With the NFL season just days away, easily the biggest storyline that has dominated the news cycle this offseason has yet to be resolved. The Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson have been in negotiations over a new contract for months and there has been little to no movement.
The Ravens are looking to lock down the 2019 MVP, but Jackson, who represents himself, has been dragging his feet to get it done.
The numbers that he has put up, and the fact they went 1-4 last season when Jackson was injured shows just how important he is to the team, but for whatever reason, the two sides just cannot come to terms on a huge deal.
This has left Jeff Saturday claiming that the blame for the negotiations is still going on lies solely at the feet of the Ravens.
Speaking on ESPN’s Get Up, Saturday claimed that the Ravens could easily have done the deal, but they don’t want to, believing that the Ravens don’t have enough faith in him to pay him the really big money that other quarterbacks around the league are getting.
“The Ravens themselves could do the deal. They are choosing not to do the deal which tells you, ‘I don’t think you’re as valuable as you think you are.”
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“Somewhere down deep inside, your human nature goes, ‘Man, the whole offense is built around me, everything I do, I’m putting my body on the line. Week 6 I’m getting banged up, my offensive line ain’t playing great and my receivers aren’t making plays. What am I doing right now?’ Everybody can tell me how different he is… but we are all still human and if you are sitting with $230M in the bank [you might play different].”
It’s unclear where the two sides diverge in negotiations, but it may have something to do with the guaranteed money of the deal. The Browns famously gave Deshaun Watson a fully guaranteed five-year deal worth $230 million this offseason and that deal could set a higher bar for Jackson.
The 25-year-old superstar is entering the last year of his current deal and if he and Baltimore don’t come to an agreement by March, the team will need to place him on the franchise tag or he’ll become an unrestricted free agent. Jackson would earn $45 million under the exclusive tag. He’s set to make $23.016 million in 2022.
