Ravens and Lamar Jackson Agree to 5-Year Contract Extension

After hitting an deadlock in contract talks this low season, the star quarterback Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens reached an settlement in precept on a five-year deal on Thursday, Jackson introduced in a video posted on the staff’s Twitter account.

“For the last few months, there’s been a lot of ‘he said, she said,’ a lot of nail biting, a lot of head scratching going on,” Jackson, 26, stated earlier than saying that he would “light up” the Ravens’ dwelling stadium for the subsequent 5 years.

Financial phrases of the deal weren’t instantly introduced by the staff.

Jackson received the league’s Most Valuable Player Award in 2019 however entered the 2022 season with one yr remaining on his rookie contract. Uncertainty had hung over Jackson’s future in Baltimore as he and the staff have been unable to agree on phrases for an extension, and contract talks have been paused till the low season. In March, nonetheless unable to comply with phrases, the staff gave Jackson the nonexclusive franchise tag, which is value about $32 million yearly and allowed him to barter with different groups.

Jackson stated on Twitter final month that he requested a commerce in early March, as a result of the Ravens had “not been interested in meeting my value.”

Other quarterbacks across the league signed new offers or discovered new groups through commerce, together with Aaron Rodgers’s transfer from Green Bay to the Jets earlier this week, whereas Jackson’s scenario with the Ravens gave the impression to be locked in a stalemate — till the staff’s announcement Thursday, hours earlier than the beginning of the N.F.L. draft.

The Ravens chosen Jackson with the ultimate decide of the primary spherical within the 2018 N.F.L. draft. He took over because the staff’s starter halfway via his rookie season, after an damage to Joe Flacco. He led the Ravens to the playoffs in 4 of the previous 5 seasons, although he sat out the staff’s wild-card sport in January after struggling a late-season knee damage.