Baltimore Raven fans look away. All offseason we’ve been paying attention to the drama surrounding Lamar Jackson and his much-deserved contract extension. Recently, Jackson made it clear that he would not be signing an extension if they couldn’t agree by the end of the week. This is because he is choosing not to battle for an extension right in the middle of the regular season. Something that a good chunk of players opt not to do.
The weekend is now upon us, and the two sides couldn’t agree whatsoever. The team’s General Manager Eric DeCosta said, “Despite best efforts on both sides, we were unable to reach a contract extension with Lamar Jackson. We greatly appreciate how he has handled this process. And we are excited about our team with Lamar leading the way. We will continue to work towards a long-term contract after the season, but for now we are looking forward to a successful 2022 campaign.”
Again, this certainly wasn’t the news that Ravens fans wanted to hear. Head coach John Harbaugh said, “I wasn’t directly involved with any back and forth, but you’re hopeful.” He continued by saying, “He and I talked about it yesterday a little bit, like, hey man, let’s go be our best and go focus on football.” It’s clear that both Harbaugh and Jackson are putting all of their efforts on the season opener on Sunday.
Lamar Jackson Not Signing Was Unexpected
A few months ago in March, DeCosta came out and shared a ton of hope to sign Lamar. He made it unbelievably clear that re-signing him was their highest priority way back at the NFL combine. All these months past and it’s looked like they’ve gotten further apart then before. At one point, DeCosta even said, “He knows how to find me; I know how to find him.”
One could imagine that the contract Deshaun Watson recently signed impacted these negotiations. Watson didn’t play for an entire season and made $230 million, fully guaranteed. Obviously, Lamar believes that he deserves more and how can you blame him for that? He was the 2019 NFL MVP and has consistently dragged Baltimore’s offense forward with his speed and athleticism.
It hasn’t just been Watson who tipped the quarterback market. We all know that Patrick Mahomes signed that $500 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs a few years ago. Then Josh Allen signed a six-year, $258 million deal a little over a year ago. Lamar Jackson might not be demanding more than those guys, but it’s not easy to argue that he is looking for something close to those numbers. Jackson hasn’t had much playoff success with the organization, though they likely wouldn’t be even in contention without him leading the charge the past four years.
Hopefully, Jackson is able to stay healthy throughout the year to eventually get the contract he deserves from the Ravens. I know one thing is for sure though, Baltimore will definitely regret not inking Lamar to an extension if he gets up and leaves in the offseason.
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