Dallas should learn from Ravens on QB negotiation

[KJJ]

Jackson has regressed since his MVP performance four years ago and he only passed for 3100 yards that season. His passing numbers are declining and he keeps coming up with injuries. He seems to be on a similar path as Cam Newton after he won MVP. He was another QB who did most of his damage with his legs and kept getting hurt.

 

[Reid1boys]

The QB market was already set when Dak signed. He was playing great football and putting up huge numbers when he signed. Jackson is a mediocre passer who’s missed 10 games the past two seasons with injuries. His running ability is what makes him a great player. According to Michael Robinson he thinks the backup QB the Ravens have is a better passer than Jackson who’s looking for at least $50 million per season. That’s a ton of money for a QB that hasn’t been available the last month the past two seasons and hasn’t thrown more than 26 TDs since 2020.

Jackson was unavailable last year due to the contract. He sat for 1 reason only, to show management what life without Lamar will look like. They went 3-4 without Jackson down the stretch. He proved his point. Now lets see who flinches in ths Mexican Standoff.

 

[America's Cowboy]

Oh those big mean Dak haters make things so terrible in my CZ safe space. Someone, please call the waaaaambulance.

Will you do it for me? You're the pro around here.

 

[KJJ]

Jackson was unavailable last year due to the contract. He sat for 1 reason only, to show management what life without Lamar will look like. They went 3-4 without Jackson down the stretch. He proved his point. Now lets see who flinches in ths Mexican Standoff.

Don’t know where you’re getting that, but he had a grade 2 PCL strain. He was injured! Some of you just love making stuff up. Jackson’s wear and tear style of play and injury history is piling up, which has the Ravens reluctant to pay him.

 

[75boyz]

Dallas should have placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on Dak and let him set the market. If there was one to be set. Instead Dallas did the ultimate Dumbo thing and caved to every demand from Dak and his agent. Including the worse part. No trade clause. This is and was a terrible contract.

Dak is in the same tier of QB as LJ. Middling 10-20. Both have varying skillsets and strengths. Both have poor playoff records. NFL teams apparently don't pay for middling. I have said this from the beginning the Jones boys really messed this one up and now the fans and the team is paying the price. Unfortunately, it is going to get worse before it gets better.

Excerpts:

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...t-top-wr-on-market-steelers-get-franchise-lt/

"The franchise tag was designed by NFL owners to prevent key players from becoming available to the rest of the league, specifically quarterbacks and very specifically young quarterbacks at the end of their contracts. Restricting player movement was a hallmark of NFL dynasties for years, until Reggie White busted free agency open. You don't see a player of this caliber hit the market. You just don't!

The idea of Baltimore dangling Jackson to the entire league, and no one having ANY INTEREST WHATSOEVER, is just wild. A 26-year-old former MVP simply DOES NOT become available in the NFL with no interest from other teams.

And not just no interest but a very quick lack of interest from a host of teams who have been aggressively pursuing quarterback solutions for the past 3-5 years.
And yet, when Lamar Jackson became available... not one NFL team is interested?
This is a former MVP we're talking about, one of the most electric athletes in all of professional sports, a legitimate franchise quarterback who turned 26 years old in January.

This is the big one here. Jackson, by all accounts, wants a fully guaranteed deal. The Ravens chose to let the market tell him what his value was and the market magically dried up! We won't ever know what he might be willing to take because teams aren't even floating out offer sheets. A fully guaranteed deal would require matching every dollar in escrow (an antiquated rule from a time when not every NFL owner had hundreds of millions of dollars), which is something even the wealthiest NFL owner doesn't want to deal with (again, more on that in a second). If we're talking max guarantees, that's a potential problem with the salary cap, even though the salary cap more and more appears to clearly be a myth.

Giving up multiple first-round picks is not something NFL teams want to do. Two first-round picks for any NFL player is a fairly steep price, but it's absolutely in line with what we've seen other franchise quarterbacks go for in the trade market recently. The Rams and Broncos gave up similar hauls for Matthew Stafford and Russell Wilson. And this isn't two firsts for a cost-controlled player you would get in the draft.
"

Great post. Appreciate the time you put in on it.

 

[conner01]

The QB market was already set when Dak signed. He was playing great football and putting up huge numbers when he signed. Jackson is a mediocre passer who’s missed 10 games the past two seasons with injuries. His running ability is what makes him a great player. According to Michael Robinson he thinks the backup QB the Ravens have is a better passer than Jackson who’s looking for at least $50 million per season. That’s a ton of money for a QB that hasn’t been available the last month the past two seasons and hasn’t thrown more than 26 TDs since 2020.

They offered him 50 mil
He wants a fully guaranteed contract and that’s not gonna happen. The other owners raised a stink about the browns doing because it creates a serious competitive disadvantage for many teams who can’t hand out 250 mil and still find the teams operations. There are wealthy teams but many aren’t and no smart owner wants that much money tied up for years

 

[conner01]

Don’t know where you’re getting that, but he had a grade 2 PCL strain. He was injured! Some of you just love making stuff up. Jackson’s wear and tear style of play and injury history is piling up, which has the Ravens reluctant to pay him.

I think he’s talking about last game when team felt he could play and he didn’t

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Lol at Jackson being a middling 10-20 ranked QB. No way you can name more than 8 guys better than Jackson. What he’s done with literally nothing on that Baltimore offense is pretty amazing. There will be more than 1 offer sheet.

Huh? Ravens have weapons. The problem is he needs more. But make no mistake that team has players around it it’s just his throwing ability is holding them back.

 

[KJJ]

They offered him 50 mil
He wants a fully guaranteed contract and that’s not gonna happen. The other owners raised a stink about the browns doing because it creates a serious competitive disadvantage for many teams who can’t hand out 250 mil and still find the teams operations. There are wealthy teams but many aren’t and no smart owner wants that much money tied up for years

I don’t remember what they offered but he’s looking to surpass Deshaun Watson‘s contract, which was fully guaranteed at around $46 million per. He’s not worth that kind of money because he’s had injury issues the past two seasons and is closer to an RB than a QB. Like I said earlier, he’s going down the same path as Cam Newton. He does most of his damage with his legs and the wear and tear is taking its toll on him.

 

[KJJ]

I think he’s talking about last game when team felt he could play and he didn’t

He has no idea what he’s talking about. All the reports were he was never close to returning after that injury. He wasn’t healthy.

 

[Chuck 54]

I don’t think there’s any comparison. One can only argue Dak’s ability and value as a QB, but as a franchise starter they wanted to keep, the deal was handled perfectly. The guaranteed money was no big deal like Lamar wants and Deshawn received.

Jerry was not fleeced by the Dak deal. He has a much higher opinion of Dak as QB than most fans here. If anything, your argument should simply be that Jerry doesn’t understand talent like you do.

 

[removed_20241105]

Some of us who supported Romo were against the 100 million contract he was offered who were consistent when they opposed Dak's 40 million per season contract.

In fact, up until his latest choke against the 49ers, I supported Dak as the QB. I don't bash people that believe in Dak, I bash the ones that insult and attack those that don't (or no longer) believe in Dak. They act more like fans of Dak and not fans of the Cowboys. Even worse are the ones that attack people who (fairly) criticize Dak then cry foul when people defend themselves. A lot of the current behavior you see from people against Dak are a direct result of that behavior from a few very vocal Dak supporters. Is all of it? No, of course not.

If Dak restructures and takes less, while I don't think he can get it done at least it will show he's willing to try and get more talent around him and will give him another chance. Unless he does that, he's just really good at saying the right things but not doing them on the field. Off the field, he's a great person. He just doesn't have what it takes to get it done without inordinate ( and near impossible ) amounts of talent around him. However, if MM's offense shows Dak suddenly not making the same mistakes through the first half of the season, I'll give him another chance but temper my expectations and base it on 1) How he does against decent defenses, 2) whether they make the playoffs, and 3) whether he chokes or not in the playoffs (no matter what the rest of the team does. If the defense chokes, it isn't an excuse for him to choke)

Outstanding post.

 

[Swagger]

No. Totally different. I've never agreed or liked Dak bring overpaid. The Romo diehards never complained once when Romo was overpaid TWICE. They never suggested to Romo what they demand of Dak today either. HUGE difference.

The big difference is that Romo played on some bad teams whereas Prescott has consistently played on good teams.

That's a huge difference as without Romo having to play hero ball to make up for deficiencies on the roster in several seasons then it would have saved the pain of some of the mistakes he made.

When he had a similar team to what Prescott had in 2016 albeit the defense was weaker in 2014, Romo drove the bus and made the plays when asked leading to an MVP calibre season and he arguably should have won MVP.

Romo was pretty much the OC for a few years whereas Prescott hasn't always had Garrett as a Head Coach and whilst they were was criticised, Linehan and Moore are not bad OCs.

Put simply, Romo had to do a lot more with less compared with Prescott to keep the Cowboys any where near relevant. If Romo wasn't given a contract then shoot they would have barely won any games over several years.

How did the team get on with and without him when he went down with injury in 2015? Compare that to last season when Prescott was injured the team went 4-1 without him (with a practice squad QB) and 8-4 with him. in terms of winning games the team had a better winning % record without him and the only game they lost was against a team that reached the Superbowl. It's those type of facts that mean many Cowboy fans do not want Prescott to be given another contract - he isn't a different maker, he isn't worth it and the wasted salary cap would be yet another albatross around an otherwise strong roster.

 

[NotForLong]

One of the reasons Jerry is such a horrible GM is that he telegraphs every move and publicly shares his thoughts. Dak's agent knew going into negotiations that Jerry was going to agree to pretty everything they wanted. The Ravens are a smart team. They haven't won anything with Lamar paying him a modest salary so how are they going to build a winner paying him like he's Mahomes? There is no market for him and the Ravens were smart letting them test it. Now, the team is back in the drivers seat where it belongs making decisions that are in their best interest.

Jerry will never learn.

Doss not matter . . . If Dak is extended, This may be His last QB contract . . . He has one foot in the grave . .

 

[CWR]

Dallas should have placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on Dak and let him set the market. If there was one to be set. Instead Dallas did the ultimate Dumbo thing and caved to every demand from Dak and his agent. Including the worse part. No trade clause. This is and was a terrible contract.

Dak is in the same tier of QB as LJ. Middling 10-20. Both have varying skillsets and strengths. Both have poor playoff records. NFL teams apparently don't pay for middling. I have said this from the beginning the Jones boys really messed this one up and now the fans and the team is paying the price. Unfortunately, it is going to get worse before it gets better.

Excerpts:

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...t-top-wr-on-market-steelers-get-franchise-lt/

"The franchise tag was designed by NFL owners to prevent key players from becoming available to the rest of the league, specifically quarterbacks and very specifically young quarterbacks at the end of their contracts. Restricting player movement was a hallmark of NFL dynasties for years, until Reggie White busted free agency open. You don't see a player of this caliber hit the market. You just don't!

The idea of Baltimore dangling Jackson to the entire league, and no one having ANY INTEREST WHATSOEVER, is just wild. A 26-year-old former MVP simply DOES NOT become available in the NFL with no interest from other teams.

And not just no interest but a very quick lack of interest from a host of teams who have been aggressively pursuing quarterback solutions for the past 3-5 years.
And yet, when Lamar Jackson became available... not one NFL team is interested?
This is a former MVP we're talking about, one of the most electric athletes in all of professional sports, a legitimate franchise quarterback who turned 26 years old in January.

This is the big one here. Jackson, by all accounts, wants a fully guaranteed deal. The Ravens chose to let the market tell him what his value was and the market magically dried up! We won't ever know what he might be willing to take because teams aren't even floating out offer sheets. A fully guaranteed deal would require matching every dollar in escrow (an antiquated rule from a time when not every NFL owner had hundreds of millions of dollars), which is something even the wealthiest NFL owner doesn't want to deal with (again, more on that in a second). If we're talking max guarantees, that's a potential problem with the salary cap, even though the salary cap more and more appears to clearly be a myth.

Giving up multiple first-round picks is not something NFL teams want to do. Two first-round picks for any NFL player is a fairly steep price, but it's absolutely in line with what we've seen other franchise quarterbacks go for in the trade market recently. The Rams and Broncos gave up similar hauls for Matthew Stafford and Russell Wilson. And this isn't two firsts for a cost-controlled player you would get in the draft.
"

Maybe we should see how the negotiations end before giving accolades.

I agree with you in principle, but I want to see what Baltimore actually accomplishes before I give them too much credit.

 

[zack]

The reason why Dallas hasn’t made it to the NFC Championship is because of bad cap management and horrible second contracts. Dallas obviously has drafted really good over the years but overpaying has been the major issue.
I trust what the Ravens are doing. This is what Dallas should have done. No one would have gave up 2 1st round picks for Dak.
I just hope that he’s not extended. It will only set the team back.

 

[kskboys]

I agree CC but I don't they have a problem giving him Watson money per se, just NOT 100% guaranteed. I would go as far as to say that Lamar to the Ravens is like Mahomes to the Chiefs, they are 1000% in with him. He's their guy but he ain't getting a 100% guaranteed contract. There have only been TWO 100% guaranteed contracts in the NFL........what should that tell Lamar?

His mother is insisting on guaranteed monies.

 

[kskboys]

How could they learn from the Ravens when Dak's contract was up 3 years ago?
I do agree they should have placed the non-exclusive tag on Dak. I said that at the time.

I think in this case the Ravens learned from the Cowboys.

And the Broncos and the Cardinals and the Titans and Minny and the other teams who gave huge amounts to average to below average QBs.

 

[Reid1boys]

Don’t know where you’re getting that, but he had a grade 2 PCL strain. He was injured! Some of you just love making stuff up. Jackson’s wear and tear style of play and injury history is piling up, which has the Ravens reluctant to pay him.

he was hurt... and the last 2 weeks he could have played and he didnt... because he was "Hurt."

 

[KJJ]

he was hurt... and the last 2 weeks he could have played and he didnt... because he was "Hurt."

That’s your opinion as if you examined him. lol There’s no way he was going to sit out the final two games with the Ravens in playoff contention and miss the playoffs if he could have played. If you believe that let’s see a link that supports it.