Ravens head coach John Harbaugh has shared publicly that Baltimore and superstar quarterback Lamar Jackson have had discussions about a contract extension.
That signals one thing: Jackson is soon to secure the biggest bag in NFL history.
Currently, the single-season annual average value record is $60 million per year for Cowboys QB Dak Prescott. The overall extension value record is the $450 million the Chiefs gave Patrick Mahomes over 10 years.
In some way or another, Jackson will break one or both of those records with his next deal.
NFL.com’s Tom Blair ranked Jackson as his No. 1 player in the NFL deserving a raise.
“Jackson and Patrick Mahomes could probably hold a spot on top of this list forever — or at least for as long as they are playing football, no matter what their game checks look like,” Blair writes. “How much is too much to pay a walking, talking ticket to Super Bowl contention? Could any contract possibly ever match the value that Jackson and Mahomes bring to their respective franchises? Jackson has transformed Baltimore into an AFC juggernaut while personally developing into a perennial MVP candidate, becoming the first player in NFL history to throw 40-plus TD passes and rush for 900-plus yards in the same season last year.”
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Blair wasn’t done.
“Every team is chasing exactly this kind of superpowered generational QB, but most will never get close to rostering one,” Blair continued. “That feverish pursuit has helped inflate the quarterback market to the point that, somewhat ludicrously, nine signal-callers are paid more per year than the two-time MVP. The game of Highest-Paid-Player Hot Potato often, of course, seems to be driven more by timing than merit, but this discrepancy is begging to be corrected with a new deal for one of the top talents in football. Hopefully, Baltimore’s willingness to publicly discuss the topic is a sign that balance will be restored soon — and with fewer bumps on the road to resolution than we saw last time.”
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There isn’t a huge rush to get this deal done, but it’s something Jackson deserves.
Especially if he starts to get deeper into the postseason, Lamar will only get more expensive.
He’s going to get the bag soon enough.
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