The NFL’s 2019 MVP Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens agreed in principle to a new 5 year deal, the team announced on Thursday.
Lamar Jackson : 5 Year deal | Contract terms
Jackson was born to Felicia Jones and Lamar Jackson Sr. on January 7, 1997. He grew up in the center of an economically distressed section of Pompano Beach, Florida.
Jackson’s father died from a heart attack on the same day his grandmother died in 2005, when Jackson was 8 years old. His siblings and he were raised by their mother.
He attended public schools and played Pop Warner football in the same Florida league with future teammate Marquise Brown.
When he was 8 years old, Jackson could throw a football 20 yards.[13] In high school, Jackson threw a football 100 yards.
Lamar Jackson 5 year deal
Lamar Jackson will remain a Baltimore Raven for the foreseeable future after agreeing to a five-year contract extension that will reportedly make him the highest-paid player in the league.
The former NFL MVP had requested a trade earlier this year as he struggled to reach agreement on a new deal with the team that drafted him in 2018.
At the time he said the Ravens had “not been interested in meeting my value”. The quarterback has been looking for a contract similar to the fully guaranteed $230m deal Deshaun Watson was given by the Cleveland Browns last year.
“For the last few months, there has been a lot of he said, she said,” Jackson said in a video posted to the Ravens’ official Twitter account. “A lot of nail-biting. A lot of head-scratching going on.”
Jackson then held up a football with the team’s logo and said,:“But for the next five years, it’s a lot of ‘flock’ going on.”
In March, the Ravens applied the non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson, meaning he would be paid $32.4m this season but he could join any team who offered him a better deal.
There appeared to be no offers for Jackson when the Ravens applied the tag, leading many to believe no other teams wanted to match the quarterback’s demands.
Jackson was named the 2019 NFL MVP, and his dynamic passing and running make him one of the game’s most compelling stars.
He is already one of six quarterbacks in NFL history with 10,000 yards passing and 4,000 rushing. His 12 games with at least 100 yards rushing are an NFL record.
Jackson has been hurt at the end of the past two seasons, and the Ravens haven’t reached the AFC championship game with him, but his impact on their offense is undeniable.
Contract terms
The Ravens and Jackson agreed on a $260 million, five-year deal with $185 million in guaranteed money, a person familiar with the terms told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the contract hasn’t been signed.
Contract: | 5 yr(s) $260,000,000 |
Signing Bonus | – |
Average Salary | $52,000,000 |
Total Guarantees | $185,000,000 |
Guaranteed at Signing | – |
Free Agent: | 2028 / UFA |
The deal keeps the 2019 NFL MVP in Baltimore for the foreseeable future and ends a contract negotiation saga that was dominating the team’s offseason.
Jackson’s contract tops the $255 million, five-year deal the Philadelphia Eagles gave Jalen Hurts earlier this month. Hurts got $179.3 million in guarantees.
Deshaun Watson still has the biggest guaranteed contract in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns gave Watson a five-year, fully-guaranteed $230 million extension last year to waive his no-trade clause and agree to join the team.
The Ravens announced the deal hours before the first round of the NFL Draft, and it’s fair to say that in Baltimore at least, this news will overshadow whoever the team might take in the first round.
Baltimore put the franchise tag on Jackson last month after his rookie deal played out, but the Ravens kept expressing confidence they could reach a long-term agreement with him — even after Jackson made a trade request public.
Jackson’s deal brings one of the NFL’s biggest offseason stories to a conclusion — right as one of the league’s biggest annual events was about to start.
He would receive $52 million per year, making him the highest paid player in the NFL.
The Ravens can now expect Jackson in the lineup for the first game of the season, without drama about whether he’ll report to camp.