Dam for free? Ok now thats different
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Lamar Jackson
- Thread starter Ice Bowl
- Start date
Ellicottraven
Ravens Ring of Honor
With Russell Wilson's deal in the bag, now, I believe negotiations will go into high gear and something will be announced within the next few days here. I expect a 5-6 yrs. deal with AAV of $51-52/yr with around 175-180M in guarantees. Watson's deal will remain an abominable anomaly.
BoredMarine13
Ravens Ring of Honor
That seems fair considering Wilson's accomplishments vs Lamar's age and promise. You could spread that cap hit out easily over 5 years
Grim
Ravens Ring of Honor
I don't think Wilson or any other QB getting their deals extended or inked matters anymore at this point in our negotiations. The only thing that matters is Lamar's motivation to get a deal done and the Ravens' willingness to meet his price demands. I think we've moved past the point where "now that X is done Lamar should follow". Lamar seems to have a contract he wants and the Ravens seem to have a contract they want and it is a matter of someone budging.
Tank
Hall of Famer
I’d be happy to be wrong, but pretty sure no deal will be signed this year.
Regardless, time for Lamar to play football and forget negotiations. After all, playing football is what he’s being paid to do.
This is obviously distracting not only for him but for the team as well.
Regardless, time for Lamar to play football and forget negotiations. After all, playing football is what he’s being paid to do.
This is obviously distracting not only for him but for the team as well.
I certainly hope you are right. I'm sick of all this speculating.
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Highly doubt it. I don’t think Lamar is gonna sign this year, I don’t think he wants to unless the ravens offer something that crushes the figure he would get playing on 2 consecutive tags, and that’s highly unlikely.
I’ve always thought and still think he’s going the Kirk cousins route, whether or not he gets the fully guaranteed deal after the 2 tags is a whole nother story, but I think Lamar wants that 2nd tag figure and then he wants to reassess from there.
SaltyDog
MVP
Best for both sides in my humble opinion. This is serious money here. I would let this season play out, slap the non-exclusive tag next year and let other teams make offers. They could match or take 2 first rounders and move on.
That’s an awful idea
allblackraven
Hall of Famer
That would be absolutely the worst that could happen.
Lamar is worth multiples of two first round picks, Ravens would lose huge if that happens.
BoredMarine13
Ravens Ring of Honor
I’m sure next year will be a exclusive tag since the price is manageable. I really don’t see the second tag happening. It’s a deal or a trade after the 2023 season concludes.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
It's a terrible idea and won't happen, BUT, I'd also love to see it. Just because I'd want to see what kind of offer another team would make. And I'd lay strong money it wouldn't be a fully guaranteed deal. It will just be a team with a large amount of cap space front loading the crap out of the deal. Putting up like a $60M first year cap hit that would wreck our cap situation.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
Well, to be fair, I'm pretty sure the exclusive tag is like $47M next year. I wouldn't call that "manageable" by any stretch. That's like a $25M jump year over year. I'm not even sure the salary cap itself will raise by that amount.
Agree on the second part though. If there's a tag in year 2, it's a tag and trade.
SaltyDog
MVP
Well maybe, but thats where my head is right Now. The Watson deal is ludicrous and Lamar should try his best to get a similar or better deal. I just don‘t see the ravens being in any hurry to get this done now, nor should they be. Theres too much at stake.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
If I look ahead at the 2023 cap, and we assume it'll come in around $225M in total, Lamar's cap hit would put us over the cap by about $6M. And that's with only 43 players under contract.
The main cap savings I would see are:
Boyle : $8.3M. He's either getting an extension or is getting cut next year, regardless of Lamar's status. Can't have a $10.3M cap hit for a blocking TE.
Zeitler: $6.5M. Hard to see him as an extension candidate, so he's either a cut or a keep. If tight against the cap, cut seems likely.
Campbell: $6.5M. Imagine he retires or isn't brought back anyway.
Edwards: $4.4M. I imagine he'll be gone in almost all scenarios. Especially if he can't recover from the injury.
Clark: $3.3M. He might also be gone regardless.
So even if I exclude Zeitler for the moment, you can clear about $22.5M in cap space from releasing Boyle, Campbell, Edwards and Clark. And you can make a case you've either got replacements or can easily replace some of these guys already.
So that wouldn't make the cap in dire straights. BUT... that still only leaves you around $16M, which isn't a lot.
Now, on the flip side, if Lamar signs before then, and his cap hit for next year is, say, $30M (probably would even be less), you can still move off these guys AND have upwards of $30-40M in cap space to play with. Now the floodgates are open. You can basically sign anybody you want.
The main cap savings I would see are:
Boyle : $8.3M. He's either getting an extension or is getting cut next year, regardless of Lamar's status. Can't have a $10.3M cap hit for a blocking TE.
Zeitler: $6.5M. Hard to see him as an extension candidate, so he's either a cut or a keep. If tight against the cap, cut seems likely.
Campbell: $6.5M. Imagine he retires or isn't brought back anyway.
Edwards: $4.4M. I imagine he'll be gone in almost all scenarios. Especially if he can't recover from the injury.
Clark: $3.3M. He might also be gone regardless.
So even if I exclude Zeitler for the moment, you can clear about $22.5M in cap space from releasing Boyle, Campbell, Edwards and Clark. And you can make a case you've either got replacements or can easily replace some of these guys already.
So that wouldn't make the cap in dire straights. BUT... that still only leaves you around $16M, which isn't a lot.
Now, on the flip side, if Lamar signs before then, and his cap hit for next year is, say, $30M (probably would even be less), you can still move off these guys AND have upwards of $30-40M in cap space to play with. Now the floodgates are open. You can basically sign anybody you want.
allblackraven
Hall of Famer
Why shouldn't they be in a hurry to secure the deal with the most talented NFL player ever?
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
If the ravens trade Lamar they should get 3 firsts, 3 seconds, more picks, AND players.
Has a player of Lamar’s caliber ever been traded in their mid 20s? This feels like something there is no precedent for
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
Well I mean you just have the Watson deal.
That was 3 1sts, a 3rd and 2 4ths.
Now obviously a) he had more baggage, though I'm not sure that downgraded his price tag and b) he was already under a lucrative contract that the Browns inherited, though again, doesn't seem to matter.
Basically that's probably the starting point. 6 picks in the first two rounds probably ain't happening, and players would depend on how the deal comes together. Not sure he would really fetch a much bigger price tag though.
The other thing to point is that we're probably like 20 months away from that actually happening. Like a tag and trade is almost certainly a March-July 2024 timeline. I imagine it'd really want to happen prior to the draft, so realistically, 18 months from now. A LOT can happen in that period. Another MVP award or a lengthy playoff run probably ends up with Eric just paying whatever he wants. If it's more of the same from what we've seen, I'm not totally convinced his price tag goes up. Like it or not, NFL franchises probably want to see a better playoff resume from him in, what then, will be like a 6 year window.
So what happens in the next year or two may have more impact on his comp and trade value than even what he's done so far.
SaltyDog
MVP
Well they should be in a hurry if they can get the right deal done, but right now I’m not sure that’s possible.