Ravens' Lamar Jackson says it was his decision to remove locker room games

Sam Cohn, Baltimore Sun on Oct 28, 2025

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

BALTIMORE — Quarterback Lamar Jackson said that he was the sole player responsible for removing the games from the Ravens’ locker room after the team’s slow start.

“I told [head equipment manager] Kenico [Hines], I told him to take all the games,” Jackson said Tuesday. “Ping-pong, turn the TVs off. If we could have took the TVs out, they would’ve been out too.”

Jackson, who suffered a hamstring injury on Sept. 28, a Week 4 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, was injured when he made the request. Gone were the basketball hoop near his locker, the ping-pong table, cornhole boards and video game consoles.

“I appreciate [Ravens majority owner] Mr. Steve [Bisciotti] for putting that in there for us,” Jackson said. “We had to focus. I wouldn’t say people don’t take the job serious, don’t get me wrong. But I didn’t feel like it was the time for that.”

Jackson’s comments cleared up some confusion within the locker room.

Several players told The Baltimore Sun that it was the coaches who chose to remove games from the locker room earlier this season. Those players, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely without fear of retribution on more pressing issues about the team’s backslide, did not mention Jackson when asked about the removal of perceived distractions.

In the days leading up to a crucial game against Chicago, which resulted in the Ravens’ first win in six weeks, coach John Harbaugh disputed The Sun’s reporting. He said that “a couple of veteran players got together and decided they wanted to take that stuff out.”

That same afternoon, All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton said “it wasn’t my decision” and that he didn’t notice the changes.

“I don’t think it’s that big a deal of whether [the decision came from] players or coaches,” Hamilton said. “I don’t know if that’s really affecting us on the field that much, but if we felt like we needed to do that as a team, then I’m all for it.”

In the days after the Ravens beat the Bears, improving to 2-5, veteran cornerback Marlon Humphrey addressed the hot-button issue on his podcast, “The Marlon Humphrey Show.” He alluded that it was the best player on the team who made the call before naming Jackson.

“Fun locker room to a not-as-fun,” Humphrey said. “Talk-to-your-locker-mate fun locker room. We don’t need no games up in here. Only games we need to play is out there on the grass and we need to win ’em! Small change. Did that really do anything? Who knows. But we’re 1-0.”

Jackson said that the only way those games would make their way back into the locker room is if the team starts winning again.

That discussion is a non-starter until at least the summer.