Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson made it clear this past summer that he was not going to have contract extension talks with the Baltimore Ravens once the season started.
The pending free agent and former NFL MVP is now telling the media that he has no desire to continue re-hashing the situation in a public platform. He made that more than clear during his weekly press conference on Wednesday.
“Respectfully, I’m done talking about it. I told you guys before, I was going to be done with it Week 1. Week 1 is over with. We’re done talking about it. I’m focused on the Dolphins now.”
Lamar Jackson, via ESPN’s Jamison Hensley
Despite Jackson making it clear that extension talks with the Ravens would conclude once the season opened against the New York Jets last week, he’s still being asked about it.
For good reason. The former first-round pick recently turned down a five-year contract extension offer worth $250 million. Said offer came with $133 million guaranteed. The issue here is guaranteed cash. Jackson is said to want a fully-guaranteed deal, similar to the five-year, $230 million contract Deshaun Watson inked with his new Cleveland Browns team during the offseason.
More recently, Russell Wilson was extended by the Denver Broncos on a five-year, $242.6 million deal with $124 million guaranteed. That came after the Arizona Cardinals gave Kyler Murray $103 million fully guaranteed on his extension.
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Jackson was on the field in Baltimore’s Week 1 win over the New York Jets. He completed 17-of-30 passes for 213 yards with three touchdowns and one inteception while adding 17 yards on the ground. Jackson suited up despite not playing anywhere near the value that he brings to the table for Baltimore.
- Aaron Rodgers: 4 years, $200 million
- Russell Wilson: 5 years, $245 million
- Kyler Murray: 5 years, $230.5 million
- Deshaun Watson: 5 years, $230 million
- Patrick Mahomes: 10 years, $450 million
For his part, Jackson is earning a mere $23.02 million in 2022 after Baltimore picked up the final year of his rookie contact. That makes him the 15th highest-paid quarterback in the NFL on a per-year basis.
There’s now a good chance that Jackson will play under the franchise tag in 2023. Said value would be an average of the five highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL. If the Ravens were to tag Jackson in 2024, he’d get a 125% pay raise.
For now, Jackson and his Ravens are preparing for the Miami Dolphins in Week 2. He wants to put these contract discussions behind him. Whether the media follows suit remains to be seen.