Fox Sports analyst warns 'race card' could propel rookie QB to starting role
After the Baltimore Ravens traded up to take former Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson with the No. 32 overall pick in last month’s NFL draft, they made it clear that veteran Joe Flacco would remain the starter in 2018.
“Joe Flacco is our quarterback,” said coach John Harbaugh. “That’s the thing we have to remember. Lamar’s going to have a great chance to develop. This really doesn’t change things in a sense that we’re going to go with Joe, and Joe’s going to roll.”
However, the Ravens also have made it clear that the rookie won’t be sitting on the bench all season.
Jackson has unusual athletic ability for a quarterback — he rushed for more than 4,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in college, and ran a 4.34 40-yard dash last year. His skill set has been compared to that of former NFL star Michael Vick, who was coached in Philadelphia by current Ravens offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg and quarterbacks coach James Urban.
Harbaugh said Saturday during the team’s rookie minicamp that Baltimore is devising ways to get Jackson on the field.
“We do it in the laboratory,” the coach said. “We do it on the practice field. We ran a lot of stuff out here today you guys probably saw. We’re going to always try to get our players making plays for us, and Lamar is a guy that can help us win games.”
The Ravens used Jackson in a variety of ways during Saturday’s practice, Ryan Mink wrote on the team’s website. “How they used him won’t be divulged, however (that’s secret stuff),” Mink wrote.
On Fox Sports 1’s “Speak for Yourself” Monday, Colin Cowherd brought up Harbaugh’s comments and asked co-host Jason Whitlock whether Flacco should be worried about his starting quarterback gig.
“I think he should be worried about a quarterback controversy, because I think it’s already began,” Whitlock said. “‘They’re in the laboratory devising plays.’ To me, when I first heard it, I was like, ‘OK, they’re going to try to use him at receiver and try to get him on the field early.
“But I think the media, and particularly the woke media, is going to jump on this and play the race card and push the Lamar Jackson narrative, and I think it’s going to get complicated for Joe Flacco and that organization very quickly.”
Some in the mainstream media are already arguing for Jackson, who is black, to quickly supplant Flacco, who is white.
The Washington Post‘s Neil Greenberg called the decision to start Flacco in 2018 a “mistake.”
“Jackson needs to start from the opening whistle at training camp,” said Perry Green of The Afro-American.
Sports Illustrated‘s Andy Benoit wrote a lengthy article describing an imaginary midseason scenario in which Jackson takes over for Flacco.
This isn’t the first time Whitlock has spoken out about the influence of the liberal media on the NFL.
Last August, he wrote a commentary for The Wall Street Journal suggesting media supporters of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick were using the national anthem protests he started to try to damage the league, which he called a “conservative American television institution.”
“If his goal is to raise awareness around the issue of unfair policing involving black men, he is using a silence tactic no other activist has ever used and, at this point, it’s fair to question the effectiveness of his strategy,” wrote Whitlock, who is black. “But what if his goal is to drive a discussion focused on NFL ownership treating him in a racist manner? In that case, Mr. Kaepernick is serving as a Trojan Horse for the progressive media’s attack on an iconic institution. The NFL is the highest-rated show on NBC, FOX, CBS , ESPN and the NFL Network. It’s an important cultural force, and a conservative one. Mr. Kaepernick is a pretense to change the way football is discussed. It’s working this NFL offseason.”
Whether it happens in 2018 or beyond, there’s little doubt that Jackson is the Ravens’ quarterback of the future.
Flacco had one of the best postseasons in NFL history during the team’s 2012 Super Bowl run and then signed a six-year, $120 million blockbuster deal that made him the highest-paid player in the league.
Since then, however, the Ravens have made the playoffs only once, and Flacco’s mediocre performance and cap-crushing contract have received much of the blame.
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