What are Lamar Jackson’s options for his future? Long term contract, trade...
With time running out, it’s quickly becoming a ‘now-or-never situation where the Ravens and their quarterback are concerned. The question is, can they agree on a deal?
As things stand, the star signal caller and his team are yet to agree on a long-term deal. This of course, only serves to intensify the speculation about whether he will continue in Baltimore, or move to a new team. While the latter option seems unlikely, it’s clear there is still much work to be done before this scenario comes to a close.
What contract is Lamar Jackson asking for?
Whether you knew this or not, there is a growing trend in the NFL, which sees quarterbacks who were first round picks offered a new deal before their rookie contract expires. This normally occurs once the team has established that the fit is right for the long-term. With that in mind, we can safely say that Baltimore Ravens quarterback, Lamar Jackson, is the exception. To date, Jackson is the only first-rounder to play under a fifth-year option since the rookie wage scale was implemented with the 2011 NFL collective bargaining agreement.
To be clear, Jackson, who represents himself, reportedly rejected a five-year extension offer worth approximately $250 million with $133 million fully guaranteed, before cutting off negotiations at the start of the 2022 regular season. What that meant, is that Jackson played on his fully guaranteed $23.016 million fifth year option, while demanding a fully guaranteed contract. Let’s digress for a moment. You will recall, the fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million deal that the Browns gave to their own signal caller, Deshaun Watson, after he was traded from the Texans almost a year ago. It would appear that Jackson wants something similar, evidenced by the fact that all reports indicate that every proposal he’s made to the franchise - he’s representing himself - was for a fully guaranteed contract that surpasses Watson’s. While the exact amount that Jackson asked for has not been disclosed, it’s safe to say that it’s in excess of Russell Wilson’s league high $49 million per year.
What about the Baltimore Ravens, what’s their position?
At present, there hasn’t been much movement since the Ravens were eliminated by the Bengals in the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs earlier this year. Indeed, negotiations between the franchise and Jackson were expected to resume, but there is no indication that they have. What that means, is that we’re likely going to see Jackson receiving either an exclusive or non-exclusive franchise tag before the designation’s deadline falls on March 7th at 4:00 p.m. ET. It should be said, that the Ravens have made it clear that they have no intention of trading Jackson i.e., they want him to stay.
In truth, the team’s stance on Jackson’s demands is understandable. For starters, this last campaign was the second consecutive one in which he was sidelined for the last few games due to injury. It stands to reason that any team would be hesitant to offer a fully guaranteed contract under such circumstances. Indeed, the PCL strain which he suffered in his left knee is understood to still be an issue, which in itself only further hurts his chances of a massive contract. Yet, here we are.
OK, but what does Lamar Jackson want?
On the one side, we’ve got a quarterback who appears to be standing firm on his desire to be offered a fully guaranteed deal, which in reality would make him the highest paid player in the league. On the other, Jackson has at no point stated a desire to leave Baltimore. Yes, he hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with some of the franchise’s decisions regarding personnel, however, the team has largely been tailor-made to fit his specific set of skills. That’s to say, that if we consider the way in which Baltimore’s continued reliance on his running ability, has in turn led to an increased frequency of injuries, it could just be that Jackson might settle for less money, if he was given more support. After all, a quarterback should be using his arm more than his legs.
Ultimately, it’s all but certain that Jackson will be given the franchise tag as we said before. With that, both parties will have an additional four months to negotiate a deal. If, however, they fail to do so, then you can expect this scenario to get very interesting because there’s no telling what Jackson might decide to do then. As we always say, watch this space.