Lamar Jackson is the fifth homegrown player to request a trade from the Ravens in 4 years

Mar 27, 2023 - 4:34 PM

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With quarterback Lamar Jackson publicly announcing he’s requested a trade from the Baltimore Ravens, the team will be dealing with their fifth homegrown player requesting a trade in four seasons.

The first big-name trade was tight end Hayden Hurst, who was drafted ahead of Jackson in 2018. Hurst, after two seasons in Baltimore and getting put behind tight end Mark Andrews on the depth chart requested a trade, according to Baltimoreravens.com’s Clifton Brown.

“The trade process began when Hurst expressed his desire for a bigger role after the season,” Brown wrote. “Hurst knew he could play more if he played elsewhere, and General Manager Eric DeCosta understood.

“‘I had a discussion with Hayden’s agent and also with Hayden,’ DeCosta said on The Lounge podcast, detailing the trade that sent Hurst and a fourth-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for second- and fifth-round picks in the 2020 NFL draft.”

In the end, Hurst was traded to the Atlanta Falcons.

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In 2021 it was offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. who was upset with not playing left tackle for the Ravens. For the first two seasons of his career, Brown Jr. was on the right side, with left tackle Ronnie Stanley at the position. But after Stanley suffered an ankle injury in 2020, Brown Jr. assumed the role and played quite well When the season finished, Brown Jr. expressed he didn’t want to return as a right tackle in a tweet.

Unfortunately for Brown Jr., the team had just signed Stanley to the third-highest contract for a left tackle. Stanley was also the higher draft pick and a better talent.

This led to the Ravens trading Brown Jr. to the Kansas City Chiefs prior to the 2021 NFL draft.

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A season later, the Ravens parted ways with wide receiver Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown. According to Brown, he had requested the trade, and it had been brewing for two seasons.

“I mean, I talked to Lamar [Jackson] about it after my second year and then after my third year leading up to the end of the season when he wasn’t playing [due to injury] I let him know again like, ‘Yeah bro, I can’t do it,’” Brown said on I AM ATHLETE podcast. “And it’s not really on Lamar, like I love Lamar. It was just the system wasn’t for me, personally. I love all my teammates, I love the guys, but it was just something I had to think about for myself. The Ravens—we both handled it the right way. I didn’t go out and make anything public, I just kept it in-house, kept working and you know it all worked out.”

The reason Hollywood requested a trade had a lot to do with the ways he was being used on the field.

“I’ll get to the playoffs [and] they use me how it’s supposed to be [and] I go for 100-yard games,” Brown said. “I’m like, ‘OK, this should lead on,’ Then I go games where we losing [and] they wait until like the third or fourth [quarter] to start getting me the ball [and] I help the team win. Then I go to the following game and not get the ball. So, it was just one of those things like such as a mind-thing. I’m too much of a competitor to not get the ball ‘til the fourth quarter. I’m too much of a competitor to not help my team until we down and out and then it’s like, ‘Alright, here we go.’”

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The Ravens’ latest trade occurred at the beginning of the league year, when safety Chuck Clark was sent to the New York Jets.

This one, similarly to Brown Jr., wasn’t in total due to a players frustrations, more than a numbers game. However, Clark did request a trade during the 2022 offseason after the team signed safety Marcus Williams to a five-year, $70 million deal and then drafted safety Kyle Hamilton with their first pick in the 2022 NFL draft. He voiced frustration on Twitter after the draft ended.

In the end, Clark returned for the 2022 season, but upon reflection, wanted to defend his starting spot, he admitted.

With a sizable cap hit entering 2023 and the Ravens needing to make room in their budget and give Hamilton a bigger role, Clark was traded to the Jets.

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Now, the Ravens face their fifth homegrown talent to request a trade from the organization, and Jackson’s the biggest name of them all. A former league MVP and one of the faces of the NFL, this trade request hasn’t just shaken up the Ravens organization, it’s led to the changes across the NFL landscape.

Notably, all five players, Hurst, Brown Jr., Hollywood, Clark and Jackson, were drafted by the team. All developed through the organization. It’s a shock to fans of the team and NFL alike to see a highly-respected franchise that’s earned a respectful reputation now see three of their own want to leave.

Now, it’s whether the team will ship Jackson as they did Brown Jr. and Hollywood, or hand Jackson over a deal that will please him and retain his abilities.