Belichick References Lamar Jackson's Contract as the Bromance Between the Two Heats Up

Scott Taetsch. Getty Images.

To be clear, "Bill Belichick Praises This Week's Opposing Quarterback," is not headline-worthy. Not now, not ever. This is, after all, a guy who has perfected the art of verbally propping up failures, short timers and backups. Perhaps not to the level of that time Ron Jaworski went on Monday Night Countdown and with a straight face told America, "I'm really excited to see Tyler Palko!!!" And those three exclamation points are not exaggerations. But for all the times over the years he's faced a Rex Grossman or a Matt Flynn, or any of the all-you-can-eat dog's breakfasts served up to him by the AFC East over the decades, he's never been at a loss for words to make the opposition's signal caller sound like he had the whole defensive coaching staff suffering four-chamber heart attacks. It's among his greatest gifts. 

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So when presented with an objectively elite QB/matchup nightmare and recent MVP like Lamar Jackson, he can do these press conferences in his sleep. Especially since he and Jackson have history. 

When Jackson was coming out of Louisville in 2018 and a lot of draft gurus still didn't know what to make of him, debating where he would land, whether he should just be converted to running back, and so on, the Patriots worked him out. As it happened, they passed on Jackson twice, taking Isaiah Wynn with the 23rd pick and Sony Michel with the 31st, allowing Baltimore to grab him one pick later. And since they went on to win the Super Bowl as Michel ripped off six TD and 112.0 YPG in the postseason, and Wynn is still anchoring their O-line at right tackle, it's hard to argue with their decisions. 

Still, the experience of meeting Belichick left an impression on Jackson that remains to this day:

And needless to say, Belichick shared the warmth with Jackson during his presser, as again, he is predisposed to do. It's this extra part he threw in that actually is headline-worthy. 

The full quote, emphasis mine:

Q: Obviously see him [Lamar Jackson] grow in the league, obviously came in and questions about whether he could be in the pocket. Does it seem as if he's answered some of these questions?

BB: Without a doubt. It's the type of the player, the MVP type of candidate. I think he's more than answered them. But, we'll see what his contract is, that will answer them.

That's an odd reference in an answer to a question like that. Shoehorned into the end of an otherwise simple answer about how good the player is. Just casually dropping his contract situation at the talks have broken down after months of trying, Jackson himself is refusing to take any more questions about it, and negotiations are in a total stalemate. Curiouser and curiouser.

It begs the question why HC Bill even brought it up. But the one universal truth we can all agree on is that it wasn't by accident. As the admiral tells Jack Ryan in Hunt For Red October, "A Russian don't take a dump without a plan, son." Neither does this autocrat. He went into this Q&A ready to mention Jackson's contract turmoil, found his opening and shot his shot. 

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Which leaves one of two possibilities. One, he's planting the seed for talks next offseason. Which might sound as farfetched as my fanfic where Mr. Kraft adopts me and appoints me his team's Executive Vice President of the Tailgate. But before we cross it off the list, it's worth noting that according to Over the Cap, the 2023 Patriots have the second most cap room in the league at just under $59 million. Personally, I'm on Team Mac Jones from now until the Heat Death of the universe. Impersonally, I can see GM Bill willing to leave no stone unturned to give himself every option available as he runs this franchise deep into his late 70s or beyond. And getting a QB who has 667 combined yards from scrimmage and seven touchdowns just two games into the season is a hell of an option.

But I still think any idea of signing Jackson next winter is Plan B. Or more accurately, Plan Z. Despite the praise for Jackson's abilities as a pocket passer, this is still an offense built to be driven by a pure pocket passer. Cam Newton was also a recent MVP when he was put at the controls, and we saw the result. Not that there's any comparison in terms of talent between 2023 Jackson and 2020 Newton. There isn't. Just that it seems to me they have exactly the type of system fit QB in place right now. For rookie contract money over the next several years. And the financial resources going forward to continue to build around him. Investing what it will take to land Jackson seems more of a pipe dream than me becoming the newest Kraft and getting paid to part-TAY. But it doesn't cost anything to put the idea in the Raven's franchise quarterback's head with 15 games to go in the season and his future so very, very much in doubt. Saying and doing anything you can to disrupt your enemy is so Sun-Tzu of Belichick, that I think that's what he was after. 

All that said though, if this contract situation isn't resolved as we head into free agency, the speculation about Jackson signing with New England is going to be positively bananas. Unless and until we get to this point, I'm going to go with the theory it was just a psychological ploy. A pretty damned good one, by the master of them.