Lamar Jackson And The Ravens Continue To Do An Awkward Contract Dance As Time Runs Out

Lamar Jackson’s’ laissez fair attitude about his contract isn’t an act at this point.

The idea that he’s focused on football and not business isn’t for show. And while it also may not be 100 percent accurate, his handling of this round of inquires about his tenuous future with the club was merely the latest indicator of how late we are getting in this dangerous game the Ravens are playing in negotiations with a should-be three-time MVP quarterback.

Jackson, who represents himself and has all the leverage in this situation with an $85M cap charge in 2027 and a no trade clause and no franchise tag clause, clearly takes the matter seriously and has an innate sense of his worth. He is anything but a pushover when it comes to negotiations, and he’s also not pressed whatsoever, which came across yet ago in droves Wednesday when he met the media for the first time this training camp.

That steadfast demeanor, coupled with an overwhelming belief in his ability and understanding of his powerful position in this negotiation, fuels him with an innate believe that he is going to get paid what he we believes he is worth by March, by some NFL team, whether it’s the Ravens or someone else of his choosing (per the no-trade clause). And the Ravens have no godly idea who the hell would help them win six games a year at QB if he left, let alone the 12 games that Vegas projects for them in 2026, if he forced their hand and demanded another trade or if they were just exhausted by it all and opted to explore life without him.

That aw-shucks demeanor that Jackson takes on as soon as the questioning turn to the $250M guerilla hanging over this franchise and season, is, frankly, a masterclass posture and a reflection of his dominant position in this matter. But it’s not fake. It’s no mere affectation.

It wreaks of confidence, there is a sense around the league that he truly is more than fine with playing out this season for roughly $50M on his restructured contract and letting the chips fall where they may. And that the Ravens are running out of time after already ceding all leverage.

“I will keep it the same way I have been keeping it,” Jackson said when finally asked about any contract progress, with the same awkward smiles and laughs that have dotted this entire offseason. “It's private between me and (general manager Eric DeCosta).”

Has The Time To Negotiate Passed?

Well, the bizarre situation between these sides is quite public and out in the open throughout the NFL. It’s anything but private how they got here with public trade demands and ridiculous ruminations from a billionaire about his QB and a collusion case and, even last offseason, DeCosta making inane comments about not needing to address Jackson’s contract then.

What’s also not secret is that Jackson can be a negotiating assassin of sorts behind closed doors – he’s frankly proven to be too much for DeCosta – and can be as ruthless as he wants to be in terms of when he takes contract calls and how he takes contracts calls and now that real football has begun again … whether he deigns to accept any more contract overtures at all.

When Jackson was asked if he is halting the talks now that padded football is back, and that’s his sole focus he responded: “Yes, I’m focused on football, like I’ve always been.”

I can see why DeCosta might be out of his depth dealing with a player of his caliber handling his own business. It was unclear if Jackson was in fact indicating he wouldn’t engage further with the team. It was just sort of direct enough and just sort of vague enough. That seems to be terrain he enjoys inhabiting on matters such as this.

Where he does delve into the absurd, and lean into projecting the half-engaged novice, was when probed about Patrick Mahomes’s recent mega-deal. We know first-hand from longtime NFLPA head of agent and administrator Mark Levin – the wing of the union that oversees all contract negotiations and economic CBA matters – that Jackson and his mom were abreast of and experts on every comparable QB contract in the NFL, and the idea that now, multiple MVP awards into his career and approaching age 30, that he has no idea that Mahomes just re-set the market again, is laughable.

“No, to be honest I really have not been paying attention to anything on social media,” Jackson deadpanned.

He loves having it both ways. And when you are this talented as a football player, and this talented as a now-experienced player agent, you can do just that and get away with it. He portrays as if he could take it or leave it, because he has proven for years now that in fact, that's exactly what he believes.

“Lamar has the by the balls and he knows it,” is how one NFL general manager described the situation to me this summer.

Agents and contract negotiators and general managers around the NFL believe, this close to the start of the season, not a damn thing is going to change here unless the Ravens capitulate and give him whatever he wants. And it’s fair to wonder, since they have been so resistant to do that to this point – yet again – if they’re going to relent soon enough.

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