Lamar Jackson reacts to NFL fans' criticism for racking $260,000,000 contract with Ravens
Lamar Jackson signed a massive five-year, $260 million guaranteed contract last year. However, the QB faced immense criticism due to that big number on his back. Now he has a response for those critics.
After picking him in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, last year the Baltimore Ravens wanted to franchise tag Jackson. However, the QB refused to sign it and threatened a trade publicly; eventually, the franchise caved, handing him a $260 million contract. This made Jackson the highest-paid player in the league, albeit only for a few months.
Despite winning the NFL MVP last season (the second time in his career) and taking the team to the AFC Championship finals, Jackson has been criticized. Most of it stems from the massive $52 million per year salary. However, during his interview with GQ Sports this week, Lamar Jackson cleared the air.
“Look at it like, ‘Oh, you got this money’”, said Jackson. “Bro, you don’t know what comes with this. In the NFL, we be hurting. People don’t know that. We be fucking hurting. But I’m out there every game like, ‘Fuck that. We gotta win!’”
Lamar Jackson is the sixth-highest-paid QB in the league. He will try to prove his worth during the NFL opener as the Ravens face familiar foes the Kansas City Chiefs on September 5.
Lamar Jackson navigated a tough road to becoming rich
The 27-year-old doesn’t lack anything in his life. However, that wasn’t the case while growing up for him in Pompano Beach, Florida. As a young child, Lamar Jackson wanted to be rich as well but reiterated in his interview with GQ Sports that he did not take the path that others took around him.
“I knew I wanted to be rich and for my people to be well-off,” said Jackson. “I don’t want to be around chaos. I was always goofy, but I always talked about football. My friends were grown-ass men. We’re 12 and 13, they were already doing shit like the older guys.”
“Hell nah. When my old friends got in trouble and I’d see that they got five years, I’m like, ‘What the fuck? What the hell he did?’ Robbery. I’m like, ‘I don’t want money that bad. I can wait.’”
Jackson was eight when his father and grandmother died on the same day. He was the oldest of four siblings and his mother, Felicia Jones, raised them all as a single mother.