Lamar Jackson-Ravens contract likely to fall out after Baltimore-based team offers a humiliating deal to the QB, current offer short by at least $100M
Lamar Jackson might've made a huge mistake by rejecting the $133M fully guaranteed deal offered by the Ravens.
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Lamar Jackson (Image via AP.com)
This offseason, the league will see some of the best trades with elite quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers, Derek Carr, and Jimmy Garoppolo being in free agency and looking for a team in 2023. Of these trades, the most interesting one is that of Lamar Jackson.
Lamar Jackson was selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens and has been the focal point of their offense ever since. He has delivered each season and led the Ravens to the postseason every year, barring the current one because of his injury. Keeping Jackson on the roster is of the utmost importance for the team, but since last year there has been trouble in paradise for both parties involved.
After seeing Deshaun Watson get a five-year $230 million guaranteed deal by the Cleveland Browns, like a small kid wanting the same toy as the cool kid of the neighborhood, Jackson asked the Ravens for a similar contract. Baltimore refused to give him such a humongous deal and there has been some sort of bad blood between them, which was evident when the young quarterback walked on the field with a card that read ‘pay your quarterback’.
The Ravens could franchise tag Lamar Jackson in the coming days
A few weeks back, ESPN analyst Ryan Clark reported that the Ravens had initially offered Lamar Jackson $113 million fully guaranteed, which was increased to $133 million, but he rejected both offers and stayed his ground on receiving more money. The 2019 Unanimous NFL MVP has stated that he is capable in his ability to garner more lucrative contracts. But no, it looks like rejecting the offers has hurt his cause.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Ravens are almost $100 million apart in their contract talks in terms of guaranteed money. “Those trade calls are coming. I don’t get the sense that that process has heated up, in part because teams are assuming Jackson will be tagged. It’s still very early on this one,” Fowler said. The Ravens still have the ability to franchise tag the 26-year-old and keep having out the contract extension details for one more year. If they feel like Jackson is going to stay adamant about receiving a $200 million fully guaranteed deal, then they will most likely trade him.
Ravens’ linebacker Roquan Smith who just signed a five-year $100 million extension talked about the situation brewing in Baltimore’s camp regarding the Jackson drama. “I haven’t really chatted with him about anything,” Smith said, via NFL.com. “Cause all our situations are unique in their own way. It would be wrong of me to try to go in and say this or that, because his situation is clearly different than mine.”
Unlike everyone else, Lamar Jackson doesn’t have an agent to negotiate on his behalf, as he prefers to do it himself. The Ravens will soon have the opportunity to franchise tag him once the Super Bowl and the offseason officially start. The whole situation will become clear and finally, after a year of going back and forth on the contract talks, fans will get to know if Jackson stays in Baltimore or plays for a new team in 2023.
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Yash Karandekar
(1023 Articles Published)