The Baltimore Ravens organization is at a contract impasse with their talented dual-threat quarterback Lamar Jackson. He’s reportedly more focused on getting back to health than signing a new lucrative multi-year extension.
Jackson missed the final five games of the season with a nagging ankle injury and reportedly had other small injuries that he’s still healing from which occurred over the last two seasons.
Lamar Jackson with a few records tonight:
🏈Ties Dan Marino for most wins by an NFL QB before the age of 25
🏈Sets #Ravens franchise record for most passing yards in a game with 442 (4TDs & 0 INTs)
LJ8 is your early frontrunner for MVP. Not even up for debate @wjz pic.twitter.com/NxRE1Uryyi
— Rick Ritter (@RickRitterWJZ) October 12, 2021
ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark mentioned that he believes LJ8 is worthy of a $40 million-plus payday, especially considering Kirk Cousins, who has won much of nothing in Minnesota, just received a re-up of $35M to keep him under contract through 2023.
“He deserves to be in that 40-million plus crew. … I believe that’s what he needs to even walk on the grass in Baltimore.”
.@Realrclark25 wants to see Lamar Jackson get paid 💰
"He deserves to be in that 40 million-plus crew. … I believe that's what he needs to get to even walk on the grass in Baltimore." pic.twitter.com/VTDO6cebaD
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) February 24, 2022
He also stressed the importance of Jackson staying as healthy as he can this offseason, which includes not participating in any team activities until he’s inked that long-term deal, which provides that well-deserved security.
Jackson Is Said To Be Looking For Patrick Mahomes Type Deal: Somewhere In $250 Million Neighborhood
Jackson is said to be looking for a five-year, $250 million deal. He’s currently the 400th-highest-paid player in the league as he enters the fifth and final year of his rookie deal. That won’t last long.
Clark also said Jackson should accept nothing less than a five-year, $200 million deal. Last March, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes signed a 10-year, $450 million deal ($45M per year).
While in August, Buffalo Bills signal caller Josh Allen got a contract for six years and $258 million, averaging $43M per year. Jackson’s importance to his squad is on par with both of those talented QBs, and he has more accolades than Allen.
AFC now has:
Patrick Mahomes
Josh Allen
Justin Herbert
Joe Burrow
Lamar Jackson
Russell WilsonGood luck to the teams who *don't* have one of those guys.
NFC, meanwhile, lost Tom Brady and Wilson in same offseason. Wide open.
— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) March 8, 2022
While Jackson didn’t have his best season last year, he’s already shown his value. And he had his team off to an 8-2 start. Then they collapsed without him. The fact that the team was competitive but couldn’t finish was proof of Jackson’s immense value to the Ravens organization. He has six comebacks and eight game-winning drives in his career.
He was named the second unanimous MVP in league history in 2019, following Brady in 2010. He’s also very dynamic, giving the Ravens a shot at making a run to Super Sunday each season he’s been under center.
In his career he has nearly 10,000 passing yards and over 3,600 rushing yards. Jackson is everything to a franchise devoid of top playmakers, and he’s shown a propensity to raise the level of play of those around him.
Ravens GM Wants To Get A Deal Done: Is He Waiting On Jackson?
GM Eric DeCosta has gone on record as saying he hopes to get a deal done with his star pupil as soon as possible. DeCosta knows there’s no way Jackson, whose mom is his agent, takes one snap without a new deal in hand.
In a recent interview with NFL.com, the well-respected decision-maker talked about wanting to sign Jackson to a long-term extension.
“Well I hope so, at some point, yeah, we will. We’ve discussed this at length and I’ve said this before: We will work at Lamar’s urgency. He and I have had ongoing discussions. We’ve talked fairly recently as well. He knows how to find me. I know how to find him. I was very happy to see him working out on the West Coast recently with some of our guys. That’s exciting. Something that we really think will help us this year be the best team we can be.
“He’s a guy that when we think about the Ravens, three, four, five years from now, we envision Lamar being a very, very big part of that team and definitely a player that can help us win Super Bowls.”
With Jackson not having a real agent, that could hurt him in negotiations. The Ravens probably wish they had old team president and two-time Super Bowl exec Ozzie Newsome in the fold to help facilitate the deal, but even without Mr. Magic, Baltimore is still one of the most standup, well-run organizations. So, the expectancy is a deal that suits both sides will get done.
Ray Lewis says Lamar Jackson’s long-term future in Baltimore is way bigger than football, so the money is the basics. “He carries the mantle,” Lewis said in an interview with Rich Eisen.
But the question the anxious “Charm City” Birds fans have is WHEN will Jackson ink his deal? Apparently, when Lamar and his mom hear a figure they like.