They are 45-16 in the regular season with him as the starter. The biggest change for Jackson and the offense will be going from offensive coordinator Greg Roman to Todd Monken, whose job will be to breathe more life into the passing game.ĭoes Bill Belichick Have a Master Plan for Mac Jones? Seven Big Questions for NFL Teams After the Draft Dobbins, and a strong offensive line, and this could be the best supporting cast Jackson’s ever had. But throw in tight end Mark Andrews, running back J.K. Beckham is 30 and was out last year while he recovered from an ACL injury. The Ravens’ new wide receiver group-veteran free agent addition Odell Beckham Jr., 2021 first-rounder Rashod Bateman, and 2023 first-rounder Zay Flowers-comes with both question marks and upside.

But it became clear that the owners viewed the structure of the Watson deal as a one-off, not a precedent-setter, and Jackson didn’t have other serious suitors. If another team signed Jackson to an offer sheet, the Ravens would have had the opportunity to match. The Ravens, who never seemed willing to match the deal the Browns gave Watson, played it well too, using the nonexclusive franchise tag as leverage. “He pretty much set every high-end metric that there would be with that deal.”

“I don’t think it really hurt him at all,” Fitzgerald said. For all of the hand-wringing about Jackson not having an agent, he ended up doing well for himself in these negotiations. He got $135 million fully guaranteed ( second behind only Watson), a $72.5 million signing bonus (the biggest in NFL history), and, notably, a no-trade clause and a no-tag clause. Jackson didn’t get the fully guaranteed Deshaun Watson–type deal that he was rumored to be seeking, but he did secure the richest contract in NFL history based on average annual value ($52 million). Now, he’s got a reported five-year, $260 million contract in hand. Baltimore Ravens They avoided disaster with Lamar Jackson.Īs recently as mid-April, the possibility of Lamar Jackson digging his heels in and sitting out regular-season games was in play. All of the contract data below is from his site, and statistics are from TruMedia and Pro Football Focus. For an assist on matters dealing with contracts and the salary cap, we called on Jason Fitzgerald from Over the Cap. So, what have we learned about each team? Today, we go team by team in the AFC to answer that question, and in the next installment, we’ll go over the NFC.

But for the most part, we know what all 32 teams will be working with when Week 1 rolls around in September. Will teams still make roster tweaks in the months ahead? Might we get a surprise signing or two? Sure. Now that the NFL draft has come and gone, the tentpole events of the offseason are over, and we can start to peek ahead.

The talent is overrated