Lamar Jackson
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Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
There was almost universal praise for Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson after he showed up for the 1st day of his team’s offseason workouts on Monday — something the 2-time NFL Most Valuable Player has been loath to do in the past but is seemingly now game for under 1st year head coach Jesse Minter.
That doesn’t mean everyone is totally sold on the “New Lamar,” and Jackson caught some strays from former NFL head coach and current Fox Sports analyst Eric Mangini.
“I don’t like it,” Mangini said. “I really don’t like it … OK what was wrong with the last ‘X’ amount of years? Why are we now at OTAs? Were they not important last year? Were they not important the year before? Did you not like (former head coach) John Harbaugh? Why is this suddenly important now? Were you not trying to win the Super Bowl? It’s a little problematic when you haven’t been there in the past … now that they’ve transitioned coaching staffs, you’re suddenly all in?”
When you hear the term “Consider the Source,” this is what people are referring to — Mangini is truly 1 of the most hated NFL head coaches in recent memory.
Eric ‘Mangenius’ Mangini’s Awful Coaching Career
Mangini was an NFL assistant for a decade before he was hired as the head coach of the New York Jets following the 2005 season, including winning 3 Super Bowls as a defensive assistant for the New England Patriots from 2000 to 2005.
In 5 seasons as the head coach of the Jets and Cleveland Browns from 2006 to 2010, Mangini went 33-47 overall.
In 2009, Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski called Mangini the “Worst Coaching Hire of All Time” in a scathing article.
“I cannot stand what Eric Mangini has done to the Browns, the team of my childhood,” Posnansiki wrote. “I cannot stand the lack of respect he has shown for the team’s history, the Mickey Mouse game he plays with quarterbacks, the amazing knack he has for getting his players to not play hard for him or the stupid fines he hands out like he’s Principal Vernon from ‘The Breakfast Club’ … I’m actually starting to believe that I’m right. I’m actually starting to believe that Mangini really was the worst head coach hire in 25 years.”
True Role in NFL History: Spygate Whistleblower
Even for how awful Mangini was as a head coach, that pales in comparison to what he’s actually going to be known for in the history books — as the whistleblower who blew the top off the “Spygate” scandal for the Patriots.
In his penultimate season with the Jets in 2007 — in which his team went 4-12 — Mangini complained early in the season that his former team and his former boss, head coach Bill Belichick, had illegally filmed his team’s defensive play calls.
While the Patriots would eventually be fined $250,000 and docked a 1st round draft pick, Mangini got labeled as a snitch. It’s a title he’s never been able to shake off.
Mangini has expressed his regret for turning the Patriots in over the years.
“If there is a decision I could take back, it’s easily that decision,” Mangini told Pro Football Talk in 2012. “Never in a million years would I have wanted it to go this way. It’s disappointing whenever it comes up. It’s regret, it’s disappointment, it’s all of those things. Because I know what it took to win those Super Bowls and I have so much respect for the people that were involved there. I’m disappointed that this is what it’s translated into.”