Lamar Jackson is on the market after the Ravens placed a non-exclusive franchise tag on their star player. And ESPN’s Adam Schefter says there are few NFL teams willing to negotiate with the quarterback.
How could that be? Lamar Jackson is one of the most dynamic players in the game. Schefter believes there are two reasons. Jackson’s ask for a fully-guaranteed, high-dollar contract may be too much for teams to afford. And, because the Ravens can match any offer, other teams may not want to go through the negotiating motions only to be turned down.
“Essentially, the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson have spent the better part of two years trying to get a contract done,” Schefter said Wednesday. “By my sense, they don’t appear to be close to getting to an agreement. So the Baltimore Ravens said ‘go out and see what the market will pay you. Let the market mediate our little disagreement here because we’d like you back and we’ve made you multiple offers. But you’re not taking the offers and you’re proposing a different kind of deal.'”
Lamar Jackson Prefers a Fully Guaranteed Deal Like Deshaun Watson
Jackson’s proposal is akin to what Deshaun Watson received this time a year ago. The Browns agreed to give him a fully-guaranteed, five-year deal worth $230 million. Cleveland redefined the quarterback market for a player who still faced legal issues. Watson missed 11 games last season because of a league suspension.
“There were four teams that essentially would’ve done almost anything to land his services,” Schefter said of Watson, listing Cleveland, New Orleans, Atlanta and Carolina as the teams interested in him a year ago.
“Well, Cleveland got Deshaun Watson,” Schefter said. “New Orleans got Derek Carr this week. Atlanta is not going to make a push or a run on Lamar Jackson. And the Charlotte Observer said the Carolina Panthers aren’t going to make a push.”
Will Other Teams Try to Sign the Quarterback?
Schefter then assessed the QB market for Jackson.
“What other teams are out there?” he asked. “It does seem all of the sudden there are other teams saying we’re not going to make a push. I know people are saying collusion. I just think these are reporters asking highly placed executives on certain teams for their answer.
“It defies logic that a quarterback who is as talented as Lamar Jackson wouldn’t generate more interest.” Schefter said. “I’d leave that to everybody else to figure out their own views because it is a quarterback league and we have an elite quarterback available on the market. But it doesn’t seem right now that there are going to be many suitors for his services.”
Then, the ESPN reporter mentioned that other teams don’t want to go through the motions of agreeing to an offer sheet. It could be wasted effort. “They don’t want to do the work for another team,” Schefter said. “This is not a Lamar Jackson, new phenomena.”
So here’s how the situation works. Under the non-exclusive franchise tag, Lamar Jackson gets paid $32.4 million for this season. He can shop for another team. If a team makes an offer, then the Ravens have the right to either match it or allow Jackson to accept it. If the Ravens don’t want to match the deal, then the other team compensates Baltimore with two first-round draft picks.
Schefter said: “In my mind, this is a very simple solution to help solve a problem that two sides have gone back and forth with for two years.”
