USATSI
Lamar Jackson’s five-year run because the Ravens’ quarterback has been so electrifying — higher but, so defining, within the age of the dual-threat MVP varieties — that he and Baltimore appear virtually inseparable. Fresh off the staff’s opening-round playoff loss to the Bengals, a sport Jackson didn’t attend whereas nursing a lingering knee harm, the dynamic feels totally different.
Both sides have talked for a very long time about their appreciation for one another. And but now, with 2023 free company on the horizon and Jackson with out a long-term contract, the quarterback is giving extra hints than ever {that a} break up may very well be coming. Days after publicly ruling himself out for the Ravens’ playoff sport regardless of reviews he’d be at minimal threat of reinjury, the previous MVP took to Instagram with a cryptic message about not taking a “good factor” as a right.
Hurt emotions do not need to destroy big-money negotiations; simply final offseason, Kyler Murray landed a profitable deal from the Cardinals regardless of publicly feuding with the group. And odds are, Baltimore will at the least train a franchise tag — seemingly the projected $45 million unique tag — to forestall Jackson from testing the open market.
But there are a number of eventualities the place Jackson strikes on after a half-decade because the face of the Ravens. The staff might use a non-exclusive tag that allows different golf equipment to barter with him, realizing a pair of first-round draft picks could be assured as compensation. Baltimore might additionally tag and commerce Jackson, permitting one other staff to satisfy the tantalizing however injury-riddled QB’s calls for for a brand new deal, which figures to price at the least $45M-$50M per yr.
In the occasion he is really accessible, listed below are 10 of essentially the most logical suitors, plus 5 wild playing cards:
