Lamar Jackson has the Baltimore Ravens near clinching the AFC’s No. 1 seed and has emerged as the favourite to win his second MVP award.
However final offseason, there weren’t every other groups that made a serious push to signal Jackson, and solely a pair appeared to have expressed gentle curiosity in signing the star quarterback to a proposal sheet.
The 2 groups recognized to have inquired about Jackson’s providers had been the Las Vegas Raiders and Carolina Panthers, in line with league sources, however neither workforce bought overly aggressive with Jackson, and neither got here near signing him to a proposal sheet that the Ravens would have had an opportunity to match.
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The unsettled scenario surrounding Jackson final offseason has bled into this season, with some sources across the league nonetheless questioning why there wasn’t extra of an effort to signal the participant now in place to win the MVP.
The largest query is perhaps the notion that the Ravens mechanically would have matched any provide sheet that Jackson signed, as some have advised. The Ravens did not place the unique $45 million franchise tag on Jackson that will have prevented different groups from negotiating and signing him; they positioned the non-exclusive $32 million franchise tag on him, inviting different groups to craft a inventive sufficient provide sheet in the event that they had been inclined.
On the NFL homeowners conferences in Arizona final March, simply as Ravens coach John Harbaugh sat down to talk with reporters, Jackson introduced on social media that he had requested a commerce out of Baltimore because the workforce had “not been excited by assembly my worth.”
Jackson gave the impression to be prepared to pressure the problem, however no workforce engaged him sufficient to make it worthwhile. As an alternative, groups determined to pursue different quarterback choices.
• The Panthers traded vast receiver DJ Moore, a 2023 first-round draft choose, a 2023 second-round choose, a 2024 first-round choose that at present stands to be the No. 1 general choose within the upcoming draft, and a 2025 second-round choose to the Chicago Bears for the No. 1 general choose that grew to become Bryce Younger.
• The New York Jets acquired Aaron Rodgers in a commerce with the Inexperienced Bay Packers.
• The New Orleans Saints signed Derek Carr.
• The Raiders signed Jimmy Garoppolo.
• The Atlanta Falcons signed Taylor Heinicke to hitch Desmond Ridder.
• The Washington Commanders signed Jacoby Brissett to hitch Sam Howell.
No workforce put any vitality into crafting a proposal sheet that Baltimore might need had a troublesome time matching, as some groups have completed over time with gamers on tags.
Theories abound as to how and why this occurred, and a few sources across the league consider it needed to do with the truth that Jackson did not end both the 2021 or 2022 seasons due to knee accidents.
Any workforce excited by signing Jackson to the kind of provide sheet that it could have taken to lure him out of Baltimore would have wanted to do an entire and thorough medical examination of Jackson’s knee — and a few sources theorized that he may have been apprehensive about such an association lest a workforce discover something medically mistaken, affecting his worth.
However Jackson has performed each sport this season; he has been a mannequin of well being, which is mirrored in the truth that the Ravens (12-3) are first within the AFC North and in place to clinch a division title.
Within the eyes of some across the league, the method of signing Jackson was not made any easier by the truth that he didn’t have an agent — somebody who may assist him via a sophisticated deal price a couple of quarter of a billion {dollars}.
However there was a lot confusion and suspicion relating to groups’ approaches to Jackson final offseason that there nonetheless is an ongoing collusion case being pursued by the NFL Gamers Affiliation, which is attempting to determine why a participant of Jackson’s caliber didn’t generate pursuit from a number of groups, league sources informed ESPN.
Many sources agree that it could’t be so simple as groups all believing that Baltimore would have matched any provide sheet that Jackson signed.
Finally on April 27, 11 days after Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles agreed to a five-year, $255 million deal, Jackson and the Ravens agreed to a five-year, $260 million contract extension.