Doug Gottlieb: โLamar Jackson could have played, he didnโt, his team lost, THE END. Itโs disgraceful. No one has said heโs โfakingโ an injury, but this is ALL on Lamar. The narrative out there is that the Ravens donโt want to pay Lamar Jackson. Itโs not true, itโs never been true, and it will never be true. Theyโve done everything possible to put him in the best position to succeed. These types of quarterbacks level off either because of injury, attrition, or because people figure them out, and you have to be able to pass in the NFL. When Lamar has lost these playoff games theyโve had a top 10, many times a top 5 defense. It ainโt the defenseโs fault. Lamar Jackson has done this to himself. Not having an agent, not negotiating, and if youโre going to sit out you sit out in the preseason and early in the season, you donโt hurt your team in the postseason. The whole thing weโve said about Lamar Jackson is heโs awesome in the regular season, but man, it feels like heโs limited in the postseason. So you sit out in the postseason because youโre โhurtโ but not โinjuredโ? What are we doing here?? Lamar believes the only way to โshow him loveโ, and the only way to do something good with his talents is to pay him as much or more money than Deshaun Watson. But everybody in line, some more accomplished and some less accomplished, have signed for less guaranteed money. His deal would have been done if he had an agent, or he wouldnโt have sat out a playoff game. This thing has gotten so flammable that it probably gets to the point where youโre like โare we going to have to trade this dude?โ The Ravens donโt want to trade him, they just want to sign him for the appropriate price. Most people Iโve talked to in the NFL have said the Deshaun Watson contract is ridiculous, and though Lamar has no off-field issues, no catastrophic knee injuries, and been an MVP, but five years guaranteed, especially to a running quarterback, is insane at top of the market money. The NFLPA is a joke. If you wanted fully guaranteed contracts then you should have held out in contract negotiations for your CBA to get it, but you didnโt. Because I thought Sam Darnold would be better than Lamar Jackson somehow Iโm โhatingโ on Lamar. Iโm not, heโs really good. But no โreally goodโ would cause me to give a guy five years into the league at 25 years old a contract which seems to be malpractice considering how he plays the position.โ (Full Segment Above)
Listen to Doug Gottlieb explain why he thought it was โdisgracefulโ that Lamar Jackson missed the Baltimore Ravens Wild Card Round playoff game vs. the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, when it appeared as if Jacksonโs โinjuryโ wasn't serious enough to warrant missing a playoff game.
Check out the audio above as Gottlieb details why Lamar only has himself to blame for placing his career at such a precarious crossroads.
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