Lamar Jackson’s issues with the Baltimore Ravens might be to do with something more than just the money that he has been offered, Albert Breer has claimed.
The Lamar Jackson contract situation with the Baltimore Ravens took a pretty significant twist yesterday, and gave us arguably the biggest indicator yet of which way things are likely going to pan out before the start of the 2023 NFL season.
Yesterday Jackson took to Twitter to reveal that he had asked the Ravens to be traded back on the 2nd of March. The date is pretty crucial to remember in all of this, because it came before the Ravens decided to stick him with the non-exclusive franchise tag, a tag which allows teams to come in an negotiate a long-term deal for him, which the Ravens will then have the chance to match.
If he were to sign with the new team the Ravens would get back 2 first-round draft picks, so in a sense it would be a trade, although one that teams might find hard to justify given Jackson’s injury problems. They might also find it difficult matching Jackson’s salary demands, with 3 years and $133m guaranteed supposedly not enough for him last summer.
But according to Albert Breer, the money isn’t necessarily the be-all and end-all for Jackson in his dispute with the Ravens.
Lamar Jackson looking for more than just the loot?
Speaking on The Herd (starting at 2:20), Breer claimed that whilst money played some part in it, there might have been other motives at play for Jackson when it came to contract talks, and that was recognition for the rather unique work he has put in over the past few years:
I think a big part of this for Lamar is principle. And look, I know that sounds silly because of how much money he's turned down. But if this was really about the money, I think he would have just taken the money. I think the way that Lamar looks at this is “alright, so for five years, I took on an unprecedented amount of damage for a quarterback, I played out my rookie contract, I played out my fifth year option, and now you're the one that wants injury protection three years from now, I'm not giving you that.”
Has Lamar Jackson played his cards right on this occasion?
If Breer’s assessment of the situation is right, you can certainly understand where Jackson’s frustration would be coming from, as it was essentially time for the Ravens to pay him back for all the hits he had taken, and how important he is to the franchise given their record without him.
But at the end of the day, he must have known, especially after the second injury at the end of last season, that he was fighting a losing battle, and now his behaviour might well have put other teams off coming to get him.