Lamar Jackson’s future is still very much up in the air. The 2019 NFL MVP has not accepted the Ravens’ non-exclusive franchise tender, and can now court offers from around the league.
Might the 49ers be one of the teams that gives him a call? According to Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports, they probably did, but it’s not a deal that is likely to happen.
“I guess they would have to, right?” Maiocco told Murph & Mac regarding if the Niners have given the Ravens a call. “They have to at least kind of see what it would take and determine for yourself if it makes sense. I see Lamar Jackson as a quarterback who has injury concerns. His style of play, he’s not a big guy, he does not run a lot. The last few years he’s broken down a little bit. To me that would be a really difficult one.
“I think the reason the 49ers were able to go get a guy like Javon Hargrave, the reason they’re going to be able to make Nick Bosa maybe the highest paid non-quarterback in the league, the reason they are able to afford guys like Trent Williams and Christian McCaffrey and Fred Warner and Charvarius Ward and all those guys, big priced guys on the same team, is because they are not paying the quarterback position. They got two guys on rookie deals, they bring in Sam Darnold to be the third guy, I just don’t see it. I just don’t see them having the wherewithal financially to do it.”
Apparently it’s not just money that should make the 49ers trepidatious. For a team that just lost their top two quarterbacks due to injury last year, the risk might be too high to break the bank for a guy like Jackson.
“There’s a part of them that says ‘We’ve been burned by all these injuries,’” Maiocco said. “I think Lamar Jackson’s an injury risk with the way he plays. His style, his body. It’s proven out the last couple years. He’s missed a lot of football games. The way that they’ve been bit by the injury bug, to me it doesn’t make sense necessarily that they would give him that huge money deal.
“He’s not happy with the Ravens. There had been the report of what the Ravens have offered him. If that’s the kind of money it’s going to take to lock him into a long-term deal, to me it’s not worth the risk.”
Jackson is apparently seeking a deal worth around $50 million per year.
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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