I really like Arif Hasan. He is bright, funny, and self-deprecating. Outside of the fact that he is dead wrong on virtually every political-sociological issue, he has well-deserved success as a football writer.

But this article is nonsense: https://www.profootballnetwork.com/lamar-jackson-has-not-drummed-up-any-interest-and-thats-suspicious/

Why? A lot of sportswriters these days seem to have a secret desire to be Famous Political Pundits, wiping out poverty, racism, inequality, etc., and that the world really needs their expertise and understanding to succeed. Personally, I don't care what some ESPN host thinks of racism and poverty. I read them to find out about what team X is doing in the draft or player Y is asking for as a free agent signee.

Lamar Jackson is not drawing much interest as a free agent QB, particularly one who has made all-pro in the last three years. Why, when Derek Carr gets a big contract is Lamar languishing by the phone? You can tell that the commentators are itching to find racism, but are thwarted by the fact that the model contract Jackson is seeking to match is Deshaun Watson's. Watson got $250 million guaranteed; it was a bad deal and ridiculous for Cleveland to agree to it, but it is real and others are shooting for similar money.

The answer regarding Jackson is actually not hard to see, unless you are looking for a scandal, racism, or a crusade to write about. Why aren't teams lining up to send draft choices to Baltimore and then pay Jackson $250 million guaranteed?

Because: the NFL is a passing league- and Lamar Jackson is not a passer- he is a runner who throws. And as a runner, he has missed significant parts of the last two seasons due to injury. When a QB whose passing success depends on the threat of him running successfully hurts a knee, it changes everything. Remember Daunte Culpepper? He had great receivers, but a key element of his success was the threat of the run by a 250 lb behemoth who could suddenly stop and throw deep. After he tore his ACL and lost some mobility, he lost his game and crashed in Miami. Ditto Cam Newton. Etc.

Now, could Jackson learn to pass at an high NFL level? Perhaps. He should go back to Baltimore and prove it- then maybe his market value will approximate what he thinks it is. But right now, he is a recently gimpy college-level thrower who is not a real student of the passing game.