Now, the fence-mending must begin.
The Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson agreed to a five-year contract extension worth a reported $260 million with $185 million guaranteed on Thursday, making him the highest-paid player in the NFL in terms of average annual salary.
That’s too much money for a player who has just one playoff victory in five years and will make it difficult to invest in other positions, but the Ravens apparently believe Jackson is in the same stratosphere as Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who signed a $255 million contract on April 17.
The only difference is that Hurts led Philadelphia to the Super Bowl in February before losing to the Kansas City Chiefs. But that’s all behind everyone now, and so is Jackson’s request for a trade and a fully guaranteed deal.
The hardest jobs belong to Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who has to develop chemistry and create some harmony in the locker room again after a drama-filled saga, and to Jackson, who has become one of the most polarizing athletes in Baltimore history.
Jackson can easily do that by himself — if he wins.
And I’m not talking about winning 10 or 11 games a season and then losing in the first round of the playoffs, which has become commonplace in Baltimore with Jackson under center. When a player, especially a quarterback, makes this type of money, he needs to go deep into the playoffs and at least play in one Super Bowl during the duration of his contract.
If that happens, then Jackson will become endearing to fans again. If not, then his legacy will be tainted as just another disappointment.
In 2000, when then-Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis and two acquaintances were charged with murder before the charge against Lewis was reduced to a less serious one in a plea deal and his co-defendants were acquitted, he was hated everywhere — but not in Baltimore. He was so beloved that team owner Steve Bisciotti built a statue of him outside M&T Bank Stadium in 2014, next to another Baltimore hero, Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas.
Jackson has to regain some of the respect he had from local fans in 2019 when he was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player. He has alienated a lot of fans with untimely tweets, especially last month when he revealed he asked the Ravens to be traded.
Last year, Harbaugh moved training camp practices to later in the day in part so Jackson could get enough rest and nutrition, and some other off-the-field habits have caused major headaches for the front office as well.
The Ravens actually welcomed a trade for Jackson when they placed the nonexclusive franchise tag on him March 7, but there was apparently no interest from any of the 31 other teams.
I preferred trading Jackson and thought it was time for the Ravens to move on, especially after it was revealed that he wanted out of Baltimore.
The Ravens, though, have made the best of this situation and have handled negotiations well, especially in dealing with a player who has no agent and represented himself. That move probably cost Jackson millions of dollars over the past three years and significantly slowed the pace of the negotiations.
To receive this type of contract, I believe a player should have won big games, just as former Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco did. He signed a six-year, $120.6 million contract after leading the team to the Super Bowl title in February 2013.
I also believe a player of this magnitude should make others around him better, and more importantly, carry a team in the postseason as Tom Brady did with the New England Patriots and both Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes do with Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs, respectively.
Harbaugh will say the players support Jackson but many of them were angry when he declined to play in the postseason while recovering from a knee injury. Jackson has missed 11 games in the final months of the past two seasons.
But again, all will be forgiven if Jackson can win big.
It will be interesting to see if new offensive coordinator Todd Monken can help Jackson improve as a passer. Without question, Jackson is the most explosive and dynamic offensive player in the NFL, but he hasn’t proved he can win in the postseason.
It will be exciting and fun to watch the Ravens in the various mini and training camps. At Georgia, where he won the past two national championships, Monken had a diversified offense, relying on a balance between running and passing, and he attacked all areas of the field with run-pass options, straight dropbacks, bootlegs and waggles.
A major key will be teaching Jackson to read the entire field, not just the middle, where he has thrown most of his passes over the past five years.
You can’t teach accuracy. You either have it or you don’t. But being able to read the outside of a field is a great safeguard against those mistakes and possible interceptions.
It’s true that Jackson has lacked a true No. 1 receiver since he arrived in Baltimore. But the Ravens went out and added veterans Nelson Agholor and Odell Beckham Jr. Both are past their primes but could fit in well with wide receiver Rashod Bateman and tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely.
Plus, the Ravens have both running backs — J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards — coming back and are another year removed from major knee injuries they suffered before the 2021 season.
Whether you like Jackson or not, at least now there is a buzz and excitement around the Ravens after a tumultuous offseason. There can be no more complaints about the lack of weapons or former offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s play-calling.
When you become the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL, there is a certain result expected. It’s not just to win, but to win big.
That hasn’t been proved in the previous five years, which is why this is such a questionable investment.
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