Linebacker Roquan Smith just got the bag, as he agreed to an historic contract extension with the Baltimore Ravens Tuesday. The deal is for five years and $100 million, including $45 million fully guaranteed.
With Smith coming to terms with the Ravens, the answer everyone wants to know is what does this mean for ongoing negotiations between the club and quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Only time will tell on that front, but one thing the Roquan Smith deal does for Baltimore in the near future is open up options to keep Lamar Jackson in a Ravens uniform, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
With Roquan Smith locked in, the #Ravens keep the franchise tag available for Lamar Jackson. https://t.co/IaIKH0oyvq
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 10, 2023
What's interesting about the talks between the Ravens and Jackson is the quarterback is acting as his own agent. Going into this season, this was thought of as a bet-on-yourself year for the 2018 first round draft pick out of Louisville.
A sprained knee caused him to miss the final six games of the regular season, and his status for Sunday's wild card game against the Cincinnati Bengals remains in doubt. 12 is the same number of games Jackson played last season.
It appears both sides are dug in on their stance. From Jackson's perspective, he wants a fully-guaranteed deal similar to what fellow QB Deshaun Watson received from the Cleveland Browns. He can also point to how the offense has struggled to score in his absence.
Baltimore, who offered Jackson a contract extension last offseason (that was refused), can point to those same injury woes for worries about his durability going forward. For now, we know Smith is one player who will be in Baltimore for quite a while.
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