QB Carousel: Qadry Ismail, Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl Champion

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That's betterhelp.com slash positive. Step right up here. Don't be shy. The Super Bowl is over, but the NFL quarterback carousel is just beginning. You could ask yourself a question.

Do I feel lucky? What does the future hold for all 32 NFL teams at the QB position? I'm going to give you an opportunity to spin this wheel right here. Let's spin the wheel and find out which teams we hit today. The Baltimore Ravens. Feels like we talk about the Baltimore Ravens each and every day with the uncertain future, let's just say, of their quarterback in Lamar Jackson. Now joining us, one of our favorites, Kadre Ismail, who won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens, and he is here today. Obviously does a great work, great job with WJZ CBS Baltimore. Kadre Q, what's going on? Zach, what up, what up?

So I got to start you off. What do you think is the truth with all this offseason talk with Lamar Jackson and the Ravens? Are there anywhere close to getting a deal done in your opinion?

Not anytime soon. I think the main thing is the fact that there's been a lot of he said, she said, and some misreporting, misnumbers, and a lot of guessing that's going on because this isn't a typical quarterback deal that has an agent and that has people talking about it from the standpoint of the agent leaking anything or the camp of the player. And then the insider gets the information and they push it out there and the team has insiders that will leak out information and team sources. All those things are so different in this particular case. That's what makes it so unique. And I think for a lot of fans, it makes it so much more frustrating.

I almost want to just take an aspirin because whenever I think I know something about this, there's information literally the next day that's going to totally conflict whatever I thought I knew about this situation. Yeah, that's right. Whether it be the amount of guarantees or was there no guarantees or was there a Deshaun Watson total guarantee? Was there consultation on who is going to be the new officer coordinator or not? And it just it really is.

It's a turn into a three ring circus. Do you agree with the notion that the Ravens are ready to move on with Lamar Jackson? They're fine if this comes to an end? Do I think that the Ravens will be comfortable with moving on from Lamar Jackson?

Yes. Would the Pittsburgh Steelers be comfortable moving on from Ben Roethlisberger when he was in his prime? Or how about Aaron Rodgers when he was in his prime? Or how about when you look at Patrick Mahomes when now what he's been able to do now and he's in his prime? You know, you just don't move away from franchise quarterbacks. You don't move away from generational talented players, you know, unless you got some kind of a shorty that the next guy is going to be the next guy. Heck, I think for Indianapolis Colts they thought their next guy was Andrew Luck after they moved on from Peyton Manning and we saw what happened with Andrew, his body breaking down and him retiring. So, you know, I don't think it's as easy as that. I'm in agreement with you, but then it's like if all is what it takes, Kadriah Smile, is $230 million fully guaranteed, like why not just do that if you really think Lamar Jackson is the guy?

That's what makes it open up the question if they actually believe he's that great. So it's also called negotiation. It's also called the owner. The owner, ultimately, as much as we want to say, well, the general manager, he's the one that, you know, controls the whole flow of this.

Not really. When you're talking this level of money, you're talking ownership signing off on a mega deal like this. And so I think for Steve Ushadi, even last year, he was saying and talked about how the Browns deal was an outlier and now everyone is using that as a buzzword because they're searching for information and they're searching for things. The thing is, I think when you look at this entire situation, it's about what we're going to negotiate. And owners love their money. And even though, you know, collective bargaining wise, you have to give a portion over to the players.

They still like to hold on to their money. So I think this is just part of the plan of trying to figure out, you know, the parameters of the deal and making the deal happen. If they don't get a deal done this offseason, do you have any optimism that they'll get a deal done next offseason? Because you could franchise tag him for two years, pretty much is how this is going to go down potentially. But then you start to wonder if you're the Ravens. Well, what happens if we don't get a deal done? You can't just let him walk for a compensatory third pick two years from now.

I mean, it is what it is. What does that mean? It means that if Lamar isn't getting what he wants and he is going to sign the franchise tag.

OK, cool. You get your guaranteed money. Then at the same time, you know, the following year, it would be kind of interesting how that would all unfold as far as trying to trade him. But you also got to know this, that, you know, this league is a what have you done for me lately? And what we know is, is that I'm sure the Ravens are going to try to talk as far as Lamar is concerned. Hey, look, you hadn't played a full, you know, season in two seasons. And when it comes to your contemporaries, especially the guys in our division, Joe Burrow.

Well, we know this, that he basically has taken his team to the Super Bowl and has won playoff games on the road as well as at home. So I think the big picture in all this is for Lamar Jackson and for the team. I think it's both of them in their best interest to get something done. It's just a matter of how they all will unfold.

It's going to be fascinating to see the way that it plays out. But do you have full confidence that he'll be on the roster week one? Like you don't envision him getting traded this off season.

I have no idea. I like I said, he's a franchise guy. He's a guy that is, you know, basically a generationally talented player. And I think if they are talking, you know, new offensive coordinator and Tom Monken has ideas and plans on how to, you know, make this an awesome situation for Lamar.

He'll be here. And that's that's how I'm kind of viewing it. Are the fans at all growing to a point because the Ravens are this great organization for the last 20 years.

We have always believed in the Baltimore Ravens. Are the fans starting to lose a little faith here with how long these negotiations have talked about? Like, Kadri, we've talked about this thing for two years going on.

You're number three. Well, I think now that Greg Roman is no longer the offensive coordinator, I think the fan base is happy. But yes, I think now there's a little bit of unease because they're not really sure. You know, usually you're talking about draft picks and all that. I think Wednesday's press conference is going to be very telling. I could totally see John Harbaugh, you know, kind of deflecting everything over to Eric Costa. I'm like, well, hey, you know, we really want Lamar. We want Lamar. Lamar wants to be here.

He wants to be a Raven. He'll say all those things and then he'll defer it over to Eric Costa. And then Eric Costa is going to sit there and he's going to be coy and he's going to be very diplomatic. And, you know, it's a delicate situation. He's probably going to talk about how, you know, they got a deal done with Roquan Smith, who is his own representative, and how, you know, they had to do Ronnie Stanley. And it took a long time.

But it got done. And so, you know, they're talking about, you know, the generic thing. But I think ultimately, fan base wise, they're going to be, you know, hanging on every word that is said and trying to decipher it, because ultimately, you know, they know that there's a fresh new feeling of hope for this offense to really thrive and come into its own. And a lot of it has to do on the shoulders of Lamar Jackson and what Eric Costa can do as far as bringing in the talent and what Todd Monken can do to cultivate that talent. We've talked about this a lot, Kadri, just even in this conversation. A lot of the questions have been, do the Ravens want to get this deal done?

Is there skepticism? I just wonder, and you know how negotiations go, when you have an agent, any of the negative stuff gets said really to the agent. And then when the contract's ready to go, they bring that over to the player. Like, I've done that in my own negotiation by agent.

I don't know what the heck manager says about me. And then when they get a deal done or close to it, then they bring me in with Lamar and his mom being so closely tied to that, representing themselves. I just wonder if maybe Lamar's at a point where it's like, oh, we haven't heard a whole lot of positive things.

We haven't got a deal done. Maybe I don't want a player in Baltimore anymore. Well, I mean, he's been a unique player and the way he thinks, the way he operates, obviously last year he could have held out if he felt that way. I don't think that's in Lamar's nature. I know he's both teammate-wise as well as publicly has declared his high affinity for wanting to play here in Baltimore. So I mean, something could change.

Sure. I mean, anything where, but this is the thing we don't know. And so therefore we're just, we are straight up stretching, reaching, guessing.

And every time you think you figured it out, you know, there's something different that, that comes about right as of now. I think Lamar's going to be a Raven. And I think he wants to be a Raven. I think he wants to, you know, do what he said he wanted to do on draft day, which is bring the Ravens a Super Bowl championship. Off of that, and I know you talked about him not being on the field at the end of the year, the last two years, also some of the shortcomings in the playoffs.

And let me preface this. I'm a believer in Lamar Jackson. I've been a believer since he got drafted and all that stupid debate happened at the combine about him potentially changing positions. Do you have confidence that Lamar can win a Super Bowl and will win a Super Bowl in this league one day?

Well, yeah, absolutely. I, I think that, um, his, his record as far as regular season wise and doing what he needs to do, uh, speaks for itself. I think what will win this Ravens ball club with him at quarterback, a world championship. They need to add more pieces to the, to the table so he can, he can, uh, work and do his thing without having to do everything.

That's a good point you bring up because I know they, they tried, right? They drafted Marquise Hollywood Brown, they drafted Rashad Bateman. I think you got to go get a bonafide number one wide receiver in there and for whatever the reasons are via trade or free agency, they just haven't been willing to do that. Well, I think, you know, part of it is, yeah. Um, I, I saw a report on Twitter how basically the Ravens were last as far as spending, um, dollars offensively. And it was evident when, you know, you look at some of the young players, I'm sure that cancels out some of the, the, you know, big time dollars.

But, you know, even with all that, you know, I think that, um, you know, they, there's some really good pieces in place, but make no mistake about it. I mean, the Ravens, you know, historically have not really had that wide receiver. That stud wide receiver, um, you know, be developed within the organization and, and that's been a problem. And then at the same time, yeah, you know, if they can make it work and that's part of what the holdup is because of the fact that, you know, they're, you know, uh, tight on the cap. And then basically if they can get a deal done with Lamar great, but if not, they're going to have to do a lot of restructuring and it'll depend on what money they do have. So they could bring in a free agent.

So lots of, of nuances that goes on with surrounding Lamar and in particular getting him a, a stud wide receiver. You can check him out on his new Twitter account. I am cadreismile. I guess Twitter let him back in the building. Does a great job for WJZ, the CBS affiliate in Baltimore.

He is cadreismile. Q always a pleasure. Thank you, Zach. Appreciate your brother.