The question, served up on a platter to Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson by ESPN’s Jamison Hensley, addressed everything everyone wants to know about the franchise moving forward.
Did Jackson want to continue playing for head coach John Harbaugh.
Jackson’s answer/non-answer seemed to tell us everything we want to know.
Harbaugh, when posed with the same question, replied with an emphatic “Yes” and expressed his love for Jackson and his teammates following a crushing, 26-24 season-ending loss in Week 18 to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“You asking me about next year, Jamison, and I’m still caught up in what just happened tonight,” Jackson said in a video posted to Hensley’s X account. “I can’t answer that right now. I’m still stunned. I’m still trying to process what just happened.”
What just happened — Ravens kicker Tyler Loop missed a potential game-winning 44-yard field goal as time expired — was nothing that should have precluded Jackson from supporting his embattled head coach, who just finished his 18th season.
And with that, Harbaugh’s fate might be sealed.
“If I’m Harbaugh and I hear (Jackson) say that, I’m thinking one thing,” former NFL head coach and ESPN analyst Rex Ryan said on Monday, January 5. “I’m done.”
Harbaugh: Lots of Teams Will Want Him
If Harbaugh’s time with the Ravens has truly come to an end, there’s little doubt he’ll be an attractive candidate to most of the teams with head coach openings.
The leader in that search would likely be the most high profile opening — the New York Giants.
The Giants also have a young, dual-threat quarterback that probably needs a steady hand in Jaxson Dart.
According to a report from The Athletic’s Ian O’Connor, the Giants would likely approach Harbaugh before opening up their search to a bigger field.
” … Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Baltimore’s John Harbaugh and Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski … could potentially become available in the coming days,” O’Connor wrote on Saturday, January 3. “All three would move straight to the top of the Giants’ wish list of candidates in a job market that is almost as uninspiring as the Giants themselves.”
Stefanski was fired by the Browns on January 5.
Jackson: Every Team Might Want Him
Jackson still has 2 years remaining on the 5-year, $260 million contract extension he signed before the 2023 season, which might as well make him a free agent as far as elite NFL quarterbacks are concerned.
If Jackson truly ends up on the trade market, any team without an elite level quarterback — at least half the teams in the NFL — should kick the tires on getting him to waive his no-trade clause, come to them and make him the highest paid player in NFL history with a new contract.
While the Ravens walked away with a loss in Week 18, Jackson did himself a huge favor by playing his best game of the year and finally looking like the future Pro Football all of Famer and 2-time NFL MVP he is.
“Weirdly, this is the worst possible outcome if you’re the Ravens,” The Ringer’s Bill Simmons said. “Lamar was just special enough down the stretch there you can’t be like ‘Yup, can’t win with him, we’re maxed out, we gotta trade him’ … I felt like, if this was a stink bomb (against the Steelers), you could start doing the ‘January Lamar’ or ‘Cold Weather Lamar’ thing, but he came to life. And this time it actually mattered.”
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