The Browns’ decision to sign quarterback Deshaun Watson to a five-year contract worth a fully guaranteed $230 million has generated a lot of reactions around the league that has gotten comments from Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti. He has already gone on record to state that “it’ll make negotiations harder with others” in the future.
Bisciotti knows the Ravens have to pay Lamar Jackson and that number might be astronomical because of Watson’s deal. Staying in that same division, Joe Burrow will be eligible for a contract extension next year and Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn said last week that “all contracts can have a ripple effect” when asked how Watson’s deal could impact talks on that front.
Blackburn said the Bengals have not typically wanted to guarantee big chunks of money and that they may need to alter that approach when it comes to their quarterback.
“I don’t focus on the guaranteed as much because in theory, if the player gets the money at the end of the day, that’s what’s important to him,” Blackburn said. “So if the player is good enough and plays out the contract, he gets the money.
The thing that has always given us some pause is if for some reason things go badly. It’s not fair for the team in the future if there’s a large amount of money going to someone else with the way system works today. So we’ve always tried to balance that out. But we work in a world where we realize other contracts have some effects, so we’ll just have to see where that all stands when it comes to be that time.”
A healthy Burrow with a terrible offensive line has already led the Bengals to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1989 and is already one of the best quarterbacks in football.
He finished the 2021 season with 4,611 yards through the air and 34 touchdown passes.
Just imagine what he can do if he plays at the same level and the team fixes the offensive line just a little bit for the 2022 season.
