How Ravens, Lamar Jackson finally reached contract agreement after two years of negotiations

Kevin Skiver

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How Ravens, Lamar Jackson finally reached contract agreement after two years of negotiations image

The Ravens and Lamar Jackson spent the better part of two years very publicly negotiating a new contract. On Thursday — draft day — they finally came to terms.

Jackson and the Ravens agreed to a five-year contract worth a reported $260 million, making him the highest-paid player in the NFL by average annual salary. The deal also includes a reported $185 million in guarantees, second-most among players behind Deshaun Watson's $230 million.

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Jackson, who played out the fifth year of his rookie deal last season after turning down an extension offer from the Ravens in the preseason, reportedly got $10 million more in guaranteed money than from that initial offer, per NFL Media's Tom Pelissero.

The Ravens negotiated directly with Jackson, who represents himself. The Ravens placed a non-exclusive franchise tag on him earlier in the offseason, meaning he could negotiate with other teams. He followed up with a trade request in March. In late April, Jackson and the Ravens ultimately found common ground.

How did Ravens, Lamar Jackson come to agreement on contract?

Details of the Ravens' negotiations with Jackson are sparse, but according to NFL Media's Ian Rapoport, the Jalen Hurts contract provided clarity as to what could get a deal done.

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The Eagles signed Hurts to a five-year, $255 million contract with $179.3 million guaranteed. That, according to Rapoport, acted as a catalyst for the Ravens.

"These two sides have been in intense negotiations for not just the last several days, but really the last several months," Rapoport said on NFL Network. "Once Jalen Hurts got his deal, Baltimore stepped up, offered more and essentially made Lamar Jackson an offer he could not refuse."

Although the money was good, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the deal also got done because Jackson wasn't happy with what he was seeing on the open market.

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"They talked about five-year deals back in September," Schefter said. "They talked about three-year deals during the offseason. . . . This was the deal that made sense for both sides. And they struggled to come up with a deal for two years. But really, Lamar Jackson had a chance to test free agency. The market, I don't believe, was what he thought it would be, for whatever reason."

In summation, Jackson didn't like what he saw in free agency, but in a bit of serendipity, the Hurts contract prompted the Ravens to make a new and improved offer.

Kevin Skiver

Kevin Skiver Photo

Kevin Skiver has been a content producer at Sporting News since 2021. He previously worked at CBS Sports as a trending topics writer, and now writes various pieces on MLB, the NFL, the NBA, and college sports. He enjoys hiking and eating, not necessarily in that order.