Lamar Jackson’s $11.7 Million Superstar May Want Out of Baltimore — and Quickly
The Baltimore Ravens drafted Marquise Brown in 2019, thinking they just gifted star quarterback Lamar Jackson his go-to receiver for the next decade.
Jackson, who won the NFL MVP Award last year and is playing well this season, has more than done his part. Brown, a former standout receiver at the University of Oklahoma, can’t say the same.
Brown is certainly trying to make his presence felt in Baltimore. But if Brown’s Twitter outburst following a Week 8 loss is anything to go off of, the Baltimore Ravens may want to consider trading their second-year receiver.
Marquise Brown is in his second year with the Ravens
Marquise Brown originally began his college career at College of the Canyons, a California junior college, in 2016.
Within two years, Brown went from JUCO receiver and working at Six Flags Magic Mountain to cover his expenses to an All-American receiver at Oklahoma.
Baltimore used the 25th overall pick of the 2019 NFL draft on Brown, a dangerous receiver despite his diminutive frame; Brown clocks in at a generous 5 feet 9 inches and 170 pounds.
Brown impressed as a rookie, catching 46 passes for 584 yards and seven touchdowns across 14 games and 11 starts. The rookie also hauled in seven catches for 126 yards in Baltimore’s AFC divisional round loss to Derrick Henry and the Titans.
Given his impressive playoff debut, Brown entered the 2020 season with optimism — and although the optimism made sense, it has so far been proven wrong.
Brown has had a mixed sophomore year
At first glance, Marquise Brown isn’t having a poor sophomore season.
Brown caught 27 passes for 379 yards and two touchdowns in his first seven games. Across a full 16-game season, those numbers amount to 62 receptions, 866 yards, and five touchdowns.
Brown wouldn’t make an All-Pro team with numbers like that, but they’re not at all terrible.
The problem that Brown has is targets. There were only two games in the first seven where Lamar Jackson targeted Brown at least eight times.
Brown had four receptions for 86 yards on eight targets in a 31-17 victory over Chase Young and the Washington Football Team on October 4. A week later, Brown had a season-high six receptions for 77 yards and his first touchdown of the 2020 campaign in a 27-3 rout of Joe Burrow’s rebuilding Bengals team.
Brown had a season-low two targets in the Ravens’ Week 8 loss to the Steelers. He brought in his only catch for a 3-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Is Marquise Brown angling to get out of Baltimore?
Marquise Brown used the Twitter Machine to share how frustrated he is with Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.
In a deleted tweet, Brown asked, “[W]hat’s the point of having souljas when you never use them (Never!!!). In other words, Brown asked why the Ravens drafted him if they’re not throwing to him.
Brown posted another tweet, which he deleted, shouting out Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, who he played with at Oklahoma.
Brown doesn’t exactly have the most leverage to force a trade. Although he is certainly talented and a home-run threat, Brown is also on a rookie contract.
That works in two ways. Brown wouldn’t cost his new team a ton of money, but Baltimore can afford — pun intended — to keep him around as they continue to sign their core to long-term deals.
Baltimore should only consider trading Brown if he follows in his cousin’s footsteps. Antonio Brown is a nuisance and cancer in the locker room.
Marquise Brown hasn’t earned those titles just yet. But if Brown’s deleted tweet is a sign of things to come, Baltimore wouldn’t be blamed if they put a “for sale” sign on the receiver next spring.
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