"That's the elephant in the room" - Former NFL star shares logical advice for Lamar Jackson's contract issue

Lamar Jackson and his contract issues were addressed by former NFL star linebacker Bart Scott. On the ESPN morning show Get Up, Scott said that the Baltimore Ravens quarterback is betting on himself and that the elephant in the room is the quarterback not answering the bell for the final four games last season:

"Lamar Jackson is betting on himself, much like we saw Joe Flacco. He doesn't want his last images in his contract negotiations to be that he couldn't answer the bell for the last four games because that's the narrative, that's the elephant in the room."

He went on:

"Yes, we understand that he's deserving of the money. He's gonna get a lot of money but how long is the length of the contract because you're concerned because he has the ball in his hand so much that eventually, he could have a catastrophic type of injury."

Jackson suffered an ankle injury in the Ravens Week 14 matchup versus the Cleveland Browns and missed the last four games of the 2021 season. The quarterback also missed the team’s Week 11 game against the Chicago Bears as he was inactive due to a non-COVID illness.

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In his 12 starts last season under center for Baltimore, he threw for 2,882 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions.

The signal-caller rushed for 767 yards on 133 carries and two touchdowns while making the Pro Bowl. He has one year remaining on his rookie deal and is looking for a new contract.

What Could a New Contract for Lamar Jackson Look Like?

The quarterback will earn $23 million this upcoming season after the Ravens exercised their fifth-year option in his deal. According to Spotrac, the market value for the first-round pick of Baltimore in the 2018 NFL Draft is a five-year, $220,490,205 deal, making $44,098,041 million in average salary.

Damn bro can rip that pigskin😮‍💨 twitter.com/BatemanGoDeep/…

The projected deal would put him ahead of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen in average salary ($43,005,667) but behind Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes ($45 million).

We’ll see if the Ravens can give their 25-year-old franchise quarterback a long-term contract extension soon or at some point during the 2022 season.