Lamar Jackson, regardless of a public commerce request and the chance to barter with different groups, made clear one factor clear Thursday in his first dialog with the media in 5 months: He all the time wished to be Raven.
“I didn’t really care for other teams,” he mentioned at a information convention on the group’s facility in Owings Mills, his first feedback since agreeing to a record-breaking five-year, $260 million deal that makes him the highest-paid quarterback within the NFL by way of annual wage. “I wanted to get something done here.”
“In the end, it was really two people,” Ravens normal supervisor Eric DeCosta added. “I was dealing with Lamar Jackson the agent. … It wasn’t always easy [and] I’d rather deal with Lamar Jackson the player. But in the end, it was just Lamar and I talking, texting, emailing each other trying to get a deal done. There were really no other factors involved.”
Jackson demurred when requested what modified within the 56 days between his commerce request on March 2 and his signing a contract with the Ravens that may maintain him in Baltimore via 2027, saying solely, “I’m not really worried about what happened in the past. We’re going to keep it about these next five years and keep it about what’s going on today. It’s a great day. … That’s all I’m focused on right now.”
Yet, over the previous two years, there have been indicators that day won’t come.
There was the two-years-long slog with Baltimore to achieve a long-term deal, one which now features a reported $185 million assured and a no-franchise tag clause in addition to a no-trade clause.
There was the method of Jackson, who doesn’t have an agent, representing himself within the negotiations, leaning solely on his mom, Felicia Jones, who acts as his supervisor.
There was the time period when the 2 sides didn’t converse with each other, with fatigue having set in on each side.
There have been additionally the groups that contacted Jackson after the Ravens positioned the $32.4 million nonexclusive franchise tag on him in March, although the 2019 NFL Most Valuable Player maintained he by no means had an curiosity in becoming a member of any of them.
There have been, what DeCosta known as Thursday “dark days,” and uncertainty as as to if a deal would really be consummated.
There was, most importantly, Jackson’s request to be traded, which he revealed in a tweet one minute earlier than Ravens coach John Harbaugh met with the media throughout the NFL homeowners conferences final month.
“It was a tough stretch,” DeCosta added. “But we know Lamar. We had a lot of conviction that this was the right thing to do.”
DeCosta additionally alluded to powerful information conferences the group has had prior to now, however termed this one as nice and with good cause.
“Just to have your head coach and your GM wanting you to be here and believing in you, believing you can help your team achieve the ultimate goal with football, and NFL football at that — it’s like, I wouldn’t want to go no other place,” Jackson mentioned.
“It has been a long wait, but I think we’re all in the same place all along,” Harbaugh mentioned. “We’re all in the same place going forward.”
This story can be up to date.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com