Ever since Lamar Jackson became available, there has been a great debate between Atlanta fans on whether or not the Falcons should pursue the 26-year-old former MVP.
Lately there has been some doubt surrounding the topic. Did Arthur Smith, Terry Fontenot, and the Falcons front office ever perform due diligence on Jackson? The Falcons head coach put some of those doubts to bed on Friday when he joined the Rich Eisen Show.
Eisen asked Smith if the idea of pursuing Lamar was ever discussed in a meeting amongst the team.
“Absolutely we did, you gotta know what’s going on," said Smith. "You see the trends, and see what’s available, so those are everyday conversations.”
The Morning Shift reacted to these comments from Coach Smith.
Mike Johnson was relieved to hear Arthur be fully transparent about the situation.
“I feel like my alarm bells would be going off a lot more if he said that he hadn’t even thought about it," said the former Falcons lineman. "To me that would be the more frightening thing.”
Mike then went on to talk about how he understands the side of the Falcons fan base that wants the team to bring in Jackson.
“I get why a lot of people think that it’s a good fit and think that the Falcons are crazy for not bringing him in," said Johnson. "I understand the other side of the argument.”
However, Mike still believes that the Falcons shouldn’t bring in Jackson, but again was happy to hear Atlanta's coach be open and honest about the situation. Beau Morgan was also happy to hear Smith be open and honest about the situation, and he used that to drive home his point about the Falcons receiving unfair criticism for not pursuing Lamar.
“This is the problem for me," began Morgan. "We’ve seen the organization out there that’s had our owner and our head coach address this openly. Openly address it, and tell the truth, yet we are the national media bad guy.
“National pundits believe we’re the team that should pay the bill for what Lamar Jackson has done in his first five years, not Baltimore who he did it for.”
Tiffany Blackmon believes that some fans are unable to wrap their heads around the fact that the Falcons went after Deshaun Watson last year, but won’t go after Jackson this year, and that is the root of their frustration.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank did address that very topic and basically said that the difference between the Falcons going after Watson and not going after Jackson is that it’s a different player, different time, and a different year.
Between the comments of Smith and Blank, any Falcons fan that wanted the team to pursue Jackson and have been wondering why the Falcons aren’t pursuing Jackson should have plenty of closure by now, and should be able to start mentally preparing themselves to get behind and support Desmond Ridder.