Lamar Jackson Contract Rumor: Ravens $100 Million Gap - And Trade Plan?

Lamar Jackson and the Ravens are reportedly $100 million apart in contract talks. And we say "reportedly'' advisedly.

Are the Baltimore Ravens badly screwing up the numbers on a Lamar Jackson contract offer?

Or is ESPN badly screwing up the numbers?

The outlet is using a big, round, dramatic number - $100 million! - to demonstrate the team's lack of progress in negotiations with the MVP quarterback before then zipping on to another headline-grabbing concept. ...

“Those trade calls,'' ESPN writes, "are coming.''

Here's what we can factually report, in three parts:

1 - In the fall, the Ravens offered Jackson a $250 million contract extension. To suggest on the surface a "possible $100 million'' gap between what the two sides wish is to suggest ... what? 

That Baltimore's offer is now smaller? No. (The club's "200-percent'' pledge to retain Lamar remains in place.)

That Jackson wants $350 million for five years? Surely not.

The devil is in the details here: The gap is less about APY and more about guaranteed money - as in, Jackson wants the entire contract guaranteed, a precedent most recently set by the Browns and their summer-of-2022 Deshaun Watson deal .. which as you'll recall, Ravens boss Steve Bisciotti found to be ridiculous.

Why "ridiculous''? Because Watson's deal raised the bar on Jackson's ask.

And speaking of "details'': ESPN uses the phrase "Baltimore and Jackson could possibly be $100 million apart.'' 

"Could''?

"Possibly''?

That framework hints at this more "gossip'' than it is "news.''

2 - ESPN mentions that "teams are assuming Jackson will be tagged.'' That's no revelation. But this is a recent reveal: The franchise tag salary for a QB is now $32.4 million guaranteed for one year.

It's not hard to see why Jackson, short of reaching a new deal, will be bothered by (likely) having to eventually accept this given that both sides have all-but conceded that $50 million APY might be the right number.

Simply: Baltimore will tag Jackson by the March 7 deadline not in some way that should fuel a breathless headline, but rather, as a simple function of business, because if the Ravens, impossibly, somehow fail to do that, Jackson is a free agent.

3 - The outlet writes that the conflict will lead to trade talks.

“Those trade calls are coming,'' ESPN writes, adding that it does not "get the sense that the process has heated up ... It’s still very early on this one.”

All fine. But ESPN says the reason the "process hasn't heated up'' is due to the assumption of the coming tag. In reality, we can't be sure that there isn't some "heat'' here. (The Atlanta Falcons buzz is not fake.) And if not, the reason has nothing to do with the tag in March.

It has everything to do with the fact that it's February.

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