Until Lamar Jackson is either extended or traded, the pending free agent will be a topic of debate for talking heads both locally and nationally. And the longer the situation remains unaddressed, the more speculative the debate will be as it grows in complexity.
Consider this…
The Ravens want Lamar to be involved in the selection of the team’s next offensive coordinator. At least that’s what they’ve shared publicly. Whether this is actually happening is another topic for debate – another spark to ignite even more widespread speculation. But let’s assume for the moment that the team is being completely transparent. It then begs the question, how important is Lamar’s input if we aren’t sure if he’ll actually be in Baltimore in 2023?
If he does stay, it will be the result of one of two things: 1) he agreed to a new long-term deal or; 2) the Ravens have used the franchise tag on Lamar and he’ll play under the tag. And if it’s the latter, recent history tells us, that’s going to be a problem.
If there’s no progress in contract talks with Lamar (more on this in a moment), how committed will he be in the selection of the next OC? Why would he even care at that point? And, if you are a candidate to become the Ravens next OC, why jump into the situation without some assurances such as: 1) are the Ravens signing Lamar; 2) if not what’s the backup plan; 3) what are you doing with the WR room?; and 4) how safe is John Harbaugh?
That’s a lot to unpack…
If Lamar doesn’t get that long-term deal and instead gets the tag, is there anything about his behavior during the 2022 season that suggests he’ll be a willing participant during OTA’s and training camp? And isn’t such participation crucial to achieving success in a new offensive system? And if the new OC’s starting quarterback isn’t Lamar, then who? Derek Carr? Ryan Tannehill? Marcus Mariota?
So these OC candidate visit Owings Mills, or maybe they do a few Zoom calls and during the conversations they ask what the Ravens plan is to fix that wide receiver room. The team has five draft picks at the moment, and their available cap space will circle the drain like Liquid Drano if Lamar is tagged. Are they then going to sell a healthy Rashod Bateman and Devin Duvernay as the answer…again?
And then there’s the topic of John Harbaugh.
Harbaugh is under contract through the 2025 season. If the Ravens don’t win a playoff game in 2023, there’s a good chance that owner Steve Bisciotti will consider a new head coach. He has shown in the past when he fired Brian Billick, that if Steve believes a change is needed, he’s not afraid to eat the remainder of the contract – or as he’s shared with us before, “sacrifice part of his kids’ inheritance”.
So many moving parts. So many things to consider. So many OC openings across the league. With all of these potential obstacles, why would Baltimore be a primary consideration for the best OC’s available?
But back to the topic of Lamar’s contract…
They’ve been talking and talking and not talking for a long, long time. The Ravens don’t want to give in to the demands for a 100% guaranteed deal and Lamar doesn’t appear to want to back off the demand, one that is apparently being fueled by the NFLPA. And without an agent to speak on his behalf, I’m sure that DeMaurice Smith and his cronies at the union are doing their best to pressure Lamar into a contract that not only benefits him, but also helps to move guaranteed contracts from the spectrum of an exception to that of the norm.
Recently, Smith joined Ryan Clark on the Pivot Podcast. You can check out the video of the podcast below. The discussion about Lamar starts at the 36:40 mark. But at the crux of the discussion was this from Smith, the Executive Director of the NFLPA:
“You know me, going through team meetings, the teaching part of this is so important, because if you don’t understand the role of free agent, players, and guaranteeing contracts throughout sport, you miss the fact that this is a pivotal moment, right because right behind Lamar, and as talented as he is, think about the number of quarterbacks coming up behind him right way. Last night we saw them play this weekend. We saw one playing the Super Bowl, last year. All those guys are coming behind them on those free agent contracts, so literally the weight of whether we move forward on guaranteed contracts [is] now! Right? You’ve got the [Deshaun] Watson contract. Literally that could be book-ended by Lamar’s contract.
Second thing you know, again, we don’t get into a lot of conversations that we have with players or the people who are supporting him. But [Lamar] has access to the full weight of the NFLPA and all of our research. We will stay in contact with him about those contracts because a bad contract for one person is a bad contract for everybody!
And third, we’re gonna make sure that we do our best to ensure that there isn’t collusion by the owners to prevent that. Our grievances are confidential. Obviously, I’m only referring to what’s been publicly discussed about collusion, but apart from guaranteed contracts, the owners have historically colluded against the players when it was in their best interest.”
If Lamar had an agent, maybe he wouldn’t so easily succumb to puppet-status in Smith’s master plan to pave the way to more guaranteed contracts for his constituents. But he doesn’t have an agent and consequently, it should surprise no one that a stalemate exists between the two sides – a stalemate that could ultimately lead to the team trading their unicorn. Because let’s face it, if Lamar is tagged and that tag eats up $45M in cap space coupled with a draft class that consists of just five picks, DeCosta will have to be Houdini to transform the team’s wide receiver room. And if DeCosta fails as an illusionist, 2023 could be the same old, same old…aka, one-and-done.
A Trade
But if the Ravens do trade Lamar, what should be the asking price? That’s a topic of debate currently in full swing in our forums. Many will point to the trades of Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson as the starting points for any trade discussion. Most would argue that Lamar is a better player than Watson and you’d get no argument from me. Others would say that Lamar has far more upside than Wilson. Again, no argument here. But a look at either of those deals, one year removed, suggests that neither quarterback was worth what the acquiring teams gave up to get their respective franchise QB’s.
Could two No. 1 picks be the asking price? Is that reasonable for a quarterback who has missed a third of his team’s games over the last two seasons? A quarterback who has arguably regressed since his 2019 MVP season? A quarterback who many believe put his own needs ahead of the team’s?
Answers to these questions are certainly on DeCosta’s radar. He has to know what the market will bear for Lamar and in doing so he can determine which franchise tag option is best, the exclusive or non-exclusive. The difference in the two is about $13M dollars and those cap dollars are treasures if in fact the team wants to fix their substandard collection of pass catchers.
30 for 30
On Sunday February 5 at 8:30PM, ESPN will debut the “Bullies of Baltimore”. I had an opportunity to see the precursor of this program with the ESPN crew on hand during the presentation of A Championship Celebration back on May 23, 2022 at the Meyerhoff. It was a fantastic evening and if that event is any indication of what’s to come from the worldwide network’s presentation of this episode of the great 30 for 30, you won’t want to miss it.
The star of that evening was without question Tony Siragusa. He was funny, heartfelt, passionate and transparent. Sadly, we lost Tony on June 22, 2022, just 30 days after the celebration. Soak it in. Remember that feeling. Remember Tony.
Happy Birthday Mo!
Happy birthday Mo! 💜
"There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind." Fred Rogers pic.twitter.com/HUFX0p28hE
— Lacie DeCosta (@DeCostaLacie) January 26, 2023
17 Responses
I have seen every NFL defense back to the early 1960s. Many come to mind. Fearsome Foursome, Purple People Eaters, Still Curtain, Doomsday, 85 Bears, and 2000 Ravens. Since free agency they don’t seem to name great defenses anymore. Nobody stays long enough and its extremley hard to play defense since the rules changes almost yearly since 1979 to neuter defenses and allow offense to score more. But the 2000 Ravens are the best. Now if you go to a bar in Chicago and say that your liable to get hurt. But who in their right mind goes to Chicago lol.
Frankly, Tony, like a lot of fans, I’ve grown weary of this fiasco, but the sooner it’s resolved, the better! That being said, any kind of franchise arrangement is destined to prolong the angst and, more importantly, probably impair the search for a new OC!
As for the NEW WR room, we haven’t had an acceptable one in 15 years, so my expectations remain very…….low!
Anquan, Torrey and Jacobi were acceptable. But that’s it
Anquan actually disappeared in games, Torrey was a one trick pony, but a good one and Jacobi will always be remembered for the “Mile High Miracle”, but none made All Pro except for Anquan BEFORE AND AFTER the Ravens! In fact, I can’t think of any WR who has made All Pro or the former Pro Bowl in the 15 years Harbaugh has been HC despite two very good QBs, which is a fairly strong indictment of Harbaugh’s offensive system and philosophy! But, why change it……..
Regarding Lamar’s contract, I’ve stopped listening to the NFL “insiders” and writers on social media, web sites, and most of all, the Four Letter Network, who continue to pontificate on what they think will happen. They don’t know. EDC isn’t talking. Camp Lamar isn’t talking. I’ve tuned it all out and refuse to listen to the blather. What will happen, will happen and fans will just have to deal with it.
But it will be v-e-r-y interesting to see what offers Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert get from the Bengals and Chargers respectively. If the Ravens won’t go F.G.C. on Lamar, it’s even more doubtful that Mike Brown and Dean Spanos will. The NFLPA will use Lamar to advance their own agenda, which is not necessarily in Lamar’s best interest.
I have believed since Lamar’s injury that he was not going to agree to a deal with the Ravens. I don’t believe he knows how a negotiation works and God knows who is in his ear. There is no way they will keep him on the Exclusive Tag. It kills the Cap, it would keep Lamar away from practice and it will lead to the same lingering injury issues of the past 2 seasons. Bisciotti would step in and say, time to move on.
The Deshaun Watson contract should not be the basis of the Lamar contract because…….They are the browns……
The ravens and another team have already agreed on the tag and trade in my opinion
The only unknown are who is the team and what’s the compensation
I’d like it to be one of the worst teams with a lot of draft capital
Tag and trade. Lamar put himself and his contract over the team, so I’m done with him. Whether he stays with the Ravens or not, I will never be a Lamar fan again.
Me neither…
Tony, I find Harbaugh’s statement that ” this is one of the best jobs in the world, everybody’s going to want this job” absolutely laughable. For all the reasons you listed. Great article.
Tony – Great article. As you said ‘lots to unpack’. Your article, and the topics you raise, would be a great center piece of discussion for a couple dozen+ Ravens fans to sit around and talk about,( in a Carroll County bar of course), for hours. I’m thinking April? 🙂 And, at the end of that evening’s discussion, we still won’t come to a consensus. As for for me – my opinion- my measure of EDCs off season success is the level and quantity of draft picks he gets in return for trading Lamar. If I can get 3 #1’s, or 2 #1’s and a 2nd, or 3 2nds, – I’m good with that. Bring in Carr, or Jimmy G, for a one year (or 2?) rental. Draft the kid out of THE Ohio State University or Georgia – and move one. I love Lamar the person- but the NFL is a business – time to sell and and buy the next dream. ( 1 playoff win in 5 years is not a high bar to jump). As an aside, I had the pleasure of, in person, listening to DeMaurice Smith’s speech to the 2011 U of M – College Park – graduating class Quite a life story. Always good to get the background of where people are coming from. (Google DeMaurice Smith College Park 2011 Commencement – about a 30 minute video), Part 2 of that ceremony was an address to the students by Gary Williams – about 8 minutes> Beat Duke!
I too have grown weary of the Lamar saga. That having been said, I disagree that the Watson and Wilson contracts are irrelevant. They are the only relevant contracts and trades. Whether they were good deals or not have yet to be seen. I wouldn’t even consider anything less than three #1s as a starting point. Falcons, Raiders, Colts, Panthers all seem like potential landing spots with Falcons at or near the top. They were willing to give that or more for Watson last year even with a full season on suspension. My guess is EDC has a better handle on his value than any of us. The NFLPA role is disturbing as they can convince him he is the Curt Flood of the NFL.
Should be an exciting next couple months.
I’ll take Carr then Minshew then even Baker…
Lamar Jackson ain’t worth a fully guaranteed deal and neither is Watson. I’d rather tag and trade, sign Carr and draft someone this year (Malik Cunningham) or next year. If you wanna get paid you gotta play. Nobody cares about your grade 2 PCL, Mahomes is playing. So sissy boy needs to go and let’s get someone here that wants to be here.
From a RSR poll perspective – purely to gauge public opinion – I would have included an option to vote for the : ‘less than $100M guaranteed, option’. Public poll # 2 : straight up : yes/no question : Do you believe Lamar Jackson will be a Baltimore Raven next season- under whatever contract / franchise/ other scenario you envision? Public Poll # 3: Question: why wasn’t LJ (the leader??) on the sidelines at the Ravens playoff game against the Bengals? : Responses: 1) in LJ’s mind – he’s already not a Raven, 2) his couch was warmer than the sidelines, 3) his 9pm doctor’s appt. that Sunday evening conflicted with 8:15pm kickoff, 4) other. As you can certainly guess, my personal opinion remains : the offseason success of EDC will be centered around the quality (first round, second round) and quantity of draft picks he gets in a trade for #8. My opinion remains – bring in Carr for a one year rental, Draft a qb (but never someone as low in the draft as Mr. Irrelevant.(ha!) and move on.
I can’t blame Lamar for sitting out of the game. He has no contract after this year. What if he got a career ending/defining injury? RG3 anyone?…and many others. However, he should have been there to support the team. I hate to say it, I feel he already has one foot out the door. A new, quality OC and a #1 receiver can quickly turn this team around. I hate that this team has been so close to continuous success, but misses out because they need a key piece or two. At least we aren’t the Lions or Jets.