New report reveals if Patriots will pursue Ravens' Lamar Jackson

There's yet another indication that the New England Patriots won't be speaking with Baltimore Ravens star quarterback Lamar Jackson about a contract this spring.

ESPN's Mike Reiss reported on Friday that "Patriots team sources confirmed what the Boston Sports Journal first reported Tuesday: Barring an unexpected change in plans, Jackson is not a 2023 consideration for the Patriots." 

Earlier in the week, Greg A. Bedard of Boston Sports Journal noted that "three league sources close to the situation" said Patriots ownership wasn't keen on pursuing Jackson regardless of what head coach Bill Belichick thought about his availability. NFL national insider Jeff Howe of The Athletic later reported that the draft picks New England would have to send to Baltimore combined with Jackson's alleged salary requests is "not a price the Patriots would be willing to pay" for the one-time NFL Most Valuable Player. 

On Thursday, Dan Graziano of ESPN explained that "Jackson is insisting on getting more fully guaranteed money than the $230M" in fully guaranteed cash Deshaun Watson received from the Cleveland Browns last year. 

Bedard also wrote that "the Patriots believe that (starting quarterback) Mac Jones deserves a real shot after not being put in a position to succeed by Belichick last season." 

After Jones struggled throughout his second pro campaign and reportedly clashed with Belichick over trying to fix the team's offense, New England hired Bill O'Brien as its new offensive coordinator with the hopes that O'Brien can help Jones reclaim the form that made him a Pro Bowl selection as a rookie. 

Reiss added in his latest update that "the Patriots are committed to seeing if Jones — who Belichick recently said has the skills to play in the NFL — can get back on track and realize the potential they identified in making him the 15th overall pick of the 2021 draft." 

Reiss also said that the Patriots "want to see Jones step up as a leader." 

Interestingly, Reiss's story was posted after Belichick refused to commit to Jones as his QB1 over 2022 rookie Bailey Zappe or any other candidates. 

"Every position. Everybody will get a chance to play," Belichick said during the annual league meetings about a possible quarterback competition, per Chris Mason of MassLive. "Everybody that’s on our roster, if they earn the opportunity to play, then based on what they do in practice and all that, then they’ll get an opportunity to play. Certainly, veteran players that have been on the team before, if they’re still on the team, they’ll all get an opportunity to play."