USA TODAY International Edition
Ravens- Jackson stalemate getting risky
All it might take is one NFL owner willing and able to bet the house on Lamar Jackson. Just one and the magnificently unconventional Baltimore Ravens quarterback could force the team’s hand on whether to retain him at top dollar or watch him leave.
In another place and time, Jimmy Haslam could have been that guy. But the Cleveland Browns owner, whose fingerprints are inadvertently on the mess that has festered to the point that on Tuesday the Ravens slapped the nonexclusive franchise tag on Jackson, already has his market- setting quarterback in Deshaun Watson.
Hey, the embattled Dan Snyder probably has the stomach for such a move that would turn up the heat on Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti … although the cash required for the type of fully guaranteed contract it likely would take to lure Jackson might be another issue.
But wouldn’t that be quite the welcome- to- D. C. gift for new coordinator Eric Bieniemy… and maybe, too, for a new Commanders owner.
Arthur Blank? The Falcons brain trust has let it be known that it isn’t interested in any Jackson sweepstakes, with several other teams following. But let’s not forget that Atlanta was going to stick with Matt Ryan last year, then explored Watson – which doesn’t happen without the blessing of the team owner – before Haslam blew away the competition with the five- year, $ 230 million guarantee.
If you’re Panthers owner David Tepper, landing a proven playmaker would be a surefire way to inject relevance into the franchise that may or may not come with a yet- to- be- proven hotshot rookie quarterback.
Miami? If Stephen Ross flirted with Tom Brady, then you’d think that he could also envision the possibilities of pairing Jackson with his creative coach, Mike McDaniel. Of course, that might only be if the market for Jackson extends past the draft, which would put the Dolphins back in play for giving up the two first- round picks ( in 2024 and ’ 25) needed to sign him to an offer sheet.
And there’s an opening in Las Vegas. Mark Davis, also reported in the past to be interested in Brady ( now retired, by the way), can’t be counted out. Can he? I mean, his late father, Al, had a thing for making bold moves. So, that DNA association alone can’t be dismissed.
The owners, much more so than the coaches and GMs, loom as the real players in the drama that will determine whether Jackson has played his last down as a Raven.
Perhaps Bisciotti and the Ravens are playing the calculated risk that no other team would dare pony up to the point that would force Baltimore to make a decision on whether to match an offer sheet. Equaling one, however, might be difficult given that the Ravens are currently more than $ 9 million over the salary cap, according to OverTheCap.
If no offers come, well, NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith might have a fresh case to take up on the total action of team owners.
Sure, any given GM might loathe the idea of blowing up his salary- cap ledger and parting with the two first- round picks needed to come with an offer sheet for Jackson ( which the Ravens could match). Yet this rises to the level of owners, who won’t be fired and have a perspective that includes brand value and cash.
Remember Bisciotti’s reaction to Watson’s deal last year? He knew that the full guarantee would shake up the landscape and make it harder to sign Jackson. And here we are.
The Ravens are willing to roll the dice with their franchise quarterback – the last first- round pick, by the way, of former GM Ozzie Newsome, who remains in the house as a senior adviser.
Meanwhile, the price for quarterbacks keeps escalating to the point that Patrick Mahomes is quite the bargain at $ 45 million per year. If Daniel Jones, the often- embattled- but- revived Giants quarterback, can be kept off the market with the four- year contract struck Tuesday for a reported $ 160 million ( though well short of that in guarantees), then what does that make Jackson worth?
Maybe this wedge exists as much because of the principle of a fully guaranteed contract or the structure of a deal as much as it does the market- value dollars. Although Jackson has missed 10 starts over the past two seasons due to various injuries, it’s not that the Ravens haven’t been fully willing to use his enormous skill as a runner to their full advantage. No doubt, Jackson, 26, can sense that risk against the backdrop of long- term security.
After all, the 2019 unanimous NFL MVP has earned his leverage with results. No, Jackson hasn’t won the Super Bowl he pledged to pursue. But it’s still possible. And as the recent season illustrated, without him the Ravens offense is pretty much half- empty.
At the moment, Jackson is worth $ 32.41 million for 2023 under the tag. Had Baltimore used the exclusive tag, it would have cost $ 45.46 million.
It’s fair to wonder whether a contract would have been done if Newsome were still the GM rather than his hand- picked and groomed successor, Eric DeCosta. Last week, Ravens receiver Rashod Bateman called out DeCosta on Twitter ( in a since- deleted tweet), the type of gesture that would have been seemed unfathomable if directed at Newsome.
Still, it’s also fair to wonder whether Jackson’s decision to not have an agent is an underlying factor in the prolonged stalemate, regardless of the GM. Jackson’s reasoning for not having an established agent was more understandable when he came out of Louisville, given the slotting of rookie contracts. The past couple of years, though, an agent could have been quite the buffer to engage in contract talks.
Now, agent or not, Jackson can hit the market and field his best offer. Poor John Harbaugh.
It’s no wonder, and no shame, that when someone asked Harbaugh last week whether he has thought about life after Jackson, he maintained, “Not very much. As little as possible, for sure.”
Only now, like it or not, the contingency planning might be forced.