Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is coming to the defense of one of his longest-tenured teammates.
Following Week 4's 35-10 win over the Buffalo Bills, Jackson headed to the comment section of the Ravens' official Instagram page and replied to a fan that called for the release of tight end Mark Andrews.
"Mark Andrews gotta go man," the fan wrote.
Jackson responded directly to the Instagram user, writing "please (shut the f*** up)."
Statistically, Andrews has gotten out to the worst start of his career. A three-time Pro Bowler and one-time All-Pro, he has just six catches for 65 yards through the first four games of the season, which has been low-lighted by back-to-back games with no catches. Most of this production came in Week 2's loss to the Las Vegas Raiders when he finished with four catches for 51 yards.
Andrews remains a vital part of Baltimore's offense whether the stats show it or not. Victories over the Bills and Dallas Cowboys showed that the Ravens can still win without Andrews putting together the production fans have become accustomed to over the years. At the end of the day, winning is more important than stats, even if fantasy football players and sport bettors strongly disagree.
Andrews and Jackson were both selected by the Ravens in the 2018 NFL Draft and have been teammates in the seven seasons since. With Jackson as his quarterback, Andrews has become one of the NFL's best active tight ends, which makes his recent slump certainly notable.
In 91 career regular-season games and 44 starts, Andrews has tallied 387 catches for 4,922 yards and 40 touchdowns. Across six career playoff games, he's posted 22 grabs for 227 yards.
The Ravens will visit the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 5.
