ravenslord
Ravens Ring of Honor
I just don't see us paying the exclusive and having basically zero room to sign free agents in critical positions.
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Lamar Jackson
- Thread starter Ice Bowl
- Start date
Thezone27
Ravens Ring of Honor
We need to either sign a CB or WR. If we pay the exclusive, we may not even have room for the draft.
SaltyDog
MVP
IMO, if they place the exclusive tag on Lamar they will already have legit trade suitors. If not they will use the non-exclusive tag, get two first round picks, and dump a huge contract that could strap them for years to come.
Having said that I truly believe they want Lamar here, but only if he’s willing to sign a deal that’s fair for both sides.
Thezone27
Ravens Ring of Honor
I truly want Lamar here, but There's a certain pint where I will just say no.
there are plenty of ways to make room. plenty.
of course with the exclusive tag we won't be active in free agency. I don't think we are that active with the non exclusive but i'm not sure we would risk the non exclusive and only getting 2 first round picks
ravenslord
Ravens Ring of Honor
We will find out after Lamar is traded that he was still stuck on getting the Watson 100 % guarantee and the Ravens refused .
The odds are slim to none that we will play Lamar on the franchise tag next season .
allblackraven
Hall of Famer
Nah.
What you (and by the looks the Ravens) think is fair for the Ravens isn't necessarily fair for Lamar.
extend the running back and get it over with already
SaltyDog
MVP
Yep and that’s where we are, it would appear.
Thezone27
Ravens Ring of Honor
Yes, it is, just not in his mind
QtR Nevermore
Pro Bowler
I agree but I just don't think Lamar's current demands are at that point. I just don't see why so many Ravens fans are so concerned about the owners' money.
Lamar is asking for a deal with a similar AAV to every other top QB. Sounds reasonable so far.
The only sticking point is that he wants it fully guaranteed. In practical terms, that is unlikely to make any difference to the Ravens future competitiveness because most QBs earn their full contract.
Some fans seem overly worried about the possibility that he gets injured and his form falls off badly. In that case the Ravens might be uncompetitive for the remaining guaranteed years on the deal. (It wouldn't "wreck the Ravens cap for years" as people say. The pain would only last as long as emains on the contract.)
That scenario wouldn't be ideal, but he might get injured and that injury might be bad enough that he isn't worth the salary, and that might mean the Ravens struggle to compete for a few years is a lot of maybes.
That seems a lot less likely than the other option. The Ravens are very likely to struggle without a starting QB this year and very possibly next. (Maybe many more years, as the league gets ever more QB-centric) That option also carries the risk of wasting the rest of a competitive roster and all those salaries (which add up to a lot more than Lamar's demands).
The way I see it, there is no reason why Ravens fans, who want a competitive team, should prefer the option of trading Lamar over guaranteeing his salary - in at least 70% of possible scenarios, we'll be better with a fully guaranteed Lamar than without.
It's understandable that Biscuits doesn't want to fully guarantee Lamar's deal, whether for escrow concerns or to avoid setting a precedent. I just don't see why fans are backing him in that - it's not their money and he's not offering to share it.
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Bingo! A star qb on a weak roster is more competitive than a strong roster with no qb, and as a fan if you wanna be competitive over the next 5 years you’re just WAYYYY more likely to have that by fully guaranteeing Lamar than by getting rid of your star qb and hoping you find a replacement immediately, and I mean IMMEDIATELY because a roster where you have Ronnie stanley, mark andrews, marlon Humphrey, roquan smith, Marcus Williams, etc etc all under contract is being wasted every single day that they don’t have a qb.
Thezone27
Ravens Ring of Honor
how about the 49ers?
Thezone27
Ravens Ring of Honor
You say he might get injured, but he's gotten injured an awful lot, don't you think?
You also say we're very likely to struggle, and I would say we're likely not very likely to struggle. I believe we could do well without Lamar, but we probably won't.
He wants to be paid top dollar, and so be it, but we may not be able to do it here. A QB that loves his team will take a minor pay cut to stay there. All I'm saying
cobrajet
Hall of Famer
Well, it is getting to the point that I am officially depressed that we don’t have a deal in place with Lamar. I 100% don’t want a situation where he plays the whole season on the tag. If we are forced to tag and trade, so be it. I don’t want to invest in another season getting my hopes up over the season of winning a Super Bowl and having even the possibility of Lamar shutting it down again with an injury he may be willing to go out and compete with, if he had a long term contract in place. I am absolutely done with that possibility, after not having Lamar for two seasons in a row come playoff time.
I absolutely love Lamar, and I want him here if he is willing to back off a little on getting what Watson got. I understand it is his future and his decision to do what he wants for his family. I rather have him here, if it still gives us some wiggle room to get a good receiver in here, because IMHO we desperately need one. If it is Watson money or bust for Lamar, I think that would be to risky to put that kind of cap space into one player, when IMHO we have too many holes to fill and not enough draft picks to fill them to probably get past the Chiefs and Bengals. Therefore, I would rather make a good trade if EDC can do it. If all else fails, I would rather pay Lamar what he wants, then worry about the drama of what the tag could cause.
Please don’t give me a situation where Lamar is expected to play the whole season on a tag!!!!!!
I absolutely love Lamar, and I want him here if he is willing to back off a little on getting what Watson got. I understand it is his future and his decision to do what he wants for his family. I rather have him here, if it still gives us some wiggle room to get a good receiver in here, because IMHO we desperately need one. If it is Watson money or bust for Lamar, I think that would be to risky to put that kind of cap space into one player, when IMHO we have too many holes to fill and not enough draft picks to fill them to probably get past the Chiefs and Bengals. Therefore, I would rather make a good trade if EDC can do it. If all else fails, I would rather pay Lamar what he wants, then worry about the drama of what the tag could cause.
Please don’t give me a situation where Lamar is expected to play the whole season on a tag!!!!!!
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
You can use that comp when we have a shanahan coaching staff and years of top 5 picks lol. It would take a complete rebuild, and I mean COMPLETE with multiple years of tanking for our roster to be comparable
Purdy and jimmy g are decent qbs.. we saw how they looked when those other guys got in the game
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Thezone27
Ravens Ring of Honor
decent, not stars like Lamar
Thezone27
Ravens Ring of Honor
Yeah, but then again they do have more SB appearances than we do over the past 20 years.
QtR Nevermore
Pro Bowler
We wouldn't get more cap space if Lamar backed down from his demand for fully guaranteed money. The annual salary that Watson gets, and that Lamar will get, whether either in Baltimore or elsewhere, will be about the same - and the amount guaranteed won't make any real difference to available cap space. That's not what this standoff is about.
Everyone knows an expensive QB means cutting corners elsewhere yet 100% of NFL teams and almost every NFL fan (except for about 50% of Ravens fans) thinks it's better to have a QB worth paying, than to be wishing for one.