Mar 31, 2023 5 min read

PHOENIX – The news that Lamar Jackson released last week that he had requested a trade from the Ravens sent reverberations through the annual NFL Meetings here this week.

To this point, many assumed the 26-year-old former MVP of the NFL would simply sign his franchise tender the Ravens placed on him and would return to Baltimore in 2023.

Now? Many around the league aren’t quite so sure.

And if Jackson isn’t a member of the Ravens in 2023, it has repercussions in the AFC and, more importantly, in the AFC North.

Because of the uncertainty surrounding what’s going on with Jackson, the Ravens haven’t been all that active in free agency. And because of the trade they made for Roquan Smith last year, the Ravens only have five picks in the draft at the end of April.

They’re not capable right now of adding a lot of fresh talent to their roster.

And there doesn’t seem to be a resolution in sight.

Cincinnati is the clear No. 1 team in the AFC North. The Browns, meanwhile, haven’t finished ahead of the Steelers in the division standings since 1989.

If you’re in your early 30s, you’ve never seen the Browns finish ahead of the Steelers in the division standings.

If the Ravens are taking a big step backward this season, it takes a big roadblock out of the way for the Steelers to return to the playoffs in 2023.

“I think in any discussion, divisional play is major. It’s just how we’re structured as a league,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said last week. “If you want to dominate anything, you’ve got to first start in your neighborhood, and that neighborhood is the AFC North.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for that. I think all of us, whether you’re in the North or not, probably have that perspective, because of the familiarity and particularly in the ways that scheduling is done, and has been done in recent years, there’s some weighty division games down the stretch it seems that are significant. You’d better be in position to win those games if you want to be a team on the rise at the latter part of the regular season, for example.”

• With the Eagles’ signing of safety Terrell Edmunds last week, the Steelers have an obvious hole in their lineup next to Minkah Fitzpatrick.

Or do they?

Tomlin said he’s already spoken to cornerback Patrick Peterson, signed a couple of weeks ago, about the possibility of playing safety at times.

“He’s versatile, not only in terms of his talents, but his intellect and we’re not going to be bashful about moving him around,” Tomlin said. “He and I have already had that discussion. I think he’s really excited about the prospects of that.”

With that the re-signing of Damontae Kazee, which should be announced this week, the Steelers have two players capable of lining up next to Fitzpatrick. But they’ll also add someone else, either in the draft or free agency.

“It’s in development,” Tomlin said. “The free agency process is still ongoing, and our draft prep is going well. And so, we’re going to add to that bunch, certainly. By what means is to be determined, but there’s some credible candidates out there in both pools.”

• ESPN.com listed its picks as the top 100 players currently in Major League Baseball heading into the 2023 season.

It’s disappointing and disconcerting that while the Pirates have two players currently on that list – outfielder Bryan Reynolds at 62 and third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes at 95 – there are four players in the top 100 who are former Pirates.

That group is led by Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, who comes in at 19th. But it also includes pitchers Joe Musgrove (78th) and Tyler Glasnow (88th) and outfielder Starling Marte (86th).

It’s unrealistic the Pirates could have kept all four of those players, but just imagine if they had kept, say, Musgrove, Glasnow and Marte instead of trading them away.

• Odds are strong that Reynolds isn’t going to be a member of the team for the long term. In fact, the same piece on the top 100 suggested that several general managers will be calling the Pirates about a trade for Reynolds at some point this season.
• If you had even two of the group of Miami, Connecticut, San Diego State and Florida Atlantic in the Final Four in your bracket, you’ve probably got a winner.

Amazingly enough, we’re not hearing much from the people who earlier this season were claiming the Big 12 might be the strongest conference in the history of college basketball.

You can’t make that claim when not a single team from your conference makes the Final Four.