Lamar Jackson officially ended his contract saga yesterday by signing the contract which makes him the league’s highest-paid player in terms of annual compensation. Further details have emerged regarding the new pact for the Ravens quarterback. 
Jackson’s five-year, $260MM contract includes a record-setting $72.5MM signing bonus, along with no-trade and no-franchise tag clauses. An analysis of the year-by-year structure makes clear the commitment Baltimore is making in the first three years of the contract in particular, though its final two seasons could open the door to financial maneuvering on the team’s part to ease Jackson’s cap burden, in addition to the inclusion of a void year in 2028, which is already in place.
As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk details, the contract includes $135MM fully guaranteed at signing, but that figure reaches the initially reported mark of $185MM after two years. Both the 2024 and 2025 seasons contain triggers for compensation in the following campaign to become guaranteed in March, which should help ensure the former MVP remains in Baltimore through at least the 2026 season (during which $29MM of his scheduled $52MM in cashflow is due to become fully guaranteed).
However, that year marks the first in which Jackson’s cap hit spikes to $74.5MM, per ESPN’s Jamison Hensley (Twitter link). The same is true of 2027, meaning the Ravens may need to restructure the pact or extend Jackson to create financial breathing space at that time. Before that point, though, the 26-year-old will see his burden on the team’s cap sheet grow incrementally. Jackson’s cap hits for the next three seasons are $22MM, $33MM and $43.5MM, respectively.
That means the Ravens will have roughly $10MM more in cap space this season than they would have if Jackson had ended up playing on the non-exclusive franchise tag, as some signs appeared to be pointing to until last week. The $32.4MM one-year tender would have left Baltimore and Jackson in a similar situation next offseason to the one they were in for the past several months, but their collective futures are now clear.
As Hensley notes in a separate tweet, the Jackson accord breaks a number of league records, particularly with respect to compensation in its first three years. While the total guarantee still falls well short of Deshaun Watson‘s $230MM, this contract still represents another new watermark for QB mega-deals as the position’s market continues its steady increase.
I think the only thing other players want to know about the contract is how much Lamar saved in agent fees…lol.
I think he had his mom as his “advisor” and “manager”, but Idk if that meant she was acting as his agent or if she’d be entitled to any certain percentage.
Either way though, I’m sure he’d much rather that money go to his mother, if it had to go to anyone other than himself.
Jackson definitely came out on top, despite all the negative reports coming out consistently saying how he was costing himself money solely because he didn’t have an agent representing him.
I remember a few times there were some people that came out basically mocking Jackson for having his mother helping him, and they were questioning the motives of his inner circle, their qualifications, etc. Pretty much bad mouthing them, saying that if they really wanted the best for Lamar they would urge him to hire an agent…
Honestly, seeing as how alot of people saw it as being a big test case of whether player’s really need agents or not, I wouldn’t doubt it if they weren’t somehow behind all the negative press and publicity Lamar Jackson was getting. They did have alot weighing on this outcome, so this way at least they could make it seem like the deal ONLY took so long because Jackson didn’t have an agent representing him. I highly doubt it was a coincidence that people kept reporting how and why him representing himself was costing him money..
What do you guys think??
Other players have gone no agent like Sherm and Okung. But a QB,a former MVP, actually going this route is good for the game. Players should educate themselves on these details and save themselves the commission.
I agree and speculate with you that a lot of the negativity especially from the nerds at ESPN were fed by agents. The reason of course is the biggest threat to these agents livelihoods and fat commissions is player empowerment and financial literacy.
Completely agree , that’s basically their worst nightmare..And I’d say that you’re spot on correct about how the people at ESPN got their information..
Just like a completely guaranteed deal is an owner’s worst nightmare..
Between the two, there was NO WAY that Lamar Jackson was getting the deal he wanted..
I’m just glad he saw the writing on the wall, and glad he was able to still get the deal he ended up with.
However, a former MVP hits the market in his prime at a premium position like QB, and NOT A SINGLE TEAM offers him a deal!?! Glad to see that collusion in the NFL is alive and well…
The sad part is literally everyone thay was informed of his situation knew what was going on, yet noone dared to stand up to the almighty shield and call them out…
Pretty crazy when you think about it, but I cannot say I’m at all surprised whatsoever.
Yes completely crazy. Not surprised either. The owners dread guaranteed deals. Weird antiquated escrow rules the league has in place.
Most of the talking heads and most big voices would take a job with the NFL in a heartbeat. They are not trying to make billionaire enemies. Plus they have their own agents and connections to keep to protect their jobs, they don’t want to burn that bridge.
But yes, no other team offered a 26 year old quarterback ,a former MVP, a deal. Just nuts.
You have to wonder if there was any need for Lamar to have a no trade clause inserted into his contract…he’s essentially priced himself out of every other teams budget.