Will Lamar Jackson Become NFL's 1st $70M Man? One Top Agent Thinks So, Whether With Ravens Or Not

Two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson has the Ravens in a position to dictate whatever he wants in 2027, including who he plays for, a scenario that top NFL agent Mike McCartney believes will result in the player becoming the first in NFL history to make $70M a year.

Whether in Baltimore, or someplace else.

Jackson, 29, represents himself and it’s virtually certain he will not negotiate a deal while trying to win a Lombardi Trophy for the Ravens. Jackson has no motivation to speak publicly about the Ravens inability to get him signed and meet his demands, saying only throughout the summer how “cool” he is with the max-restructure the team executed in lieu of the new deal Jackson should have received a year ago, when Josh Allen was extended by the Bills.

Jackson is outside the top 10 in QB compensation this year, he had do go through a franchise tag, a collusion case and demand a trade before getting a fair market deal at the end of his rookie contract with Baltimore. Owner Steve Bisciotti questioned publicly whether Jackson even thought he was deserved of a top-of-market deal during the initial contract saga, the team whiffed completely on Bisciotti’s deadline to extend Jackson by this March and find themselves in a uniquely precarious position with a QB this generational.

McCartney is one of the most respected agents in the game, he secured a fully-guaranteed deal for Kirk Cousins coming off successive franchise tags and has had that player on guaranteed deals for over a decade now. And like the rest of the league – management and NFLPA – McCartney, whose father Bill was a highly-acclaimed college coach, is watching this bizarre situation between the Ravens and their franchise quarterback quite closely. And like everyone else we’ve discussed it with publicly and privately, McCartney (head of football at VaynerSports agency), a former executive with the Eagles, believes Jackson has total and complete leverage to call his shots.

“(Joe) Flacco, coming off the Super Bowl win right there in Baltimore named his price,” McCartney pointed out “The Daily Flock” (full episode linked below). “You know, Dak (Prescott) named his price essentially. This thing, at the risk of ticking off the Ravens, I think this is going to go to $70 million per year.

“And you know, Lamar … he's at a great age. He does have a couple contracts in him, and if I was involved, I probably would push a shorter one (three-year contract) … Regardless, he's got all the leverage whether it's a longer term or shorter term.”

Expert Negotiator

McCartney was highly complimentary of how Jackson navigated difficult market forces working against him – the franchise tag, what the NFLPA contended was collusion – to achieve three elements that have checkmated the Ravens.

Jackson’s 2027 contract is basically voiding; he has an $85M cap hit that forces Baltimore to address his deal next winter or deal him to a team that will pay him what he wants. He has a no-trade clause that allows Jackson to steer where he plays, and he has a no-franchise tag provision that prevents Baltimore from artificially securing his rights.

Prescott, a far lesser player than Jackson, suffered a major knee injury and still became the first NFL player to reach $60M a year a few years back. Barring catastrophic injury, Jackson will get what he wants from whomever he chooses to get it from among interested parties, and at this point doing anything while the Ravens have sole contractual rights to him would be beyond counterintuitive.

McCartney believes Jackson has played his position perfectly in his outward remarks and by sticking to his demands. And if McCarthy was representing the player, there would be essentially nothing to say to the Ravens this close to Week 1. And Jackson is almost certainly thinking exactly the same way, especially with such a pivotal season about to begin for him, and the Ravens hiring a novice coordinator who hasn’t called plays before and having some potential major issues at center and pass catcher.

“I’m 17 games from free agency,” McCartney noted, lighting up as he said it. “I'm 17 games from finding out what our market is. So, you know, like I want to know what the market says. Doesn't mean I'm necessarily looking for Lamar to leave if I'm representing him in this case, right?

“But I still want to know what the market says unless you agree to my number. Now, I wouldn't say it quite that cutthroat. But, you know, that's the reality.”

None of this is lost on the Ravens, yet they refused to get ahead of it last year when Allen got done, or move the needle for Jackson after Patrick Mahomes got paid again a few weeks back. Something, clearly, has held them back from the massive market reset that agents and other team’s contract negotiators and general managers believe is inevitable for Jackson, no matter where it comes.

When the Ravens face the Colts a week from Monday, their time to have any true contractual constraints on him expire. They expire, frankly, whenever Jackson halts talks to play football. General manager Eric DeCosta remarked this week that he's in "communication" with the future Hall of Famer, but Jackson responded coyle a few weeks back that the time to talk contract may have already passed.

Any Ravens exclusivity here is desperately close to expiring. DeCosta opined he remains “optimistic” about an extension. His owner best put all the money where his GM's mouth was, or some other billionaire will in just a few months.

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