The Baltimore Ravens have reportedly finalized a deal to keep Lamar Jackson with the team for the next five seasons. There was a time a month, a week, or even a day ago when many did not think that this was going to happen. It has to have fans wondering, what changed?
3. The Jalen Hurts contact helped Baltimore Ravens
Before the Jalen Hurts contract the Ravens and Lamar Jackson were in the middle of nowhere with few deals to go off of. Lamar Jackson wanted the Deshaun Watson contract, and the Ravens were not interested in giving that deal away. Then, Jalen Hurts signed his deal.
The reality is that Hurts got a little bit more on average value, but he got a bit less guaranteed. Hurts got about $110 guaranteed at signing, with $179M Guaranteed. That is not quite the $230M guaranteed that Watson got.
What the deal did was showed Jackson that he is not going to get that deal. He can compare himself to Hurts, and the Ravens can come in and take the Hurts deal and add a little bit more.
There were reports that the Hurts and Jackson deals already were not far apart. Now, the Ravens know what the Hurts deal is, so they only needed to add a little here, and there. This is much different than the Ravens having to go all the way up the Deshaun Watson deal.
It turned into a happy medium for both teams. The Ravens gave Lamar Jackson the respect of beating Hurts contract and being the next in line in the market of deals. On the flip side, the team also did not go all the way into the Watson deal, which means they did not break on their end either. With the help of Jalen Hurts both sides came together and gave a little, but not enough where either looked bad. It was a nice compromise.
2. Baltimore Ravens added Odell Beckham
When Lamar Jackson initially left the table, he felt the deal was much worse than Deshaun Watson, and he did not even know who he would be throwing the football to. There was a report that he told the Baltimore Ravens to add Odell Beckham and DeAndre Hopkins before he decided to return to the table.
According to Mike Lombardi, they told him that they could only get one, and they did with Odell Beckham. This had to be important for Jackson and obviously played a role in his returning to the table. While the Ravens initially said they could only add one, there are reports that Baltimore is still in on Hopkins and that interest may be what has Jackson even more interested in staying.
The move is not just adding someone that Jackson wanted. It is showing a commitment in Jackson. A lot of teams said that the Ravens would be wise to just run Jackson into the ground, and let him go. However, this shows they are investing in him as a passer. They added a new offensive coordinator who is known for his passing concepts, and they added Odell Beckham. With a healthy Rashad Bateman as well, the Ravens are telling Lamar Jackson they see him as more than a running quarterback, they see someone who can age as a passer.
By saying that Jackson they got Jackson back to the contract table. When Jackson saw what Hurts got, and saw that Beckham was added, he knew that the belief in him was there, and it got them over the edge.
1. No other teams showed interest in Lamar Jackson
The reality of the Lamar Jackson situation is that he ended up backed up against the wall. He essentially had two options, to play for the franchise tag, a lesser franchise tag than the normal one. Or, he could sign with the Baltimore Ravens, and get a long-term deal with upfront money that is way above the franchise tag.
When it comes down to it, the upfront money is a lot more valuable than holding out for principle. Even if Jackson sat out a year, the Ravens would franchise tag him again. At some point, he had to give in.
This could have changed if any team stepped up and made Jackson an offer he could not refuse. However, the Ravens also had the chance to match any deal, and it would have been tough to see a team putting something together that Baltimore would not match. So, everyone stayed out of it, and did not put together a deal that the Ravens would have accepted anyway.
This really helped the Ravens. Jackson demanded a trade and no one bit. He sat there and realized he had no outs. So, he had no leverage, and the Ravens still went over the top and beat the Jalen Hurts deal, they also went out and added Odell Beckham. That was enough for Jackson to admit that the team was invested in him, making both sides feel good about a long-term deal.