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Former Louisville Cardinals star Lamar Jackson intends to be a QB in NFL

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Although quarterback Lamar Jackson says no NFL team has asked him to work out at wide receiver during the NFL scouting combine, he made it clear Friday he wouldn’t be interested in switching positions.
Lamar Jackson talks about his desire to play quarterback in the NFL, amid speculation that teams might want him to work out at both QB and receiver. (1:09)
INDIANAPOLIS — Lamar Jackson won a Heisman Trophy at Louisville as a quarterback, and he said Friday at the NFL scouting combine that he intends to be a pro quarterback as well.
Jackson said he will not work out as a wide receiver in on-field drills, even if teams wanted him to, and has no intention of switching positions as a pro.
“Wherever I can go as a quarterback, that’s where I’m going. That’s strictly my position,” Jackson said. “… I’m not going to be a wide receiver at all…. I’m a quarterback.”
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Jackson won the Heisman Trophy in 2016 with 3,543 passing yards and 30 touchdowns to go with 1,571 rushing yards and 21 more touchdowns. This past season, he threw for 3,660 yards with 27 touchdowns to go with 1,601 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns.
While some personnel evaluators had privately expressed interest in recent days in seeing Jackson participate in wide receiver drills at the combine — quarterbacks and wide receivers will do their on-field work Saturday — Jackson said Friday no team officials have made that request to him face to face.
He added it wouldn’t matter if they did, because he said he wouldn’t entertain any sort of position switch.
“That’s crazy,” Jackson said with a smile. “I thought I did a good job at quarterback. But hey, they say what they want to say, I’m here now, I’m at the combine, I’m happy to be here, now I just have to show off my ability.”
Jackson also said Friday his mother, Felicia Jones, will serve as an adviser in his business and marketing affairs, and that he will not formally hire an agent. Because of the NFL’s rookie salary slotting, Jackson said he has hired an attorney who will negotiate his first NFL contract.
“I know coming in as a rookie, an agent really don’t negotiate really; you’re going to get the salary you’re going to get or whatever,” Jackson said. “I decided I don’t need him. He’s going to be taking a big cut of my paycheck anyway and I feel like I deserve it right now.”
Jackson has not used one of the major pre-draft workout centers that many of the draft-eligible players have used. Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen and USC quarterback Sam Darnold have trained together, with several others players, in California.
Jackson said he instead has used “private training” in his native South Florida and has spent much of his time leading up to the combine “working on my accuracy, because I feel like that’s why they’re down on me now.”
Jackson finished this past season at a 59.1 percent completion rate to go with 56.2 percent in his Heisman season.
Unlike Darnold, who has elected not to throw Saturday at the combine, Jackson said he would throw, but would not run a 40-yard dash or do any of the other agility drills. “Just throw,” Jackson said.

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