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Lamar Jackson

Most smart well run franchises, who have kept up with the way the NFL works in the 2020s, manage to keep their empowered star players though.
For the most part yes. Also no reason to think the Ravens won't be different at this point.
All this has done is basically said "here's our offer. If you think you can a better one, have it". If he does, Ravens will either increase their offer, or won't.

The two first round picks being insufficient is the part I struggle with. But I guess we're going to let the market decide that too.
 
For the most part yes. Also no reason to think the Ravens won't be different at this point.
All this has done is basically said "here's our offer. If you think you can a better one, have it". If he does, Ravens will either increase their offer, or won't.

The two first round picks being insufficient is the part I struggle with. But I guess we're going to let the market decide that too.
On the latter comment, we can still match and trade for more than that. I think that's a big reason why they were comfortable going this route - there's not much they can't match out there. Bears are the big one right now and that puts the 1st overall pick on the line, which can be exploded into even more draft picks theoretically.
 


This would be worst case scenario. We wouldn’t even get picks this year. It’ll be 2 hella late 1st rounders in 2024 and 2025 if Lamar goes to Miami

Its a gamble for Miami though. For starters, they may have competition with teams who are submitting offers two months before they do. Second, they'd have to go through basically the entire FA and draft period, thinking they'd potentially have to earmark a large chunk of $ to Lamar for 2023, without ever knowing if he's in or out.

I think there's a TON of barriers to the Dolphins being in-play here. If they had a first rounder in 2023 (or have the means to get one), I think they're the frontrunners for sure. Without it, I think its a long shot, but not impossible.

IF the Falcons being out is true, I'd be staring at Washington, Carolina, and then one of either Indianapolis or Houston. Houston being involved would bring me joy, due to how high their draft pick is.
 
Its equivalent to winning the mega millions and blowing it all on cocaine and strippers.

Putting it that way.. I can’t be mad.
They didn't really go on a fun drug fueled binge though. They spent their windfall on Safeties and roster depth. And all the old RBs

The Ravens spent it all sorting the drainage and foundations of their crumbling house.
 
It's a good thought but they're in a pretty rough cap situation currently. Would take them fully guaranteeing something to get us to balk, because we could easily match whatever structure assuming we're comfortable with the overall numbers.
Also makes next week even more exciting. With the exclusive tag, Ravens would basically just be sitting on their hands for most of FA, due to lack of cap space.
Now we can theoretically make upgrades to the roster still without having to cut more than we want to.
Still cuts coming, but probably less than we were expecting.
 
This is coming off the rumor that Miami might be in play to move Tua.

This could backfire on us
I don't see any possible way that Miami can structure something that we can't match, especially knowing that they'd have to do so basically 2 months from now
 
If this is the case, how do the Ravens plan a draft and a free agency?
They're in the drivers seat on this one. We have $32M on the cap for him now at this point. It would take another team giving him a cap hit of $40M+ for us to be unable to match, and even the lower end of that is probably pretty doable without much sweat. Not many teams that can do that, so you plan as a normal offseason in my opinion.
 
Well, saw this one coming a mile away as did @Simba. Legitimately every QB except Lamar got a contract.

Given the use of the non-exclusive, I think the Ravens really think Lamar is being unreasonable and no one else will tolerate it plus draft capital.

I think this was ballsy but will make Lamar a Raven WAY faster than the exclusive. I actually support this move way more than the exclusive which I think wouldve been the pussy move that could allow Lamar to be content to just play out the year at the higher 45M number.

Now Lamar is at 32 and might be very motivated to sign the contract to get an immediate pay increase and avoid a 3rd injury that could destroy his next contact's value
 
If this is the case, how do the Ravens plan a draft and a free agency?
Well your approach to FA is pretty much same as if Lamar were extended. Add a receiver or two, try to fill holes in other areas.
Draft approach won't really be known until we see what happens with Lamar. Possible it could be the same as it was supposed to be, or it could be we're in the QB market.
 
Its a gamble for Miami though. For starters, they may have competition with teams who are submitting offers two months before they do. Second, they'd have to go through basically the entire FA and draft period, thinking they'd potentially have to earmark a large chunk of $ to Lamar for 2023, without ever knowing if he's in or out.

I think there's a TON of barriers to the Dolphins being in-play here. If they had a first rounder in 2023 (or have the means to get one), I think they're the frontrunners for sure. Without it, I think its a long shot, but not impossible.

IF the Falcons being out is true, I'd be staring at Washington, Carolina, and then one of either Indianapolis or Houston. Houston being involved would bring me joy, due to how high their draft pick is.
Don't sleep on the Bears. They're trying to trade their 1st and are apparently close to a deal.
 
I can’t see too many quarterback needy teams waiting until after the draft and putting all their eggs in a basket for Lamar. I could be wrong. The main problem I see is if Lamar doesn’t get the offers he thinks he should, he is is going to be super pissy about this tag. That may not work out very well for us.
 
Well, saw this one coming a mile away as did @Simba. Legitimately every QB except Lamar got a contract.

Given the use of the non-exclusive, I think the Ravens really think Lamar is being unreasonable and no one else will tolerate it plus draft capital.

I think this was ballsy but will make Lamar a Raven WAY faster than the exclusive. I actually support this move way more than the exclusive which I think wouldve been the pussy move that could allow Lamar to be content to just play out the year at the higher 45M number.

Now Lamar is at 32 and might be very motivated to sign the contract to get an immediate pay increase and avoid a 3rd injury that could destroy his next contact's value
Overall agree. Still comes with risks.
Notably, if Lamar doesn't get what he wants on the market, there's no guarantee he signs Ravens deal either. He'll just sit out pretty much the whole offseason and then MAYBE sign the tag before the season. I suppose he could sit out into the season, but its also a pretty futile effort at that point that only costs him $.

Either way I think this gets resolved before the draft one way or another. If he doesn't get the offer he wants before the draft, he'll either play the year under the tag or sign whatever deal they agree to in July.
 
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