Beyond the players the Baltimore Ravens could potentially sign in free agency or who they’ll take in the 2021 NFL draft, one of the hottest topics this offseason has been quarterback Lamar Jackson’s contract status. So when Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta got in front of reporters for the first time since the end of last season, the first question was about Baltimore’s franchise quarterback and his contract.
While DeCosta said he and Jackson had gotten together and talked a few weeks prior, he noted that they didn’t discuss contract proposals. Instead, the focus was on the team and how Jackson’s first negotiation in the NFL would go.
“We haven’t really gotten into the actual contract proposals, negotiations and things like that,” DeCosta said. “It was more of a general conversation about a lot of different things – the team, Lamar [and] just how we were going to go about a negotiation like this. There are definitely some different moving parts that make this different than a lot of other negotiations we’ve done.”
Don’t mistake the lack of contract negotiations thus far for a lack of interest, however. DeCosta made it clear they love Jackson and want to get something done.
“We’re confident and committed to trying to get a long-term deal done, and hopefully, we can get that done at some point in the near future,” DeCosta continued. “It may take a little time, but we’re willing to try.”
There are a few factors that could make a negotiation with Jackson a little more complicated. For starters, the Dallas Cowboys just handed quarterback Dak Prescott a massive new deal, paying him an average of $40 million a season with a whopping $126 million in guaranteed money. While DeCosta downplayed the potential impact, he did explain that the devil’s in the details.
“So, all of these contracts, there are bells and whistles, and they’re all different in some ways, and they’re all alike in some ways,” DeCosta noted. “There are a lot of different ways to look at these contracts. There’s average. There are guarantees. There’s money in the first three years, cash flow and all these different things, time length and all of that.”
Jackson has also been represented by his mother in the past, another potential hurdle both sides have to account for. While NFL agents and general managers have gone through hundreds of contract negotiations before, giving them a better foundation for what to expect, this will be just the first true deal Jackson has signed in the league. DeCosta wouldn’t discuss the details or if Jackson will be represented by his mother in this instance but stated they’ll “be as transparent as possible with Lamar.”
Regardless of what the eventual numbers end up being, Jackson isn’t going to come cheap. He’s quickly risen up the ranks in the NFL, shattering records, winning the NFL’s MVP award, and guiding the team to a 30-7 record as a starter with three trips to the playoffs.
Unlike most other positions, franchise quarterbacks tend to reset the market regardless of their individual statistics. It’s simply the cost of business and a result of the quarterback being the most important position on the field. Like it or not, Jackson is undoubtedly going to command a deal very much in line with what Prescott and Deshaun Watson recently signed, likely putting him around that $40 million a year average.
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