' But when it came down to it, the Falcons decided to go with Desmond Ridder as their starting quarterback for the 2023 season. Ridder was selected by the Falcons in the third round of last year's NFL Draft and started in the team's final four games in 2022.
"He won a lot of games in college and helped Luke Fickell at Cincinnati really change the whole culture of that program," Smith said about Ridder, per NFL.com "And I certainly think that experience, you start that many games coming in helps, we certainly saw that early on as we threw everything we could at him. And he was impressive, and we felt that he was ready to take over at that time of the season, and I thought he did a nice job. Cool, collected under pressure.
"At the end of the day, you've got to be able to operate on critical third downs, fourth downs, two-minute situations, and I thought he'd done that pretty well. And certainly there's a lot of things we all can continue to improve, but we've got a lot of faith in him."
The Falcons remain one of the favorites to land Jackson as they are looking for their next start QB since trading Matt Ryan after the 2021 season. They went after Deshaun Watson last year, but the former Houston Texas quarterback was traded to and signed with the Cleveland Browns. Jackson won the MVP award in 2019 after rushing for 1,206 yards and throwing an NFL-high 36 touchdown passes. He has also been named to the All-Pro First Team and the Pro Bowl twice. Jackson was set to be a free agent this offseason, but the Ravens place the non-exclusive franchise tag on him last month.