LAMAR JACKSON TURNED DOWN HEFTY SIX-YEAR CONTRACT
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson turned down a $290-plus million contract extension from the Ravens this off-season, as per ESPN’s Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter.
The deal is reported to have been a six-year deal with $133 million fully guaranteed at signing, more than Russell Wilson’s $124 million guaranteed at signing and Kyler Murray’s $103.3 million. The amount, of course, was well short of the $230 million fully guaranteed that Deshaun Watson got when he signed for the Browns. Jackson would have received an annual salary higher than Russell Wilson’s $49 million annual average and a higher percentage in guaranteed money than Wilson’s 68%.
It’s reported that Jackson received active counsel from the NFL Players Association at the highest levels and he acted as his own agent in the negotiations while leaning on the help of his mother. The union, whose job it is to be a sounding board, to offer stats, information, and guidance, advised that based on performance and age, Jackson, 25, was justified to demand a fully guaranteed contract if that’s what he desired.
The Ravens opted against meeting Jackson’s demand for a fully guaranteed deal and finally announced Friday that they had failed to agree to an extension and that both parties will continue to work towards a long-term contract after the season.
For now, Jackson is set to earn $23.016 million on his fifth-year option and is willing to explore the Kirk Cousins and Joe Flacco strategy of betting on himself. Cousins played on the franchise tag twice in Washington before signing a big-money deal with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018. Former Ravens quarterback Flacco also declined to sign a deal offered to him ahead of the 2012 season before signing a major deal with Baltimore after winning Super Bowl LVII.
The Ravens can use the non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson in 2023 and the exclusive tag in 2024, two years in which Jackson could net about $100 million in fully guaranteed money, as projected by the NFL Players Association’s model. Currently, both tags equal $29.7 million and $45.5 million respectively but both numbers are subject to change over the next year.
As per Chris Mortensen, talks between the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson were characterized as “good faith” although the team included $2.5 million in annual de-escalator clauses if Jackson did not attend a high percentage of off-season workouts. Jackson did not hold out during minicamp and training camp and only missed voluntary organized team activities in June. A fully-guaranteed contract, however, would negate such a clause and Jackson would receive all the money due to him regardless of skill, injury, and salary cap.
If Jackson and the Ravens do not agree to terms by 2024, Jackson will then become an unrestricted free agent in 2025 and use leverage to get his fully guaranteed contract from the team or look at other options ahead of the 2025 season. Jackson has said that he would like to be a Raven his entire playing career and head coach John Harbaugh said last week that he knows Jackson will be the team’s QB for a long time.
Jackson denied rumors regarding the amount offered to him when he was asked following the game against the New York Jets on Sunday. “200 and who?” Jackson said. “Fully guaranteed? No. No. No, there’s no truth to that.”
Jackson is a proven playmaker and winner over the past four seasons and an elite quarterback at the start of his prime. The two-time Pro Bowl quarterback is 38-12 as a starter in the NFL and has put up an impressive 13,870 yards of total offense since his debut in 2018, including back-to-back seasons with 1,000-plus rushing yards. The 2019 Unanimous MVP, however, is coming off of his most challenging season in the league in which he threw just 16 touchdowns and a career-high 13 interceptions. Jackson also missed five games last year including the last four due to an ankle injury, the most games he’s missed so far in his NFL career.
Jackson guided the Baltimore Ravens to their first win of the year this Sunday with a 24-9 win over the Jets, throwing for 213 passing yards, 3 touchdowns, and one interception. The Ravens next face the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, September 18th at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
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