Lamar Jackson drops the ball by missing first day of Ravens OTAs | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC

That leads us to our next topic. We discussed this yesterday and there's going to be people out there Pushing back Ravens fans misguided Ravens fans. Hey Ravens fans. I'm talking to you here. Give me a moment Chris I just want to have a conversation with our friends out there who root for the Baltimore Ravens You want your team to be successful? I would assume you want it to win as many games as it can you want us It to fulfill the potential that it has you would like another Super Bowl championship. You've got to it's been a while since the last one well Well one way to get there is to make sure that your guys are fully prepared for the season to come and it's not going to Be an easy season There's a lot of great teams in the AFC Several great teams in the AFC North got to be ready to compete and all those other quarterbacks are there Even Aaron Rodgers is there Lamar Jackson is not there and what's gonna happen now I'm pivoting back to talking to you Chris the blind circling of the wagons. How dare you call out our guy? How dare you call out our guy for not being here for the first day of OTAs? How dare you attack him for doing something that that will make it harder for the team to? Win games see that's when they break their own brains when they realize Their defensive Lamar Jackson for not being present for the start of OTAs Has a dotted line back to their team not being as good as it can be and that's why we say what we say if you're Paying somebody 50 million plus. I don't know where the line is Chris between paying a guy Not enough for him to volunteer to be there at optional offseason workouts and paying him enough that he should be I'll say 50 million is on the you should be their side of the line Yeah, 52 million per year is on the you should be their side of the line wanting to be great Wanting to win championships wanting to fulfill your potential and promise as a player in a team with a new offense a new offense Offense, it's gonna unlock the passing game a new offense that features multiple new receivers a new offense that will be better Implemented for week one if you're there So I don't get it. They reportedly expect him to be there later this week. Why isn't he there day one? He got his contract. He won He got 52 million a year His only focus at this point should be being at practice learning the offense getting comfortable with new teammates Having them get comfortable with him and laying the pre foundation of the foundation. They're gonna lay during training camp Chris Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's it's the same conversation. We're having here again. It's the first day of OTAs Is it like oh my gosh a necessity in the team and everything's gonna go downhill that Lamar Jackson's not there No, I get it. But you know, I also just go but why not be there? Why give people like myself and Mike Florio and Stephen a Smith the chance to even talk about this and go? Why aren't you there after you know winning and getting a 50 million dollar contract? That's that's what I don't get and then you know, yeah, of course, you know the way the season ended on injury, you know I are injured so like I just thought yeah, he'd be there chomping at the bit excited now Listen, maybe he had something personal and stuff like that happens too. Sometimes you got things scheduled, right? And and they don't tell you the OTA schedule maybe until a few weeks ago and sometimes that stuff happens I don't know. But yes, I mean again, it's the same thing The formula is pretty proven the guys that are there the quarterbacks that are there They usually do the best and you know, hopefully Lamar's there for the rest of these I'd like to see that for all the reasons you said it's Odell. It's rookie receiver It's basically a rookie receiver and Rashad Bateman who's been hurt a lot over the last few years. It's the new OC It's all of that and they're close. Like you said, I mean they're close We're talking about a team that I think we look at and go. Okay. Yeah, it's not the bangles of the Chiefs What do you start to name the next teams that could go to the Super Bowl? The Ravens are that team and you know, why not get that work? I'm just I don't I don't understand why give us the chance to talk about it and make it a thing here That's the thing that probably I wonder more than anything Well, and then look, I This is not Anything we ever said about Lamar's not anti Lamar. No, it's actually pro Passive-aggressive away either. This isn't like oh, we're just trying to help you and we're really trying to be jerks about it These are comments and opinions that we have that are aimed at helping him get the most out of his God-given abilities He's won an MVP. He clearly wants to win a championship Patrick Mahomes will be there for every OTA. It's not even a conversation The question with my homes is how many days of his downtime? Is he gonna spend throwing receivers in Texas and how much of his personal time? Is he gonna spend communicating back to Andy Reid and others with the Chiefs organization about the things? He's learned while taking his own time and spending his own money presumably to bring these guys to Texas So he can spend even more time with them because he's living the obsession We all can say we have if that's a session right to be great. I'll live it It's one thing to say we have an obsession to be great But you got to live it and I know that sounds like something stupid that would be back on the back of a of a You know a little cheesy motivational card from some seminar you'd go to but it's true Everybody wants to be great How many people truly want to put in the time to make the sacrifice? To check every box to do the stuff when no one's looking or the stuff when people are looking like are you present for OTAs? But to do everything necessary to build the wall one brick at a time to get the thing that you want and And this is what Tom Brady always said if you want to beat me You better be ready to outwork me and there's guys with that mindset currently in the NFL to play quarterback in the AFC My homes Allen burrow the three guys you're chasing there's not gonna be a single story barring some Extreme personal issue that forces them to not be there We're not gonna have a single discussion about any of these guys not being at their OTAs or doing stuff beyond that to get Themselves and their teammates ready. That's why if you truly want to compete with the best This is the kind of stuff you got to do. Yeah, it's you know, it's it's it's rare You know, that's again. That's where I get into the conversation. It's just rare, you know, and again I don't know and I don't want to judge too harshly here on day one I don't and I know Lamar he might see this clip and he'll clap back at me and you know, who knows but but either way Geez, I don't care. I don't care. No, no, because it's I'm saying it. Well, we're saying it. We're right, right We're saying it through like it's it's it's rooting. It's it's through love. That's where I I'm not mad at it It's it's a true genuine. I want to see number eight in Baltimore succeed and be the man. I think he's the man I always have so That's where it comes from and that's where if I even ever sound frustrated. It's only because of that It's it's because I wanted to take advantage of all that he's been given as far as his athletic ability and his talents But yeah, I mean it like we said, okay, so maybe Brady missed a few OTAs there But it's just still so rare and then you go through the top quarterbacks now, like you said, I mean it It's not even a question. I mean, we don't even what Mahomes burrow Allen hurts right Herbert, you know Tua whatever whoever you want to talk to Trevor Lawrence We don't we don't even like they're gonna miss a practice and I don't know why but between I guess Rogers a little bit and Maybe Lamar last year in a little this has become somewhat of a thing and it's just rare that the quarterbacks are, you know Missing practices. It's rare It's usually the quarterbacks the guy that's chomping on the bit to practice and be at a football because he loves it so much that's what the quarterback is and we live in a time where being a fan means being a member of a cult and anyone who says anything bad about the team that we Follow with cult-like mindset is an ass and should be attacked and should be disagreed with even when they're right Even when they're making a point that you know what if Lamar Jackson was here Maybe we would have a better chance to enjoy our favorite team get to the Super Bowl and win it Maybe there is some logic and some wisdom in these two guys who have been around for a while and know a few things have seen a few Iterations of NFL seasons and have an idea of what the patterns are what works and what doesn't work Maybe these guys have a point. No, they're assholes Sorry, because they're daring to point out anything that might be against our guy because you're not allowed to say anything Negative about our guy. We won't even say anything negative about our guy. All right. Hi, it's Mike Florio Thanks for watching PFT on YouTube hit subscribe for the latest news and analysis from pro football talk