It's A Doomsday Scenario In Baltimore: Lamar Jackson Tweeted That He Officially Requested A Trade From The Ravens On March 2nd

Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck.

Lamar Jackson has seemingly taken action into his own hands. Maybe it's a power play to try to force the Ravens to up an offer and he's just bluffing, or maybe it's genuine. Only Lamar really knows. But by the stench of everything that's transpired the past 18 months, this is a very real trade request. I've been bracing myself for this for months, and things are starting to happen.

I'm not really sure what other tactics Lamar had in the playbook at this point. He clearly wants what he wants, and he isn't getting it in Baltimore. We can all agree or disagree on whether his demands are reasonable til the end of time. I tend to think it's short-sighted on his end to expect to get an anomaly of a contract structure like DeShaun Watson's deal, especially from an owner who made earned his meal ticket to the NFL by building a staffing empire. I also think that if his dream is to help a team win the Super Bowl, he needs to see a bigger picture and realize that's a whole lot tougher to do when his contract situation is putting guys like Calais Campbell out on the street. But at the end of the day, he wants what he wants and he's trying to take action on it. My opinion does not matter, only his and the 32 owners willing (or not willing) to write the check.

What's wild and clearly a tactical play here timing-wise is that Lamar is dropping this bomb right as Coach Harbs is meeting with the media at the annual coaches breakfast. Harbaugh's message as I'm typing this continues to be the same:

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It's clear the Ravens are determined to take the high road on this all the way through. And why wouldn't they? They're going to say all the best things they possibly can about Lamar until a potential trade is signed sealed delivered. Gotta keep that trade value up all they can. 

Who knows how it'll play out. I'm not a total contract guru, but perhaps a sign-and-trade is in play? I just know that contract bonuses would be a major issue as that would result in a cap hit for the Ravens after they ship him off. Maybe they can set up a one-year deal, trade him, and the new team can trash the one year deal and give him a new one? I'm spitballing. 

It's just a sad sad day that things have gotten to this point. One step closer until all of this is over...