After hitting an deadlock in contract talks this low season, the star quarterback Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens reached an settlement in precept on a five-year contract extension on Thursday, Jackson introduced in a video posted on the team’s Twitter account.
“For the last few months, there’s been a lot of ‘he said, she said,’ a lot of nail biting, a lot of head scratching going on,” Jackson, 26, stated earlier than declaring that he would “light up” the Ravens’ dwelling stadium for the following 5 years.
The deal is price $260 million, in accordance to a particular person with information of the phrases of the settlement who requested anonymity as a result of the staff had not introduced the monetary particulars.
Jackson received the league’s Most Valuable Player Award in 2019 and entered the 2022 N.F.L. season with one yr remaining on his rookie contract. Uncertainty had hung over Jackson’s future in Baltimore as he and the staff have been unable to agree on phrases for an extension, and contract talks have been paused till the low season. In March, nonetheless unable to agree to phrases with Jackson, the staff gave him the nonexclusive franchise tag, which is price about $32 million yearly and allowed him to negotiate with different groups.
Jackson said on Twitter final month that he requested a commerce in early March as a result of the Ravens had “not been interested in meeting my value.”
Other quarterbacks across the league signed new offers or discovered new groups through commerce, together with Jalen Hurts, who agreed to a contract extension with the Philadelphia Eagles final week, and Aaron Rodgers, who moved from Green Bay to the Jets earlier this week. Jackson’s state of affairs with the Ravens appeared to be locked in a stalemate — till the staff’s announcement Thursday, hours earlier than the beginning of the N.F.L. draft. Jackson’s common yearly earnings at the moment are the very best within the league, edging out these of Hurts, whose five-year deal is price $255 million, in accordance to a number of stories.
The Ravens chosen Jackson with the ultimate decide of the primary spherical within the 2018 N.F.L. draft. He took over because the staff’s beginning quarterback halfway by his rookie season, after an damage to Joe Flacco. He led the Ravens to the playoffs in 4 of the previous 5 seasons, although he sat out the staff’s wild-card sport in January after struggling a late-season knee damage.
Jackson has reimagined how the quarterback place is performed on the sport’s highest stage, difficult opponents with each his arm and his legs with extra success than has ever been seen. He is the primary quarterback to rush for greater than 1,000 yards in a number of seasons, in 2019 and 2020. Last season, Jackson surpassed each 4,000 profession dashing yards and 100 passing touchdowns, doing so sooner than any participant in league historical past.
Like lots of the dual-threat quarterbacks who got here earlier than him, notably Black quarterbacks, when Jackson turned professional he confronted questions from N.F.L. groups about his endurance and fended off recommendations that he could be higher suited to a totally different place. A long-lasting picture from the 2018 draft is Jackson and his mom sitting within the inexperienced room till late into the evening, ready for his identify to be referred to as.
The Ravens, although, have embraced reasonably than stifled Jackson’s distinctive talents, constructing an offense round him that appeared totally different from another within the league. In 2019, Jackson’s M.V.P. yr, the Ravens broke a 41-year-old file for essentially the most dashing yards in a season, and from 2018-21 they tied a league file by dashing for no less than 100 yards in 43 straight video games.
By staying in Baltimore, Jackson will proceed to duel with the cadre of proficient younger quarterbacks within the A.F.C. that features the two-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes of Kansas City; Joe Burrow of Cincinnati; Josh Allen of Buffalo; Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers; and Trevor Lawrence of Jacksonville. He could have no less than one new offensive playmaker to throw to, the receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who signed with the Ravens earlier this month after sitting out the 2022 season whereas recovering from the torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered whereas serving to the Los Angeles Rams win Super Bowl LVI.
Even when negotiations between Jackson and the Ravens have been stalled, Coach John Harbaugh stated that the 2 sides appreciated each other, and that he anticipated Jackson to be his starter this season. “Numbers can be figured out,” Harbaugh stated final month.
The Ravens found out what numbers they wanted to supply to maintain Jackson, and now they’ll have one other 5 years with him.
