NFL News

[ghandi]

Jones deal is 4 years, 160 mil per ESPN

[whatever_gong82]

Jones deal is 4 years, 160 mil per ESPN

40 million a year?

Goff's asking price just went up when he is eligible to renegotiate.

[CGVT]

Daniel Jones: 4 years, 160 Million.

Dayam

[froot loops]

Shocking that Jones didn't sign a team friendly deal. Haha

Always remember free agents get more than you think, the supply of quarterbacks is limited and the cap is projected to be at $320 million in 2027.

[Mainevent]

Real curious to see the details on that, if it's more like a 2 year deal with more money front-loaded.

[froot loops]

Preliminary numbers to take with a grain of salt

[Mainevent]

That at least initially sounds like they paid a premium in year 1-2 to have an out in year 3. But let's see if that's the case.

[Cody_Russell]

Makes Goff’s contract look like a bargain for the next two seasons.

…

Meanwhile, several QB needy NFL teams have gone out of their way to say they have no interest in Lamar Jackson.
Lamar supposedly wants guaranteed money that’s comparable to Watson’s deal. Seems like that’s an extreme one off. Maybe a little ownership collusion here to prevent that from happening…. Bizarre situation.

[Mainevent]

Guaranteed money and two first round picks. Tough pill to swallow. Especially with a guy that's missed a quarter of the games the past two years, regressed considerably (not all on him). He's also a bit of an odd duck.

[Futureshock]

Makes Goff’s contract look like a bargain for the next two seasons. …

Meanwhile, several QB needy NFL teams have gone out of their way to say they have no interest in Lamar Jackson.
Lamar supposedly wants guaranteed money that’s comparable to Watson’s deal. Seems like that’s an extreme one off. Maybe a little ownership collusion here to prevent that from happening…. Bizarre situation.

Jets aren't going to be paying much less for Aaron Rodgers. He must want it fully guaranteed like the Watson deal. Also, usually the agents go to the combine to have back door talks with teams. So, I DK if he can talk to other teams until the tampering period. So they all probably have alternate plans now.

And the best reason is giving 2 1st rd picks and that huge guaranteed contract.

[whatever_gong82]

Giants franchise tag Saquon Barkley: What’s his impact on New York?

By The Athletic Staff and more
3h ago

By Larry Holder, Jeff Howe and Charlotte Carroll

The New York Giants have placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley. Here’s what you need to know:

The franchise tag for the 26-year-old tailback is worth $10.091 million and comes after the Giants agreed to a long-term deal with quarterback Daniel Jones.

Barkley is coming off his most productive season since his rookie year with 1,312 rushing yards on 295 carries (both career highs) and 10 touchdowns in 2022, along with 57 receptions for 338 yards.

The No. 2 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft has rebounded from multiple injuries, including knee and ankle ailments in 2020 and 2021.


The Athletic’s instant analysis:

What the tag means for Barley

The Giants hope was to work out a deal with Jones before the franchise tag deadline to have the option of then tagging Barkley. While the Giants and Barkley started negotiations over the bye week, they reportedly were not close to a deal. Now with a deal done with Jones just before Tuesday’s deadline, the Giants were able to tag Barkley to lock down their star running back.


Barkley has been clear he wants to remain a Giant, possibly for life if it works out. When asked about being franchise tagged at the end of the season, Barkley said: “I don’t think anybody in their right mind would say that they would love to be franchise tagged,” Barkley told The Athletic. “You want stability. You want a long-term deal. Obviously, I know that’s an option that they can use. I know it’s leverage, too, in negotiation. I try my best not to think about it, but I really can’t speak on how it will feel, because it didn’t happen. So I can have a better answer, if that ever happened.” — Carroll


Barkley’s impact in New York


Barkley is the one of the franchise’s biggest stars and his name carries a lot of cache, not only with fans but in the locker room. He is well-regarded among teammates and his play and work ethic have commanded their respect.

Despite recent injuries, Barkley came back stronger than ever and finished with the best season of his career in 2022. He added a career-high 295 carries for 1,312 yards, which was fourth in the NFL. This was his best rushing total since a breakout rookie season and earned him a second Pro Bowl nod. — Carroll


A look at Barkley’s metrics
Screenshot 2023-03-07 175456.jpg



The running back’s rates within advanced metrics world paint a blurry picture for Barkley. Here’s a look at the following metrics from the top 20 backs in rushing yards during the 2022 season, via TruMedia: Expected Points Added per carry, rush success percentage, yards per carry. The rankings are in parentheses (minimum 100 carries, 42 qualified backs).


Certainly these metrics aren’t the end-all, be-all measures of success. The Giants leaned on Barkley so much given he ranked fourth in the league last year with 295 carries. That’s a firm sign he’s healthier than he’s been in several years after injury marred 2020 and 2021 seasons. But it might help Barkley if there’s a viable second option offensively so defenses can’t focuses so much on him. — Holder

[whatever_gong82]

What’s next for Lamar Jackson after Ravens roll the dice with non-exclusive franchise tag?

By Jeff Zrebiec
1h ago

It’s been viewed as inevitable for months, and now that it’s official, the Baltimore Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson have reached a critical point in their contract impasse. And they might not have a whole lot of time to find a compromise.

As expected, the Ravens placed the franchise tag on Jackson just before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline. That was the easy part. The more debated decision was what tag the Ravens were going to use. They opted for the non-exclusive tag, which comes with a cheaper $32.4 million price tag but allows Jackson to negotiate a deal with another team. The Ravens then would have five days to decide whether to take on the contract and retain Jackson or let him go for the return of first-round picks in each of the next two drafts.




The Ravens’ decision to use the non-exclusive tag will only intensify the questions about Jackson’s future in Baltimore. The organization has taken a big risk and put itself at the mercy of another team offering Jackson the type of contract he’s been seeking and the Ravens have been declining to offer. Getting only two first-round picks in return for a 26-year-old former league MVP would be perceived as a major missed opportunity for general manager Eric DeCosta.

On the other hand, this sets up a scenario where another team could essentially negotiate a deal with Jackson that the Ravens could match. The Ravens certainly haven’t gained much traction in negotiating directly with Jackson, so this could be a way to step back and let another team do the work for them. If Jackson is unable to get the outside offer he seeks, the Ravens would be in a position to have him on a tag that will be approximately $13 million cheaper than had they used the exclusive version.

For now, the tag keeps Jackson from hitting the free-agent market next week and the Ravens have a bit more time to decide how comfortable they are with Jackson being on the tag in the coming months or having to match a potentially fully guaranteed deal.

If they’re not comfortable with that reality and still unwilling to acquiesce to Jackson’s believed contract desires, a stalemate that’s been going on for well over a year and has become a major challenge for the organization could be nearing an end with Jackson heading elsewhere.

“There have been many instances across the league and in Baltimore when a player has been designated with the franchise tag and signed a long-term deal that same year,” DeCosta said in a statement released by the team. “We will continue to negotiate in good faith with Lamar, and we are hopeful that we can strike a long-term deal that is fair to both Lamar and the Ravens. Our ultimate goal is to build a championship team with Lamar Jackson leading the way for many years to come.”



The Ravens have typically used the franchise tag as a bridge toward a long-term contract extension. The tag ultimately led to deals with Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata, Ray Rice and Justin Tucker, among others. However, none of them were quarterbacks or seeking the type of deal Jackson wants. The negotiations with Jackson, who does not have an agent, have been a delicate slog from the beginning.

Despite DeCosta characterizing recent contract talks with Jackson as positive at last week’s NFL Scouting Combine, there’s been no evidence that Jackson and the Ravens see eye to eye on what constitutes a fair and acceptable long-term deal.

Both sides have pledged to keep details about the negotiations private, but Baltimore has been willing to make Jackson the second- or third-highest-paid player in the NFL. However, it’s not believed that Jackson has budged on his demands for a contract similar to the five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed deal quarterback Deshaun Watson signed with the Cleveland Browns. The Ravens have viewed Watson’s deal as an outlier rather than a precedent, and owner Steve Bisciotti said early in the process that the Browns weren’t going to determine how much he paid his franchise quarterback. Thus, the stalemate.

continued..

[whatever_gong82]

So the Ravens are now in a position where they’re carrying Jackson’s tag on the cap, which will necessitate potential player subtractions and/or contract alterations. It will also make it difficult for the Ravens to be all that active in free agency, which starts next week. Jackson striking quickly and signing an offer sheet with another team would at least force a resolution one way or the other and provide clarity amid a key offseason for the team, which has lost ground in the powerful AFC. But nothing with this situation has moved quickly.



The Ravens had to know this was the likelihood all along. Even with the optimism that head coach John Harbaugh voiced in his season-ending news conference, it always seemed ambitious to think the Ravens were going to knock out a deal with Jackson in the six to eight weeks after the season when they had failed to hammer one out over the previous 12 months. That was especially true because of the fundamental difference of opinion on each side.

So, what’s next? If Jackson doesn’t get an offer sheet to his liking, the Ravens certainly could move forward with him, take another shot at extending him later in the year, then be content with the idea of him playing under the tag. The Ravens would have until July 17 to sign a tagged player to a long-term deal. But that’s rife with drawbacks, too. First, any salary-cap flexibility the team envisioned having is now pretty much gone. There are moves the Ravens can make to create some breathing room, but the team’s decision-makers will have to be comfortable working with little margin of error in filling Baltimore’s needs.

Then, there’s the issue of just how Jackson, who doesn’t exactly broadcast his intentions, will handle getting tagged. Will he not sign it? Will he threaten to sit out the entire year? Will he, at the very least, blow off the various offseason minicamps and stay home for most, if not all, of training camp? His absence would be problematic for a team installing a new offense with first-year offensive coordinator Todd Monken.

DeCosta and Harbaugh hate distractions, and there will be no bigger one than the daily fixation on Jackson’s whereabouts this summer. But what recourse do they have?



Trading Jackson or letting him go for two first-round picks would have been unthinkable at this time last year, but suddenly it doesn’t feel that way with the roller-coaster ride the sides have been on the past couple of seasons. Team officials have downplayed the notion that their relationship with the quarterback has been strained. At the very least, though, it’s been clear the Ravens and Jackson haven’t been on the same page all too often in recent months.

Still, Jackson is one of the game’s biggest stars and remains the face of the franchise. The impact he’s had on expanding the Baltimore fan base nationally is immeasurable. Locally, he’s inspired a young generation of Ravens fans. If you’ve ever attended a Ravens training camp practice or a game at M&T Bank Stadium, the number of fans in No. 8 jerseys is staggering.

Bisciotti and DeCosta understand the impact it will have on a large portion of the fan base if Jackson departs.

Jackson is also a popular teammate, evidenced by how Ravens veterans such as Ronnie Stanley, Marlon Humphrey and Calais Campbell spoke in support of the quarterback during locker cleanout a day after the Ravens’ 2022 season ended with a first-round playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.




He has delivered on the field, too. The Ravens are 45-16 in the regular season with Jackson as their starter since 2018. With him not available, and that’s been the case in each of the past two Decembers, the Ravens are just 2-8. In back-to-back years, the Ravens saw their playoff chances — and their potential for winning in the postseason — derailed when Jackson went down with an injury.

Ravens decision-makers have always maintained that their top priority is to get Jackson signed long-term, but their patience has been tested over the past 15 months. Jackson’s decision not to have an agent has made the negotiations difficult to navigate. On the field, the past two seasons have seen Jackson get off to a strong start, hit a midseason slump, then sustain a late-season injury, all but sinking the team’s hopes. This past season was particularly difficult, as the Ravens felt Jackson would miss only two or three weeks and he wound up being sidelined for the last six games, including the playoff loss in Cincinnati.




Frustration with the situation was palpable at the team facility over the final few weeks of the season. DeCosta and Harbaugh said all the right things about Jackson at their end-of-season news conference, but it isn’t clear how much communication there has been with the quarterback since. DeCosta did meet with Jackson in South Florida before the combine and spoke positively about the talks.

For his part, Jackson hasn’t talked to reporters since a few days before the Week 13 game versus Denver, when he got hurt on the final play of the first quarter. Even then, there seemed no way that would be the last time we’d see Jackson in a Ravens uniform. Yet, here we are. Three months later, his status seems as tenuous as ever.

The Ravens figured to demand a king’s ransom for a player of Jackson’s stature. Last March, the Broncos traded two first-round picks, two second-rounders and three players to the Seattle Seahawks for quarterback Russell Wilson and a fourth-round pick. That the Ravens were willing to go the non-exclusive route suggests they studied the market and didn’t necessarily believe they could secure a similar package for Jackson.




Now, if another team makes him an offer the Ravens don’t feel is feasible to match, they would suddenly need to figure out their succession plan for Jackson. But there’s potentially a long way to go before there’s a resolution here. The franchise tag is just another step. To where, nobody seems to know.



Jeff Zrebiec is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Baltimore Ravens. Before joining The Athletic in 2018, he spent the previous 18 years as a writer for The Baltimore Sun, 13 of them on the Orioles or Ravens beats. The New Jersey native is a graduate of Loyola University in Baltimore. Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeffzrebiec

[Topweasel]

Shocking that Jones didn't sign a team friendly deal. Haha

Always remember free agents get more than you think, the supply of quarterbacks is limited and the cap is projected to be at $320 million in 2027.

I admit I thought it was in his best interest to. Mostly because I wasn't sure the Giants would sign him because his performance is nowhere near top QB money (regardless of FA over value). Heck Carr blows Jones out of the water and signed for 5 million less a year. I figured on the open market he would get Trubisky like interest and fade later.

The reason the Giants did this deal probably less about Jones and more about Barkley, trying to sign him would have cost a fortune and RBs are never worth their second contract. Now they can go the Bell route the next two years or so. Signing Jones probably saved having to sign Barkley for a bunch of guarantees and 20+ million a year for 3-5 years. Plus they wouldn't be in a great position to replace Jones no matter how generally pedestrian his performance is.

[Topweasel]

Outside the 40-45 million are year. Even for a team seemingly set like the Lions, doing a big deal with Lamar and giving up two hopefully in theory late picks might be worth it. Take teams used to going crazy, Lamar getting the non-exclusive tag might make this a crazy off-season and if you get him you actually give up less than the Browns paid for for Watkins.

Not condoning the Lions making a move for him. But it might be worth it for teams like the Titans, Seahawks, Green Bay (if Rodgers retires or requests a trade), Jets, or even Redskins.