On Monday, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson announced on Twitter that he had requested a trade. Recently, the Ravens slapped the Non-Exclusive Franchise tag on Jackson, which allows the former MVP to negotiate with other teams.
One team that is not interested in Jackson is the Washington Commanders. On Tuesday, Commanders head coach Ron Rivera was asked if the team was interested in Jackson. According to Rivera, they were not.
“No, we never did,” Rivera said at the 2023 NFL Annual Meeting in Phoenix. “Honestly, we never did. It is just something that we just didn’t feel suited what we wanted to do. I know he’s a tremendous talent and a player that can impact your team. I just didn’t think, and we sat down and talked about it, that it was the direction for us as a football team.”
Rivera explained why the Commanders decided not to look into acquiring Jackson.
“I mean, again, you look at what the impact on your roster building is,” he said. “What were the assets that we would have to use to get him? What would the financial impact be? These are the things that we have to think about separate from anyone else. This is why we did what we’re doing. We were able to keep the defensive line guys that we have in place. We have a couple of other guys we have to think about on the defensive side, three guys that we feel are part of the core that we are trying to put together.
“We want to build up the offensive line. We have some dynamic playmakers. We are in a position now if you want to do something different; it may impact those dynamic playmakers, that front that you’re trying to build. We are roster building for the first time and feel really good about doing the things that we are trying to do right now.”
Rivera and the Commanders are confident that 2022 fifth-round pick QB Sam Howell or veteran Jacoby Brissett can get the job done in 2023. We’ll see if that was the right choice going forward.
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