Pundit Isn't Sold on Extending Lamar Jackson's Contract This Offseason
In his first press conference of the offseason yesterday, General Manager Eric DeCosta said he will engage Lamar Jackson in contract extension talks sometime in the next 10 days. DeCosta said his intention is to have Jackson in Baltimore for "many, many years."
As Head Coach John Harbaugh said last week, it's just a matter of whether it happens this year or next.
Seems like a good idea to lock up one of the game's most dynamic young players, but Pro Football Talk's Charean Williams said the Ravens should wait on extending their star quarterback.
"I want to see more from Lamar Jackson in the postseason," Williams said. "[He's] 1-3 in the postseason, three touchdowns, five interceptions. He's been great in the regular season, we know that. Nobody has more wins in the regular season since he became the full-time starter than Lamar Jackson does. He's been terrific. He has an MVP award … I want to see more from Lamar Jackson if I'm the Ravens before I commit that kind of money and that kind of length of contract to Lamar Jackson."
As is often the case with Jackson, he seems to be held to a different standard than his peers. For example, I don't recall anyone saying the Houston Texans should take a wait-and-see approach with Deshaun Watson, who signed a long-term deal after his third season.
Watson is an elite player, but for the sake of comparison, Jackson is 30-7 as a starter; has taken his team to the playoffs three seasons in a row; is the second unanimous and youngest MVP in NFL history; set the single-season rushing record for a quarterback and is the only quarterback to post two 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He also led the league in touchdown passes in 2019.
Watson is 28-25 as a starter, has been to the playoffs twice (he's 1-2) and hasn't received an MVP vote. In head-to-head meetings, Jackson is 2-0 against Watson, with the Ravens outscoring the Texans, 74-23.
It's true that Jackson hasn't been able to duplicate his regular-season success in the postseason thus far, but it's also true that last month he joined Dan Marino and Patrick Mahomes as the only players in league history to capture an MVP award and win a playoff game by their age-23 season. And as has been written previously, Jackson shouldn't shoulder all the blame for Baltimore's playoff exits.
Here's another comparison: Peyton Manning lost his first three playoff games and didn't play well in any of them, including a 41-0 loss to the New York Jets. In those games, Manning threw a total of one touchdown pass. He didn't win his first playoff game until he was 27, and was 3-6 in the postseason before leading the Indianapolis Colts to a Super Bowl championship.
Rather than questioning whether Jackson will get the extension, a better conversation is if it makes more sense, financially for both sides, to do it this offseason or next.
Most players want their guaranteed money sooner, but with a depressed salary cap this offseason, it might make more sense for Jackson to wait, while also giving the Ravens more flexibility to sign his teammates or add more in free agency.
"Any signing bonus Jackson gets will immediately impact the Ravens’ salary cap in 2021. The Ravens have a projected $26 million in space, but they will want to save as much for improving their roster as possible. Therefore, any extension Jackson signs may not carry a big signing bonus. Mahomes' deal had just a $10 million signing bonus, while Watson got $27 million," wrote Pro Football Network's Ben Rolfe.
"Instead of a lucrative signing bonus, look for the Ravens to guarantee a large portion of Jackson's contract. This may be in the form of regular roster bonuses in each year of the deal from the second season on. That way, Jackson gets a lump sum of money each season and is protected by the guarantees if he gets cut.
"A similar style of contract as Mahomes' should be what the Ravens and Lamar Jackson work towards. This would include a system where future money guarantees on the contract are a year or two in advance. Right now, a projected contract extension for Lamar Jackson should look something close to five years at around $212.5 million. The value would be $42.5 million per year, clearly ahead of Watson, but enough below Mahomes. The fifth-year on the deal would serve as a nod to Jackson having been the league MVP in 2019."
January 26, 2021 at 09:48PM
https://ift.tt/2KO8XOk
news Late for Work 1/26: One Pundit Says Ravens Should Wait on Extending Lamar Jackson - BaltimoreRavens.com
https://ift.tt/2VuKK1x
Work
No comments:
Post a Comment