Lamar Jackson reportedly ends rift with Ravens and agrees to record $260m deal
Lamar Jackson will remain a Baltimore Raven for the foreseeable future after agreeing to a five-year contract extension that will reportedly make him the highest-paid player in the league.
The former NFL MVP had requested a trade earlier this year as he struggled to reach agreement on a new deal with the team that drafted him in 2018. At the time he said the Ravens had “not been interested in meeting my value”. The quarterback has been looking for a contract similar to the fully guaranteed $230m deal Deshaun Watson was given by the Cleveland Browns last year.
The contract is worth $260m including $185m in guaranteed money, ESPN reported, citing a source. That makes Jackson the highest-paid player in the team’s history and in the NFL today at $52m per year.
“For the last few months, there has been a lot of he said, she said,” Jackson said in a video posted to the Ravens’ official Twitter account. “A lot of nailbiting. A lot of head-scratching going on.”
Jackson then held up a football with the team’s logo and said,:“But for the next five years, it’s a lot of ‘flock’ going on.”
In March, the Ravens applied the non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson, meaning he would be paid $32.4m this season but he could join any team who offered him a better deal. There appeared to be no offers for Jackson when the Ravens applied the tag, leading many to believe no other teams wanted to match the quarterback’s demands.
Jackson was named the 2019 NFL MVP, and his dynamic passing and running make him one of the game’s most compelling stars. He is already one of six quarterbacks in NFL history with 10,000 yards passing and 4,000 rushing. His 12 games with at least 100 yards rushing are an NFL record.
Jackson has been hurt at the end of the past two seasons, and the Ravens haven’t reached the AFC championship game with him, but his impact on their offense is undeniable.