Lamar Jackson
set Week 1 as a deadline for his newest spherical of extension talks with the Ravens. If that is certainly a tough deadline, the Ravens are working out of time to keep away from this case dragging to a 2023 franchise tag.
The staff is believed to have elevated its provide to Jackson, Josina Anderson of CBS Sports activities tweets. Baltimore is not going to do a completely assured deal, regardless of Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson settlement, Anderson provides. This has lengthy been the expectation, despite the fact that Jackson has been related to searching for a contract containing greater than the whopping $230M assured the Browns gave Watson.
Since Watson’s March extension settlement, the Broncos and Cardinals prolonged their passers on offers price extra — when it comes to common annual worth — than Watson’s $46M, however neither Russell Wilson nor Kyler Murray secured near the assured cash Watson did. Groups are treating that Browns contract like an outlier, one dictated by distinctive circumstances. If the Ravens are going to signal Jackson this week, they are going to seemingly be pressured to authorize an extension that features greater than the $124M totally assured Wilson obtained — most likely much more.
The Ravens have been negotiating with Jackson because the 2021 offseason when he first turned eligible for a brand new deal. These 2021 talks are believed to have included a suggestion price greater than
Josh Allen‘s $43M-per-year accord. This yr, the staff has been related to a suggestion that exceeds Murray’s $46.1M AAV. Nothing has come out concerning ensures, although a Jackson tweet revealed the staff’s anticipated reluctance to supply a completely assured contract.
Jackson, 25, continues to function with out an agent. That has sophisticated this prolonged course of. The previous MVP negotiated in-season with the Ravens in 2021. If he’s really ready to close down talks this yr, the following few days signify a pivotal stretch.
The previous Heisman winner may proceed to wager on himself, taking the chance of both an damage or a decline in play — Jackson’s QBR figures have fallen from first (2019) to eighth (2020) to seventeenth (’21) — dropping his worth. One other solely believable situation exists during which Jackson’s worth rises once more in 2022. The wage cap will proceed to climb, and the specter of an unique 2023 tag placing upward of $40M on Baltimore’s cap sheet — which might hinder the staff in free company — would apply extra stress on the group.
Dak Prescott‘s season-ending ankle damage didn’t restrict him in his 2021 negotiations with the Cowboys, which concerned the specter of a second tag clogging Dallas’ payroll. The Ravens even have a historical past of a quarterback betting on himself and profitable. Joe Flacco didn’t signal a Ravens extension in 2012, happening to place collectively a powerful playoff run that led the staff to its second Tremendous Bowl championship. The Ravens made Flacco the league’s first $20M-AAV participant — through a six-year, $120.6M deal — earlier than free company in 2013. Instances have modified on the QB market, with Aaron Rodgers — who topped Flacco’s deal quickly after it was agreed to 9 years in the past — topping the present market at $50.3M per yr.
Flacco’s Baltimore successor stays tied to his $23M fifth-year choice wage. Jackson’s age, significance to the Ravens and the cap’s renewed development elevate the stakes for the staff. The run-oriented QB becoming a member of Rodgers within the $50M-per-year membership shouldn’t be dominated out. Will the staff go there this week?
