Lamar Jackson wasn't, isn't, and never will be better than Patrick Mahomes

[Wallcrawler]

This "Lamar Jackson is in the same league as Mahomes" nonsense on every football related show I see needs to stop.

Lamar Jackson, on the biggest stage, has now shit down his leg in both opportunities. Lamar is a player who has to have everything around him working perfectly to have success. Put him down 2 scores and ask him to carry the team, he cannot answer the bell.

There's a big difference between a running quarterback, and a quarterback who can run. Lamar Jackson and The Ravens ran 88 plays and put up 12 points.

Jackson attempted 59 passes, only threw one touchdown, but also threw two picks and lost a fumble. 12 points on 59 pass attempts should tell you all you need to know about Lamar as a QB when the lights are the brightest.

Nobody would bat an eye if before the game, soneone told us Pat would put the ball up 59 times. Matter of fact, id be pretty excited to see how many points and yards he would put up in that span of plays.

When things got bad for both QBs, you saw the odds on favorite to win the MVP this year get visible frustrated, press, and ultimately fold. He was nowhere to be seen trying to work out what was happening, rallying his team, he simply pouted on the sideline as his team fell further behind.

The reigning MVP had literally no quit. Its one thing to say after the fact, that we had faith all along, its quite another for that to be true.

Down 24, think about that for a moment. 24. Mahomes is captured, in that moment on the sideline saying we have everything we want. Everyones already counted us the **** out, so go do something special.

Then, to walk the walk after talking the talk, leading the team to 7 straight touchdowns and 8 scoring drives, throwing 5 touchdown passes, and displaying a fiery emotion that if you dont feel anything when you see this kid going nuts after a huge play, call the coroner, because youre already dead.

The two qbs could not be further apart. Jackson cannot hold Mahomes jock when it comes to putting the team on his back.

Lamar should consider signing with KC as a running back. Its the only way barring injury to Mahomes, that hes ever getting a ring.

Mahomes is the MVP. Its not even close. Lamar is a running back executing the halfback pass play about 20-25 times a game.

Jacksons first two years have ended with dud playoff performances.

Mahomes first two years as a starter sees his team hosting back to back AFC title games for a frachise that in its entire history never hosted a single one before he arrived.

[BryanBusby]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

IDK, man. I really like that Tyler Huntley kid and i bet the Ravens do to. They have two legit QB's on their roster and i wouldn't be surprised at all if they move Jackson in favor of the much, much cheaper Huntley.

And that's not to knock Jackson. I think Huntley might be a legitimate starting QB in this league.

I think Huntley has that Jimmy Grapes in him. Wonderful off the bench in relief or in a few game pinch, but long-term starting would really start to show some warts.

I think Lamar would be a big splash in New Orleans, running on that astroturf and a Defense that can keep the score lower.

[ThaVirus]

I think the Saints are something absurd like $40m over the cap for 2023 already.

They'd have to do some insanely creative backloading, as well as some tough cuts I'm sure, in order to make a max QB contract work.

EDIT: Saints are projected $63m over the cap for 2023. Bucs are $48m over. Chargers are $14m over. Bills are $11m over.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I wonder about Carolina. They've spent a ****ton on QBs over the last few years.

Would be hilarious to see them pass up an actual legit football player in Jackson because they're now gunshy after missing on Darnold and Mayfield.

I mean it's not terribly relevant for probably 2 more years.

They can tag him at about $32 million next year, probably about $38 million the year after that. They wouldn't blink at 2 years, $70 million. A 3rd year on the tag would probably be around $54 million and I don't imagine they'd pull that trigger.

So he'd hit FA (probably) at 28 yrs old? A 5 year deal takes him through age 32?

Any of these teams can have their cap cleaned up enough by then to make a run at him. And any of these teams can have put themselves in enough cap hell to get taken out of the dialogue.

I mean even Miami, who has a ton of liabilities for the next 3 years, can spin clear of almost all of it by 2025.

It doesn't seem worthwhile to speculate on potential landing spots at the moment. Ultimately there WILL be a team that would move heaven and earth to shatter records and bring him into the fold.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I think the Saints are something absurd like $40m over the cap for 2023 already.

They'd have to do some insanely creative backloading, as well as some tough cuts I'm sure, in order to make a max QB contract work.

EDIT: Saints are projected $63m over the cap for 2023. Bucs are $48m over. Chargers are $14m over. Bills are $11m over.

The Bills and Chargers are the teams with issues, they don't have many cut candidates those others fully planned to be cutting guys loose.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Mecca

The Bills and Chargers are the teams with issues, they don't have many cut candidates those others fully planned to be cutting guys loose.

I know the cap can be finessed, but $63m over the cap is not a good position to be in lol

And they don't even have a franchise QB!

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I know the cap can be finessed, but $63m over the cap is not a good position to be in lol

And they don't even have a franchise QB!

The Saints are literally in blow it all up position, they'll probably refuse to do it though, they always do.

[DRM08]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I think the Saints are something absurd like $40m over the cap for 2023 already.

They'd have to do some insanely creative backloading, as well as some tough cuts I'm sure, in order to make a max QB contract work.

EDIT: Saints are projected $63m over the cap for 2023. Bucs are $48m over. Chargers are $14m over. Bills are $11m over.

Saints cap situation is pretty insane. They don’t even seem to have that good of a roster, lol

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Mecca

The Saints are literally in blow it all up position, they'll probably refuse to do it though, they always do.

Shit, man. I'm not super familiar with the middle-bottom of their roster, but I'm not seeing any big names that could realistically be cut for relief. Where do they even start?

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-orle...ints/cap/2023/

Most of the guys on the top of the cap hit for next year are good players but Michael Thomas with a $28m hit is a big ****ing oof.

They're going to have to completely trash the middle and bottom of that roster to make the cap.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by DRM08

Saints cap situation is pretty insane. They don’t even seem to have that good of a roster, lol

I wonder if Brees is still on it...but paying Michael Thomas is really killing them.

[ThaVirus]

Chiefs are projected $19 under the cap for 2023, with obvious relief coming when we cut Frank Clark (please.... please).

Not terrible for a team that's gone to four straight AFCCGs.

Biggest decision we'll need to make is on LT/Brown Jr and if we're going to extend Juju, I think. Probably should start planning what we'll do with Chris Jones as well.

We're in a decent place.

[ThaVirus]

Wow, Clyde has our 9th highest cap hit for 2023.

He gotsta gooooo!

[DRM08]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Chiefs are projected $19 under the cap for 2023, with obvious relief coming when we cut Frank Clark (please.... please).

Not terrible for a team that's gone to four straight AFCCGs.

Biggest decision we'll need to make is on LT/Brown Jr and if we're going to extend Juju, I think. Probably should start planning what we'll do with Chris Jones as well.

We're in a decent place.

Next year they can also restructure Mahomes, which they chose not to do this year. They’re in a pretty good spot.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I know the cap can be finessed, but $63m over the cap is not a good position to be in lol

And they don't even have a franchise QB!

Here's the incredible part - they don't have much they can do.

They did so many restructures to dig out of the hole that it put all these inescapable charges on their cap next season as well.

I've always said any team is really just one year of pain away from fixing a cap but it appears that either A) I was wrong or B) The Saints simply weren't as committed to digging out as they needed to be last off-season.

I think it's a little of A and a little of B. They could've swallowed some more bitter pills w/ guys like Lattimore, Thomas, Kamara, Jordan and Hill had they really wanted to do that rather than try to spread the pain over two years.

But BECAUSE they did that, I suspect they're STILL 2 years away from getting out of it. To even get cap complaint they're going to have to make a ton of cuts w/ June 1 designations that put money into the 2024 cap.

They just need to bite the damn bullet here or they're going to be stuck in the middle for a half decade. They should just remove the word 'restructure' from their vocabulary next season.

[Sassy Squatch]

I seriously doubt Jackson plays on the tag next year, much less potentially three years down the line. Nowadays it's not too hard to make the situation toxic enough the team eventually folds and trades you off to salvage some assets.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Shit, man. I'm not super familiar with the middle-bottom of their roster, but I'm not seeing any big names that could realistically be cut for relief. Where do they even start?

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-orle...ints/cap/2023/

Most of the guys on the top of the cap hit for next year are good players but Michael Thomas with a $28m hit is a big ****ing oof.

They're going to have to completely trash the middle and bottom of that roster to make the cap.

yup, that's what I'm saying.

Michael Thomas with his $28 million cap hit and $25 million in dead money. They almost have to June 1 him and spread that $25 million over two years. Same story with Cameron Jordan.

They have restructure bonuses all up and down that roster and it means that many of these guys cost as much to cut as they cost to keep. WTF do you have 3 'void' years on Winston's contract for?!?

They can probably trade Kamara and clear off some of that dead money because some of it is guaranteed salary. But it ain't much.

I mean these guys have $46 million in restructure bonuses on next year's cap. That's to say NOTHING of the subsequent years given that these bonuses were put in place precisely to spread them out. From what I can see, they have $140 million in restructure bonuses on the cap over the next 4 seasons. They have another $105ish million in signing bonuses on the cap over that time.

This is money that's already been paid. It cannot go anywhere. They can't do anything with it other than accelerate it but cutting/trading a guy. That means over the next 4 years, they average about 25% of their cap, season in, season out, allocated to money that's already been paid out and cannot be escaped.

They have O.City managing their cap or something? Jesus Christ - who the **** thought this was a good idea?