NFL star Lamar Jackson could be traded by the Baltimore Ravens for Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa amid the former MVP’s contract negotiations.
Jackson won the 2019 MVP award and became the second unanimous winner of the award after Tom Brady thanks to his dominant campaign. Jackson is one of the NFL’s most exciting players and certainly deserves a lucrative deal.
He has already turned one blockbuster offer down from the Ravens. Earlier this season, Jackson reportedly turned down an offer worth $274million over six years to keep him in Baltimore through 2027 - with $133m fully guaranteed, which has led his future to be deemed uncertain.
Jackson’s desire for more fully guaranteed money - and a deal closer to Deshaun Watson’s fully guaranteed five-year contract worth $230m with the Cleveland Browns - has ultimately kept the parties from agreeing a deal. One of the sticking points is over Jackson’s health, as he suffered a PCL sprain to miss the final six weeks of the season as the Ravens finished 2022 with a 10-7 record, reaching the playoffs only to fall at the first hurdle at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Jackson has finished the fifth-year option of his rookie deal and if no new contract is ironed out by March, Baltimore will have to place the franchise tag on the quarterback to keep him from exploring the market as an unrestricted free agent. Without a new contract, the Ravens can keep Jackson in Baltimore for only two more seasons with the franchise tag.
There are two types of franchise tag: the exclusive and non-exclusive. The exclusive franchise tag means the Ravens would pay Jackson the average of the top-five salaries at the quarterback position for this upcoming season, and they are able to do it again next year with a 20% increase on his previous salary.
The non-exclusive franchise tag would see the Ravens pay him the average of the salaries of the position over the previous campaigns, while Jackson would have the possibility of talking to interested teams that can make an offer - including two first round picks - to Baltimore, with the Ravens ultimately able to match or surpass the other team's contract offer.
The situation has led to multiple reports suggesting the Ravens could be open to trading away Jackson, and a report by The Athletic’s Mike Sando recently sent the NFL world into a frenzy. Sando claimed an NFL executive thought a trade between the Ravens and Dolphins made sense as Jackson would fit perfectly in Florida while Tagovailoa could thrive in Baltimore.
“Mike McDaniel probably would do great with Lamar,” Sando reported. “Maybe a Lamar-for-Tua trade makes sense.”
Jackson hails from Pompano Beach, Florida and so a move to Miami has been mooted in the past. More than anything, the 26-year-old simply wants to get paid after he played for just $1.77m in 2021 and $23.016m last season.
If the sides don't come to terms on a long-term deal before the March 7 tag deadline, it is likely that Jackson suits up for the Ravens. However, there are multiple ways Jackson could end up playing elsewhere in 2023 - and the Dolphins appear to be a likely scenario.
