Details of Ravens’ contract offer to Lamar Jackson revealed

Sep 13, 2021; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) reacts against the Las Vegas Raiders during Monday Night Football at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Ravens may not be willing to give Lamar Jackson a fully guaranteed contract, but it sounds like one offer they made to the star quarterback was well above market value.

It has been widely reported that Jackson wants something similar to the five-year, fully guaranteed $230 million contract Deshaun Watson signed with the Cleveland Browns last year. That deal is very much an outlier. Several star quarterbacks have signed new contracts since, and none of them were fully guaranteed.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter said on his podcast this week that the Ravens last September offered Jackson a contract that included more guaranteed money than what Kyler Murray got from the Arizona Cardinals and Russell Wilson got from the Denver Broncos.

Adam Schefter gives the most details yet on Ravens’ offer to Lamar Jackson last yr:

Fully gtd at signing: $133M
Injury gtd: $175M
Total gtd: $200M

“Those guarantees were way more than what Kyler Murray got from AZ. Way more than Russell Wilson.”pic.twitter.com/FYpo4GiJFs

— Sarah Ellison (@sgellison) March 13, 2023

“Lamar Jackson was offered a deal — that he turned down — that included, at the time it was offered, $133 million due at signing — $133 million guaranteed. The contract also had injury guarantees that brought the total guarantees up to $175 million,” Schefter said. “And it then had a springing guarantee that could have brought the value of the contract, the guaranteed money in the contract, to $200 million guaranteed. Those guarantees were way more than Kyler Murray got from Arizona and way more than Russell Wilson got from the Denver Broncos. Yes, those were the actual numbers and that was the situation.”

The additional $25 million of what Schefter called a “springing guarantee” would have kicked in if Jackson remained on Baltimore’s roster on the fifth day of the 2026 league year, so the Ravens were not necessarily on the hook for that.

For comparison, the extension Wilson signed after he was traded to the Broncos includes $124 million fully guaranteed at signing, which is the true guarantee. Murray got $104 million fully guaranteed at signing.

If Schefter’s figures are accurate, it sounds like the Ravens made a good-faith offer to Jackson. The issue has been that the former MVP, who does not have an agent, won’t accept that Watson’s contract with the Browns is an outlier. That is why the two sides are said to be so far apart.