Shortly after causing a stir with his social media activity over the weekend, Lamar Jackson did his best to set the record straight, claiming that the “I Need $” photos he added to his online profiles were in no way connected to his ongoing contract negotiations with the Ravens.
On Saturday afternoon, the former MVP quarterback swapped out both his Instagram profile picture and his Twitter banner picture to a photo of golden teeth with the phrase “I Need $” on them. The picture comes from the movie “How High”, which has a character named I Need Money, who wears a gold grill on his teeth.
Instead of posting the pictures as a reference to him wanting a lucrative, long-term contract from Baltimore, Jackson told Safid Deen of USA Today that he swapped the photos out because he had just watched the movie and found the screenshot funny.
“I don’t know why people are blowing it up. I just saw Bleacher Report post it. They just take anything that’s posted on social media and just blow it up, and try to think for you. I don’t take it too seriously,” Jackson told Deen during Saturday’s “Funday with LJ” event.
“They’re making it seem like I’m talking to the Ravens when I’m not. Our contract discussion is going on already. But it ain’t about that though. I’m not putting my business life on social media. I won’t ever do that. I won’t put my personal life on social media. I’ll show stuff, but I won’t throw subliminal [messages] out. That’s not me.”
With training camp rapidly approaching, Jackson and the Ravens have yet to reach an agreement on a long-term contract. Baltimore previously exercised the fifth-year option on the quarterback’s rookie deal, which is worth $23 million next season, but does not have the 25-year-old under contract past the 2022 campaign.
Jackson, who is serving as his own representative in the negotiations, has made clear throughout the offseason that he wants the talks between him and the franchise to remain “private.” He also said last month that he expected to finish his career with the Ravens, the team that drafted him in the first round back in 2018.
However, it’s been many weeks since Jackson made those comments and there’s been no further update on whether or not progress has been made in talks between him and the front office. When asked by Deen again on Sunday, the quarterback reiterated that he intends to keep the specifics of the negotiations private.
Nevertheless, Jackson remains optimistic that he and the Ravens will be able to reach an agreement before Baltimore begins training camp on July 26.
“Hopefully,” he said when asked if he’ll agree to a new deal before training camp, per Deen. “I’m not going to say ‘yeah’ right now. Hopefully. But it’s God’s timing.”
