One of the most prevalent NFL storylines this offseason has been the Ravens’ extension negotiations with star quarterback Lamar Jackson, and we learned on Friday that the two sides had not come to terms. As such, it is likely that contract talks will be tabled until the offseason.
We now have more details on Baltimore’s most recent offer. Per ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, the Ravens proposed a six-year deal worth over $290MM, which included $133MM guaranteed at signing (Twitter link). The full guarantees and the average annual value would have eclipsed the figures included in the recent contracts signed by Denver’s Russell Wilson ($124MM fully guaranteed, $48.5MM AAV) and Arizona’s Kyler Murray ($103.3MM fully guaranteed, $46.5MM AAV). Indeed, Mortensen says that Wilson’s pact — which was signed just 10 days ago — prompted the Ravens to up their offer.
As has become increasingly clear, Jackson wants his entire contract to be fully guaranteed, just like the one the Browns gave to Deshaun Watson. Of course, clubs are trying to treat the Watson accord as an outlier, and Wilson and Murray clearly did not object to that approach. According to veteran NFL reporter Josina Anderson, Baltimore was frustrated that Jackson, unlike Wilson and Murray, did not accept that unique circumstances precipitated Watson’s deal (Twitter links).
Anderson adds that helping elite quarterbacks land fully guaranteed contracts in the future is important to Jackson (links to Twitter). One wonders if the NFLPA — which, as Mortensen tweets, counseled the agentless Jackson — might have influenced the 2019 MVP in that regard, though there is presently nothing to suggest that is the case.
If Jackson continues to bet on himself and takes the “Kirk Cousins approach” to the situation — i.e., forcing the Ravens to put the franchise tag on him in 2023 and ’24 — he would earn around $100MM in guaranteed money over those two seasons, along with the $23MM he is earning in 2022. In 2025, when the cap charge of a third franchise tag becomes untenable, Jackson could theoretically have the leverage to get the fully guaranteed deal he desires from Baltimore or another franchise.
That obviously assumes that his play remains at a high level and that he does not suffer a career-altering injury, though Anderson hears that Jackson is essentially bullet-proof; no matter what happens to him (barring something completely catastrophic), sources expect him to ultimately get what he wants (Twitter links). That may or may not be true, but it is clearly a risk Jackson is willing to take.
We heard previously that the negotiations have not led to any acrimony between Jackson and the Ravens, and for what it’s worth, the union believes the team has negotiated in good faith (Twitter link via Mortensen). Baltimore did include $2.5MM “de-escalator” clauses if Jackson did not attend a certain percentage of offseason workouts, though it’s unlikely that particular provision had much of an impact in talks.
For now, the Ravens and Jackson will turn their attention to Sunday’s opener against the Jets, the start of another campaign in which expectations are high for player and team.
Dude needs an agent.
Legs based QB’s don’t thrive in their thirties.
The Ravens are insane for offering him that kind of money, he’s certifiable for rejecting it.
A 330 lb. right tackle falls on his knee and he’s out a third of a billion dollars this year.
Why he needs is to understand his value. That is a good offer for him. Unless he wins another MVP him getting more is unlikely.
Barring some injury or major regression he’ll get maxed out in free agency
Maybe he wants to get the hell outta dodge
Baltimore is a craphole
One thing we can agree on. It is a horrible city that has had horrific leadership in my life time. It has done nothing but gotten worse. I am glad I got out of there 20 years ago.
Dude for sure needs an agent this is so dumb. Had a significant injury last year.
Seems like the NFPA is using him too, like they’re thinking if we can get a QB who runs as much as Lamar a fully guaranteed deal then we can get any good QB the same.
It’s much more likely to be a tenth of a billion in your scenario forwhomjoshbelltolled. This report says $133M would be guaranteed. That other $157M appears to be the issue if he is pushing for fully guaranteed.
Also- he doesn’t pay 6% to an agent. I’d take the money and run.
It’s a business contract that pays him $290M. Thr biggest contract he’ll ever sign in his life. Hire the agent to read the fine print. I would guess Lamar doesn’t know jack about contracts.
Wow. Dennis Schroder, Nerlens Noel, and Victor Oladipo didn’t make this big of a mistake.
Aaron Judge, Kirk Cousins and a host of others would disagree.
Ian Desmon, Garciaparra, Tim Lincecum, Jason Pierre-Paul, Terrell Pryor, Neil Walker, all would disagree with you Senior… Many, many more players have bet on themselves and lost than the few who have succeeded.
Look at the landscape of QBs. The guaranteed money is nice, but how many franchise QBs have actually not gotten the non-guaranteed portion?
Kap is the only one that comes to mind. Even dudes like Goff and Wentz are getting their full contract and they have been bad or injured.
Him getting a higher offer is less likely than him not getting that 290. If he’s good they’ll re do the deal in 3 years anyway to fix his cap, more guarantees happen each time he restructures.
Terrel Pryor? When did he ever turn down a large contract? Also Tim Lincecum was one of the highest paid starters for a 5 year period.
He turned down $32.5 million extension over 4 years. Later accepted 1 year at 6M and then no teams after that contract.
You say a host of others but stopped at 2.
The Dude is way in over his head
He wants rapist money. And he’s being a selfish prick
Yep. Watson deal was an outlier. Only way they could convince him to sign in Cleveland was to overpay.
The contract he turned down was more than fair. He won’t age well. Injuries are his future. And I don’t think he’s worth the contract he turned down. He’s just not that good in my mind.
Ravens will tag him at least once. That’s all I’d do. Then draft a replacement next draft.
Nothing selfish about setting yourself up for the rest of your life. It’s not like the Ravens have spent any money on their offense while he was on his rookie contract
Yeah because $290 million wouldn’t do that. You could set up 290 people for life with that money. Use the brain god gave you, if you were in fact given one…which I’m having serious doubts about. Moron
Well, his grandkids’ grandkids are pissed. He has absolutely blown it. My guess he will have to end up accepting much less money than he just turned down, to go have a less productive career somewhere else.
Yet another athlete with no limit to their greediness and arrogance. Go ahead and blow out your knee next week and then see how you feel about $290 MILLION DOLLARS
As far as I know, there’s never been a running quarterback who lasted into his late 30s. Too many hits, and he’s not exactly built for may of those. Too much financial pride here.
Late 30’s ?? They all start regressing once they hit 30. Every big hit slows them down a bit. Will be interesting to see if the Ravens cut back on his designed runs. Like playin Russian Roulette
@peterd; that’s just what happened in the game today. Very limited Lamar designed run plays.
There have been several. Fran Tarkenton wasn’t really a runner, but he ran around a lot to extend plays. Vick and Randall Cunningham. These are just off the top of my head. The difference with the last two is that they put their running on the back shelf and learned to become pocket passers. Have we seen that from Lamar yet? Dude completed about 50% of his passes today….against the Jets.
He has already won a MVP when he threw for 36 and ran for another 7. As for your completion percentage comment his career mark is 64% while easily having one.of the worst supporting casts in the NFL for his entire career.
One of the worst QB’s in throwing the ball on target. Stop making excuses, the guy can’t throw.
“there’s never been a running quarterback who lasted into his late 30s.”
Not sure how this is relevant to Lamar Jackson. He’s 25 years old. He could sign a 10 year contract and it would still be over before he hit his ‘late 30s’.
Worked out for Kirk Cousins. Hopefully it works out for Lamar as well
Lamar would be signed if he had an agent. Like they say A man the represents himself has a fool for and client.
Wow, he wants to be a free agent. Great! If I’m the Ravens at this point I leave a standing offer on the table for the league minimum and tell the offensive coordinator to call more qb running plays to squeeze all we can and let it be someone else’s problem later. I don’t know how some people process things…what more could he possibly want? Other than to maybe be in another city?
He wants more guaranteed money. With only 133 million being guaranteed that’s basically the contracts worth. Because if he has a catastrophic injury they aren’t going to pay out the 290 million. On the open market he would easily become the highest paid QB in the NFL.
Lamar needs to stop listening to his Momma Agent. He has never been nor will be and elite qb deserving of elite money! Let’s see what Herbert and Burrow get. If he’s still trying to get Watson guaranteed contract after those, then he’s complete idiot!
Mort reported $250M, not 290
Over $290MM. Check out the first Mortensen tweet linked in the article. He confirmed as much when he said the deal topped Wilson’s $48.5MM AAV.
I’m shocked. Biscotti signing off on that length and money guarantee. And Chris M is legit when it comes to reporting this kinda activity. Geez.
It doesn’t hurt to ask – but at some point you also need to recognize what you can actually get.
Dak the Hack held out , got crushed and still got big $$$. Lamar knows he is getting his. More Jimmy Haslams out there
Brady Rodgers and mahomes would’ve taken that deal but sure prioritize being the next cousins or Watson instead. Trade him if his goal is to be highest paid and mediocre
Mahomes has an enormous contract with huge cap hits. Not sure how he is a good example of prioritizing the team.
Same for Rodgers, who held out just last season for more money and has his own big contract with big cap hits.
Rodgers and mahomes are also bad examples because they have more than one quality season. My point is the qb market is set, Jackson allegedly turned down an offer that was more than he deserved and he refused it hoping to change the market which never ends well for the desparate teams that give in.
You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about. Mahomes and Rodgers are in the top 3 of yearly salary.
Greed and stupidity are undefeated. Hope for his sake he doesn’t become a cautionary tale for guys declining deals that could set up the family tree forever.
Guess I gave the Baltimore front office too much credit – as this deal is downright stupid. You don’t give #1 money to the #10 QB in the league – especially one whose season could easily end on every snap.
They probably wanted to give a good faith offer so they know where they stand and can move on. If I were them that would be my best and final offer.
They went into insane territory with that offer and now their way forward is clear. Jackson is done in Baltimore and they’ll move on. Like I’ve said all off season, let some other team pay him this insane money, have to completely rebuild their offense around him, and deal with the aftermath of it all.
And QBs season could end on any snap so what’s your point exactly?
I really don’t blame Jackson at all for wanting his deal guaranteed, but even without that, that’s still a huge chunk of guaranteed money included in there.
He’s not wrong for wanting his deal to be guaranteed, but Jackson should realize that he can’t control what teams are willing to offer. Watson’s deal was an outlier. Chances are pretty low that another will offer that type of deal to another non-Superbowl winning quarterback. Watson has also proven his passing talent more than Jackson, so as a player, he’s got more value-even if that deal was ludicrous.
I really don’t blame Jackson for wanting guarantees, and he seems like he has a good head on his shoulders and high character, but he should realize that he cannot control what the Ravens or any other team will offer. That’s a good deal with a lot more guaranteed money than most quarterbacks will ever see. He’d be wise to reconsider.
Yikes. Your $50 million dollar a year QB should be able to throw an accurate pass to a RB 5 yards away, no? He’s electric when he’s on, but some throws are just brutal.
Over the past two seasons he’s one of the absolute worst QB’s in the game at delivering a ball on target. Even in his best season, the MVP on, he was 13th.
lol he ravens might look past him after this year too. They have a guy now. Strange pass here me LJ. Very nice fair deal the Ravens loaded up on. They should be able to save money in FA.
Part of having an agent is knowing what common sense is. That’s not taking anything away from Jackson, just…it’s hard to know how much a lot it is when $100 million is too low. (wtf?)
Agents are more than just a calculator. There’s a reason they’re there. Just like a real estate agent. They’re not there to show you the house, they’re there to represent you through the process.
It ain’t the town or he’d move to trade. Best of luck.
Someone is giving him terrible information, and a lack of self awareness is going to come back to bite him.
This is probably when Baltimore needs to sit down and ask themselves if he’s the way to go, and if he’s not, what can they get. At this point I’m not sure Baltimore needs to invest that much in one player.
This has all the makings of coming down to a staring contest – a QB who wants to look out for future QBs and an owner who wants to prove that the Watson contract was indeed a special circumstance fluke.
Franchise him once or twice then move on with a young QB then.
What? He rejects $133,000,000 ?? Six years and $133m guaranteed? All he has to do is stay alive, breathe, show up 6 months out of the year to Play football? And he’s guaranteed an average of $22.17m per year for 6 years and he says NO? Okay now tell me that there are no problems in sports too….that they are not just greedy people wanting riches beyond anyone’s imagination! To PLAY a GAME! And don’t tell me about how dangerous football is and crap like that. These guys are all free to preserve their safety and compete in the job market for jobs starting at $30-40k a year!
If my math is right, he would make more in ONE DAY than I make in A YEAR based on the numbers outlined by ken62 above. This includes days he doesn’t have to play, practice, or even get out of bed. And that’s not good enough? I hate Lamar Jackson
I’d trade him. His numbers have gone down for three consecutive years and he’s only been in the league for three years. He’s way, way overated and will be considered a bust before his career is over. They should be glad he didn’t sign.
Mmmm…Cowboys.
That game needed Dak to get injured, hell after watching Denver through Flacco and Bridgewater I was suspect.
I don’t feel a thing for Dallas, I just happened into watching them play the Bucs last night over fantasy and my dumb ass could tell you after the first quarter the offensive was garbage. It needed clown music.
And fire the Cowboys coach and offensive coordinator while you’re at it. I’m talking Cowboys on a Ravens post, that’s how bad that “injury was”…Ding, ding!
How many times does Dak come back?
Jerry, Pay me!!!