Armando Salguero
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He did request a trade in March. He did make it public by putting it on his social media. But on Thursday when he finally signed his new $260 million contract, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson decided those facts of history are no longer important.
“Today, we’re going to keep it about the future,” Jackson told reporters. “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.”
Security For Lamar Jackson Family
This day secured Jackson’s future. It secured his family’s future. And his family’s family’s future because the five-year $260 million deal that includes $185 million in guaranteed money is truly a generational wealth deal.
The deal ultimately gets Jackson $80 million in 2023 distributed in salary and other bonuses. And it contains a no-trade clause and no-tag clause so he cannot be franchised again.
Jackson recognizes how it, along with what he’s done and what he’s earned his first five NFL seasons, have changed the course for his family.
Felicia Jones is Jackson’s mother and served as a business manager during Jackson’s latest negotiations with the Ravens. The duo — mother and son — obviously did quite well in making this deal. Jackson is the NFL’s highest paid quarterback on an annual average salary basis of $52 million.
It wasn’t always that way and Jackson. He kept about the future when it comes to trade demands but was almost emotional when he remembered the past with his mom.
“She was influential in my life just by her raising the four of us, my younger brother and two sisters, me being the oldest and just seeing how she grind and worked without complaining,” Jackson said. “She didn’t want me to get a job. And she told me to focus on football and she’d take care of everything else.
“Just seeing that, [I knew] if she could do that, I could do anything. She raised four kids on her own, not asking for a handout. Not reaching out to people saying, ‘I need this right here to pay my bills.’ I never heard her complain about anything like that.
“I could see her wake up early in the morning, go to work, come back late at night from work. I was like, ‘Man, this woman’s a superhero to me.’ That was her influence right there.”
Lamar Jackson Praises God
Jackson also made certain he praised God in front of reporters at his press conference.
“Without Him, there is no Lamar Jackson,” he said. “I’m going to tell you that now. I kept Him first at all times no matter I went through, when my back was against the wall, no matter when people were doubting me more than before and more than ever.
“And now I’m here.”
Jackson’s mom has apparently been well rewarded for her efforts. Jackson took care of his mother long ago, but likely the new contract and her role in it was also rewarded.
So Mother’s Day won’t be as big a thing as it might be.
“I got her a gift already,” Jackson said. “I bet she’s satisfied right now. I’ll probably get her card. Give her some flowers or something. Women love flowers.”
Jackson Envisions 6K Pass Yards For Ravens
Quarterbacks love being surrounded by playmakers that help them accomplish goals. The Ravens this offseason added receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Nelson Agholor in free agency and selected receiver Zay Flowers in the draft’s first round.
Jackson has thrown 101 TD passes the past five seasons, which is among the league leaders over that time, but he sees better moments ahead because of his upgraded supporting cast.
“I think I told someone I want to throw for like 6,000 yards with the weapons we got,” Jackson said. “I’m not an individual award type of guy or a stat watcher. I just want to do that because no one’s ever done it and I feel like we have the weapons to do it.
“Just can’t wait to get rolling.”
Jackson hasn’t been rolling very much at the end of the past two seasons. In 2022 he missed his team’s final five starts because of a PCL injury in a knee. Jackson said he wasn’t fully recovered from the injury until late March or early April.
So what comes next is, well, Lamar Jackson ball for the Baltimore Ravens.
“He’s going to throw it when it’s time to throw and run it when it’s time to run,” coach John Harbaugh said.
