Ravens appear to be planning for future without Lamar Jackson

The Baltimore Ravens hiring Todd Monken could indicate they are planning for a future without Lamar Jackson.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith dropped a bombshell on Friday when it came to the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson.

He was contacted by someone in Jackson’s camp and revealed a few details about what is going on in these endless contract negotiations. While much was made about Jackson supposedly never asking for a fully-guaranteed contract or getting only $133 million in guaranteed money from the Ravens, he was also never consulted about their huge offensive coordinator hire of Todd Monken.

Monken had overwhelming success during his three-year run at Georgia, but is returning to the NFL where he has worked previously. In theory, Jackson should be able to thrive in Monken’s offensive system anyway, but Baltimore’s decision to hire him without any input from its franchise quarterback is telling. The Ravens wanted to make sure they got a great coordinator above all else.

Here is what Smith had to say on behalf of Jackson’s camp when it came to the Monken hiring.

"“Lamar Jackson was never consulted or talked to or asked what his opinions would be. He was informed, ‘This is your new boss at the offensive coordinator spot, who will be calling plays for you.’”"

Here is the entire clip of Smith spilling some tea about the Ravens while on First Take Friday.

https://youtu.be/GplR4UocSuU

Lamar Jackson had no input in the Baltimore Ravens’ hiring of Todd Monken

It was a controversial decision to move on from Greg Roman anyway. Although the Ravens’ offense got increasingly stale after Jackson’s NFL MVP campaign in 2019, Roman did run a scheme that put Jackson in advantageous situations to succeed. It may have been more of a run-first approach than anything, but Baltimore was usually able to hold its own in the deeper AFC.

What this hiring of Monken means more than anything is the Ravens are committing to him in the long run, whether or not Jackson is a part of it. This is what savvy, well-run organizations like Baltimore do. They approach things proactively, as opposed to bending over backwards for a star player’s demands in the moment. The Ravens got a good one in Monken. I can assure you of that.

From his days in Athens and with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before that, Monken runs an offense quarterbacks will want to be a part of. It spreads the ball around effectively to a pretty much all of its receiving targets, as well as staying committed to the run throughout the ball game. If a quarterback is mobile and the offensive line is strong, this is an incredibly difficult offense to stop.

Jackson could link up with Monken in Baltimore, but the new offensive coordinator is here to stay.