The Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson have been in a very quiet contact dispute with occasional confirmations that they aren't on the same page.  Small snippets in the form's of tweet's & questionable insider intel has given nothing concrete, but if there's one thing that's clear to see, it's that the Raven aren't willing to commit to Jackson on his terms & vice versa. Now there's a new report that they offered him $133 million guaranteed at one point, but still no deal. Prior to that there was a report that he was offered $250 million & Jackson responded in a tweet saying that didn't happen.  Aside from the aforementioned there's been a couple PC answered questions from head coach John Harbaugh and a ton of speculation in the media.  Jackson represents himself as an agent so there's no leaks coming from his camp at all to this point which is a good thing in a way because it keeps rumors out of the contract situation.  

There's an old saying that goes "You don't need to talk about what's already understood" and for me that sums up this entire contract dispute.  The Baltimore Ravens aren't willing to commit to Lamar Jackson as the future of the franchise long term.  The reason is unknown, but the message is clear.  Here's what else is clear...........he's been an NFL MVP, his record as a starter is well above .500, he's kept the team in the conversation & literal contention for a Super Bowl every year & he's the most dynamic talent the NFL has ever seen, he's been committed to improving his game each off-season & it shows on the field each season.  I say this in pure speculation, but I think the Ravens don't believe in Jackson as a passer period point blank and might be thinking about taking a chance on starting over at the QB position via trade & draft.  Possibly a trade with the Raiders for Derek Carr & draft picks? or a trade with the Falcons for picks and a couple WR's? or do they simply use the franchise tag which will basically be a "prove it" deal in this particular situation?

Whatever way this saga finishes up, one thing for sure is that it's one of the strangest I've seen in a very long time.  You have a QB with the talent & accolades to prove he's legit & he's only 26 years old.  He's worth more than fair market value and I'm sure he'd agree after seeing QB's like Kirk Cousins get two fully guaranteed contracts with no hesitation from his team. The Broncos & Chiefs didn't even have to give a second thought to paying their QB's & let's be honest here at this point only Mahomes is better than Jackson, so there shouldn't be too much to think about here unless you're simply thinking about going in another direction.  I personally would love to see Lamar go the Raiders with Josh McDaniels and give that franchise the boost it needs and it'd just be overall exciting with the pieces they already have in place there.  Until then & as usual we're gonna have to wait until the offseason to see what comes of this silent dispute, but I wherever Jackson ends up will definitely be better for the franchise.