Smoke Break: Tremaine Edmunds, the Baltimore Ravens, & Lamar Jackson.

On the latest episode of Smoke Break, Z-Bot was joined by Baltimore radio personality Bobby Trosset. Together, they covered the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson contract situation, Tremaine Edmunds, and plenty more. Let’s get into it.

Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens (6:43)

As always, the Buffalo Bills should have their eyes on their opponents. In a dangerous AFC, the Baltimore Ravens are just another such enemy. They have a significant question looming over their heads, however. What is going on with Lamar Jackson?

Reportedly acting as his own agent, he has yet to secure a new contract, and is currently about to play on the final year of his rookie deal. The team picked up his fifth-year option, costing them $23M, all of which is against the salary cap. It was a smart move because it bought them time. They may need it, as Lamar Jackson seems unhurried in his negotiating, much to fans’ chagrin.

But do they believe in his play long-term? Isn’t their faith in him to return them to form as the team gets healthy this season? What is Lamar Jackson worth, per year? The value of the former MVP is hard to gauge. His up-and-down career so far has been polarizing, to say the least.

Tremaine Edmunds (56:26)

Speaking of polarizing topics, Tremaine Edmunds is one for the Buffalo Bills fanbase. Every time he’s discussed, the answer always seems to be one of two things: trade him or extend him. Players of his size with his traits are rare and, though he’s got his problems, he has a significant role in the defense. There’s a reasonable argument that he improves the defense around him, and has suffered from a weak defensive line in front of him so far in his career.

That being said, Tremaine Edmunds doesn’t hit like his frame should allow, and fails to grasp players running away from him with any kind of consistency. He’s still young, and has plenty of room to grow into, but the limited noticeable improvement over his last few seasons might prove he’s not capable of taking the next step. It might be prudent to find his replacement, while he’s still under contract and capable of commanding trade value. At the same time, should we lose an important piece of the defense during our Super Bowl window? This might be the best Buffalo Bills team we’ve ever seen, and removing starting-calibre players rarely makes us better.

The Rest of the Night

Z-Bot and Bobby covered a wealth of other topics, from the importance of having a true WR1 (26:45) to the Buffalo Bills’ biggest need (49:33). They also had a conversation about the changing landscape of the sports media market (1:21:17). Check all of this out and more on the latest episode of Smoke Break, on the Buffalo Fanatics YouTube channel.