Lamar Jackson Succeeded Even Without Getting Fully Guaranteed Deal

I’m trying to be less hyperbolic these days, so with the news that Lamar Jackson has agreed to a five-year deal with the Ravens worth $260 million in a “traditional” nonguaranteed structure, I wonder whether we’re allowed to simply say: Good job everyone.

Here’s the thing: Jackson’s quest for a fully guaranteed contract as a completely self-represented player isn’t going to change a whole lot. It certainly isn’t going to change the absolutely gross underbelly of the league’s information trade, in which teams, reporters and agents exchange one-sided tidbits in a never-ending war for optical supremacy, even though a lot of us in the media have come to the end of this saga with egg on our faces (here’s a regrettable track from the Conor Orr vault from a mere seven weeks ago). It probably isn’t going to change the way players advocate for themselves at the bargaining table, because there were parts of this melodrama that were undoubtedly harmful to Jackson’s brand and showed just how scary life without an agent can be. It’s definitely not going to change the number of players who shoot for the moon and try to outdo the Deshaun Watson contract because, as we’ve hopefully realized by now, only one team is that wholly desperate and lacking in self respect.

It was a bumpy road, but Jackson and the Ravens arrived at the end of this negotiation the way may stars and teams do.

Paul Rutherford/USA TODAY Sports