I have been a Baltimore football fan longer than I have been a Virginia football fan. My all-time favorite sports hero is Johnny Unitas. Johnny even beats out Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken.
I have watched NFL playoff football in both Memorial Stadium and M&T Bank Stadium. Watched some skillful players in Colts and Ravens uniforms, and make no mistake, Lamar Jackson is incredibly talented, enough so to win the 2019 NFL Most Valuable Player Award.
But he is not worth the $40 million a year he is seeking.
Here are my three reasons why.
First, I am sure Jackson was pretty darn excited to learn that Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills recently agreed on a mega six-year, $258 million extension, with a whopping $150 million guaranteed.
And, what about that makes Lamar smile? Easy. The extension has now raised the bar to the moon for Jackson and his agent, err, himself, for the negotiations with the Ravens. That said, many around the Ravens organization believe it is only a matter of time before the two sides reach a deal.
Who am I to question the decisions that the Ravens front office make? After all, the franchise is considered one of the most well-run organizations in the NFL, as well as among the most respected.
The Baltimore Ravens should curb the enthusiasm on giving Lamar Jackson elite NFL QB money.
As I said, Jackson did win MVP honors in 2019. That season the Ravens lost in the first round of the playoffs. With Jackson at QB, Baltimore has a 1-3 record in postseason play. In playoff action, he has thrown nearly twice as many interceptions (5) as TD passes (3). The NFL is a playoff postseason-based reward structure. Joe Flacco had an incredible playoff run in the 2012-2013 year, leading the Ravens to a Super Bowl win. Flacco was rewarded with a $120 million, six-year contract.
Jackson is a spectacular dual-threat QB. He is electric when running the ball, quite possibly the best running back in the league, except he is not a running back. That said, he simply does not carry the offense as do other elite NFL QBs can, names like Brady, Mahomes, Rodgers and most recently Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow. The NFL has evolved into a pass-first league. Jackson must demonstrate he can win with his arms and feet.
Running quarterbacks have a limited shelf life in the NFL. Last year, Jackson missed the final four games of the regular season due to injury, a bone bruise in his ankle. The Ravens record in those four games: 0-4. OK, so that may be solidifying the case to give Jackson the money – or how important it is for him to remain healthy.
The NFL is a salary cap entity, which means there is a limit to just how much each club can spread around to the 53 players on the active roster. If you dish out $40 million a year to one player, other key players may suffer, or walk away and join different teams that are not experiencing salary cap issues.
Most NFL teams pay huge salaries to front office personnel that are referred to as capolologists. Do not bother to look up “capologist” in the dictionary, because you won’t find it. It’s the arithmetic nerds each team must have to figure out how to spread out the current salary cap throughout the roster. Or make a round peg fit in a square hole.
If the Ravens and Jackson reach a contract extension that is far north of $35 million a season, then those Raven capologists have got their work cut out for them. So much they may feel more like proctologists.
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