Patriots legend warns Lamar Jackson not to play for Bill Belichick
By Scott Rogust
Former New England Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel warned Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson against playing for head coach Bill Belichick.
There is uncertainty surrounding the Baltimore Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson. While the Ravens placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson, which allows him to talk contracts with interested teams, there were a few quarterback needy teams who bowed out quickly.
Then, Jackson revealed this past Monday that he had requested a trade off the Ravens back on March 2.
Recently, Jackson had been linked to the New England Patriots, via rapper Meek Mill texting team owner Robert Kraft. But former Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel warned Jackson from playing for head coach Bill Belichick.
Asante Samuel warns Lamar Jackson against playing for Bill Belichick
“Lamar Jackson, my brother trust me you don’t want to play for Belichick,” wrote Samuel.
Samuel was a fourth-round draft pick by the Patriots in 2003 out of Central Florida, and spent five seasons with the organization. During that span, he won two Super Bowl titles in three trips to the big game, and made the Pro Bowl once.
Earlier this year, Samuel spoke about the “negative environment” in New England under Belichick in an interview with the Betway Insider.
“It was not a good experience. People think we won, and that was great, but when we lost, the players would be depressed and down,” said Samuel. “I remember one day vividly. We won the game, but he cussed everybody out after the game. Everybody’s walking around with their head down, and I’m like, ‘What the hell is wrong with you? Pick your head up. Don’t let this man take you down. We just won.’ Do you know how hard it is to win games in the NFL? I never fell for none of that stuff.”
As mentioned earlier, Kraft revealed that Meek Mill texted him, informing him that Jackson wanted to play for the Patriots. Kraft said that that decision was up to Belichick.
As for Belichick, he told the media at the annual league meeting that he wouldn’t talk about players that weren’t on his team.
The Athletic’s Jeff Howe reported that Jackson joining the Patriots is “just not going to happen.”
Even with Samuel’s warning about joining the Patriots, it sounds like it’s not going to happen based off recent reports.