PALM BEACH, Fla. — Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti acknowledged Tuesday that Deshaun Watson’s record-breaking contract could impact future quarterback deals, including that for Lamar Jackson.
On March 18, Watson received a fully guaranteed, five-year, $230 million contract from the Cleveland Browns after being traded from the Houston Texans. That’s $80 million more than the previous NFL record for fully guaranteed money at signing.
Now the Ravens are trying to negotiate a contract extension with Jackson, who is taking up his fifth-year option.
“I try to respond to that when I’ve had a reaction to it. And it’s like, ‘Damn, I wish they didn’t guarantee the whole contract,'” Bisciotti said at Tuesday’s NFL league meetings. “I don’t know if he should have been the first man to get a fully guaranteed contract. For me this is something groundbreaking and it will make negotiations with others more difficult.”
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Bisciotti then added: “But that doesn’t necessarily mean we have to play that game, you know? We will see. If I were in deadlocked negotiations with Lamar, I might act more quickly on this news. “
Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said earlier this offseason that the team had reached out to begin contract talks with Jackson. But Jackson has shown no urgency to finalize a deal.
If the teams can’t secure a new contract by the next offseason, the Ravens would have to franchise-tag him to keep him from becoming a free agent.
Bisciotti called Jackson’s decision to wait “freakin’ unique because everyone expects you to be like, ‘I gotta get mine now.'”
“The kid is so obsessed with winning a Super Bowl that I think deep down he doesn’t think he’s worthy,” Bisciotti said in his first interview with reporters in four years. “I think he wants that to say, ‘Now I deserve to be on top.’ People can speculate all they want. I don’t think he’s that turned on by money and he knows it’s coming one way or another.”
Bisciotti does not anticipate Baltimore signing Jackson for a contract extension before the start of the season “unless he changes his mind and calls Eric and says, ‘I’m ready.'”
“But Eric can’t keep calling him and saying, ‘Hey Lamar, you really need to come in here and do this thing.’ That’s not a GM’s job,” Bisciotti said. “Kirk Cousins did it that way. What if Lamar says so? I’m going to be fifth year, I’m going to be in the franchise, I’m going to be in another franchise play and then you can sign me.
“And that gives me three years to win the Super Bowl so you can make me a $60 million quarterback because that’s where it’s going to be in four years. That might be the case, but I’m not talking to Lamar. Isn’t it my role? I do not know the answer.”