The Weird, Wacky and Awesome World of the NFL - General Banter thread V3

Bigger issue is that it seems like a huge overpay, like they were bidding against themselves given the rumours that were coming out - some directly from OBJ.

Definitely an element to placate Lamar but they needed a WR whoever they end up with at QB or else they might as well not bothered next season. The draft looks weak at WR and other potential trade options would cost more than what they're spending on OBJ, especially when you take into account draft capital.

Dont think there is any concern about OBJ 'caring about performing', he is only 30 and will be playing for his next contract - be it with the Ravens or elsewhere.

Definitely a bit of an overpay, they don’t have a lot of cap flexibility so presumably the high signing bonus is to allow them to spread the cost across multiple void years, so that’ll keep his cap number down for 2023.

This could work out great if he can stay on the field, and is probably worth the risk given where their WR room is as you say

I love overthecap website. As said by the Honeybadger there are multiple void years to keep the cap hit low this year.

A one year deal and in 2024 there is a cap hit of over 11 million for a player with no contract and not on the roster, ridiculous! 🤯That is teenager with their first credit-card style cap management. This must a whole new Ravens as this sort of this thing never used to happen

They may be looking at 2023 as an all-in year because of the uncertainty with Lamar going forward, which is understandable. The big issues is that lot of the key guys they have on offence are quite injury prone, Lamar, Stanley, Beckham, Bateman and Andrews have all missed a lot of games in recent years.

What are the odd that all those guys are healthy and rolling going in to December / January? They really are looking to catch lightning in a bottle.

Huge deal for Hurts. Until exact breakdown and potential outs for the Eagles it is hard to say if it is much of an overpay.

Obviously they're hoping he continues to progress on his current trajectory but probably has the least consistency out of the other guys coming up for deals - which why it is potentially smart for the Eagles to get this done before Burrow and Herbert (and potentially Lamar) in case they raise the levels further.

It'll probably end up being another type Dak situation.

By the time he signs they'll be paying him more than what he originally asked for when they first started negotiating.

It just shows how ridiculous Jackson is being holding out instead of taking that. Significantly more guaranteed money than Jalen Hurts, whos both played 25% more games, and played better in those games he has played in overall, than Jackson.

That has a very team slant (unsurprising from the team reporter and IR). If you take out the guaranteed money entering the final year of their contracts the deals are practically the same when it comes to guarantees - with Hurts getting a higher average salary.

Where are you getting Hurts has played 25% more games? Lamar has significantly more starts than Hurts. Lamar has also played with a far worse offensive support than Hurts and was MVP.

Should have had "since Hurts became a starter" in that, oops. But the stats - in Hurts two full seasons as a starter in the NFL he has started and played 15 games in 2021, 15 games in 2022 in the regular seasons. 30 games

In the same years Jackson started and played 12 games in 2021, 12 in 2022. 24 games

Thats a big difference in reliability.

Hurts has also played 4 playoff games in that time period vs 0 for Jackson, on top, too.

Pretty interesting to see that other NFL team owners don't seem to have a problem paying almost $200mn in guaranteed money when its not for Jackson eh? Their anti-Jackson collusion pact must be very convoluted to allow such exceptions.

In Lamar's first two full seasons he played a higher proportion of games than Hurts (15 games in a 16 game season) and also played 3 playoff games.

We don’t know what will happen with Hurts over his next two seasons when it comes to injuries but the Eagles were aggressive early to make a deal while it appears the Ravens tried to long finger it and are paying the price now, just like every team tends to do when they try to wait out good and above level QBs.

There are plenty of easy ways to argue that Lamar deserves a more expensive contract:

• Performance - 1) highest level better than Hurts - see winning an MVP, 2) performed at a high level for longer, 3) done that with far weaker supporting cast than Hurts
• Injury record - better injury record than Hurts at the same point in their careers