Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson’s contract negotiations remain one of the most significant talking points of the NFL offseason. Yet, Monday’s news of Jalen Hurts’ contract extension also provided more information on what has become a very messy situation in Baltimore.
Lamar Jackson Reportedly Turned Down Contract Worth $200 Million Guaranteed
With teams reporting to camps on Monday, the day’s biggest news came from Philadelphia, where the Eagles locked up their star QB. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero, the Eagles signed Hurts to a historic five-year, $255 million extension.
This tops Aaron Rogers’ $50.3 million APY deal with the Green Bay Packers to make Hurts the highest-paid player in league history. Additionally, his contract includes $179.3 million in guarantees, the third-highest number in guarantees behind Deshaun Watson and Kyler Murray.
Ravens insider Sarah Ellison posted a tweet with a side-by-side comparison of Hurts’ deal with the Eagles, and the reported Ravens’ offer to Jackson last September. While the total value is only $5 million apart (Hurts: $255, Jackson: $250), Jackson was offered $133 guaranteed at signing (Hurts: $110) with a total guaranteed amount of $200 million (Hurts: $179.3).
Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show, Rapoport stated, “The deal that the Ravens offered Lamar Jackson was pretty strong” but that “the Ravens will probably adjust and use this to help get Lamar done.”
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Rapoport further clarified the contract details being reported and if the $200 million number was factual by saying, “I believe that includes a kicker that would’ve kicked in in Year 2, but obviously your not gonna cut him after one year, so I believe that is essentially the total guaranteed [$200, not $133 million].”
Rapoport also clarified that another reported contract offer with Jackson receiving $133 million guaranteed was on a shorter deal, not a five or six-year contract. “$133 [million] was on a shorter deal, I believe. That was on a three-year deal.”
While the proposed contract details are new, Jackson refuted reports from ESPN Insider Adam Schefter that he turned down a $200 million guaranteed contract on March 14.
While this does paint the Ravens in a more favorable light to many, it must be remembered that we need to know what the stipulations of these details were. Fully guaranteed at signing is always the central sticking point in negotiations, as it’s the only number with no stipulations attached.
Teams Reportedly Aren’t Interested in Negotiating With Jackson
No, I don’t mean the Ravens.
According to Rapoport, one reason more teams have not been seriously negotiating with Jackson is his well-publicized and scrutinized lack of an agent and the possibility that the former MVP hasn’t been willing to bend from his contract demands.
“With Jackson not having an agent, it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of give and take,” Rapoport noted. “There’s the Ravens looking at it several different ways — multi-year deal, long-term deal, short-term deal, high-end guarantees — there’s a lot of different ways, and it doesn’t seem like they’ve been able to engage and dig in in a way that Lamar has been receptive to.”
Although this was not mentioned, it is something that bears noting: Teams also might be unwilling to pursue Jackson as they would be essentially negotiating on Baltimore’s behalf since the franchise can match any offer.
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When asked if Hurts’ new contract would impact Jackson, Pelissero appeared less than optimistic things would significantly change.
“In the case of Lamar Jackson, who does not have an agent, this [contract] has little to no bearing on his negotiations with the Ravens or anybody else. In fact, the contract offer that the Ravens made to Jackson back in September had a very similar average per year, in terms of 50+ million dollars on a per-year basis, and both the cash flow and the guarantees that the Ravens offered Lamar at that time — I’m told — were stronger than what Jalen Hurts got in this contract today.
“In other words, you can fairly bet that the Ravens would do this deal with Jackson in a heartbeat, but Lamar has been dead set on one contract structure, which is a full guarantee, of course, at the top of the market but more similar to the type of deal that Deshaun Watson got from Cleveland on five years and $230 million a year ago.
“Even though quarterback is a cash flow position, not a guarantee position, Lamar has been fixated on the guarantees, and until some team steps up with that type of guaranteed structure, it’s hard to imagine that we’re going to see a Lamar Jackson deal get done.”
Despite the signing of Odell Beckham Jr. appearing to signify the end of this messy chapter, we could have quite some time to go before a resolution finally occurs, assuming one does eventually come.