"I wasn't expecting you to be smiling!" - Lamar Jackson has hilarious story about meeting Bill Belichick for the first time
Bill Belichick and Lamar Jackson are nearly polar opposites. Belichick is constantly straight-faced and doesn't seem to have any fun, whereas Jackson is just the opposite, playing the game with a smile and an exuberant nature. Most people have probably not seen the New England Patriots coach smile, but the Baltimore Ravens quarterback is one of those rare few.
Jackson was drafted in the first round of the 2018 pick, going 32nd overall to the Ravens.
Just before that pick, the Patriots elected to take Georgia running back Sony Michel. However, they had met with the Louisville quarterback before the draft and could have taken him there.
In that meeting, the quarterback prospect saw a side to the steely-eyed coach that he couldn't believe.
"I wasn't expecting you to be smiling!"
@Lj_era8 on his pre-draft meeting with Bill Belichick 😂 https://t.co/S3TQyZOxKi
He told reporters:
"I seen Belichick smile. Usually when I see him, he's like puzzle-faced, straight-faced. When I seen him smile, I was like, 'Dang, you out here?' Like, I told him that. I told him, 'I wasn's expecting you to be smiling.'"
Ultimately, despite the friendly meeting, the Patriots passed on him, leaving him open for the Ravens to trade up and select him. He would go on to win an MVP and is poised to sign a massive contract this offseason, though it's becoming less and less clear if that will be in Baltimore or not.
Revisiting the 2018 NFL draft with Lamar Jackson
The Ravens star went last in the first round, but there is a legitimate case for him being the first overall pick if it were redone today.
Several quarterbacks went off the board that first round:
- Baker Mayfield
- Sam Darnold
- Josh Allen
- Josh Rosen
- Jackson
There's a consensus that Josh Allen is the best quarterback in that class since he's widely considered a top three quarterback and the Ravens quarterback isn't.
However, one of them won an MVP and the other didn't, though Vegas likes Allen's odds to do so this year.
Either way, those two should very likely have been the top two off the board instead of Baker Mayfield and then Sam Darnold, both of whom are no longer with their first teams and have struggled in their new home in Carolina.
There were a lot of talented players taken in that draft, including Saquon Barkley, Denzel Ward, Bradley Chubb, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Vita Vea, D.J. Moore and others, but there's a strong case to be made that Jackson is the best.
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