Lamar Jackson vs Ravens: Looking at the contractual standoff between the two parties

It's been two days since the window opened for teams to offer Lamar Jackson a Term Sheet under the Non-Exclusive Franchise Tag rules. However, no clear suitors have emerged. Teams in search of starting quarterbacks have either opted for temporary solutions in free agency or turned their attention to the NFL draft.

So, what does this mean for Jackson, and is there a contract that both he and Baltimore would find acceptable, keeping him with the Ravens?

The quarterback shared a tweet about a fully guaranteed $133 million, three-year deal. It seemed like he was showing a possible agreement between him and the Baltimore Ravens.

He seems to care more about the idea behind the deal than the money itself. Even though he turned down other big offers, if he only cared about money, he would have taken the $100 million-plus guaranteed offer and moved on. With help from the NFLPA and his mom, he is trying to get a fully guaranteed deal like Deshaun Watson.

He has been given a top-level quarterback contract with the usual structure. But the problem is that these kinds of contracts often have two or three years at the end that protect the team from bad injuries or poor play. Most quarterbacks can usually expect to get this money.

But his case is different. He's had over 700 carries in 65 career starts (including the playoffs), which is almost 12 carries per game—a high number for a quarterback. In comparison, Cam Newton had just under eight carries per game in 151 career starts and even "Superman" saw an early decline and was out of the league before his 35th birthday.

The Ravens QB might think this is unfair because he had to do a lot of work to finish his rookie contract, but the team is reasonable for wanting injury protection.

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What's the compromise between Lamar Jackson and the Ravens?

To find the middle ground, they might have to agree on a fully guaranteed, short-term deal. A normal offer could take three guaranteed years on a five-year deal. So, the middle ground might have to remove the team-controlled years at the end and give Jackson a no-tag clause. This would mean a three-year, fully guaranteed contract, letting Jackson control his free agency by 2026 when he's 29 years old.