Lamar Jackson, the star quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens, is currently available on the market, as he has received their non-exclusive franchise tag for the 2023 season.
That tag will allow him to freely negotiate a new contract with another team, and if he comes to terms on a new deal that the Ravens don’t want to match, they will receive two first-round draft picks as compensation.
However, there has been virtually no interest in Jackson.
One reason why, according to some, are the concerns about his durability, as he has missed five games in each of the last two seasons due to injury.
However, Dov Kleiman pointed out that Deshaun Watson has torn his ACL twice and still got a huge contract with the Cleveland Browns.
To anyone that wants the bring up the “injury risks” with Lamar compared to Watson.
Watson suffered two torn ACLs in his career and still got $230 million fully guaranteed.
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) March 30, 2023
Durability is a concern many have with dual-threat QBs such as Jackson and Watson, and the 2022 season saw an unusually large number of signal-callers go down due to injury.
Watson was traded to the Browns last offseason, and they immediately gave him a fully-guaranteed contract worth $230 million over five years, making it the largest contract in NFL history.
According to multiple reports, that’s the type of contract Jackson has been seeking.
However, an argument could be made that Jackson isn’t quite as valuable a quarterback as Watson.
While Jackson won the 2019 regular season MVP while throwing for 3,127 yards and a league-high 36 touchdowns, his productivity while throwing the football has declined ever since.
Watson, on the other hand, led the NFL with 4,823 passing yards while also notching 33 touchdown passes in 2020, his last full season.
One of the oddities of Jackson’s quest for a humongous contract is the fact that he serves as his own agent, which is a rarity in pro sports.
