Lamar Jackson and His Plan to Ruin the Ravens

Before this article begins to poke holes in the Lamar Jackson plan, who is a very good football player, it is important to understand that the NFL is run by billionaires (with a B). NFL owners got to their position by making intelligent business moves at the right time. Some owners have even gotten lucky by inheriting a team from their dad, *cough Bears cough*, but have been smart enough to keep it. All of this is important when you consider what Lamar Jackson wants.

Lamar Jackson wants to be the highest paid NFL QB with his money fully guaranteed. This is a similar deal to the one offered to Deshaun Watson just last year, except larger. Here is why it will never happen.

Smart. Ownership.

NFL teams must abide by the salary cap unlike the MLB. In 2023 the salary cap for the entire roster must be below 224.8 million dollars. Roster construction in the NFL is extremely important considering 53 players are rostered each week. Each position does have different value with QB being the highest. Assuming Jackson wants 45 million guaranteed per year, that is 20% of your teams usable salary cap. The next 4 players on their team combine for a salary cap hit of 29.65%. These players include a LT, CB, TE, and ILB. So, among five players half of the usable money is already gone. Interestingly enough TE and ILB are easily two of the more replaceable positions in football. Recent drafts have been full of TE and a true middle linebacker is gone in today’s spread offense. What all of this means is that the Ravens would be committing suicide to sign Lamar Jackson to this deal. It would also set a precedent that the owners don’t want to set because they can’t afford to.

The key to a good NFL roster is that your roster should be largely home grown through the draft and make a few big splash free agent signings that perform up to standard. Once the draft picks are solid and confirmed stars by year 3-4, then your last draft pick is the last piece, whether it be QB, RB, WR, etc. The rookie deal is largely the key to a good team and free agents that come at a lower cost to win a championship.

So financially, it makes no sense to sign Lamar to this wild deal. Now let’s consider the locker room environment. By asking for this contract, he is basically saying he is the best player ever and doesn’t care about the team. I imagine the other 52 guys in the locker room LOVE that mindset. Lamar hasn’t played a full season in four years and this contract situation really paints him like a drama queen. If he was doing this for a few weeks, sure the team wouldn’t care. But now imagine the constant media circus surrounding the team. Every player getting asked about Lamar Jackson, no one wants that. Just look at how the team performed with Tyler Huntley filling in as his backup last year. Personally, I want my QB to be the most selfless player on the field, not the most selfish.

In conclusion, the deal makes no sense from a finance perspective and the longer this goes on makes Lamar seem like an awful teammate to play with.