Rapoport: No team has shown ‘unbelievable commitment’ to Lamar Jackson

Is Jackson’s market not as strong as he hopes?

On the Monday, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport shared an interesting development regarding former MVP Lamar Jackson’s market while on The Pat McAfee Show.

“It would take someone unbelievably committed to Lamar Jackson and I have looked and I have not found that team just yet,” Rapoport said when discussing if Baltimore could receive more than two first-round picks through a trade if they use the exclusive franchise tag on Jackson.

The notion that the Ravens could instead use the non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson has garnered steam in the past few days leading up to the Tuesday deadline. If Baltimore goes that route, Jackson will have the chance to negotiate with other teams. A team could then sign Jackson to an offer sheet that the Ravens could either match or receive two first-round picks in exchange. It is a riskier strategy to take but one that could ultimately result in a quicker resolution in the multi-year saga.

Using the exclusive franchise tag on the other hand would put Baltimore in a sticky situation. The $45 million cap hit the exclusive tag would bring would make it extremely tricky for the Ravens to operate in free agency as they would have to make several moves just to get under the cap again. Only receiving two first-round picks for a player of Jackson’s caliber would be a disappointment to say the least, however, and might not position the Ravens to have a shot at drafting his replacement in April.