RAVENS UNABLE TO REACH CONTRACT EXTENSION AGREEMENT WITH LAMAR JACKSON
Baltimore Ravens quarterback and 2019 Unanimous regular-season MVP Lamar Jackson said last month that there would be a cutoff when it came to negotiating a new contract extension with the team. The 25-year-old confirmed on Wednesday that the cutoff would be Friday afternoon after which all of his and the team’s attention would turn to football.
The team released a statement from General Manager Eric DeCosta on Friday via their official social media pages confirming the club had failed to reach an extension agreement with Jackson.
“Despite best efforts on both sides, we were unable to reach a contract extension with Lamar Jackson. We greatly appreciate how he has handled this process and we are excited about our team with Lamar leading the way. We will continue to work towards a long-term contract after the season, but for now, we are looking forward to a successful 2022 campaign.”
Jackson represents himself and has been hitting the headlines all off-season. The Florida-born quarterback is up for a new contract extension after playing out all four years of his rookie contract and is set to earn $23.016 million this year after the Ravens picked up his fifth-year option. The Ravens can still use the franchise tag to keep Jackson in Baltimore for two more seasons if both parties still can’t reach an agreement by March 7th.
The NFL has seen quarterbacks across the league get big-money deals all offseason starting with Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson who got a massive $230 million, five-year fully guaranteed contract in March. The deal ripped the quarterback market to shreds and seemed to irk Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti whose franchise quarterback was up for a new contract extension.
“I’m trying to answer that when I had a reaction to it. And it’s like, ‘Damn, I wish they hadn’t guaranteed the whole contract,” Bisciotti said at the NFL league meetings in the spring. “I don’t know that he should have been the first guy to get a fully guaranteed contract. To me, that’s something that is groundbreaking, and it’ll make negotiations harder with others.”
“But it doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to play that game, you know?” Bisciotti added. “We shall see. If I was in bogged down negotiations with Lamar, then maybe I would have a quicker reaction… What if Lamar says that…I’ll play on the fifth year, I’ll play on the franchise, I’ll play on another franchise and then you can sign me. And that gives me three years to win the Super Bowl so you can make me a $60 million quarterback because that’s where it will be four years from now.”
Jackson put off contract talks throughout the offseason and confirmed during the summer that he had wanted to work on his game and come back healthy. Jackson put on an extra 15 lbs. of muscle mass and has been reported to be looking faster and sharper all through training camp.
Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh said on Friday that he was confident the deal would happen at the right time. “I’m confident that it’ll happen when it’s time,” Harbaugh said. “Lamar is going to be playing quarterback here for a long time. He and I talked about it yesterday like, ‘Hey man, let’s go be our best and focus on football.’ And that’s what he’s been doing all along. So I know nothing will change with that and we’re just focused on Sunday.”
While Watson’s fully guaranteed contract is considered by many to be an outlier, you can’t blame a player for wanting a similar or even better contract if they feel deserving of it, especially a player like Lamar Jackson. The former Louisville quarterback is younger than Watson and has arguably more upside. Jackson is also an established face of the franchise and the face of the city of Baltimore, unlike Watson who still has to earn his stripes in Cleveland. While both quarterbacks have set multiple records in their careers, only one has a Unanimous NFL MVP on his resume. Jackson, unlike Watson, is also not plagued with off-field issues.
Three quarterbacks, including Watson, have signed deals that have exceeded $165 million in guaranteed money over the past six months. The deals have come in the shape of $189 million guaranteed for Cardinals franchise quarterback Kyler Murray and $165 million for new Bronco Russell Wilson and it’s expected that Jackson wouldn’t ask for anything less than Murray’s $189 million in guaranteed money.
The 2016 Heisman trophy winner was asked this week whether he feels it’s a risk to play with no guaranteed money beyond this season. “I mean it was a pretty big risk last season, the year before,” Jackson said. “I wasn’t thinking about contract negotiations around that time. This season is going to be the same thing. You know I’m just playing football. Anything can happen but God forbid the wrong thing happens. I’m keeping God first and just playing ball. Like I’ve been doing.”
While the impasse between Jackson and the Ravens means we have to think about Jackson’s contract dependent on his performances on the field as the season carries on, one still can’t help but wonder if Jackson could still sign mid-season if the Ravens present him with an offer that he can’t refuse. Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens will take on Jackson’s former mentor and the Ravens’ Super Bowl XLVII-winning quarterback, Joe Flacco, for their season opener when they play the New York Jets on September 11th in New York.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.