Today was considered the deadline for the Ravens to finalize an extension with quarterback Lamar Jackson, after he named today as the last negotiating window before turning his attention to the 2022 campaign. The team confirmed that a deal will not be coming in time for the start of the season. 
“Despite best efforts on both sides, we were unable to reach a contract extension with Lamar Jackson,” general manager Eric DeCosta said in a statement. “We greatly appreciate how he has handled this process and we are excited about our team with Lamar leading the way.”
The news comes as little surprise at this point; a mega-deal like several others signed this offseason was reported as being unlikely earlier this week. The matter of guaranteed money has long been seen as the sticking point between team and player, as Jackson is believed to be seeking a deal which is fully guaranteed, just as Deshaun Watson‘s historic Browns contract is.
The Ravens have not, at any point during negotiations, been willing to go that far, including when they reportedly increased their offer to the 25-year-old. The same has been true of the Cardinals and Broncos, who have extended Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson, respectively, on deals which outstrip the $46MM-per-year average of Watson’s pact, though they fall well short in terms of guaranteed compensation.
That has led to the growing sense around the league that the Watson deal is an outlier. Baltimore is among the teams concurring with that view, as confirmed by Pro Football Network’s Aaron Wilson. He adds, however, that the Ravens are “believed to be willing to guarantee a large portion” of any Jackson extension, even eclipsing Wilson’s $165MM figure and at least approaching Murray’s $189.5MM mark.
Wilson also cites sources emphasizing that negotiations between DeCosta and Jackson (who does not have an agent) have not resulted in an “acrimonious situation.” Nevertheless, this is a disappointing development for the team, and one which leaves Jackson months away from unrestricted free agency.
Assuming he holds true to his aversion to in-season talks, Jackson will play out his rookie contract in 2022 and become subject to a franchise tag in March. The one-year pacts will represent a significant raise from the $23MM Jackson will earn this season, regardless of whether an exclusive or non-exclusive tag is used. The former would place a massive burden on the team’s 2023 cap structure, while the latter would leave open the possibility of an offer sheet.
“We will continue to work towards a long-term contract after the season,” DeCosta’s statement concludes, “but for now we are looking forward to a successful 2022 campaign.” The Ravens open the season on Sunday against the Jets, but this storyline will hang over the franchise for the duration.
Hopefully he stays healthy this season. He’s not getting a fully guaranteed deal from anyone so he may have overplayed his hand.
I’m guessing you’re wrong but time will tell.
If anyone was going to give him a guaranteed deal like that, it’s Baltimore.
Hopefully he was able to get insurance, which to me is the #1 reason to get a deal done. That said, he’s banked enough already to measure and decide on the risk he’s willing to take.
If he hits free agency he’ll absolutely get a fully guaranteed deal. Kirk cousins got one, and Lamar is way better.
The risk is he will be franchised at least once and probably twice, so the huge guarantee will have to wait until the 2024 or 2025 seasons, which is a big risk.
But it’s his decision, and he’s still making plenty of money over the next two or three seasons, so he must think it’s worth trying to shift the market for future quarterbacks.
It’s just as odd that Baltimore is balking at basically one extra year of guaranteed money to get a deal done. They aren’t getting a better quarterback than Lamar anytime soon.
Sorry Wolves. I basically just said the same thing.
Yeah. 4 hours after he said it.
“ Overplayed his hand” really there are more BOZO owners out there. Haslam isn’t the only one.
It’ll be Franchise year and then Extend or Franchise year and Trade.
Capt. Obvious here but I don’t think a Franchise and Franchise and let him walk is smart business.
Ask the Cowboys, they’re inaction cost them an extra 50-100 million.
Same for the Vikes who paid handsomely for Cousins after 2 tags in DC.
Was only for short term deal not 4,5 or 6 year deal
Both teams overpaid in my view.
Good for Mr Jackson.
It is courageous of him to represent himself.
If Ravens fans want to keep him, they can start a go fund me campaign.
Both Jackson and the ravens understand hes a scramble away from a career altering injury, the question is who has more to lose.
every QB in the league is a scramble away from a career altering injury. you’re not saying anything profound though you might think it is
Like joe Flacco? Daniel jones ? You completely missed the point Jethro. Went completely over your flattop.
Poor Ratbirds.
Given how QB salaries have skyrocketed the franchise tag is looking like the bargain play.
Fully guaranteed contracts seem great for the player but not for the team? Alot of uncertainty involving injury, new players, yeam-player relationship, person conduct or simply negative or passive attitude. It’d be nice if we all got fully guaranteed money regardless of our performance at work? Unrealistic but nice!
Matt Patricia is still getting paid his fully guaranteed contract as head coach of the Lions. Same with Joe Judge for the Giants. Baseball players get fully guaranteed contracts, even the pitchers. I’m also guessing you don’t do something similar to play NFL football–not in revenue generated, not in rarity of skillset, not in surplus value created during the first few years of your career, not in damage to your long-term health, not in the inability to have any choice in where you work the first few years of your career.
Terrible comparison. Baseball has much less risk of career ending injuries, roster size is more than half,free agency movement in the NFL pales in comparison to mlb,careers much longer in mlb. All factors you fail to consider oooooooof.
Pitchers are greater injury risks than QBs.
Average MLB career length is shorter than average NFL career length. And I’m sure the number of career ending injuries for mlb players is closer than you think, especially when factoring in pitchers.
The biggest issue by far is that the MLBPA bargained for this and got it, whereas the NFLPA has complained about this for as long as I can remember and still has not negotiated for it.
There are several things to consider:
– The MLBPA negotiated for this, NLFPA still has not.
– There is a salary cap in Football, there isn’t one in MLB, although now there is a “luxury tax” that gets imposed if you go over a certain amount.
– A standard baseball season is 162 games, even more for playoff teams.
It makes you wonder why he has no agent. I know agent’s can get up to 15% but your also saving yourself the burden of dealing with this type of stuff while also preparing for a long season. Is it the financial savings? Hmmmm…
NFL agents make 3%, making it even more quizzical.
they make well over 3% on average.
NFL agents cannot make more than 3% of playing contracts.
Yet they all do. Collective bargaining has loopholes.
Name one. They certainly make more on endorsement deals and other outside ventures that involve them, but that’s not what you’re saying.
there are always loop holes … for example they can say as part of the player signing he gets 3% of the players contract but then charge the “perks” such as 10k for a glass of water during negotiations before … delivery charges for sending the contracts to the league and the team …. 20k for someone to notarize the contract … there are tons of loopholes where they can funnel more money.
its like property taxes, constitutionally my state cant go over x percent increase per year but im always a percent or 2 above that limit because there are loopholes on the amendment. the school needed a new gym … this bridge needs new repairs … we need to seal the parking lot of the municipal building etc etc
you can say its not part of the contract but in reality they are just shifting the name of it but really its from the contract
And your source for this $10k glass of water? Besides, that would be less than .0005% of Jackson’s earnings for this year, so I’m not buying that perks like this–if true–are costing a player significantly more than 3%.
West about endorsements ooooooooof.
It is really not of contention how much of a percentage the agent makes, it is the fact that there is no agent.
Without an agent Lamar Jackson is missing out on the Public Relations side of the negotiating. An agent would have provided an avenue to slip desired results and justification. An agent would also engage public appearances, speaking engagements, corporate endorsements, investment opportunities, and future business developments for Lamar.
This is why Marshawn Lynch has started BeastMode Marketing to help guide current players. He has all of his game checks banked and is still living solely on endorsement deals. Well worth the 3%-15% the agent is getting paid.
10-20%
How perplexing. He could replace that murderer as the franchises best ever player. Wonder why he wouldn’t wanna do that
He wants paid, chances are he doesn’t give a damn about the opinions of strangers regarding the franchises best ever player.
Dude killed a guy
Yes he did.
To be fair….
It was a double homicide, and the “Blood Stained/Soaked” white fur coat and white suit were never found. It is believed that those items and the knife were dumped somewhere in Atlanta. The blood was easily located in the limo.
Ray Ray did reach a settlement with both families, out of court, and an obstruction of justice charge fit nicely in the scenario. It allowed everyone to move forward and Chicken Dance for many years to come.
I wouldn’t describe this as the Ravens failing..
I think the biggest issue as far as the Ravens are concerned is how much this is going to absolutely hamstring them come ’23 and ’24 cap situation. If you have to franchise LJ two times it takes up an ENORMOUS amount of cap! So LJ will make out just fine given he’ll make the average of the top 5 paid QBs in the league. But BALT will be paying way more towards that cap figure and that’s where it will hurt them the most. And the fact that those funds cannot be allocated elsewhere will ultimately hurt the whole team.
I ain’t giving any guaranteed money to any QB who runs around. Idc how athletic you are
Congratulations!…you just convinced Bobby Douglass not to attempt a comeback.
The Ravens would be stupid to give him that kind of money and to fully guarantee it. Since his MVP season he’s been worse every season since then and his playoff stats are atrocious. There is much more sizzle then steak here.
Time to chuck it in and rebuild the team around a QB that is a passer. It is also much easier to find a good backup QB for that style as well.
Let some other team break the bank on him and give him fully guaranteed money while they have to completely reinvent their offense for him to be able to run it.
Anything more than a four year deal would be foolish for both sides.
I would give Lamar a contract that tops Murray’s in guaranteed money he’s done far more than kyler has
Who in their right mind would give an injury prone player with his style of play a fully multi guaranteed deal?
I get he’s only 25 but I’d bet he has a couple more years before those injuries and age carted up to him and with that arm, cam newton 2.0..
The arm with the best tight throw accuracy in the league?