Mike Preston: Ravens shouldn’t rush Lamar Jackson’s next contract
· Yahoo Sports
BALTIMORE — Both the Ravens and Lamar Jackson are in ideal situations when it comes to current contract talks.
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If Jackson, 29, leads the Ravens to a Super Bowl title or plays well in the postseason, then the team has to make him the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL. If he has a dismal or disappointing showing like he did last season, then the Ravens should offer him a contract worthy of a top-10 player at his position.
This isn’t rocket science.
Of course, Jackson, in his ninth season, wants Patrick Mahomes-type money. Earlier this offseason, the Kansas City Chiefs star reworked an eight-year contract worth $504.75 million with $397 million guaranteed, averaging $54.45 million beginning in 2027 through 2033.
Needless to say, Jackson is no Mahomes.
Mahomes, 30, is the greatest of all time, having led the Chiefs to seven consecutive AFC championship game appearances, five Super Bowls and three titles while claiming Super Bowl Most Valuable Player honors in those victories.
Jackson has yet to play in a Super Bowl. He has won two NFL Most Valuable Player Awards in 2019 and 2023, but the closest the Jackson-led Ravens have come to winning it all was a conference championship game loss to the Chiefs in Baltimore in 2024.
Who else has routinely defeated Jackson? Mahomes is 5-1 against Jackson in the regular season and 1-0 in the postseason. Jackson, though, can change all that this year.
The Ravens have been in this situation before. In the 2012 postseason, quarterback Joe Flacco caught fire and passed for 1,140 yards and 11 touchdowns. He tied both Joe Montana and Kurt Warner with the most touchdown passes without an interception in a single postseason.
In March 2013, then-Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome signed Flacco to a six-year contract worth $120.6 million, making him the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL. It was broken within months by Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and Atlanta’s Matt Ryan, which is why the NFL stands for “not for long” when it comes to being the highest-paid quarterback.
Jackson can change history now, having often been accused of not being able to win “The Big One.” He is 3-5 in the playoffs, having passed for 1,326 yards and six touchdowns, but he also has seven interceptions and seven fumbles. He has a postseason passer rating of 84.6, far under his 102.6 during the regular season.
Without question, he is the most talented dual-threat performer in the history of the league, surpassing former 49ers great Steve Young, but Young won three Super Bowl trophies. Jackson has zero. That’s a major sticking point.
But what if Jackson plays well in the playoffs? What if he lights up the scoreboard even though the Ravens still don’t get to the title game? Then he should walk into general manager Eric DeCosta’s office with his hands held out and ask him to show him the money. The Ravens have no other alternative.
Waiting for an extension means Jackson can watch patiently as other young prominent quarterbacks such as Chicago’s Caleb Williams, Washington’s Jayden Daniels, New England’s Drake Maye and Denver’s Bo Nix renegotiate new deals in the upcoming offseason.
That’s why this season is so intriguing. The Ravens have a rookie coach in Jesse Minter, who still thinks he can call defensive plays. Good luck with that — it might take away from his ability to manage key elements of the game, like challenges and timeouts.
They have a new defensive coordinator in Anthony Weaver, who should improve the unit, but offensive coordinator Declan Doyle has yet to call a play from the sidelines or in the booth. Yet, this goes beyond schematics.
The Ravens will be running some variation of the West Coast offense, which usually requires a lot of short passes. That in itself will be different for Jackson, who hasn’t been known to throw a lot of short, timing routes. Injuries forced him to miss four games last season, but he still passed for 2,549 yards and 21 touchdowns, albeit with seven fumbles.
Here’s where it becomes even more intriguing: last year he rushed for only 349 yards. The strongest point of his game has always been his feet because he forced defenses to spread out and defend the entire field. That didn’t happen a year ago, and it makes you wonder whether Jackson was slowed by injuries or whether he wanted to become a pocket passer, as former Atlanta and Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick suggested when Jackson was a rookie.
Jackson has improved as a passer, but his running ability put fear in opposing defensive coordinators. Maybe the inconsistent play at the guard positions, which allowed most of the 45 sacks last season, played a part in slowing Jackson down.
Who knows.
So far this offseason, Jackson has been a team player and acted like the face of the franchise, attending most of the team’s offseason activities. He reworked his contract earlier in the offseason to allow salary cap relief, and maybe he has finally acquired the Derrick Henry playbook of a stronger work ethic. At his age, he is still young enough to build a team around, but the Ravens are in a great position themselves.
If they see Jackson has slowed, then they have some decisions to make. But remember the last time the Ravens had new offensive coordinators in 2019 with Greg Roman and 2023 with Todd Monken? Both times, Jackson was named the league’s MVP in their first seasons.
But it’s not about that award anymore. It’s about winning titles and bringing home the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Ravens can bring out new uniforms and helmets, but the NFL is all about winning.
No one knows that more than Jackson.
Well, maybe the Ravens. They’ve already won two since moving to Baltimore in 1996.