Report: Lamar Jackson Rejected Full $133 Million Guarantee

It was previously impossible to assess whether Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson should have earned the team’s best bid under a long-term contract, rather than playing in the final year of his rookie contract for $23 million. There is now a fixed data point regarding the deal he declined.

Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com reports that Jackson went through a six-year deal (in another meaningfor five years) would have paid him $133 million fully guaranteed upon signature. That’s more than the Cardinals quarterback Keeler Murray ($103.3 million) and the Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson ($124 million) received full guarantees on longer contracts (seven years each) signed in recent weeks.

jackson”can earnMore than $290 million over six years. The average new money would have exceeded, per Mortensen, the $48.5 million Broncos paid Wilson. (Wilson’s deal was reported with an average new cash of $49 million; As shown herefailure to include the value of the 2022 and 2023 17th game checks in the old/new cash comparison brought the average down to $48.5 million.)

It’s unclear how much of the $290 million would have counted as Jackson’s base deal. Including the 17th check, he will receive $24.35 million this year. Subtracting that from $290 million and dividing by five results in an average of $53.13 million. Thus, it looks like Jackson would have had to hit some triggers to earn the kind of money that would have led him to $290 million.

Mortensen also reported that the deal included a massive escalator drain (2.5 million dollars a year) associated with Jackson’s participation in most offseason shows. Jackson skipped voluntary team sessions and practices from April to June in 2022, having been mostly fully present for his first four seasons.

The report contains some loopholes that make it impossible to fully assess the offer. What will the cash flow be for the first year? How much of the contract was injury guaranteed? How much of an injury guarantee would have turned into a full guarantee in March 2023, since there’s no way they would have cut it after just one year, given all they were going to pay him in 2022?

None of this apparently matters, as Mortensen explained that Jackson wanted a full guarantee, Deshaun WatsonA decade of style. And the, as thought hereMortensen reported that Jackson received “An active NFLPA advisor at the highest levels. Mortensen also adds that the union told Jackson “based on performance and age (25) he was justified to demand a fully guaranteed contract if that was what he wanted.”

He is justified in claiming it, but the crows are justified in refusing it, just as the Cardinal and the Broncos were. Remember, the union has made clear his position They want more fully secured contracts. So it’s fair to ask if the NFLPA’s agenda in this regard blew the advice Jackson received, causing him to roll the dice on a prospect. Kirk-style cousinsa year-to-year strategy that entails playing in 2023 and 2024 under the franchise tag, becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2025, and trying to secure a fully guaranteed contract on the open market.

Jackson Can bring in more than 125 million dollars (Considering the 17th Game Test) If he remains healthy and potent enough to score twice. But, according to the report, he would have $133 million fully guaranteed right now if he took the Ravens bid, plus an unknown amount on top of that in injury guarantees that likely could have flipped to full warranties sometime next year or two.

Perhaps most importantly, it would have generated more than $24.35 million in 2022. The exact amount is still unknown. It is a key factor in evaluating the deal.

What if he walked away with more than $50 million in cash for 2022? More than 70 million dollars? More than 100 million dollars? At some point, the pursuit of a fully secured contract must be subject to the size of the bird in the hand.

We’ve been saying all along that Jackson needs someone who can fully and objectively evaluate the team’s best offer compared to the three-year quest for unrestricted free agency, which may or may not lead to a completely secured white whale. Deal. The union is frankly not objective. It wants players to stick to fully guaranteed contracts, so that dynamism becomes a trend and, in time, standard practice. Jackson needs advice from someone who has absolutely no agenda or prejudice.

And if Jackson sustains a serious injury or if his game regresses over the next three years for any reason (including a buildup of minor injuries based on his physical style of play that leaves him not the player he was when he won MVP three years ago). Himself – and his unions – to bet on himself and lose.