\u2014 NFL on CBS \ud83c\udfc8 (@NFLonCBS) November 1, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Under normal circumstances, a quarterback recovering from an injury like this would have a fleet of social media professionals documenting every inch of the recovery. #ThumbGrind. A picture of the scar after the procedure. A 33-minute docu-feature on the first time they grip a tennis ball again. A new song by Morgan Wallen about how great it is to have full thumb function again (Comfortably Thumb?). All of it a way of indirectly pining for the attention of a fan base who must know that, at every possible second, your quarterback is ignoring every other aspect of his life to get better FOR YOU. It\u2019s exhausting, but there are a lot of idiots out there and, I\u2019ll tell you, it works.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jackson, much like your estranged cousin, will likely be radio silent, appearing from time to time via a random TikTok comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is what I love about Jackson personally, but this is what many people struggle to grasp about the Ravens\u2019 reclusive quarterback. He doesn\u2019t trust a whole lot of people, especially to handle his perceived image. He keeps his circle smaller than a wedding ring. It\u2019s mostly fine and sometimes, when Jackson is attempting to self-negotiate an NFL contract, quite messy. But now that Jackson has likely completed his age-29 season, with the Ravens struggling to make the playoffs under first-year head coach Jesse Minter and Jackson in the shadows, his penchant for privacy could be straight-up deleterious to his future in Baltimore.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jackson has played only in a season\u2019s worth of games over the past two years. Next season, his cap hit balloons to $84 million, a nonstarter for any serious NFL football team. It will have to trigger a renegotiation and, based on the very little we know about Jackson (some of it having come from leaked NFL documents), something as close to fully guaranteed as humanly possible. Normally, that would be a no-brainer. I don\u2019t think that, as Jackson completes his third decade on earth, that it\u2019s so simple anymore.<\/p>\n And while we shouldn\u2019t be ready to weigh in on something like whether the Ravens should part ways with Jackson, it\u2019s fair to say with absolute certainty that Jackson finally needs to go on offense when it comes to his public perception. By all accounts, he is a wonderful, engaging, fascinating, brilliant person who sees the game like no one else on the planet. But without a real strategy when it comes to Jackson\u2019s likeness, we fill the void with our own warped perceptions and beliefs. NFL executives and coaches, some of whom didn\u2019t even think Jackson was a quarterback, have certainly done the same.<\/p>\n Remember the leak about Ken Francis, the in-home fitness equipment guru who was allegedly trying to negotiate a contract on Jackson\u2019s behalf<\/a> (something Jackson denied via\u2026a quote tweet<\/a>)? Insiders handed it out as a tool to embarrass Jackson and derail his pursuit to negotiate a fully guaranteed deal on his own. Remember how no other team expressed interest in trying to swipe Jackson away from the Ravens? The public relations ammunition of the NFL and one of its member clubs versus a singular player is a mismatch on par with Guam taking on the defending FIFA World Cup champions.\u00a0<\/p>\n This time around, it could simply mean people questioning Jackson\u2019s toughness and wondering about his commitment to rehab. Speculating how soon he could come back versus how soon he did. But it could broaden, as we mentioned, to the foundation of a new deal that needs to reflect what will almost certainly be Jackson\u2019s final stanza with the franchise, if the team and Jackson can work out anything suitably at all (See? Even I\u2019m doing it).\u00a0<\/p>\n But it doesn\u2019t have to be this way. Jackson needs more than just his team. He needs the kind of team Patrick Mahomes has. He needs the kind of team Josh Allen has. He needs an army selling Jackson to the people who, in his very absence, will start to question his ultimate value.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\"){kind=icon}
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