Will Lamar Jackson stay in Baltimore now that the Ravens have signed Odell Beckham Jr.?
It may just be that the Ravens new signing is the catalyst that leads to an improvement in the relationship with their seemingly estranged star quarterback.
With the signing of Odell Beckham Jr. the Ravens have most definitely made a statement. The question is whether it’s one that their star signal caller likes and more over will it be enough to convince him to stay. At a glance, it looks like it is and as such it could.
Lamar Jackson likes the look of the OBJ deal
If you’ve been following, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens have been engaged in a standoff over his future with the franchise. Jackson, who represents himself has seemingly been holding out for a bigger deal, while the Ravens for their part have been reluctant to give him one. On Sunday night, however, things took an unexpectedly positive turn. Not only did the team announce the signing of Odell Beckham Jr, but just two hours after it did so, Jackson himself took to social media to express his excitement about the deal. Indeed, in an Instagram post Jackson shared a screenshot of a Facetime call between himself and Beckham. The accompanying caption which was three emojis -two lightning bolts and a rocket ship - seemed to suggest that the signal caller was very happy with the move. Incidentally, Beckham himself announced the deal on his own Instagram account with a photo of his son, Zydn, wearing a Ravens jersey with Jackson’s No. 8.
Jackson vs Ravens: The chronology of events
You may recall that back in early March, Jackson requested a trade which in turn was only made public on March 27th. Shortly thereafter the Ravens placed the franchise tag on him, which he was understandably not happy about. That brought us to last week’s pre-draft press conference at which the Ravens refused to take any questions about Jackson. Now, here we are with Jackson seemingly endorsing the acquisition of Beckham which would seem to indicate that he’s excited about sharing the field with the former Super Bowl winner.
OBJ’s signing could be key in fixing the Lamar Jackson situation
It’s worth noting that Jackson and Beckham have been in constant contact over the past month. Indeed, reports suggest that the two stars have spoken extensively “about teaming up together and winning a Super Bowl with the Ravens.” What’s interesting here is that Jackson could reasonably have spoken with Beckham about ‘teaming up’ with several other teams in the league, but he didn’t which seems to indicate that he wants to remain in Baltimore.
We’ve also seen that Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti hopes that Beckham’s signing will help “square things” with Jackson. Assuming that’s the case, we could be in for some interesting times in the near future where the Ravens are concerned. There is no doubt that Jackson is one of the best QBs out there on his day and with OBJ as a target there could indeed be good times ahead. The question now is whether OBJ’s signing is enough to convince Jackson to put pen to paper on a deal that would see him earn $32.4 million for the 2023 season. Watch this space.