The bombshell arbitration ruling in the NFLPA’s collusion grievance against the NFL regarding fully guaranteed contracts has revealed additional details regarding Lamar Jackson‘s previous negotiations with the Ravens.
Jackson “asked for a fully guaranteed contract” as far back as the 2022 offseason, according to the ruling, though it did not specify if his demand came before or after Deshaun Watson‘s deal with the Browns. Then-NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith also advised Jackson to stick to that demand.
[RELATED: Russell Wilson Asked Broncos For Fully Guaranteed Deal In 2022]
Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta testified at the arbitration hearing that he is not opposed to all fully guaranteed contracts, just longer ones with guarantees “pushed out to later years,” due to the risk of injury. As a result, the Ravens extended multiple non-fully guaranteed offers in 2022, but Jackson declined — after having set a pre-Week 1 negotiating deadline — and elected to play on his fifth-year option.
Negotiations resumed the next offseason, but the two sides quickly found themselves at the same impasse. Jackson once again requested a fully guaranteed deal, but missing the end of a second straight season due to injury did not help his case. The Ravens offered “two different three-year contracts that Mr. DeCosta considered to be fully guaranteed,” but Jackson again turned them down and requested a trade. Baltimore then applied the non-exclusive franchise tag to allow Jackson to negotiate a new contract with other teams.
It seemed at the time that Jackson had little chance of leaving Baltimore, and the arbitration ruling arrived at the same conclusion. DeCosta received little trade interest before using the franchise tag, and no teams reached out to Jackson when he was available to negotiate after the tag was applied. The ruling also determined that Jackson “was not actually committed to playing elsewhere” after declining to provide DeCosta with a list of preferred teams after publicly requesting a trade.
The ruling confirmed the previously assumed reasons that other teams did not try to acquire Jackson. DeCosta and Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti testified that the league’s apparent lack of interest in an MVP quarterback was due to the investment his acquisition would require in terms of cash, cap space, and draft picks. The Ravens could also match any offers Jackson received, risking other teams’ relationships with their quarterbacks should they publicly pursue another player and fail. Falcons owner Arthur Blank, whose team publicly announced its disinterest in acquiring Jackson, echoed concerns about cap flexibility and noted Jackson’s injury history as another factor.
Eventually, Jackson agreed to a five-year, $260MM extension shortly before the 2023 NFL Draft, making him the highest-paid quarterback in the league at signing. Interestingly, DeCosta had been preparing for a future without his star quarterback and said that he was surprised when Jackson accepted the offer.
Teams seem to have won the initial battle against fully guaranteed contracts, but Jackson has resumed negotiations with the Ravens ahead of massive scheduled cap hits in 2026 and 2027. After winning his second MVP in 2023 (and nearly a third in 2024), Jackson could renew his push for a fully guaranteed contract, though the team will likely resist such a deal and extend negotiations into 2026.
I’m super open to the “the owners are criminal dirt bags” argument.
But I don’t understand this version of it…
If one moron pays a grocery store $500 for a loaf of bread and then the rest of us refuse to pay $500 for a loaf of bread and we say to each other “can you believe this s***? They are crazy.” as we leave the store…not sure how that equals collusion.
The difference is one of intent, and the actions resulting from that intent.
It’s perfectly acceptable for NFL owners to see that Cleveland is going to sign Watson for an insane amount of fully-guaranteed cash, and when offered to match, each individually say, nope, no way, if Cleveland wants to shoot themselves in the foot that’s their business but I’m not doing the same.
It veers into collusion when NFL owners- who are supposed to be in competition with one another- express concern that other, more worthy QBs will want way more money than they’re getting now and/or want fully guaranteed contracts, and come to an agreement that they’ll refrain from offering better contracts to other QBs that might cause the market to get closer to where Watson/Cleveland took it. And if Baltimore presented Jackson a contract that was intended to reflect the preferences of other NFL team owners and wasn’t solely based on Baltimore Ravens needs, there’s the effect of the collusion.
Mutual concern, confusion and disgust is not collusion, though.
Do they have evidence of more than that? I did not see it, but I admittedly skimmed.
The closest thing I did see to collusion in this reporting is DeMaurice Smith demanding that players ask for fully guaranteed contracts as a way of advancing the union’s agenda and when they decide to cut a deal that they deem in their own personal best interests calling them “wusses”.
Yep, this is all about the union’s agenda of trying to make executives like Smith look like heroes instead of the clowns they are.
Yep, he got paid but missing that playoff game to sit at home rubbed some teams the wrong way. Still, a team could have tried to get him but didnt roll the dice. Nearly two MVP awards since and will probably be the first QB to reach 10,000 career rushing yards if he stays healthy.
Would it not be nice that you could sign a quarterback say to a $60 million contract and only have half that count into the cap the NFL could put a max level contract then have half of it count for a quarterback that would give teams an extra chunk of change to spread around amongst the roster. It would make agency much more competitive it would keep the fans happy so they can hold onto their quarterbacks and make everything a little bit more competitive I know it’s never gonna happen, but that’s just a thought
It’s a contract. If you don’t like the pay, find another job maybe you can dig ditches for 15 dollars a hour.