The Baltimore Ravens aren’t going to extend or make a new contract offer to Lamar Jackson midseason. Both the Ravens and Jackson made it clear that, once their mutual self-imposed deadline of Week 1 passed, extension and new contract talks would be tabled until after the season.
But even with an up-and-down season by Jackson and the Ravens, it’s time for Baltimore to realize that Jackson deserves his money. And it’s not because of the unbelievable performances he’s had in games against Miami and Buffalo; despite those highlight-reel efforts, the Ravens lost both.
Obviously, it might not be as simple as the Ravens just paying the man. The Ravens front office believes Deshaun Watson’s deal with Cleveland may be the outlier as opposed to the new bar for top-level quarterbacks.
Kyler Murray with Arizona and Russel Wilson, now with Denver, signed deals after the Watson contract for lesser amounts. Six games into the season, Murray and Wilson have struggled.
Everyone in and around Baltimore wants to see Jackson in a Ravens jersey for the rest of his career. On WBAL, the Ravens flagship radio station, Monday evening’s “Ravens Report” sounded more like a Lamar Jackson fan club podcast.
Contract talks won’t be revisited until the offseason, so all the pay the man talk is just noise for the time being However, the more the season progresses, the price tag for Jackson is going to just increase.
Here’s why.
It seems like every week, or every other week, as the 3-3 record suggests, I’m sitting down to write a recap story of another depressing Ravens loss. After the Ravens’ collapse against the NY Giants, it’s clear, the Ravens are a self-destructive football team.
To be clear, Jackson was bad on Sunday. He missed on multiple throws and threw an inexcusable interception that led to the eventual game-winning touchdown. If you need to point to a single player most responsible for the loss to the G-men, it would be Jackson.
However, because of the Ravens’ continuous self-inflicted wounds, Baltimore is increasingly becoming a team that relies totally on Lamar Jackson. And Jackson’s starting to feel it.
Baltimore may have taken a huge step today in getting some help for Jackson. After losing receiver Rashod Bateman to a foot injury, the Ravens made a move for free agent wide receiver Desean Jackson.
While Lamar Jackson finally has a proven deep-threat in the 15-year veteran Desean Jackson, it won’t solve the silly penalties that have plagued the team this season. While Jackson’s play has been erratic, the weight of having to do everything offensively is obvious. Nonetheless, it’s hard to argue that any singular player has been more valuable to their team than Jackson has. Simply put, Lamar Jackson is the face of the organization right now.
More importantly, Jackson is the face of the city right now. While across the parking lot the Orioles are showing promise, Jackson and the Ravens have carried the banner for some time now.
Does Jackson deserve to become the highest-paid player in the NFL? That’s a tricky question to answer, especially as it pertains to what “highest-paid player” means.
Ryan Tannehill of Tennessee has a single-season $38.6 million cap hit, while Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs has the highest total contract of $450 million, but only about half of that is guaranteed.
I think the most important thing to Jackson, who represents himself, with no agent, is looking for is the guaranteed amount. The highest guaranteed amount is Watson’s at $230 million.
That’s the number that I believe he wants to top. Only time will decide if he gets it from the Ravens, or from another team. But from the tone of the talk shows, he clearly has plenty of supporters around Baltimore.
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