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Booger McFarland calls for Lamar Jackson to attend Baltimore Ravens voluntary workouts

Danby: Daniel Hager04/01/26DanielHagerOn3

Starting on Monday, April 6, NFL teams will begin to hold voluntary workouts. Just days before those workouts kick off, however, ESPN’s Booger McFarland called for Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson to be a fixture at the Ravens’ workouts.

McFarland’s plea comes as Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens continue to negotiate a monstrous contract, which will likely make him one of the highest paid players in the National Football League. Along with this, the two-time NFL MVP is coming off a bit of a down season, for his standards.

Jackson played in just 13 games last season, passing for 2,549 yards and 21 touchdowns with seven interceptions. He also rushed for a career-low 349 yards and two touchdowns. The Ravens posted a disappointing 8-9 record and missed the postseason for just the second time in the past eight seasons.

Booger McFarland says Ravens teammates ‘are going to expect Lamar to be there majority of the time’

McFarland’s pitch for Jackson to be a major fixture at voluntary workouts was clear; he’s going to be the highest paid player on the team, and he’s going to be instilling a new offense under first year head coach Jesse Minter.

“Listen, nobody’s gonna have 100% participation in any of these,” McFarland said on Wednesday’s ‘NFL Live’. “Even back in the day, we didn’t. But, I think what you’d expect, especially in a situation like this where they’re instilling a new offense. You coincide that with Lamar Jackson and Steve Bisciotti, the owner, has already said they’re gonna get him a new contract. We assume (the contract) is going to be north of $60 million per year.

“If you’re the highest paid player on the team, installing a new offense, and you got a new contract. I think a lot of teammates are going to expect Lamar to be there the majority of the time. I didn’t say he needs to be there every day, but he needs to be there to put this offense in and show his face. He’s gonna come to sign his new contract. When he gets that, he’s gonna show up.

“So, I think it will be good for everyone if the highest paid player in the league, if and when he does this new deal, to show up. Especially with the new offense. You know as I know — when you put in a new offense, it means new verbiage, new terminology, and the expectation would be for him to be there more times than not.”

Jackson and the Ravens are heading into the first season of the Jesse Minter era in Baltimore, marking its first season since 2007 without Jim Harbaugh at the helm.