Asante Samuel advises Lamar Jackson not to join the Patriots: ‘You don’t want to play for Belichick’

Asante Samuel does not want to see Lamar Jackson join his former team.

The retired NFL cornerback, who spent the first five years of his career with the New England Patriots, addressed Jackson via tweet on Thursday. The message: you wouldn’t like it here.

Samuel being critical of Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is nothing new. He previously claimed that Belichick created an aura of negativity within the organization, that he never agreed with his style of play, and that quarterback Tom Brady was the sole reason for the team’s two-decade run of success.

As for Jackson, he has been the topic of considerable speculation this offseason. The Baltimore Ravens placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on him in mid-March, allowing other teams to negotiate with the 2018 first-round draft pick. He also made a request to be traded by the team.

The Patriots are not expected to pursue Jackson, but his name still came up during NFL meetings in Phoenix this week.

After a brief Q&A with reporters, team owner Robert Kraft said that he had received a text from rapper Meek Mill — a friend of both Kraft’s and Jackson’s — claiming that the Ravens QB wanted to join New England. Kraft, however, deferred to Belichick in personnel questions.

Belichick himself, meanwhile, gave an unsurprising answer when asked about Jackson: “I’m not going to talk about players on any other team.”