MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

Tension lingers between Bill Belichick, Mac Jones

After the 2022 season ended, Patriots coach Bill Belichick wouldn’t commit to Mac Jones as the starting quarterback. Last week, Belichick made it clear that Jones and Bailey Zappe will each have a chance to play in 2023.

At a deeper level, there’s dysfunction between Belichick and Jones.


It started with Jones being on the wrong side of the failed experiment to replace offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels with, well, not an offensive coordinator. As Chris Simms explained on Monday’s PFT Live, Jones actually started calling members of the Alabama coaching staff in order to get some information as to how to properly run the offense under long-time defensive coach Matt Patricia.

“That really pissed Bill off,” Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston said Monday on WEEI.

It also pissed Mac off to be the guinea pig for Belichick’s unrestrained hubris.

Curran also explained that Brian Hoyer isn’t with the Patriots any longer in large part because Hoyer wasn’t on board with the offense in 2022.

It bears watching throughout the offseason program and beyond. Will Belichick, who was placed firmly on the hot seat last week by team owner Robert Kraft, go with Jones or Zappe? Will Belichick explore adding another quarterback and perhaps trading Jones to the Raiders?

The current situation doesn’t feel sustainable. It makes sense to watch how long it’s sustained.

PFT

 

Another quarterback is reuniting with Josh McDaniels.

Brian Hoyer has signed a two-year deal with the Raiders, according to agency JL Sports.

Hoyer and McDaniels were together from 2017-2018 and from 2020-2021 with the Patriots when McDaniels was in his second stint as the club’s offensive coordinator.

 

Jets G.M. Joe Douglas on Aaron Rodgers: “He’s gonna be here”



At the moment, Aaron Rodgers remains a Packer. Before the season starts, Rodgers will be a Jet.

That’s the promise made by Jets General Manager Joe Douglas, who attended an event on Friday night hosted by WFAN and stated categorically that the Jets will trade for Rodgers.

Asked by Boomer Esiason about Rodgers, Douglas answered, “He’s gonna be here.”

Jets fans in the crowd met that response with a loud roar.

Still, no trade is done until it’s done. The Jets and Packers have to agree on a trade, and so far they haven’t done it. When they do, Rodgers will be there.

PFT

 

Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has settled most of the civil lawsuits filed against him for alleged sexual misconduct during massage-therapy sessions. Two remain.

In one of them, Watson will be questioned under oath on Monday, according to Tom Withers of the Associated Press.

 

Report: Lamar Jackson recruited Odell Beckham to Baltimore

Lamar Jackson is not under contract to the Ravens, but he’s acting as if he expects to be the quarterback in Baltimore in 2023.

Jackson recruited wide receiver Odell Beckham to Baltimore and the two of them celebrated together after Beckham signed, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

The report says Beckham has “a clear understanding” that Jackson will be the quarterback throwing to him this season.

The Ravens paid far more than any other team was believed to be offering Beckham, and it may be that they were motivated in part because they thought signing Beckham would help smooth things over with Jackson. Giving Jackson a receiver he wants may be a step toward getting Jackson to sign a contract worth less than he wants.

Jackson remains a free agent who could sign an offer sheet with another team, but the Ravens would be able to match the offer sheet, and if they didn’t that team would have to give the Ravens its next two first-round draft picks. There has been no indication that any team is planning to sign Jackson to an offer sheet, which would mean the Ravens are his only option.

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Gotta feel sorry for Ravens fans... what a bunch of dramatic Bull Shit they are going through.

 

I've gotta wonder, did Jackson think that teams would be lining up to sign him regardless of the price. It's a hard dose of reality for him. He'll make money but how much does he miss out on because of his hard-line stance?

 

I think Jackson thinks he’s better than he really is and doesn’t realize that he can’t please the devas at WR because his passes aren’t on target enough. He needs WRs with ridiculously catch radius like Andrews to be able to catch his passes. Beckum is desperate to get a contract or he would have gone somewhere else to avoid that.

 

In the case of the money... I think, quite a bit... he has shot himself in the foot. On the other hand, if he plays for the Ravens in 2023, he will make $30M. I think he'll be able to buy groceries, but i still think he's a jerk. Wouldnt want him on my football team, period.

 

Whats weird to me is Baltimore giving him $30M, guaranteed and if Lamar had anything to do with this as some say he did, Lamar must be planning on playing in 2023. So, if the Ravens are paying $60M for a Lamar to OBJ thing, they are dumber than I thought.

 

It’s going to be funny watching Odell freak out because Lamar can’t throw a decent pass his way.

 

The FUCK I do!!!!

 

The FUCK I do!!!!


LOL..........good line Irish.......and that's the Truth.

 

lol... I was waiting for that!

 

Bailey Zappe ready to compete for starting job if “my opportunity presents itself”



Patriots coach Bill Belichick declined this offseason to name Mac Jones the starter over Bailey Zappe. So there may . . . or may not be a competition for the starting job for 2023.

Zappe is ready to compete if given the chance.

“If my opportunity presents itself, I’m going to take full advantage of it,” the Patriots’ second-year quarterback said Wednesday at a youth football clinic, via Bob Socci of 98.5 The Sports Hub. “I’m going to do everything I can to help the team win.

“That’s really all I can say from that standpoint. That’s coach Belichick’s decision; whatever he decides. But if the opportunity presents itself, I’m going to be ready and take advantage of it.”

In the four games he played, including two starts when Jones was injured, Zappe became a fan favorite and even won over some Patriots players, according to retired safety Devin McCourty. Zappe won both of his starters and had a 100.9 passer rating for the season with five touchdowns and three interceptions.

That created a quarterback controversy that Belichick fueled with his comments at the annual owners meeting, saying “everybody will get a chance to play, and we’ll play the best players.”

Jones has done nothing to earn the starting job without a competition, so the battle likely commences next week when the Patriots begin their offseason program.

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Absolutely going to be a QB competition. BB aint no fool and Jones hasnt solidified jack, so Zappe, IMO, will get all the opportunity in the world to snag the job.

 

Why? The JETS need to kick this clown show to the curb

 

Why?? It's the Jets. When was the last time they did anything right?

 

1968 Joe Namath! Broadway baby!

 

IMO Aaron Rodgers I just don't see Aaron Rodgers and the Jets in the SƁ,do the JETS need a QB yes they do is Aaron Rodgers the answer ? don't think so

 

Report: Packers are still holding out for a 2024 first-round pick for Aaron Rodgers



Last month, Packers G.M. Brian Gutekunst admitted that the team won’t necessarily get a first-round pick for quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

That apparently hasn’t stopped them from trying.

Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports recently said on the Wilde and Tausch show that the Packers still want a second-round pick in 2023 and a first-round pick in 2024 for the quarterback the Packers no longer want on the team.

Robinson added that the Packers are also willing to give a 2025 draft pick back to the Jets, if Rodgers retires after the 2023 season.

For now, what the Packers want and what the Jets will offer is meaningless. The two sides won’t move to their true bottom-line positions until the clock begins to strike 12. Prematurely sliding toward the best either side is willing to do can quickly become an expectation to do even better. The right move will be for both sides to unveil their best offers at the last minute and to hope the two circles of the Venn diagram at least kiss.

If not, someone will have to give a little at a time when the chariot is about to morph into a pumpkin. In this case, it would mean the Packers won’t get a second-round pick in 2023. It also could mean that they’ll wait until 2024 to get any draft-pick compensation for Rodgers.

Regardless, there’s no reason to think the deal won’t get done. If it’s not done before the 2023 draft comes and goes, it will come after that. It will happen no later than Week One.

Unless the Packers really are willing to adopt the approach Bakhtiari suggested earlier this week, paying Rodgers nearly $60 million this year to not play.

PFT

 

Ravens QB Lamar Jackson Reportedly Demanded Odell Beckham Jr., DeAndre Hopkins

The Ravens' signing of Odell Beckham Jr. should indicate to Lamar Jackson that the team is serious about keeping him. But does Lamar see it that way?

As the Lamar Jackson vs. Baltimore Ravens imbroglio continues, Jackson apparently is still making demands to the team even without having committed to playing by signing the non-exclusive franchise tag.

As reported by former NFL executive Michael Lombardi on The Lombardi Line, Jackson requested the Ravens bring in wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and DeAndre Hopkins in the offseason.

If that happened, the QB would have more interest in returning to Baltimore next season.

“I was told reliably by somebody who is involved that Lamar told them in a conversation, ‘Get Hopkins and get Beckham and then we can talk.'” The team reportedly responded by saying “we can’t get Hopkins and Beckham.”

The Ravens reportedly could not afford both, but of course, recently landed one, in Odell Beckham Jr., with a one-year deal worth up to $18 million. And that reportedly made Jackson happy.

Jackson posted to social media a recording of a Facetime video of the two talking, and that got Ravens fans excited.

Jackson had requested a trade earlier in the offseason, but perhaps the signing of Beckham is enough to keep him in Baltimore. Only Jackson knows the answer to that.

But the signing of Beckham Jr. should indicate to Lamar that the Ravens are serious about keeping him happy and bringing him back.

During his introductory press conference, Beckham sent a message to Jackson, and clearly, he wants to catch passes from the former league MVP.

“I don’t know if he called me [or] I called him or whatever, but he was just like, obviously truzz, but he was just excited about it,” Beckham said.

“Lamar, I don’t know if you’re watching, I would love to get to work with you. I’ll talk to these guys over here and hopefully, that gets done.”

RAVENS COUNTRY