ravens: quit playing and pay lamar jackson
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BALTIMORE, Maryland (PSF) — It's time for Ravens management to come to their senses and sign Lamar Jackson to a long term contract. This saga has gone on long enough. They have had multiple seasons to do this and they still have not gotten it done. It is puzzling that the Ravens can seemingly think that they can let Jackson go and get a quarterback that is better or is similar in skill. That is not going to happen. If the Ravens don't pay him and he walks, they would be losing one of the best quarterbacks in the league. It seems that Ravens management has forgotten exactly what Lamar Jackson is capable of. He was the NFL MVP in 2019. That year he threw for 3,127 yards, rushed for 1,206 yards, 36 passing touchdowns, 7 rushing touchdowns, a completion percentage of 66.1 percent, only 6 interceptions, and a passer rating of 113.3.
What is even more troubling is that similar level or worse quarterbacks than Jackson are getting contract extensions and new contracts. For example, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones got a contract extension this offseason for four years worth $160 million. Let me get this straight; Daniel Jones is getting paid and Lamar Jackson isn't? Where's the logic there? Over the last four seasons, Jackson has recorded 11,088 yards, 95 touchdowns, 35 interceptions, and a passer rating of 98.1 in 54 games. Daniel Jones has recorded 11,603 yards, 60 touchdowns, 34 interceptions, and a passer rating of 86.5 in 54 games. The only stat that Jones wins by a big margin here is passing yards and Jackson does not even throw as much due to the fact of him being a mobile quarterback. Jackson has rushed for 3,742 yards and 19 touchdowns in this span and Jones has rushed for only 1,708 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The even more egregious example of another quarterback signing a new contract in the past couple years is the Browns signing Deshaun Watson in the 2022 offseason. The team signed him to an NFL record five year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract. They did all of this for Watson to play six games this season, throw for 183.7 yards per game, seven touchdowns, five interceptions, get sacked 20 times, and have a completion percentage of 58.2 percent. Additionally, over the past four seasons, Deshaun Watson has recorded 9,777 yards, 66 touchdowns, 24 interceptions, and a passer rating of 101.8 in 37 games. THIS is what you're paying a record amount of guaranteed money for, Browns?
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The guaranteed money is a big story with both Watson and Jackson. Ravens management is weary of paying Lamar Jackson the same amount as Watson. Well, if the Browns are paying Deshaun Watson $230 million to have a lackluster season, it does not make any sense that the Ravens would not pay Lamar Jackson to record better stats than Watson has had in passing yards and touchdowns. No wonder it was reported he wants to leave and play for the Patriots.
Maybe adding Odell Beckham Jr. to the offense will make Jackson stay in Baltimore or maybe he just wants to get paid what he deserves. The Ravens are going to regret not giving a new contract to their best player.
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Situations like this have backfired with other teams in the past. It happened to the Boston Red Sox with Mookie Betts in 2020. The Red Sox did offer him a $300 million contract but the Dodgers offered him way more with $365 million. Betts said about the deal,
"...I just wanted to get my value, man. That's all. Just like any person that lives, they want to get their value, what they're worth."
The Dodgers were the team in the end that saw more value in Mookie Betts. That decision ended up working very well for Los Angeles as they won the World Series that year while the Red Sox ended last in the AL East that year in the pandemic shortened season with a record of 24-36. Betts had a .292 batting average, recorded 64 hits, 16 homeruns, 39 RBIs, 47 runs in 55 games that season. He also won his fifth Gold Glove award and his fourth Silver Slugger award along with his second World Series ring. The Dodgers definitely won this transaction. The Red Sox have only made it to the playoffs once since Mookie Betts left.
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Another instance of a team failing to pay their best player and paying the price for it in a different way was Tom Brady with the Patriots. The team failed to give him the long term contract he was looking for at the end of the 2019 season in order to retire with the organization. It is estimated by Business Insider that Brady left at least $60 million over the years to help the Patriots acquire other players and be competitive for countless Super Bowls over the years. Brady even said in April 2018 if he felt Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft appreciated him,
"I plead the fifth."
Brady's patience with the team finally ran out in 2020 after taking pay cut after pay cut. He wanted to stay with the Patriots his entire career, but GM Bill Belichick had other plans. Tom Brady ended up leaving for the Buccaneers who paid Brady what he was worth, and the team went on to the Super Bowl that year and the GOAT won his seventh Super Bowl. The Patriots during this time finished third in the AFC East at 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Funny enough, that was also the season that Brady missed the entire season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
It was both Tom Brady and Mookie Betts who were the key to their teams' success. Yet, team management did not see it until it was too late. They only cared about their bottom line and the finances of their multi-million dollar organizations. They sacrificed this for winning and championships. The Ravens can not make the same mistake with Lamar Jackson. He is the player that is holding this team up.
Since the writing of this article, the Ravens have offered Jackson $200 million guaranteed.
If he declines this and wants more, I won’t be completely surprised. Jalen Hurts recently signed a five year, $255 million extension. Now we’re getting in the range where Jackson might consider this contract offer. I would put Jackson on the level of Hurts and certainly higher than quarterbacks such as Wilson, Murray, Watson, and Jones, who are 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th respectively. If Jackson ends up wanting more than the $200 million the Ravens have offered him and wants a contract in the range that players like Jalen Hurts and Deshaun Watson have gotten, the Ravens should give it to him.
Mookie Betts talked about how he wanted to get pay what he was worth; this is the same situation here. If the Ravens don’t want to pay Jackson what he’s worth, whether that’s higher than the $200 million offered to him like $220 million or in the $250 million range, he should walk and find a team that will pay him what he’s worth. I’m sure he will find a team that will do that for him, just like what happened with Mookie Betts and Tom Brady.