Ever since the Cleveland Browns gave star quarterback Deshaun Watson a massive fully-guaranteed contract ahead of the 2022 NFL season, it seems to have affected the contract negotiations between the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson. And now, the Ravens are basically admitting that fact.
Naturally, after Watson received that massive fully-guaranteed deal from the Browns, Lamar Jackson seemed to feel like he deserved a similar contract from the Ravens – after all, he is a former MVP entering the prime of his career. And while we never heard anything official about whether or not Watson’s contract created a rift between the two teams, Ravens executive vice president Ozzie Newsome essentially confirmed it during an appearance on Bernie Kosar Show.
“Every club has to do what they have to do with contracts,” Newsome said. “I don’t worry about what other people do, but our owner did say that contract did create some problems. We have to figure out if that’s going to be the norm or is that an outlier. We don’t know.”
Did the #Browns contract with Deshaun Watson complicate things for the Ravens?
"Our owner did say that contract did create some problems! We have to figure out if that's the norm or an outlier."
-Ravens EVP Ozzie Newsome
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— The Hanford Dixon Show (@TopDawgShow) March 22, 2023
We’ll have to see if the two sides are able to come to an agreement at any point in the future, but it’s clear that there is a bit of a divide between Jackson and the Ravens right now.
