 But in the midst of what has been a wide speculation about Lamar Jackson's injury all week really, he decided to take matters into his own hands, whether he decided or was advised to. I like that he did this. I think it's great that he did, and here's what he had to say. Thank you everyone for your support and concerns regarding my injuries. I wanna give you all an update as I'm in the recovery process. I've suffered a PCL grade two sprain on the borderline of a strain three. There is still inflammation surrounding my knee and my knee remains unstable. I'm still in good spirits as I continue with treatments on the road to recovery. I wish I could be out there. I'm gonna repeat that. I wish I could be out there with my guys more than anything, but I can't give 100% of myself to my guys and fans. I'm still hopeful we still have a chance. So the initial diagnosis of what was going on was one to three weeks, we'll be back, you'll be back, you'll be back and now we're about to hit the six week mark and it doesn't seem like he's close to returning. So it has caused a lot of people, Twitter, pundits, whatever to question, can he play through this? And he is instead prioritizing his health and being extra careful with his contract situation looming and there's a lot of things that are untied there or is he actually hurt and can't go? And I honestly think that this line of thinking is so toxic and it is such a reach. I don't question Lamar Jackson's desire to play and I can only do that based on experience that I have as a fan and as someone who's talked to these guys a lot over the years. I've covered this league for a little bit and it seems to me it is a hardwired thing. Wanting to play, it almost seems untaught to these players. It is an inherent instinct. It is in the bones of these guys, in the DNA and I've never met, I can say I've never talked to or met a player who I'm not completely convinced that they wouldn't be going out there and giving 100% if they could. And most of them go out there much less than 100% available to them to give. And it's hard for me to envision that type of approach from Lamar Jackson who has only showed us that he's willing to do anything to get out on the field and give it his all. Remember when the contract negotiations kicked off last summer, Steve Bishadi, the Ravens owner, he was saying things about how Lamar is looking at this contract money as secondary to what's really important to him. He's using the word obsessed to win a Super Bowl. So while I think it would be nice to see Bishadi and the GM, the Costa, and of course, Harbaugh, his coach, you wanna always hear the coach say stuff about this, I would love to hear them come out in further support and maybe more meaningful support of Lamar ahead of this game. But this isn't really a story. If he could play, he would. And if he was sweating his contract and second guessing, getting on the field, I don't think we'd see him out there week one. Why would we? We wouldn't see him at all. And if you think about it, if he could play, go out there, beat his division rival, somebody who smoked you twice this year, or at least got past you twice, advance his team further into the playoffs, doesn't everyone out there making these claims or having these thoughts understand that that just adds to his value? Why wouldn't he wanna go out there? He's always been on himself. Why would that stop now in this situation? It doesn't seem likely to me. It doesn't seem likely we'll see him based on what he's saying and what this injury really is. So let's do what RG3 said. And RG3 can speak to this. Remember what happened in his rookie year? Let him recover, let him relax. And what helped, what does it do for you? Just as a human to question this. Are you gonna get an answer? Like if they lose, if they win, if he plays, are you gonna ever feel good? If they franchise tag when they don't, he goes to another team, which seems likely whatever. Like, what is questioning it right now doing for you? Like take a nap, get a grip and enjoy the action this week. I don't think he'll play. And it doesn't sound like he's particularly close to getting back on the field if they do somehow advance past the Joe Burrowing company. So it's either gonna be Tyler Huntley who returned to practice yesterday for Anthony Brown who was the quarterback Sunday Night Football, of course, against the AFC champs. That'll see, we'll see how that happens as we bring in Brandon Marshall who I never know what he's gonna say. Former All-Pro receiver, opinionated. I'm athlete media mogul and Matt Hamilton, future employer. Brandon Marshall, how are you? Oh, I'm phenomenal. I'm a little disappointed. I see right here it says up in Adams. Brandon Marshall joins the show. I thought we agreed that we were going to brand our own second. I thought you were gonna make me feel special. I see Gronkowski on your show, Coach Sean Payton on your show. It's like you're getting the big hit now. It's like you moved from New York to LA, two big cities, major markets. You're getting the big hit. It's like, what's up? Are you forgetting about the small people like me? I'm not, I think you kind of curved me for like two weeks in a row. I think plenty of things happen in the news cycle. In our meetings would say, Brandon Marshall wanna come on? Brandon Marshall wanna come on? And you kind of curved me. So I have to say, fine, I guess I'll settle for Rob Gronkowski, four times Super Bowl champion, fine. Was that a little gaslighting on my side? I am good at that. It's in my Twitter bio. Brandon, what do you make? Let's talk Lamar here. We got lots to talk about six games, big stakes. What's the story? He probably won't play. What do you make of people thinking he might just be holding himself out? He can't play, right? 2006, when I was drafted to the Denver Broncos, fourth rounder, our first preseason game, playing up in Indy, I fall on the sideline and I snapped my PCL. So it was a grade two, almost a grade three, similar to Lamar Jackson's. And it took me almost to week eight to get back right. I was able to get back out there right around week six, but I wasn't the same guy, okay? I mean, excuse me, six weeks out, but I wasn't the same guy. I didn't feel comfortable until I hit probably halfway mark of the season. The PCL is a serious thing. It's not as serious obviously as a MCL, now I wouldn't say MCL, like the ACL, excuse me, or a patella tendon, something like that, but you have no stability in your knee, right? You're literally talking about, you ever see someone, you know, hyperextend their knee, right? It goes back. That's that PCL. That PCL stops your knee from going back. When you don't have that, there's literally no stability, Kay. Let's talk about what, not the, you know, the doctor operation of it all. Like let's talk about what people are saying is that it's because of the contract. He doesn't have professional experience representation as far as we know. Negotiation stopped in the summer before the season kicked off. The team has not come out and said anything. Harba hasn't really come out and said anything. Like he can't play. We're saying he can't play because it's what I believe is a fan, or what you believe is a former player. But what do you make of the assumption that he's doing it to protect himself because he needs a deal to get done and that's looming? Humanization, right? So that's basically what we want to talk about here. First off, you just said a lot. The first thing you talked about was the representation, right? I'm so tired of people saying that he's not represented. I had one of the most powerful agents and still have one of the most powerful agents in sports. Canard McGuire has done billions of dollars in deals. It seems like at the general manager level. So representing managers, players, and also owners. There was times when I was playing for the Chicago Bears that we leaned on the NFLPA to walk us through our philosophy and our approach to our contract, right? There are so many attorneys that are already paid by the players for the players. So when you talk about representation, it's not as hard as people think, right? It's about standing on what you believe in. If Lamar Jackson believes he's a top five quarterback and the top five quarterback ranges X, then that's where he wants to be. Or the market sets itself. If he feels like he should be right, there were Patrick Mahomes underneath Patrick Mahomes, that's what he believes. And then you do the dance. So yeah, there is an art and skill to negotiation. But Ms. Felicia Jackson is a hell of a lady and super smart. I've sat down and talked to her. And I've been begging her to let me tell her story. I've been begging her to come on Iron Mathly and us highlight her. She wants to always be in the back. When I tell you she is brilliant, she is brilliant. I actually met Lamar Jackson, Ms. Felicia, back when I was playing for the Miami Dolphins in 2011. We went to the same church. I live right down here in Western Florida. They're from Pompano Beach. And I would see them almost every other Sunday. Lamar Jackson and Ms. Felicia know exactly what they're doing, okay? And as far as the humanization part of this thing, didn't we just see Lamar die on the field and be brought back to life? And we started this conversation up there. Maybe it's time for us to start listening to the players. Every time money comes in to play a contract dispute, we immediately go to the owners. We immediately go to the team side. Well, what about Lamar Jackson? What if Lamar Jackson can never play again, right? Lamar Jackson deserves to have some stability. Lamar Jackson deserves to have a contract where he doesn't own all the risk. That is the situation right here. So if I was Lamar, right? And I wasn't even dealing with a PCL and I could play, I would not play. It's too much risk. I'm saying that right now. I would not play. You know, well, let's give some more breaking news. Okay, my last year in Denver with Josh McDaniel, you know I don't like Josh McDaniels too much. Josh McDaniels comes in and he's a jerk, right? Can I say that? I can't say that. Sorry, let me not call nobody names. I can't call nobody names. I'm so sorry. But Josh McDaniels come in and we don't have the best relationship, okay? The last year, I was like 80%. I could have probably played through it, but I didn't. I didn't go out there. Sometimes I'm going to waste going into my free agency, my off season, an opportunity to secure my family forever and risk it for you. No, I'm thinking about Z, Ziggy and Zoda that's here today. I'm thinking about their kids, kids. That's what I was thinking about. And I sat my butt down right there on the sideline. Why did you bring up Josh McDaniel when you made that decision? Like, so if it was a coach that you really liked, would you have played? Listen, probably not, right? Hey, News Flash, NBA players, NFL players, hockey players, snowboarders, whatever it is, okay? If you're in your contract year, okay? And you're seconds away from getting the deal and you're not there, sit your butt down. Hey, hey, hey, players, if you're going into a year and you don't feel comfortable with the contract that you have, if you feel like, you know what? Like, if I go out there and I can tear my ACL, I can lose, I would maybe never play again and I'm not secure for life, sit your butt down. Why did he play week one? Because that- He was 100% then? Because that is the business, right? Because if he doesn't do that, he's deemed a bad guy. Okay, but tell me this. He's deemed a bad team. But he wants money, he wants security, guaranteed money is what we're talking about. So this will be the second season in a row, the second season that he has not finished the year. Should that impact his contract negotiation? Okay, maybe. But Kay, when you were a free agent, had FanDuel out there, you had this person out there, that person out there, you, look, whoever gave you the best deal was the deal. Yeah. So right now, if Lamar Jackson with everything you just said, if there's one, two, three teams that come out there saying, we'll give you that 230 million guaranteed, that's the market, Kay. I understand that, but we're talking about why he would make a decision like that now versus, he could have held out. Why didn't he just hold out then? That's what he's, if he has the mentality that you're, I disagree with you, I don't think, I think that if he could play, he'd go play. I think he's wired it that way. I think he actually thinks has a lot of confidence in himself. And I think his mother does who I've never spoken to. I'm sure she does as well. Is there handling this? And he's, Lamar's whole thing and why I love Lamar is that he bets on himself, whether it's reckless or the right decision or it works out, it's a risk that he's willing to take that he'll go out there and he'll play. And I can't imagine that knowing that he could go and slay the bangles and keep going and he's gonna earn himself more money, more respect in playing that he would hold himself out. I don't think that that's true. No, listen, that's 99% of the athletes out there in football or basketball is gonna make the same decision as Lamar Jackson made, right? And that is the problem, right? As a player, you take it personal. As a player, you're talking about, I'm going to go out there and compete. And we forget about the business side. We don't have the savviness when it comes to understanding the bigger picture. We don't have the oomph to be able to sit there in a tough situation when you have millions of fans saying you are selfish, you should be traded. We should cut you. We don't even want you to come back. A lot of players can't deal with that. No, like 99% of the players think that way and we need to stop it and we need to change the way we think. And the reason why? Because if you are a player that goes down and you deal with a season ending injury, you're Damar Hamlin. And I know this was almost an anomaly, but we've had players break their necks. We've had players deal with two a tongue of a lot. Which is why I disagree with you, Brandon. I don't think that any player, I think players more than ever are gonna feel supported in holding out. I think if Lamar Jackson said I'm not playing because I don't feel good, I don't have this contract, I wanted to sign it, I deserve this, I think he'd actually have more support than you're saying that he would get from fans, from people. Okay, Kay, so, well, give me one example of a player holding out over the last 20 years that was supported. And I know I'm not trying to put you on the spot here because there's so many players and you gotta think about so many different scenarios. Me, my experience, Kay, from my point of view and Mike's, what I've seen over the last 20, 30 years, all I see is fans saying, you're selfish. All I keep saying is, oh, how much money is enough money? I see organizations planting stories, like, hey, Lamar Jackson, you know, hey. It's coming from somewhere. If he's 70%, 80%, he should be able to go, why does the Lamar Jackson, why do you think Lamar Jackson had to put out a tweet saying, if I wanted them, if I could play, I would play? I know. Right. So my thing is, you know, look, maybe there's an example out there where there's been a player or two that's been supported. I can't recall. I don't recall, Kay. I think Lamar is different. And I think he's looked at differently by people. And I think he plays different. And I think that he is in a world of his own. And I think it's really hard to lump him in with how other quarterbacks, their free agency they're holding out has occurred because I do and always have considered Lamar Jackson, whether it's right or wrong, sort of on his own, people don't know how to value him. Foreign offices, I don't think know what to do with a player like Lamar Jackson, but we can both agree it's a shame he probably won't be out there. I think I just hate the conversation about whether or not he wants to be out there or whether or not he would play if he could. And I don't think he can play. And I think if he could play, he'd be playing. Right. Yeah, and I think that would be a bad decision. Taylor Flu, our amazing social media manager. Yes. I want you to clip this and put PSA under it, okay? PSA. And put this out on all of our channels, okay? PSA, PSA, you ready? Hey, players, if you're going into your last year of your deal, don't go, okay? If you're a good player, okay? If you're a terrible player, you gotta go. You don't have the accolades, you gotta go. But if you're a good player and you think you out, if you feel like you've outperformed your contract, if you feel like you have all the risks, meaning that if you get hurt and you can't play again, you'll never get any more contracts. Do not play. I don't care if you're going into a season. I don't care if you're dealing with an injury like Lamar Jackson and you're sitting right there at 65, 70%, and their team is on the verge of going to the playoffs. They're going into the playoffs. Don't play. Don't play. Don't play. And all the fans out there, you guys may say whatever you want about me, Brandon Marshall, but I've been dealing with it my entire career. I know 70% of you guys love me and 30% of you guys hate me. And let's keep going back and forth. But players out there, this is a business. Take the emotion out of the money. Thank you, Taylor. Please clip that PSA underneath. And scene. We'll be back with Brandon Marshall. We gotta talk Giants, Vikings. I wanna get your thoughts on all that. Kenny Galli, they scored a touchdown. Is he gonna be important now? They didn't get Odell. Odell's tweeting yesterday. We'll get to it right here.