Lamar Jackson represents himself in his contract negotiations, and he’s now talking for himself whereas the insiders launch no matter morsels of data they’ve concerning the marathon discussions between him and the Baltimore Ravens about an extension. Some new info has come from Adam Schefter, and Lamar Jackson threw a metaphorical problem flag at it on Twitter.

Close to the tip of Monday’s episode of The Adam Schefter Podcast, Schefter mentioned the piece that he and Chris Mortensen put collectively in September about Jackson turning down a 5-year, $250 million contract supply from the Ravens.

They reported that $133 million of it was assured. That could be a smaller assure than what Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson acquired. And, lest we neglect, Deshaun Watson acquired a absolutely assured deal. Schefter claimed on his podcast that the overall ensures within the supply that Jackson turned down added as much as $200 million.

Jackson noticed the SB Nation weblog Baltimore Beatdown tweet out a narrative they printed concerning the episode and he enthusiastically referred to as cap on Schefter’s statements.

How Schefter stated the ensures within the contract would have labored is that Jackson would have been due $133 million at signing. The opposite $77 million would have come by an “damage” assure for $42 million, and the remainder from a “springing” assure.

A couple of minutes later Schefter needed to name cap on himself about that “springing” assure. After explaining what that truly meant he stated, “so possibly it’s not a assure.” Jackson would have acquired a $25 million sum provided that he was on Ravens’ roster on the fifth day of the league 12 months in 2026. That sounds extra like an enormous ole roster bonus to me, however possibly my understanding of the definition of the phrase assured is off.

Not solely did Jackson ship the cap gif, but additionally claimed that what he was supplied from the Ravens was a three-year absolutely assured $133 million. A quantity that needs to be thought-about objectively low for a participant who received an MVP on his rookie contract.

After NFL Community’s Ian Rapoport despatched out a barely messy quote tweet, about Jackson’s response to Schefter’s info, he did a tv hit. His info just about corroborated what Jackson tweeted. The Ravens thought {that a} shorter cope with a decrease annual payout, however absolutely assured, was a very good compromise. Three years and price simply over $44 million per 12 months whereas Watson will get 5 absolutely assured and is making $46 million per 12 months. Jackson most likely doesn’t want an agent to see that the mathematics is just not mathing.

What’s each most fascinating and disturbing about this negotiation course of between the Ravens and Jackson is how rapidly individuals with no vested curiosity within the consequence are leaping to the franchise’s protection. Schefter spent almost seven minutes of a 36-minute podcast — 20 of which was spent interviewing Patrick Peterson — saying that the Ravens truly made a greater supply than what he reported within the fall.

Rapoport sees Jackson’s response after which does successful on NFL Community to elucidate to the viewers what three-year supply Jackson was referring to, however on the finish, he too delivers a pro-Ravens message.

“It [has] been fairly apparent that the Ravens have tried each completely different option to attempt to get this contract finished,” Rapoport stated on NFL Community. “Lengthy, brief, numerous ensures, not as a lot ensures however excessive APY, it merely has not occurred.”

There may be one option to get this contract finished that Ravens clearly haven’t tried, and that’s giving Jackson what he desires. It seems that they’re intent on not giving him a five-year contract with a assured greenback quantity he sees as respectable.

It’s odd that the Ravens are taking part in such hardball with probably the greatest gamers within the NFL, however that’s their selection. What the NFL’s high info brokers shouldn’t be selecting to do although, is ship a message that paints the group as innocent.