The Atlanta Falcons recently sacked their head coach Arthur Smith

Arthur Blank and Desmond Ridder (Via Sports Illustrated and 247 Sports)

The Atlanta Falcons have been attracting a lot of news space after sacking the veteran head coach Arthur Smith following three consecutive losing seasons. Since taking charge, the former head coach only managed to win 21 games against 30 losses. He had consecutive 7-10 record in three seasons. The consecutive losing seasons had enough of the owner and hence the HC got sacked.

After the termination, the owner faced the media where he was asked whether the team made any wrong decision by choosing Desmond Ridder over Lamar Jackson. The owner did not acknowledge that. Denying the situation, the veteran owner said that his team was not in a position to make the deal happen.

The owner said, speaking to the reporters:
I don’t think so. I mean, it’s easy to say ‘yes’ given his year, and he’s obviously an incredible player. You know, we did not have the cap space. I think the coaching staff felt — coach and personnel, all of us felt collectively, with certainly coach and Terry that we felt we had an answer in [Desmond[ Ridder, a younger player without that kind of contract that would’ve kept us from actually building the team we wanted to build.

Arthur Blank to the media
The future of Lamar Jackson seemed uncertain this offseason when the QB was having a tough time with his franchise Baltimore Ravens. The quarterback asked for a better contract and the Ravens were hesitant to provide him that. The Falcons had a chance at that time to sign him, nonetheless, the conversation did not go ahead.

#Falcons owner Arthur Blank said they don’t regret not trying to pursue Lamar Jackson. The HC and GM felt they had an answer in Desmond Ridder.

Blank says he has no idea if the Ravens would’ve matched had they tried…

Here’s his full answer: pic.twitter.com/sRelk0GKp6

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 8, 2024

The quarterback later signed with the Ravens with a better contract. He provided a performance that the Ravens fans would remember for their entire life.

The Falcons had a cap problem

The Falcons wanted to sign the quarterback, however, they faced a cap problem. The owner did not want to spend 25% of his cap space on one player. The team had a $224.8 million cap, and 25% would have been more than $55 million. Jackson signed a huge contract with the Ravens and he had a $22.15 million cap.

Blank said addressing the media:

I think the result of that thinking was let’s stay the course. Let’s continue to pursue the vision that we have now. And go from there. it’s not a criticism of Lamar. You can debate whether or not he would’ve been available or not. Who knows if they were able to match whatever offers were on the table? I don’t know that. I’m not sure. But certainly a great player. He certainly had a great year.

Arthur Blank on not signing Lamar Jackson

Lamar Jackson has had an MVP-caliber year (via WMAR)
Seeing the mammoth season that the QB had in the Ravens, the fans of the Falcons might be cursing the management in silence.