Lamar Jackson‘s taken several visits recently as he readies for what will probably be a call from a team that’s selected him in the first round of the upcoming draft. He is not believed to have visited the Patriots yet, but they do appear to be monitoring the Louisville-honed dynamo.
The Patriots are the team that’s shown the most interest in Jackson, Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report writes, adding teams have been impressed with the quarterback’s intelligence. During an appearance on SportsCenter, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported he’d also heard plenty connecting the Patriots to Jackson.
Mortensen said he does not expect the Pats to move up from their No. 23 perch to land the quarterback but notes they would be interested in the dual-threat player if he’s there when New England’s initial first-round window opens.
The 2016 Heisman Trophy winner has met with the Saints, Ravens, Chargers and Browns. The latter franchise does not look to be a logical candidate to land Jackson, and the Patriots pick in front of the Saints. The Ravens could be a Jackson landing spot at No. 16. The Chargers haven’t selected a quarterback since 2013, and Philip Rivers may be a reasonable bet to retire after Tom Brady does, having expressed intentions to play into the 2020 season when the Bolts move into their new Los Angeles stadium. Brady, whose contract runs through 2019, also issued some praise (via Instagram) for Jackson this week.
New England has not selected a quarterback in the first round since Drew Bledsoe in 1993, but now that Jimmy Garoppolo is in San Francisco, the AFC East kingpin probably needs to look to identify a legitimate Brady successor. Robert Kraft said as much recently. The Patriots have also been linked to Baker Mayfield, but it would take an un-Patriot-like trade to move up into possibly the top five to have a chance at landing the latest Heisman winner. Jackson may well be gone by the time the Pats pick, but that’s not a lock.
I can confirm that Jackson is there guy if he falls
You can confirm?
I can confirm that you are speculating
Darn it all! Now I don’t know if I should be speculating that someone has confirmed or confirming that someone has speculated.
I can confirm that this is improper use of the word, “there.”
Their*
I heard they might take a minute and think about Barkley if he drops to 23 too. Can’t give up source though.
BUT CAN YOU CONFIRM IT?!
I’m hoping they pick me if I fall that far. Every year I declare myself draft eligible, just haven’t gotten that phone call yet…
How is it possible you’ve gotten no phone call?…your avatar is so distinctive from all the rest.
I can confirm that I had a ham and cheese for lunch. Sightings of mayo and mustard were unconfirmed.
Sounds like a crime scene to me.
Columbo visits Mayberry….lol
Steelers are monitoring him as well. Are we going to write articles every time the Patriots or any other team monitor a player? It’s called doing their job.
Hey, bloggers have a job to do to and part of that is reporting on other teams doing their job. Granted these articles aren’t as fascinating as the stuff on Beckham, Kaepernick and Manziel but you can’t please everyone and it’s pointless to try.
You team up trolls must have really pathetic lives.
Though this probably won’t work, I’m going to try to blame it on all the cartoon characters I was exposed to as a child.
Yeah cause the NE fans never troll, give me a break man. Just your comment here speaks volumes of your arrogance and ignorance
The Patriots are expending some effort to convince everyone they won’t trade up so we all know what that means. You would be hard pressed to find a talent gap larger than the one that exists between Brady and his primary backup Hoyer. If New England can find a way to bolster their depth there, it would be rather silly not to pursue it.
You’ve never seen Landry Jones behind Ben in Pittsburgh
That is a sizeable talent drop as well but maybe less critical because the Steelers defense was higher ranked than the one in New England and rarely leaves a QB in a position where he has to rally for 2 TDs in the final quarter.
Lamar Jackson doesn’t close that gap much….if at all…..
That’s just crazy talk. Hoyer wasn’t even drafted and Jackson is a projected first rounder. The scouts aren’t always right but they rarely miss the mark by that much.
Bingo! Preach on…
– JaMarcus Russell
Ryan leaf and any QB drafted by the Browns would like included
I would rather have Mayfield than Jackson! Dual threat QB’s always end up injured!
“A;ways” is a bit strong, I think. Russell Wilson has started 96 of a possible 96 regular season games. Fran Tarkenton missed three games in the first 16 years of his career.
I like Jackson quite a bit as a prospect, but there is an awful lot of smoke about this guy going to NE. Thing is, I can’t really remember a time when you could say the Patriots are transparent in what they’re doing. If the smoke is that Patriots like Jackson then the fire is probably somewhere else entirely. Belichick could decide to throw us all off and trade his whole draft for Barkley (Ricky Williams style).
If Pats were interested you would not know about it. So funny to read this. They don’t leak who they “like” unless it’s to point other teams in his direction.
Seriously. Everyone who’s not drafting a qb is praying everyone else is drafting a qb.