The Baltimore Ravens placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on former MVP QB Lamar Jackson on Tuesday and that means he is now free to negotiate a deal with any team in the NFL. The Ravens have the opportunity to match said deal, but if they don’t, they would receive two first-round picks from Jackson’s new team.
So that begs the question; should the Raiders consider signing Lamar Jackson? The answer is obviously yes. It doesn’t cost anything to talk to him and see if he would be fit in Josh McDaniels’ offense.
In a recent article by Bill Barnwell of ESPN, he listed all of the teams that would make sense for Jackson. The Raiders made the list due to all of the weapons they could give Jackson going into the 2023 season. Here is a snippet of his thoughts on the potential move:
“The Raiders have a win-now core of playmakers with Davante Adams, Hunter Renfrow, Darren Waller and franchise-tagged running back Josh Jacobs, so it would be a surprise if coach Josh McDaniels didn’t seriously consider adding a veteran quarterback to get the most out of his big four. Vegas tried to add Adams to help compete in the fury of the AFC West a year ago without succeeding, but Jackson would be a much more significant upgrade.”
There is no question that Jackson would be a significant upgrade over Derek Carr and would instantly make the Raiders playoff contenders. They also have the cap space to get a deal done, so a move is certainly feasible for Las Vegas.
However, the Raiders might still prefer to use their No. 7 pick and draft a quarterback whose deal would be much smaller. While that is a significantly riskier decision, it appears to be the direction the Raiders are leaning. As much fun as it would be, don’t expect Jackson to be the next franchise quarterback of the Las Vegas Raiders.