Lamar Jackson went from requesting a trade out of Baltimore to setting a new NFL contract record to stay with the Ravens.
Baltimore and its quarterback agreed on Thursday in principle to a monster five-year contract extension to resolve the offseason standoff between the former MVP and the franchise that drafted him.
The contract is a five-year, $260 million extension with $185 million in total guarantees, according to CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson.
Jackson’s $52 million average annual value is the largest in NFL history, just above Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts’ $51 million average on his recent extension in Philadelphia.
Jackson himself delivered the official confirmation of the pact on the team’s social media accounts.
“You know for the last few months, there’s been a lot of he-say, she-say, a lot of nailbiting and a lot of headscratching going on,” Jackson said in a video. “But for the next five years it’s a lot of Flock going on.”
Then Jackson held up a football with the Ravens logo on it.
“Let’s go baby,” Jackson continued. “Let’s go. Can’t wait to get there. Can’t wait to be there. Can’t wait to light up M&T [Stadium] for the next five years. Let’s get it.”
Jackson, 26, one of the league’s most dynamic players, now will remain in Baltimore under head coach John Harbaugh with a new offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, and at least one new weapon, free agent signing Odell Beckham Jr. at wide receiver.
Jackson was believed to be seeking a fully guaranteed contract with the Ravens, a reasonable desire considering the five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed deal that the Cleveland Browns had given disgraced QB DeShaun Watson.
NFL owners are determined not to let Watson’s deal set a new precedent in the quarterback market, though, and the Ravens’ standoff with Jackson got so ugly that he privately requested a trade on March 2.
Then Jackson made his trade request public in late March during the NFL’s owners meetings, saying the Ravens had “not been interested in meeting my value.” He released the announcement just as Harbaugh was sitting down for a 40-minute interview with reporters in Arizona, forcing the head coach to answer countless questions about the QB’s future.
The Ravens eventually then splurged on Beckham in free agency, perhaps as a goodwill gesture to add more pieces around Jackson if and when he returned.
Then Baltimore’s front office was able to use Hurts’ recent five-year, $255 million contract extension with the Eagles as a baseline for Jackson to set new benchmarks without fully guaranteeing the deal (although Hurts’ deal did include the first player no-trade clause in Eagles franchise history, as well).
The Bengals’ Joe Burrow, Chargers’ Justin Herbert and Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes might soon leapfrog Jackson’s records just like he did to Hurts on Thursday.
But the important thing for Jackson and the Ravens is they both had certainty entering Thursday night’s first round of the NFL Draft, and long into the future.
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