When Lamar Jackson addressed the mystery surrounding his protracted contract negotiations with the Baltimore Ravens back in June, he asserted that Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns’ record-breaking agreement had no influence on his predicament.
I’m my own man, Jackson declared. “I’m not concerned about what those folks get,”
Jackson became an independent man on Friday.
No Ravens contract extension was granted. After 2022, there is no money promised. No safeguards against serious harm. And probably most obviously, there is no guarantee that the former league MVP, 25, would profit from this wager in the long run.
It would be naive to think that Jackson isn’t taking into account the fully guaranteed $230 million contract Watson signed or the circumstances that finally led to such a sizable bag. In a league where leverage makes kings. Jackson must now take Watson’s contract into consideration because of the very nature of his “betting on himself.” If you don’t take into account the windfall that a select few quarterbacks who used their leverage to secure league-changing and game-changing contracts have obtained, what use is it to bet on yourself?