The Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson have yet to reach a mutual agreement regarding a contract extension. This former Ravens player wants to see Jackson get his money. Now.
Head coach John Harbaugh is set to finalize his contract extension, but Jackson’s contract status remains a bundle of loose ends.
Jackson is entering the final year of his rookie contract, his fifth-year option, in 2022, but he recently said he’s more focused on getting healthy than anything else.
It seems likely that the Ravens will extend Lamar Jackson at some point before the 2022 season, but nothing has been set in stone.
Former Ravens fullback Le’Ron McClain doesn’t want to hear any excuses.
McClain played for Baltimore for four years from 2007 to 2010, earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors as a fullback. He had brief stints for two other teams after the Ravens and has since retired, but he still bleeds black and purple.
He’s also a staunch Lamar Jackson fan and, like many others, wants the 2019 MVP to get a contract extension as soon as possible.
Say whatever Lamar doesn't get hurt we in the playoffs. Pay the man his money and get them folks around him. Open up that offense and Let's freaking go!!!!!! #RavensFlock stop disrespecting 8!!!!! Some of these folks delusional...
— LeRon McClain (@LeRon_McClain33) January 23, 2022
The Ravens star quarterback missed five games due to injury this past season (six if you count his first-quarter exit in Week 14 against the Cleveland Browns).
Le’Ron McClain puts his full faith in Ravens QB Lamar Jackson for 2022
In Jackson’s absence, backup Tyler Huntley finished the last stretch of the season in which the Ravens lost six in a row and ultimately missed the postseason.
McClain’s claim that the Ravens would have made the playoffs with a healthy Lamar Jackson may hold some truth, but even before Jackson got injured, he was playing the worst football of his career.
In the 2021 season, Jackson finished with a 7-5 starting record and threw 16 touchdowns against a career-high 13 interceptions. Opposing teams didn’t “figure out” Lamar Jackson; rather, Jackson suffered from an injury-depleted offensive line as well as his own turnover-prone quarterback play.
There’s no telling how Jackson would have performed at the end of the season with Baltimore’s playoff hopes on the line. Jackson proved he could be clutch in crucial or close regular-season games (i.e. against the Chiefs, Lions, Chargers), but his postseason record limps in comparison.
Since he was drafted in 2018, Jackson has made the playoffs in three of the last four seasons but has won just one playoff game, beating the Tennessee Titans in the Wild Card Round in 2020.
Lamar Jackson will continue to receive criticism as a “run-first” quarterback probably for the rest of his career, but his devout supporters know he’s capable of leading the Ravens to postseason glory.
Extending Jackson’s contract must be the Ravens’ first step. The rest will follow.