Getty Image / Kevin C. Cox
The future of Lamar Jackson is completely up in the air right now as it appears nobody wants him on their roster.
With that said, the Atlanta Falcons recently admitted their reason why they chose not to pursue Jackson, and football fans find it a bit contradictive.
According to Dov Kleiman, head coach Arthur Smith claims the team did their homework on the superstar quarterback but ultimately decided not to pursue him.
Meanwhile, the Falcons owner Arthur Blank claims Lamar Jackson’s “availability” is why the team opted out on him.
Update: #Falcons coach Arthur Smith said the team "absolutely'' examined the idea of trading for Lamar Jackson, but declined.
Last week, owner Arthur Blank said the Lamar situation is "very different" than Deshaun Watson' from a year ago due to concerns with Lamar's availability pic.twitter.com/JOvpCR5OPB
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) April 2, 2023
The injury concern is real. That, plus the fact Jackson is pushing for a monster contract might just be scaring teams away.
However, football fans couldn’t help but think about how involved the Falcons were this time a year ago when they were pursuing Deshaun Watson.
Some are arguing that Watson had the same questions about his availability for his own reasons. So, the Falcons might just be contradicting themselves after all.
yep……….
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) April 2, 2023
A lot of people tend to forget about Watson’s injury history too.
Availability lol.
Yet he was willing to give up 8-17+ games to sign Watson.
Plus Watson has a history of 2 ACL tears, and Jackson has none.
— Jesse Morse, MD, MBA (@DrJesseMorse) April 2, 2023
Doesn’t make too much sense, does it?
Availability??? Watson was under investigation in multiple different cases at this point last year, and his suspension wasn’t announced til after he signed that contract.
— Ryan France (@RyanFrance1077) April 2, 2023
There is still plenty of time for someone to possibly make Lamar Jackson an offer. We should, however, rule the Falcons out of that race though.
Even if their reason comes off a bit contradictive.