The Ravens announced they did not reach a contract agreement by Lamar Jackson’s self-imposed deadline.
Lamar Jackson turned down contract extension offers from the Baltimore Ravens and now he bets on himself this season.
On Friday morning, the Ravens they announced that they did not reach a contract agreement by the quarterback’s self-imposed deadline.
“Despite the best efforts of both parties, we were unable to reach a contract extension with Lamar Jackson,” said the general manager of the Ravens, Eric DeCosta, it’s a statement. “We very much appreciate how he has handled this process and are excited for our team with Lamar at the helm. We will continue to work towards a long-term contract after the season, but for now we look forward to a successful campaign in 2022.”
Lamar Jackson, who is one of the few players in the NFL representing himself, said he would call off talks before the start of the regular season. On Wednesday he indicated that Friday would be the cut.
“I’m sure that will happen when the time is right,” said the Los Angeles coach. Ravens, John Harbaugh, after practice on Friday. “Lamar is going to play quarterback here for a long time. Him and I talked about it yesterday like, ‘Hey, let’s be our best and focus on football.’ And that’s what he’s been doing the whole time. So that I know that nothing will change with this and we are only focused on Sunday.
The parties were not expected to reach an agreement before the start of the season. In March, the owner of the Ravens, Steve Bisciottiacknowledged that the fully guaranteed contract of $230 million of Deshaun Watson with the Cleveland Browns it would complicate future negotiations with the quarterbacks. The gap in guaranteed money between Watson and the second-highest-paid quarterback, Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinalsis $40.5 million.
If the parties cannot reach a new agreement before March 7, Baltimore would have to tag him as a franchise player to prevent him from becoming a free agent. The only quarterback in the past five years to receive the tag was Dak Prescottwho eventually reached a long-term contract with the Dallas Cowboys.
Lamar Jackson, 25, will earn $23.016 million on his fifth-year option, but he has no guaranteed money after this season. In the last six months, three quarterbacks have signed deals that exceed $165 million in guaranteed money.
A Lamar Jacksonwho has taken more hits (737) than any other quarterback since 2018, was asked this week if he feels it’s a risk to play without guaranteed money beyond this season.
“It was a pretty big risk last season. The year before,” Jackson responded Wednesday. “I just play football. Anything can happen. God forbid anything bad happens.”
Jackson has proven to be one of the top game generators and winners of the NFL in the last four seasons. Since he became the Ravens’ starter in the middle of the 2018 season, Baltimore He is 37-12 (.755) with him and 2-5 (.286) without him. He was the unanimous MVP of the NFL in 2019.
But Lamar Jackson He is coming off his most challenging season. He threw a career-low 13 interceptions and missed a career-high five games, including the last four because of an ankle injury.
The last time a Los Angeles quarterback Ravens turned down offers of Baltimore for a contract extension and played his rookie contract was Joe Flacco in 2012. That year, Flacco led the Ravens to a title Super Bowl and then became the highest paid player in the NFL.
On Sunday, L.Amar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens they face Joe Flacco on Sunday in his first game of the season against the New York Jets.