Hour 2 - Lamar Jackson's Contract Despute

Jason and Steve discuss Lamar Jackson's ongoing contract dispute with The Ravens and what may happen.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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(00:25):
Sports Radio. Hello, Welcome inside our two, The Jason Smith
Show with my bist friend Mike Harmon Steve de sag
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(00:48):
com The way tire buying should be. By the way.
The Lakers might not be winning tonight. I know they've
had a lead throughout the first half against Golden Statement.
What did we talk about? The Lakers are on the
run because they have a line up down the stretch.
It's gonna be Lebron and a d and the three
new guys. DeAngelo Russell has left with a sprained ankle
and is out for the rest of the game. This

(01:09):
has nothing to do with the foot injuries that Lebron
and Davis have had recently. They're playing no, no, no,
Steve us to score firsthand. Now, wait a minute, let's
take the temperature of Laker fans. Eckers Frostburg stands in
for Laker fans. All right, so you're winning fifty three
forty two, but De'angelo Russell leaves the sprained ankle. Frostburg,

(01:32):
how do you feel We're back every Laker DeAngelo Schmeangelo
born baby. It doesn't matter. Mo Bamba's got four points
in seven minutes. We're gonna win this game. Uh. Dennis
Shrewder has been in a point guard playing a ton
of minutes now in the absence of Russell, he's yet

(01:53):
very good. Yeah, Nick van Exel too, it'll be really
Mike tim Berthie is coming off that bench. And yes,
and it's lepron inside to Chuck Nevitt for the flush
Lakers by a dozen. Laker big Man has a ring
from So look at the Lakers finding a way to
dominate a team that's won seven games on the road

(02:14):
this year. Lakers have double digits against Golden State for instance,
and Steve Golden State's record on the road is what
I mean, they're great in the road right there way
with a eighteen and seven something like that, seven and
twenty two in the Legend the Rock. It doesn't matter.
So yeah, Lakers by twelve a couple minutes before halftime.

(02:35):
We'll keep you updated on this game again throughout the night.
Welcome back, NBA, we really need you now. Aaron Rodgers
came out of his darkness retreat today TJ. He was
the Prince of Darkness for four days, but now out
into the light is Aaron Rodgers TJU. He was in

(02:57):
a three hundred square foot room in Oregon, because apparently
have to go to Oregon to be in a three
at a square foot room with the lights off for
four days. Fairly they don't have dirt anywhere else where.
You can be personally submerged room or a cabin. Nope, nope,
I need the darkness retreat through in a square foot
room with a bed, a toilet, and a yoga mat.
That's what he was in. Um Now, this is what

(03:19):
queen bed, not some CODs affordable. Yeah, well he's a
big you know, when you're six foot and you're an athlete,
need a queen bed and I got he's oh yeah,
we gotta, we gotta. If you're a diva like that,
you need a queen bed. And that's that's really what
you were thinking. It's a murphy bed that comes out
of the wall you sleep on. There's here on the forest.
I'm all a surprise there was a bed. I really

(03:40):
thought it would just be a room and like or something. Yeah,
and you know that he is the heat on? Did
he wear clothes that he noted it? We're burying the
lead here. The room was fully powered. Lights can be
turned on from inside at any time or all the time.
I'm just picturing, like when did you watch Lost when

(04:00):
it was on when they when they first went went
underground and they found the guy and uh, Matthew Fox
found the guy from Australia. It's had seen another life, brother,
and he's like living this entire life underneath the island
and in this room that's powered. He's got he's got
he's making breakfast, he's got running water, he's taking a shower.
That's like you in that Connecticut apartment. That's pretty much

(04:21):
the same. Yeah, I mean this is like glamping for
Aaron Rodgers, if he spent the weekend, he spent four
days glamping. I mean, you can turn on the lights
at any point. But really, I I would bet if
I had to bet from a betting man, I would
bet he didn't turn the lights on. Or he will
say he didn't turn the lights on. Well, I can
see him reading something at some point in the four days.

(04:41):
Maybe maybe he's learned how to read with the lights off.
Maybe that maybe that's happened. Maybe he has powers of
which we are unaware. I mean maybe Now, is it
okay if you bring like your kindle that has a
backlit screen on it? Yeah, you caning you getting much
reception in the Oregon forest? No? No, no, but if
you know, but if you know the cave doesn't the
play he's have the name cave to it. Yeah, but

(05:02):
a cave retreat. But if you load up your kindle
with books, Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah, yeah,
you so, I mean does that count? Let me, did
he have that? Did he read? Did he just sit
in a room and four days? You can have its
own life. You wouldn't even have to get up and
turn on the switch on the wall. Yeah, yeah, maybe
help he is getting old enough. That's probably everything is

(05:27):
like that. Turn on lights, turn off, turn on, turn off,
turn on, turn off. Uh you know, obviously you hear
it the way we talk about the starts retreat. I
have no patience for stuff like this. Really, I really don't.
I didn't. I didn't get that. Didn't get that from you,
didn't get that from me. Listen, this doesn't mean I

(05:48):
don't want to be the quarterback of the Jets. I
just have no patience for stuff like and I'm all four,
by the way, people putting down every single bit of
technology for a little while and being introspective or any
of these these are really good recharging things in the
modern day for anyone to do. As you said, you
don't necessarily have to fly to Oregon to do it, no,

(06:09):
because look, I really there's not many things. I'm not
one of those people that subscribes to theories and statements,
and I was always going to say, oh, hey, do
do this, do this. But one of the things that's
always stuck with me has when I learned about this
when I was a kid was Winston Churchill, who one
of his most famous things he said was there's not
a problem in the world that can't be solved with

(06:29):
twenty minutes of attention, right, there's not now maybe now,
It just doesn't mean everything is solved and everybody everybody
loves it. Winston Churchill, that was That was Gary, that
British actor. Right, everybody's traveling modern day? Who is true?
Who is Churchill? Who is he talking? Was paying John John?
Yeah Churchill? Yeah, Churchill. He was the striker on the
English Premier team before Beckham. It was Churchill and then

(06:50):
it went to Beckham. Yeah. The first it was bended
like Churchill, but it didn't but it didn't work, so
they had pray like Churchill and that was pretty cool
because you know the praying hands with anyway, So he
was Gary Oldman won the Oscar for playing Churchill as
your well is that. I've always subscribed to that because, Yeah,
there's any time in your life you need to solve
something that's a big issue, spend a few minutes on

(07:14):
spend twenty minutes on it. Either think about it yourself
or you talk about it with people you trust. And
that's kind of how my wife and I do it, right,
Like you know, hey, okay, we need to figure this out,
and we spend a few minutes and we figure it out.
Do you you don't really need to sit there and
go on a four day darkness a treat unless you
want people to think you're irreverent and you want people
to think, look how cool I am? I am the

(07:36):
image of a modern star because I'll spend this money
to go on a darkness retreat. I mean at this,
Let's be honest, let's solve this issue. Does Aaron Rodgers
want to play? Yeah? Because he likes being a star,
He likes all the attention, he likes the fact that
his darkness retreat got all kinds of attention. And does
he want to play? The money mean anything? It's going
to be, by far, the most money he's ever earned

(07:56):
for a season. It's sixty million dollars for one year.
Does he want that? Yeah? Do you want to play
for the Packers? By now, he has to know whether
he wants to play there or not. He's been there
his entire bleeping career. Man, you have to know. You
have to know by now do I want to stay
or do I want to go? Right now? Spending four
days by yourself, like I can't decide, I can't. IRE's

(08:18):
no way I can decide like I'm waiting for some
kind of bit of divine inspiration to hit me and
say yes I want to stay or no, I want
I want to go. You have to know that already,
so I don't even think you need that kind of money.
And honestly, the big question is do you want to play? Now?
That's the big one, right, But I think at this
point Aaron Rodgers knows if he wants to play right,
you take some time away, you live your life, you recharge,

(08:40):
and you can make it that way. Okay, it's time
to make a decision about playing. You already know how
you feel going into Do you need four days of
clearing my mind? I don't think about this at all.
If you're Rogers, don't you spend most of the part
of every day thinking about to do I want to
stay in Green Bay? Do I want to keep playing? Right?
Just for everybody? Don't you spend most of the day
thinking about the things that are most important to you

(09:00):
in your life? You can we just say out loud
that he had more time to think this calendar year
than say some playoffs quarterbacks. I've only had a couple
of weeks. It's the NFC Championship game. Yeah, boy, it's
been a while since we lost the Lions at home.
Oh maybe if that logic was right, the Jets quarterbacks
would be the smartest people on earth. No, I'm talking

(09:21):
you're just about setting aside, not actually using the time.
But you know, setting aside, you know, I mean, you know,
like if if if something big, like let's just say, hey,
if my daughter's got a big test, I spend most
of the day thinking about that test. How did she do?
I want to text or after the school how did
you do? How did this happen? You know, anything else
going on? Whatever, the biggest thing you spend time thinking about. Right,

(09:43):
So suddenly he's not thought about this. Now I'm gonna
go away for four days and think, I don't think
about this. No, you know, you know how you want
to do it. So I don't have patience for stuff
like this. This is this is all fake, made up stuff.
And this is not to say that people don't need
help making decisions, sure, because yeah, everybody does. I need
help making decisions you but I kick it around, write
things down. All of this is good. I talk to

(10:04):
the people I trust, and I mean in twenty minutes.
You if he talked to people he trusted them most
in his life, he would understand what he wanted to do.
Do I really want to go to green Back? You
know what? Let me sit and think about this. Now,
I've been here in my entire career. Do I like
the way that that things have gone? Do I like
what the packers have been saying? Do they really want
to push me out? I have all the information I
need because I've talked to my agent, I've talked to
my people, and I've I've been I've been talking to

(10:26):
people around the league. I know the teams that want me.
Do I really want to go? Right? Take twenty minutes,
twenty minutes to figure that out? Do I really want
to take all the money from Davante Adams? No? I
went to college with Derek Carr, right, No, Yeah, that's
gonna be like lifelong. They're gonna be together ten years right, No,

(10:48):
wait a minute, I wait, wait wait no, no no, no, didn't.
It was it was him and Davante Adams and Kershaw
and Stafford. They all went to college together. It was
the four of them. They'll be room. There'll be some
way where Aaron Rodgers can hook up on a team
with like Keenan Allen. He went to cal Right, there
will be some sort of I mean, people will will
put the building blocks together and say, oh, this will
work out. Yeah, no, no, I'm sorry. No, Keenan Allen

(11:10):
went to college with Tommy Lee Jones and Al Gore.
That was that was That's what happened there. That Keenan
Allen invented the internet? He did, exactly. Yes, that's why.
Why do you think it's so easy to get Keenan
Allen stats when you get on there? Boom, dude, Steve's
got Keenan Allen stats for days. You know, if you
don't know by now, I don't know what to tell
you instinctively, you know what to do instinctively, you know

(11:31):
if you want to play and if that's the big question,
you know. Rogers can't retire because he loves this too much.
He loves this part of it, this everybody hanging on
his every word. He's found a way to own the
news cycle for a better part of two years. And
I'm sure it's surprised. I don't think this was a
plan by his because if the guy's been in the
legal alongside, there's no depth to it. Shockingly, No, it's

(11:52):
it's this is not where, it doesn't end here. He
is at the end of his career and it's been
a roller coaster ride and all the controversy. No, he's
been pretty controversy free for the first, you know, fourteen
years of his career. Now suddenly the last two years
and say, because I said I might want out of
Green Bay, WHOA? This story hit us like lightning, And
now it's what does Aaron Rodgers want to do? And

(12:12):
he's realized very quickly, WHOA. Whatever I say or do
people really really care about? Man? I can do interviews
now and talk about whatever conspiracy theories I have, or
if I want a play or not, or what Iohuasca
t is all about that people care about what I
say about these things. Oh, I'm gonna blog about the
tattoos that I got and what they mean. I'm gonna
wait and tell people what they're He loves that too much.

(12:32):
He loves that too much. And unlike Brady, who was
an icon that right now, Brady is still making news
every day in his retirement because of the relationship with
Giselle Bunching. And here's Giselle somewhere in Costa Rica. She's
living her best life. Brady's with the kids. Here's Brady
on the phone yelling at somebody and his daughter's equestrian lesson.
Here's Giselle bunch in another runway picture of a TV. Yeah,

(12:54):
here's a picture of her with a guy that may
or may not be your boyfriend, who may or may
not was the jiu jitsu guy that taught her. I mean,
Brady's an icon. The minute Aaron Rodgers retires, no one's
gonna care about what he has to say. Like he's
a he's a he's a football star. Brady's an icon.
The only way you keep that interest that he has
is by continuing to play. He's not going to walk

(13:16):
away from this right now where he is still someone
that I can go on a darkness retreat and it's
the biggest story in all of sports and everybody talks
about it. So yeah, if that that's your big decision, Okay,
you know you want to play. You didn't need to
go to a darkness streat to know, Yes, that's what
I want to do. I want to keep playing. So
all of this, what do I want to do? What
do I want to do. I mean it. You could
have solved this here. This is just him trying to say,

(13:38):
I'm a reverend, I'm cool. Look at me, I'm different.
I'm like one of these other big time rock stars
that does stuff like this to can spend money like this,
that I'm different and look at me differently than everybody else.
That's all He's doesn't mean I don't want him to
play for the Jets because I do all of this.
I want him to play. But this, that's why I
stuff like this. I don't have patience for it. Now.
By darkness retreat in the forest, you mean the one

(13:58):
with a queen bed and a bath room that's fully
powered and the lights can be turned on from inside
the room where he was staying for the fourty yes,
sad the larkness. The lights are on from inside the house.
You could turn the lights on from inside the house,
inside the house the call is coming from. And the
one with the cocaine bear outside. Oh oh wait, now wait,
now that would be different. If he was going to
a darkness or to fight a cocaine bear, that's different. Now,

(14:21):
that's completely I think he would lose. You're going for
an adventure. Well, if you go for an adventure, I
think you have to win, right because you can't like lose,
and you know that's a bad loss, Like if you
lose to a cocaine bear, like you'd be panty. Lost
to a bear would be fighters. If if there's anybody
who could talk to a bear and the bear would
listen to him, I think it's Aaron Rodgers. I see

(14:44):
that him and you know he like he would be
like in a movie where he confronts like like the
like the Revenant movie, Leo confronts the bear and you go,
oh man, something's happening, Like Aaron Rodgers confronts the bear
and then they smash cut to a scene where they're
both sitting in these tiny chairs sipping tea together and
ride and switches the cops. Then the next commercial at
the next Super Bowl, Aaron's not playing in by the ways,

(15:07):
when you weren't looking, when you when you as we've
finished this segment. So when the decision comes from Aaron Rodgers,
you will be the most surprise of anybody in the
country when he says that's it for football. I'm retiring.
Oh yeah, yeah, because wait a minute, there's sixty million

(15:27):
dollars walking away. Really you're walking away, I will be there.
You're saying yes, I will be the most surprised if
he retalcers. If he says the Jets, that's like retiring too.
Oh stop. Now, hey, we got a story on that
coming up later on this hour that maybe it's the
Jets nobody, dude. But coming up next, Hey, um, there's

(15:50):
a quarterback who you may want a little bit more
than Aaron Rodgers who's going to wind up being eminently
available any day now. That story is coming up next
the tirect dot Com Studios. Jason Smith, Steve Desager. This
is Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at

(16:10):
ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith
Show is Steve Desager in from Mike Harmon. And if
you're looking for that Lakers big lead over the Warriors,
well it's gone. A game has just gone to halftime.
Lakers still leaded, but it was a double digit lead

(16:32):
for LA. It is now fifty nine fifty six, Warriors
closing with a big run Pools got fifteen. Clay has
thirteen at the break. Meanwhile, for the Lakers, Beasley's got fourteen,
A D's got ten and nine rebounds. But the big
news tonight, De'angelo Russell leaves the game with a sprained ankle.
He played just nine minutes and two points. So the

(16:54):
Lakers big trade deadline acquisition now out of the lineup.
Who knows when he's coming back. And all you have
to do is just be around Lebron and Davis. Didn't
you get hurt? Lebron James by the way, two for
nine shooting in the first half. And Golden State not
only doesn't have Steph Curry, he was there in street
clothes shaking hands with Canello courtside before the game. By

(17:16):
the way, Andrew Wiggins of Golden State still out for
personal reasons. But look at you guys, hate watching the
Laker game. Rick Barry is still out. I believe right
that Chris Moe and Tim Hardaway still out for Golden State,
all of them. Weber Webber's Weber's out. Yeah, Webber's not out. Yeah,
he's definitely not playing tonight. He called the time out.
Lead it all in a teaching so again, Lakers lead

(17:36):
at fifty nine fifty six. As we get ready to
start the third question, Jason real quick, la, Yeah, what
he got Frosts to lead, right, that is a lead.
That is a leads. How do you feel about the Lakers?
Frostbut so don't bury that. How do you feel about him?
Are you excited? How do you feel? Oh? You know
how I feel. We're back, baby. If the Lakers lose
this head to head with Golden State, they'll there'll be

(17:57):
three and a half just behind the war years who
are in play in spots Steve twenty three games after games. Ever,
these are these are the biggest games of Lebron's career.
Not the finals games, No, no, no, not on it, no,
not at all. These are the most wasn't he in
the finals eight straight years? Did I just imagine that? Yes?
But the but these are the most importantly, just so

(18:19):
you know, so eight straight years of finals times five
to seven game series for eight straight years in the finals,
and these twenty three games are the most important of
his whole career. Yeah, yeah, most, which is why he
had two whole baskets in the first half and just
missed three shots at the rim to start the second half. Yeah,
you just hit a three two. Now, if you want
to say, hey, it's the most important games, why because

(18:41):
these are the games that are in front of me
and they haven't happened yet. Okay that I get all right,
I understand it. Say these are most important games, including
he was doing his Russell Westbrook impersonation, just now missing
at the rim over and over. So he's now three
of fourteen from the floor. You know, what do to you?
I'm just dealing with facts. I'm still sitting at a
news desk. He is three of fourteen at the floor,

(19:03):
and he just missed two layups on one possession. He
just missed two easy layups on one possession. Oh man,
all right, So again we'll keep you updated on this.
This is a big game in the West, big game
for the Lakers. Is hey, listen, twenty three games tick
tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick.
But it's as big as NBA games get because you know,

(19:24):
all the stars are not going to be playing for
all the teams. No, no, no, I thought this. This
is not the NBA All Star Game too. You know,
there's actually a little bit people are watching. Yeah, this
is basketball, I mean we are seeing basketball on the court,
so it's not the All Star Game, right, So this
big story out of the NFL. And look, we've talked
about this for a while and now people are coming

(19:46):
around too it. Congratulations coming round of the take we
we we've been months ahead with this. Um. Lamar Jackson
and the divorce from the Ravens is just going to happen. Okay,
it's just gonna happen. It's gonna happen sometimes time in
the next couple of weeks. ESPN story today that Lamar
Jackson wants more guaranteed money than Deshaun Watson. Deshaun Watson

(20:09):
got two hundred and thirty million dollars by far, the
most in the NFL guaranteed. Yeah, and look, and I
understand that many every every league owner is like, are
you kidding? I get you want the guy come, even
coming off this controversy, but you gotta guarantee that kind
of money? What the hell are you doing? Yeah? Well,
it's bad for everybody. I mean, it's what's one thing

(20:30):
to bring the guy back, but to say no, we
want to gi him two hundred thirty million. We're gonna
reward all the stuff that he's been. He sat out
for a year and now he's got two hundred and
thirty million dollars. Make sure it had the salary really
really low. So those checks he missed this past year
don't really cost him. It's it's you know, certain bend
over backwards to acquis to a guy who didn't deserve
it on that level. So he wants more guaranteed money

(20:53):
than Deshaun Watson. Deshaun Watson two hundred and thirty million
dollars and guaranteed money. ESPN's got the report that that's
what he wants. The last offer, the best offer the
Ravens gave Lamar Jackson was one hundred and thirty three
million dollars in guaranteed money. Now let me just say
that would be second in the league behind Deshaun Watson.

(21:14):
But this is what Lamar Jackson wants. Lamar Jackson, he's
two thirty million. I'm a guy that's won an MVP.
I'm twenty five years old. Uh yeah, that's what I want.
There's hey, we can meet somewhere, and this is they
are a hundred million dollars off of what Lamar Jackson wants.
A hundred million dollars off of what he wants as

(21:36):
a quarterback. And if the top guys are going for
forty five million a year, now, yeah, he's gonna want fifty.
Daniel Jones is gonna get forty is forty five million
dollars a year because that's what the slightly above average
quarterbacks are getting. Now. Oh, Joe Burrow's gonna get sixty million. Yeah,
Joe Burrow's gonna get sixty million. I mean if by
twenty thirty we'll have one hundred million dollars quarterback in
the NFL, that's just the way it goes. When you

(21:58):
just mentioned the phrase hundred million dollars off, I think
somebody just tuning in probably thought you were talking that
was the discount Bezos was asking for in the bid
for Washington. Oh you mean they're actually a part in
some sort of negotiation a player and the team by
a hundred Yeah, if you're talking guaranteed money, Yeah, I
absolutely believe that. No, I think Bezos it was actually

(22:19):
one hundred billion that he wanted off because of the
slated games on TNF. But wait a minute, if Washington
is a prime subscriber, do they get a discount on
that we're gonna get walking in every Thursday night? Are
you kidding? We're gonna play their retire schedule on Thursday night.
They probably are because they want to get in on
those Thursday night games, which are about as good as
most Washington games to watch. Let me find on the Roku. Okay,

(22:41):
hang on Apple Apple Plus Paramount. But I can't switch
channels on this. I have to get out of the
app and then try and oh man, I got to
hook up a laptop to the TV. No, this is
not good. Hey, every Commander's player gets free Amazon. Probably
you can get the last season of Missus Mazel. It's
coming up a ship that everybody but you're one hundred

(23:03):
million dollars off. That's not something that Okay, you know, yeah,
let's let's figure it out. Me. No, it's not happening.
That's a long way to be off. It's what Lamar
Jackson wants. And again we'll hit the checklist for you.
He's someone who was negotiating his contract himselves, so things
get personal. It always happens. That's how he wants to
do it. This is how it goes. If the Ravens
wanted to pay him, they would have. They know what

(23:25):
he wants in money. They know that if they were
going to do it, they would. They're gonna wind up
franchising him, and he's gonna say, I'm not playing for
the franchise tag. And he's a guy that will not play.
He's a guy that didn't play the end of the
year last year. I'm not coming back for the playoffs.
Why I don't have a contract coming up. Why am
I going to risk it coming back? Good luck with Tyler.
Sorry Pro Bowl quarterback Tyler Huntley and his two touchdown

(23:46):
passes it for the rest way to go. I believe
he was an NBA All Star as well. See him
standing around on the corn on something. He still only
scored two points. It was a very, very bad That's
not good in a two hundred point game. There are
some guys who will say, I don't want to do this,
but I'll but okay, when it comes down to it,
if you're gonna give me thirty five thirty eight million

(24:07):
dollars for next year, I'll do. Like Kirk Cousins, played
another franchise tag twice. He got his big contract finally guaranteed.
But Lamar Jackson is not that guy. He is not
that guy. He will say, you franchise me, I'm not
going to play, and the Ravens will move him. They
don't want to go into this entire office's knowing where
do we go? What are we gonna do? We want?
We know this is someone you can trade. You can

(24:27):
get a lot of draft picks for. There's a lot
of quarterbacks in the draft, and we'll move on. Both
sides need to move on. They do, because he doesn't
want to really be there, and the Ravens don't really
want him. They want to franchise him until they're done,
until they think, Okay, he's someone that hit the prime
of his career is maybe five more years, and then
that's going to be it. Because he takes a lot
of hits, he gets out of the pocket lot, he's

(24:48):
got a lot of rushing attempts. His prime is gonna
be five more years. They would love to franchise him
and pay him for a couple of years, and no, no, no,
I want that kind of guaranteed money if I'm gonna
keep playing. So yeah, he's gonna go. This is is
gonna happen, and it's gonna happen right around the beginning
of free agency. So you're gonna have Aaron Rodgers is
gonna be out there, and Derek Carr is gonna mistakenly
take a long time to sign. Good luck. And now

(25:10):
it's gonna be Lamar Jackson who's gonna be the number
one sought after quarterback and selfishly for us Steven. When
I say us, I mean you and me and everybody else.
I want Lamar Jackson to stand up and say, hey,
this is for all the fans who have been held
hostage by Aaron Rodgers the last couple years with am
I gonna stay? Am I nod? Things are awful. I'm
gonna sign Hey, I'm gonna stand up here and say

(25:33):
blank you Aaron Rodgers. You made everybody wait for you.
Now you gotta wait for me. You guys, Now, I'm
the guy that people want that are gonna trade. Dude,
I'm the guy that people are gonna trade for. I'm
the danger. I'm the danger. You sit and wait for me.
Go back into a darkness retreat and I'll call you that.
Actually I'll take no, you know what. I'll show up
and I'll have somebody just tap out morse code into

(25:53):
into the room you're in and tell you, hey, yo,
Tabo Lamar Jackson has signed. Okay, I'm out of the darkness.
I can sign now. You wait for me. We waited
for you for two years. Now, this is how you
feel to wait for somebody else. You wait for me
because I'm the guy. People want a darkness retreat where
you can turn on the lights at any time. Yes,
for the record, yes, as far as franchise tagging in
the NFL, they literally could do that today. You could

(26:17):
designate a franchise tag on somebody today. The deadline is
next month, but you could do that now and not
wait until March seventh, at the end of the business
day in New York at the New York Office. But yeah,
I see an absolute impasse in this. And I also
see just as a fan of football. I'm not necessarily
a fan of the Ravens. I just as a fan

(26:38):
of football. This is why pro athletes need agents. You
just I mean, what about the guy that was talking
going into spring training about he had a good pitching
year the last couple of years and he's so soured
by the arbitration process. Why because he sat in on it,
he heard what the other what the team management had
to say the other side in this hearing about him

(26:58):
and he was thrown. You need an agent to take
those bullets for you, so to speak. And you need
to be the player and not the player and the agent.
Just for the same reason in a sense that a
guy shouldn't be the coach and the GM. Those are
actually separate jobs, and it's rare when one guy is
good at both. I think he really screwed around with
his and the team's whole season last year by this

(27:21):
one thing not having an agent. Yeah, and if initially
I thought this would be something that would take a
while to play out because the Ravens, they really don't
want to be the team with a narrative. Okay, so
you had an MVP quarterback who was twenty five and
you found a way to not want to give him
any money. Am I right about this? You guys, top five,

(27:41):
top seven talent in the NFL found a way to
not want to give him money. You were lucky in
the draft. You gotta really and you let the guy walk.
They don't want to be that team. They want to
make it seem like we had no choice but to
trade Lamar Jackson. And here's but now things are happening
much quicker. Last week we got the back to back stories.

(28:02):
Lamar Jackson wasn't involved in the hiring of the offensive coordinator,
and every OC that came into interview was told that
we can't guarantee you we'll have Lamar for this year.
So there was that. Now you have Lamar's the story
of I want more than Deshaun Watson, and they gonna
come up by well over one hundred million dollars to
make that happen. This is gonna happen quicker, right because

(28:23):
you know, I initially I thought this would go that,
but the way things have gone now, there's no coincidence.
This is going on right before the start of free
agency because you need a few days or teams to go,
m are they serious about this? And you call the Ravens, Hey,
you really think that? They go, yeah, we're gonna tag
him and then we're gonna see what happens. But yeah,
we're looking at it. So now teams want to figure

(28:44):
out ways to Okay, we need a few days. We
want to make a big push for Lamar Jackson. We
need a quarterback. The Jets are saying, hey, wait a minute,
we like Daron Rodgers, but hang on, hang on, hang on,
and we could trade a couple of first round picks
them get Lamar Jackson. We'll go get Lamar Jackson. That's
gonna be fantastic. So there's gonna be some time where
teams need but it's gonna be quick now, I really,
which is great because they should do it fast now.

(29:05):
Don't postpone the future. If you're not going to keep
Aaron rod not gone. Yeah. Yeah, if you're not gonna
keep Lamar Jackson, let him go, rip the bandaid off
and also get better for yourself. Get your draft picks now.
Maybe it's enough to move up to get a quarterback.
Maybe you want to move all the way up to
number two and get CJ. Strout, whatever you want to do.
But you're going to get enough draft capital to be
able to do that. So yeah, do it now, and

(29:27):
you have to worry about money you're paying. You have
more money for free agents instead of letting it go
all the way through and hoping that he's going to
come to his senses and that's not going to happen.
You know, Lamar Jackson's different. The guy wouldn't hit the
field the end of last year. And it was maybe
he was more injured than you thought. But also he
didn't even the Ravens didn't even know how injured he was.
He was away from the team. They had no idea.

(29:47):
Every week John Harball would say, I don't know, I'll
talk to this week and see wait really yeah no,
So you know that he was staying away. He wasn't
going to get back on the field. With free agency
coming up or potential to be a new team and
a new contract coming up. Didn't want to injure himself
more and ruin his value, ruin whatever his next contract
was going to be. And keep in mind the two
big dates or time periods at this point of an

(30:08):
NFL offseason. Mid March is when the new league year starts,
So right about then is all you know. For example,
on restricted free agents you start negotiating with. I mean,
there's a news story today about the Rams are going
to release linebacker Bobby Wagner. They're not going to release
him until at least the start of the new league
year on March fifteenth, And then of course we have
late April the drift. Be sure to catch live editions

(30:29):
of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at
ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio The
Jason Smith's Show with Mike Harmon. Steve de Seger in
for Harmon tonight, and some interesting stuff today on the
heels of the Aaron Rodgers leaving the Darkness retreat, some

(30:50):
Raiders sources reporting that the Raiders have decided to go
in a different direction and are not going to target
Aaron Rodgers in the off season. Now, this was down
to the Raiders and the Jets. Now, if this is
true and the Raiders have decided, hey, you know what
we're done. Man, This doctors to treat this is too

(31:12):
wacky even for us, and we're the Raiders. Okay, this
is just too wacky for us. Well, they were disappointed
when they found out there was electricity in every room
and you could turn on the lights at any time.
He was watching cable the entire time. I mean, it
was great. Brodney's kindle as you say, you could download
that in advance. And by the way, a football note here,

(31:33):
Aaron Rodgers is under contract with Green Bay. So we
keep talking about what team he's going to go to.
Someone's gonna have to trade for him, right, and assume
a massive contract. Mm, so that really really narrows the
field immediately. Well yeah, but there's also money things they
can do. And Rodgers even said, listen, I don't want
the money situation to tur a trade from happening. So

(31:53):
there's many creatives. I mean the Rams have to get
under the cap just to participate in the draft. I mean, yeah,
that's some things don't even have room. Sorry, get Rodgers room.
They don't have room to operate. Yeah, sorry, Rams, you
can you can't pick until the fifth round. That's what
you have room to Not that that bothers them most
years anyway, as you know, they're gonna have to cut
Eric Deckerson. But but let's be honest. There are two

(32:16):
teams that are desperate enough that want to make the
trade for Aaron Rodgers where he would go to where
he's not gonna go step in for a legend or
someplace he wants to be. And those are the Raiders
and the Jets. All right, not many teams are gonna
be okay with trading the two first round picks or
taking on the money it's gonna be for Aaron Rodgers.
There were two teams. The Jets were the ones that

(32:37):
stepped up to the front and said, yeah, two first
round picks. Hey, Peter King had the story, we'll pay that.
They're the team that called, hey, we want to know
what's going on with Aaron Rodgers? Is he is he ready?
And whatever answer they got because we're in the Jets
and first round picks don't mean anything. Did you see
Wilson play? Yeah, we just get quarterbacks wrong. It doesn't matter.
We don't want to draft a quarterback ever again because
whatever the decision is, it's wrong. Don't leave it up

(32:58):
to us. No, no, no, we want the guy that's
already been in the league for a while and who's
pretty good. We'll bring him in and they'll do okay.
So this is where you're at now. The one team
who's the one team for him? It's the Jets, that's it.
Who who's gonna suddenly materialize out of nowhere and say
yes we want Aaron Rodgers. Nobody the only two teams
he's been linked with him we are we are, nearly

(33:19):
on the eve of free agency, have been the Jets
and the Raiders. And if this story, hey, you know
a couple of Raiders insiders saying, hey, this is what's
gonna happen. The Jets are the only team that's it,
and it's either you play for the Jets, or you
play for the Packers or you retire, in which case,
you know, with the Jets having things happened, Aaron Rodger
will say, well, I'm either going to play for the

(33:40):
Packers or retire. I don't want to go to the
bleef and Jets. Man, that's not happening. So it's either
it's when it's the Jets are nothing, the Jets is
still gonna come in second on this story. But again,
you would be the most surprised man in America if
he says no to football. Oh, if he says no
to football. Yeah, but but it may get to be
the point where he's like, you know what, it's only
the Jets or the Hackers for this year. Yeah, I'll

(34:01):
pick the Packers that I could see if it's only
one team and the Jets have a defense. I know
they have a reputation, but the Jets have a really
good team. They just had the Rookie of the year
receiver and the Yeah look and we had the rookie
of the year on defense, and we would have had
the Rookie of the Year if Priests Hall was healthy.
The Jets defense is legit, their playmakers are legit. Garrett
Wilson's going to be a superstar. Yeah, you'd want to

(34:22):
go there, right, But it's the Jets. You know one
other team that's not gonna take Aaron Rodgers now, it's
the Saint Louis BattleHawks A J. McCarron. Two straight comeback wins.
They're two and oh in the XFL. Don't say that
the Jets are gonna say, oh, we'll go a J.
McCarron now. Instead, he's less money, we'll get him. We'll
get him for like twenty days. Ben d Nucci did
have two touchdown bass and the losing side, So maybe

(34:44):
that eat. Maybe the Sea Dragons are not looking for
a quarterback either the show. We're gonna we can get
McCarron or Ben d Nucci, it doesn't matter. We'll get
one of those guys. Phoebe. Really he's doing here though
he's trying to put it out there that he's not
going to the Raiders. I know that I didn't make
a story up. And oh yeah, we're gonna believe a
guy named Hondo Carpenter I didn't make it at why not?

(35:07):
Why not? His name is Hondo. I think John Wayne
did a movie called Hondo. If I'm not mistaken, Steve
the Saker is gonna look that up. Coming up there,
John haveltcheck Hondo. Hey, more big stuff out of the NFL.
Next right here, this is Fox