Lamar Jackson responds to claims he 'sat out' due to ongoing contract dispute

29 March 2023 , 16:10

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Lamar Jackson has responded to claims he sat out of games in 2022

Lamar Jackson has hit back at claims that he sat out of games last season on social media.

The superstar quarterback did not play for the Ravens in their last five games of the season after struggling with a knee injury, said to be a grade two PCL strain. And it came in interesting circumstances, with the Ravens head coach John Harbaugh having spoken as if they had expected Jackson to return weeks before he remained sidelined, with the player himself essentially ruling himself out after he said that he does not feel comfortable on his knee.

Harbaugh declared Jackson as 'week-to-week' at the beginning of December, but Jackson was not even able to return for the Ravens' playoff loss to division rival Cincinnati Bengals - and he did not even travel with the team - a rare situation for a starting quarterback to not even be on the sidelines.

The Baltimore Ravens and the player continued in negotiations to give him a new contract this offseason, but the star quarterback requested a trade away from the franchise on March 2, as he confirmed on Twitter.

Jackson was hit with a non-exclusive franchise tag by the Ravens earlier this offseason, allowing him to speak to other teams regarding a trade. The tag allowed the Ravens to match any incoming offer, but Jackson has decided that he wishes to move on from Baltimore.

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And after remaining largely silent throughout the process, Jackson has now responded to fans who are accusing him of sitting out of games last season because of his dispute with the team, rather than having a legitimate injury.

Jackson tweeted: "I don’t remember me sitting out on my guys week 1 vs jets To week 12 vs Broncos. How come all of a sudden I sit out because of money in which I could’ve got hurt at anytime within that time frame. When we know the Super Bowl been on my mind since April 2018.

Jackson is looking to leave the Ravens (Courtney Culbreath/Getty Images)

"Let’s get real. I rather have a 100% PCL than go out there and play horrible forcing myself to put my guys in a bad situation now that’s selfish to me."

In response to a fan asking why he sat out if he was reportedly ready to play, but not at full fitness. Jacskon tweeted: "90% is 100% to me I wasn’t there at all. So are you gonna continue to question me after this statement as well?"

When asked on why he didn't travel to the Ravens playoff game, he said: "After I travelled to the Pittsburgh game my PCL got inflated so a few of us discussed it and I got the ok to stay so I could try in recover faster."

Charlie Wilson