The Baltimore Ravens and former MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson were unable to agree on a contract extension before the start of the 2022-23 season after talks were called an “uphill battle.” But according to one report, it seems that the Ravens were willing to offer Jackson quite a large sum of money in their final offer before negotiations reached a halt.
According to Chris Mortensen, Jackson rejected a six-year contract offer that included $133 million fully guaranteed at signing. As Mortensen points out, that’s more guarantee money than both Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray’s new contracts, but substantially less than the deal Deshaun Watson recently signed with the Cleveland Browns.
In terms of total money over the six years, Jackson could have earned in excess of $290 million and his average per year would exceed Russell Wilson's recent deal at $48.5 APY, which did adjust the Ravens final offer but the contract was not fully guaranteed as Jackson sought.
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) September 11, 2022
According to Mortensen, Jackson rejected the deal because the entire contract was not fully guaranteed, as he sought.
In terms of total money over the six years, Jackson could have earned in excess of $290 million and his average per year would exceed Russell Wilson’s recent deal at $48.5 APY, which did adjust the Ravens final offer but the contract was not fully guaranteed as Jackson sought,” Mortensen said in a follow-up Tweet.
It was a massive offer, but still not quite what Jackson was looking for. And the NFL had plenty to say about the news, with many praising Jackson for sticking to his guns.
I’m not gonna lie, this feels like something that the team would leak to say that they tried https://t.co/X9OQQsKbTF
— JP Acosta (@acosta32_jp) September 11, 2022
As he should have. The other two ruined the opportunity to make fully guaranteed contracts for QB’s the standard. https://t.co/3cAG6zh62L
— Emmett Golden (@egoldie80) September 11, 2022
This can drag on and on, Ravens can tag Jackson this offseason and next. Watson’s 230M fully guaranteed clearly getting in the way here, hard to argue against Jackson wanting that kind of price tag. Hard to argue the Ravens not wanting to meet that. https://t.co/6Qqi6MdM2C
— Morgan Adsit (@MorganAdsit) September 11, 2022
The new Browns really screwed things up for the old Browns https://t.co/7maqol4Arr
— Del Reid 🦬 (@DelReid) September 11, 2022
Good for Lamar. He’s more accomplished than Watson and deserves a fully guaranteed contract. All NFL players do.
Go the Cousins route here. Okay through the tags and hit the open market. https://t.co/082WQcig6f
— Rob “Stats” Guerrera (@statsonfire on threads) (@StatsOnFire) September 11, 2022
So #Ravens reacted to Wilson’s contract, topping the guaranteed money. Wilson was $124 million at signing, $77 million paid out by March. Jackson sought to eclipse Watson’s fully guaranteed money. Teams see that contract as an outlier. #Broncos. #Denver7 https://t.co/sGLicSJaQQ
— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) September 11, 2022
1. The Ravens and most or all of the NFL must be praying Watson/Browns guarantee will continue to be viewed as an outlier
2. It’s logical to conclude the Ravens aren’t entirely convinced Lamar will have a career viewed in the same way Lamar believes he will https://t.co/FyRAAYxkHa
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) September 11, 2022
By rejecting this contract, Jackson appears to be betting on himself ahead of the 2022-23 NFL season.
