Kelly: Dolphins Could Benefit from Example NFL Seems to be Making with Lamar Jackson
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Lamar Jackson is a freak of nature whose play his first five seasons set the NFL ablaze.
In what is arguably the toughest conference in football, the Baltimore Ravens quarterback led his team to the postseason four times in five seasons.
He won a league MVP award early in his career, and set all types of NFL and franchise records for productivity, like becoming the first quarterback with multiple 1,000-yard rushing seasons (2019 and 2020).
Jackson owns a 45-16 record, which gives him the fourth-highest winning percentage among quarterbacks during that five-year window.
That type of resume makes one conclude that quarterback-starved NFL teams with a chance to land his services would be backing up a Brinks truck to Jackson's home to sign him. But Jackson seemingly is being given the cold shoulder as his window of opportunity to maximize his earnings arrives this offseason, and there are valid reasons for that.
Some might blame the league’s announced lack of interest once the Ravens put the non-exclusive franchise tag on the 26-year-old Monday on his style or play (which is valid), or the two seasons that ended in injuries (also valid), and maybe his lack of formal representation since his mother serves as his agent.
A few people might insinuate that Jackson's race is a contributor, and considering how difficult the NFL has been on African-American quarterbacks throughout the league’s history, there might be a few morsels of truth to this theory. After all, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback was taken with the last pick in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft.
NFL OWNERS LOOKING FOR MARKET CORRECTION
But in my opinion, Jackson’s stagnant market has more to do with the NFL’s latest collusion dance, as owners and general managers work to correct a pace-setting, but irresponsible, deal the Cleveland Browns gave fellow quarterback Deshaun Watson to secure his services last offseason after a trade that was fueled by a bidding war.
Watson became the second veteran player in the history of free agency to land a fully guaranteed contract ($230 million) from an NFL franchise, following a path Kirk Cousins paved in 2018 when he landed a three-year, $84 million deal that was fully guaranteed from the Minnesota Vikings.
Cousins was the player who broke through the NFL’s glass ceiling, and to do so he had to survive two seasons of franchise tags to become a contract pioneer.
Fully guaranteed contracts are customary business practices in other professional sports leagues, they aren't written into each sport's collective bargaining agreement, but became normal operating procedure over time. However, in the NFL they serve as the line NFL franchises have refused to cross for decades because of the physical nature of the sport, which is fueled by violence, and often leads to catastrophic injuries.
Everyone in the sports agent community knows that the only way this archaic business approach changes is if the quarterbacks are the driving force, the pioneers.
But in five offseasons only Watson has followed in Cousins' footsteps, despite plenty of other quarterbacks — Russell Wilson (twice), Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott, Derek Carr (twice), Josh Allen, Matt Stafford and Kyler Murray — receiving mega deals.
HOW LAMAR JACKSON'S SITUATION COULD END UP AFFECTING TUA TAGOVAILOA AND OTHER YOUNG QUARTERBACKS
Unfortunately for Jackson, it appears the NFL has drawn a proverbial line in the sand with him, and intends to make the dynamic quarterback an example that culls the potential push from the next batch of young quarterbacks — Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts, Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, Los Angeles’ Justin Herbert and Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa — in line for new deals.
If Jackson resets the quarterback market, every other team will suffer seems to be the league-wide thought process.
Free agency hasn’t officially started yet, so the dust hasn’t settled on Jackson’s status with the Ravens and his potential landing spot.
The reports about five teams' lack of interest in exploring Jackson simply could be smokescreens. For all we know, a team like the Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts or the New York Jets could come out of nowhere next week and offer Jackson a contract he and his team can’t refuse.
Plenty can change based on how the free agency wind blows.
For all we know, Hurts and Burrow could land pace-setting deals that set the market for Jackson.
But for now, we wait and we speculate to see if Jackson continues to receive a cold shoulder and remains the proverbial line drawn in the NFL’s sand.
Jackson has juked his way out of plenty of tackles, so it'll be interesting to see if he can escape becoming the NFL's poster boy for sports collusion.
