Getty Lamar Jackson and John Harbaugh have reacted to the Ravens' struggles running the ball.
Lamar Jackson still needs a new long-term contract, but he can’t expect the Baltimore Ravens to backtrack on the stance the franchise took this offseason. Jackson and the team were unable to come to terms, despite a sizeable offer from the Ravens, and a former NFL general manager believes the “ship had sailed” once talks were ended abruptly on the eve of the 2022 regular season.
Heavy’s front office insider Randy Mueller thinks “nothing” has changed since about Jackson’s contract status, nor the Ravens’ immediate plans for this future. It’s why Mueller doesn’t anticipate the Ravens making a similar “about-face” to the one made by the New York Yankees before agreeing to fresh terms with Major League Baseball All-Star outfielder Aaron Judge.
Ravens Not Expected to Buckle in Lamar Jackson Talks
The Yankees handed Judge a contract ultimately worth $360 million and paying him $40 million annually. It concluded a saga that began when Judge rebuffed an offer made to him back in April.
There are obvious similarities to Jackson walking away from an offer made by the Ravens in September and revealed by ESPN’s Chris Mortensen:
Sources: Lamar Jackson rejected a Ravens’ 6-yr contract offer with $133 million fully guaranteed at signing, which is more than Russell Wilson ($124 million) and Kyler Murray ($103.3 million) but well short of the $230 million fully guaranteed deal that Deshaun Watson got.
Mortensen’s colleague Dianna Russini put the actual amount of guaranteed money higher after speaking with the All-Pro quarterback:
I just spoke with Lamar Jackson and asked if he turned down $160 million guaranteed. He said that isn’t the exact number…He said roughly between $160-$180 million was offered and he turned it down.
I said “you going to ride it out all year?” He said “we’ll see” with a smile
Whatever the exact figure, Mueller doesn’t expect the offer to change.
“The Ravens front office knows what they have in Jackson. They know what they are willing to pay and have made both clear to Jackson and his representation, when last in the negotiating window. To me, they made their final offer. Remember when both sides broke off talks before the regular season opener, it was the Ravens who almost immediately put out a press release saying how much they loved Jackson and how disappointed they were that an agreement couldn’t be reached, but also that they were committed to making Jackson their long-term answer at QB. To me, the release gave closure to that negotiation and made it clear that the ship had sailed.”
Switching from a position of standing firm on what they’re willing to offer to what the Yankees did would be most un-Ravens like, according to Mueller: “Fast forward 13 weeks to a time and place where the New York Yankees did an about-face and structured a new contract for outfielder Aaron Judge that reflected a 70% raise from their last offer in the spring. That is the craziest change in philosophical and financial thinking that I have ever seen in professional sports. Teams just don’t do that. They usually make their best offer and stick with it, like the Ravens did.”
Playing hardball might be in character for the Ravens and general manager Eric DeCosta. Yet, a tough stance with Jackson raises troubling questions the front office may not want to answer.
Specifically, what does the future hold for the Ravens at football’s most important position if they don’t buckle on Jackson? What will Jackson’s prospects for 2023 look like?
Mueller, who also served as vice president of football operations for the Seattle Seahawks, has an idea, but anything less than a lengthy new deal will only increase chatter about whether Jackson is an elite player at his position.
Ravens Support of Lamar Jackson Set for Scrutiny
Mueller ultimately sees “Jackson playing on a short-term deal, maybe even a franchise tag, as the team philosophically decides whether this style of offense is their long-term answer.”
That last note about the style of Baltimore’s Jackson-led offense is key. The debate becomes clear: Are the Ravens failing to surround Jackson with talent? Or is Jackson not living up to the hype?
There’s no easy answer, but Joy Taylor, host of Fox Sports 1’s Speak, defended Jackson. Taylor thinks nobody among Jackson’s supporting cast is “striking fear” into opposing defenses, a problem created, at least in part, by “poor drafting.”
.@JoyTaylorTalks: It might be time to stop giving the Ravens organization the benefit of the doubt; they are letting Lamar Jackson down.
Taylor’s criticism of how the Ravens have drafted is a reference to some of the skill players DeCosta has taken in the early rounds since Jackson entered the league in 2018. The problem is a lot of the attention to the offense around Jackson has yielded little in return.
Prominent selections like wide receiver Rashod Bateman, taken in the first round in 2021, along with 2020 second-rounder running back J.K. Dobbins, have missed too much time with injuries to have an impact.
Those who have gotten onto the field have struggled to hold onto Jackson’s passes. The issue has proved costly more than once, particularly during Week 12’s 28-27 defeat to the Jacksonville Jaguars, per Ian Hartitz of Pro Football Focus:
Ravens dropped three touchdowns vs. the Jaguars sheesh
Missed opportunities like those are one reason why the Ravens have scored just four touchdowns in their last three games. A paucity of elite playmakers in the passing game has defined a damaging 1-2 run at the business end of the season that’s also included Jackson suffering a knee injury that could keep him on the shelf for as long as three weeks.
It’s a familiar argument Jackson needs better targets to connect with through the air. The same sentiment, likely shared by many observers of the Ravens, was recently expressed by Mike Greenberg on an edition of ESPN’s Get Up (h/t Ravens Vault co-host Sarah Ellison):
“Look who Burrow is throwing to. Look who Allen is throwing to. Look who Mahomes is throwing to. And now look who Lamar is throwing to.”
The growing feeling the Ravens have failed Jackson is almost forcing DeCosta to double down on not paying big for the QB’s next contract.
Paying up would show the Ravens think Jackson is a true bluechip quarterback. If so, why haven’t they equipped him with more talent? The implications would shine an unfavorable spotlight on DeCosta’s sketchy track record trying to find the right weapons for the face of the franchise.
At least if the Ravens stand firm on their own valuation of Jackson, those making the decisions can have some justification for how they’ve built the team around him. Those justifications may be scant consolation if the franchise loses arguably the most dynamic dual-threat signal-caller in the league over money.