Knee-Jerk Reactions: Ravens Sign Lamar Jackson to 5-Yr Extension

After two years of speculation and rumors, the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson have finally agreed to terms on a new contract. The numbers have been reported as five years, $265 million, with $185M guaranteed (of course, we don’t know the FULL guarantee, a term with which we’ve all become all too familiar recently).

RSR staff react to the huge news here.

It didn’t always look like this would be the result when the smoke ultimately cleared, but here we are, and the Ravens are certainly a better team with Jackson on the roster than not. The financials are what the financials are, and it appears to be pretty much a contract the market dictated it should be. Now the Ravens have some certainty going forward, just hours before the draft. That helps.

All of this helps.

Well, the agony is finally over. For the last year, I have been saying that Lamar was going to have to cave for this to get done and I didn’t think he would. I felt the Ravens should have traded Lamar last year, when he had peak value.

Alas, that didn’t happen and we saw his market shrivel up this year and there was very little to no interest in trading for him and giving him the contract he reportedly wanted.

And then the Jalen Hurts deal happened and that seemingly changed everything. The bottom line is Lamar got the second best deal ever and the Ravens were NEVER being cheap.

All the “pay the man” stuff was always wrong and blown out of proportion and now most of the media and fan base has egg on their faces, as the Ravens read this perfectly and were always the side that was right.

Glad it’s done and we can move on. I will assume the deal pays him heavily for the first three years, a la Hurts and then you perhaps look to renegotiate after year three.  This was always the best path for Lamar and I’m glad he woke up and realized his demands were wrong and is happy with this.

It’s over…it’s finally over. After months and months of uncertainty, infighting between the fanbase, and a general sense of unease, Lamar Jackson is staying in Baltimore.

From an initial reaction standpoint, it’s just great to know that in a league where truly elite quarterbacks are few and far between, the Ravens have their guy for the long-term foreseeable future.

From a financial standpoint, you also have to be happy to see that they were able to agree on figures that fit the current quarterback market as opposed to an idiotic deal that severely hampered the team’s ability to add more talent (paging the Cleveland Browns).

As more details continue to come out about the nuts and bolts of the deal in the coming day or so, we’ll have a much better picture of how this frees up the Ravens to make even more additions (Arizona, let’s talk), but for now just smile and be happy, flock nation. We got our guy.

Lamar Jackson is a Raven. It’s basically the same deal they offered him in September with about $10 million more in guaranteed money. Shoutout to Jalen Hurts whose contract allowed the Ravens to help show Lamar that the fully guaranteed deal wasn’t going to happen from anyone.

This move allows the Ravens to now trade for DeAndre Hopkins and eat more money for Arizona.

Lamar Jackson is a Raven for life after months of drama.

Now go enjoy Draft night because this nightmare is finally over.

Celebrate, Ravens Fans.

I’ll keep this short and sweet as I have my draft night calzones in the oven, and my emotional reaction is simple joy. I have always said through this squabble that I love the Baltimore Ravens and I love Lamar Jackson. The hardest part of all of this was balancing that. A future without Jackson wasn’t ideal, but you had to get a deal that worked. Now we can stop tearing out hearts in two. Lamar Jackson is a Raven for a long time.

The money is big, yet that’s the market we have right now for an MVP quarterback. Bigger than anything is that the drama is over. The Ravens don’t have the dark cloud hanging over the castle. I truly believe the drama is over and Lamar Jackson is going to be the quarterback we fell in love with before all of this unnecessary drama.

Everybody gets what they want. Everybody gets credit. Jackson met the Ravens at a lucrative negotiation point. The Ravens can build the team the way they have always planned on building it: around number 8. This is a big draft. It’s a big night. One way or another there’s a reason for euphoria in Baltimore. I’m sure I’ll have more constrained reactions as time goes on, but somebody has to get me off cloud nine first. We cover the team but we’re fans. This is what fans needed and I can’t hide my ear to ear smile in this writing.

Boy, am I glad that’s over. This has been the most exhausting time to be a Ravens fan in history, and absolutely the most stressful as someone involved in running a Baltimore Ravens fansite. Though I still say I have the best job on the planet, this Lamar drama has sapped so much joy from my day-to-day over the last year-plus. Seeing national media suddenly care about our team – and in the worst way – was like a curse from the monkey’s paw on Simpsons:

Ravens fans: “I wish the national media would talk about our team more.”

On top of that, watching the fans turn against one another has been disheartening, especially when we think back to how much fun we were all having in 2019.

I am curious what kind of reaction Jackson receives when he steps onto the field at M&T Bank Stadium in September. As someone who goes through a LOT of comments from fans, I think the reaction will be a bit lukewarm. However, the first time he embarrasses a defender by putting them on skates, all will be quickly forgiven.

I hate how we got here, but as they say: all’s well that ends well. Here’s to Jackson returning to being the happy, fun, and exciting player he was before all this contract drama started weighing on him. And kudos to both him and the Ravens front office for getting this done.

He’s a Raven. Now bring my DeAndre Hopkins and let’s bring Baltimore their third ring.

This was an incredible way to start Draft Weekend for Ravens fans. Make no mistake, there are risks with this extension, but at the end of the day, Lamar Jackson single-handedly gives the Ravens a chance to win every game. With a revamped receiving core (maybe including DeAndre Hopkins), this team is primed for a Super Bowl push right now. What more could you ask for?