The Baltimore Ravens made a big splash his weekend. No, it wasn’t Lamar Jackson agreeing to a contract, but it was something that may signal that one is coming.
Free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. agreed to a one-year contract with Baltimore on Sunday. OBJ was then spotted at a club in Florida with Jackson, causing speculation that the wide receiver could help Jackson remain a Raven.
NFL Insider Brian Baldinger of the Audacy Original Podcast “In The Huddle” explained why he thinks that the Ravens are sending a message to Jackson by signing Beckham Jr.
“This is about Lamar,” Baldinger said (2:45 in player above). “Like ‘Look what we’re doing here, Lamar, we’re building this team around you. We need you. We want you to come. We’ll get enough of a deal done whether it’s a year, whatever it is, but look we’re doing.’ That’s show and tell. To me, that’s the initial reaction without reading anything, hearing anything.”
The Ravens aren’t strangers to aging wide receivers that may be deemed over the hill by some.
“They did this with Anquan Boldin,” Baldinger continued. “They wouldn’t have won the Super Bowl without Anquan Boldin in 2012. He was just that good in the postseason. People could’ve said Anquan was injured, he was washed up. They could’ve said a lot of things at that time. He was a stud.”
Baldinger acknowledged OBJ’s injury history, but maintained that it was “all about Lamar.”
“To me, it was all about ‘Lamar, we’re just getting things ready for you. We’ll get Bateman back here, he’ll be healthy, Mark Andrews, let’s put this thing together. Let’s put Dobbins in the backfield. We have our O-line coming back. Let’s get this thing ready to roll,’” he said. “To me, that’s what I saw.”
Not only that, but Baldinger believes that adding OBJ is a sign of things to come for the Ravens quarterback.
“My feeling is they wouldn’t have gone out and made this signing of Odell if they didn’t feel like they were going to get Lamar in camp. Now not just signed, but here for the offseason,” he said. “Lamar needs some timing with Odell. You can’t do that on August 15th or whenever Lamar decides to come. They need to start working on this timing right now.”
Of course, signing Beckham isn’t going to be the reason that Jackson returns to Baltimore.
“Lamar’s not coming because Odell got signed. He’s coming because he’s getting a contract that he thinks he’s worth,” Baldinger said. “The market is what somebody’s willing to pay him. That’s what it is.”
It’s still up to the Ravens to pony up the money for Lamar, but signing OBJ could bridge the gap a bit.
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