Marlon Humphrey goes on rant defending Lamar Jackson from 'slander'

Usually, when a quarterback needs to be defended in the NFL, you'll see five angry offensive linemen running up to a defender, ready to scrap. Occasionally, you'll have a teammate defend their quarterback in the media. Here's looking at you, Terrell Owens.

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey apparently went to the T.O. school of media relations, because the former first-round pick from Alabama was asked his thoughts on how Lamar Jackson, battling back from an ankle injury, has looked in practice.

That question opened the floodgates.

"It seems like Lamar's the only quarterback kind of gets the slander that he gets for anytime anything is going on," Humphrey said, per Jamison Hensley of ESPN. "I feel like you just don't see these same articles. I'm in the hot tub and it's this, that and the third. Unfair treatment."

What's strange about that answer is that Humphrey was simply asked his thoughts on how Jackson looked. The former MVP quarterback sprained his ankle nearly three weeks ago, and he's missed Baltimore's last two games.

Jackson apparently looked good at Thursday's practice, and although he was listed on the injury report as a "limited participant," he took part in every drill during the open media session.

Humphrey seemed to think there's something bigger going on as it relates to the coverage of Jackson, though. 

He initially said he didn't want to talk about Jackson. He made it seem as if the Ravens are ready to play with either Jackson or backup Tyler "Snoop" Huntley in Week 7 against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Marlon Humphrey continues to defend Lamar Jackson

"I think anything relating to Lamar is the thing that I don't talk about," Humphrey said. "I think the only one that really does talk about [Lamar] is Lamar. I think if Lamar can play, it'd be great. If he doesn't, we got Snoop."

As far as slander goes, there certainly wasn't anything brought up in the media session. Still, Humphrey seemed to think that Jackson needed defending.

"I just feel like sometimes it seems like it gets away from ... I don't know if it's because of lack of agent or what, that no one can kind of defend him," Humphrey said. "But I do know this, if Lamar Jackson can play, if he's healthy enough to play, he will play, and that's kind of all I can say for that."

That's saying a lot to ultimately say very little, though perhaps Humphrey can ask Jackson if he'd like him to represent him as an agent to move forward. No matter his thoughts, they certainly were strong ones.