While meeting with the media on Monday, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank was asked if it was a mistake not to pursue Lamar Jackson when he was a free agent limited by the non-exclusive franchise tag.

The Falcons fired Arthur Smith once the regular season ended. They went back-and-forth between Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke at quarterback all season.

"Was it a mistake to not pursue?" Blank said. "You're asking me that? ... I don't think so. I'm mean, it's easy to say 'yes' given his year, and he's obviously an incredible player. You know, we did not have the cap space. I think the coaching staff felt -- coach and personnel, all of us felt collectively, with certainly coach and Terry that we felt we had an answer in Ridder, a younger player without that kind of contract that would've kept us from actually building the team we wanted to build."

When Blank addressed the decision not to pursue Jackson in April 2023, he didn't say that the Falcons didn't have the space. He said they didn't want to tie up 25 percent of the salary cap in one player.