It’s been five days since the Ravens announced that quarterback Lamar Jackson has signed a new five-year contract. Beyond some basic numbers that were reported at the time, the full details have yet to emerge.
People throughout the league are clamoring to find out, whether out of basic curiosity or in preparation for the next quarterback contract.
The NFL Players Association has posted nothing. It’s unclear whether the union even has the details. As one league source explained it last week to PFT, the NFLPA ultimately wasn’t involved in the discussions that culminated in the deal. Earlier in the process, the union had been assisting Jackson, who has no NFLPA-certified agent.
The league doesn’t have the contract, either. Which means the Ravens haven’t submitted it yet.
There was a one-week lag between the announcement of the Jalen Hurts deal in Philadelphia and the filing of the contract, because he wasn’t in town to sign it. In this case, it’s unclear why the numbers are not yet available.
Eventually, inevitably, they will be. When they are, the key metrics will be signing bonus, full guarantee at signing, conversion of injury guarantee to full guarantee after one season, and three-year cash flow.
Wherever Lamar lands in the last category, it surely will be more than the relatively low cash flow paid over three seasons to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Which means that Mahomes will fall to No. 11 among veteran quarterbacks -- on the way to No. 12 and No. 13 after the Bengals sign Joe Burrow and the Chargers sign Justin Herbert.