National Football League

Lamar Jackson 'didn't care for other teams,' wanted to remain in Baltimore

Updated May. 4, 2023 7:11 p.m. ET

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After roughly a year of laborious contract negotiations, Lamar Jackson finally signed his five-year, $260 million deal with the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday.

Jackson and the Ravens agreed to the deal on April 27, just over seven weeks after Baltimore placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on him and roughly a month after the 2019 NFL MVP made his trade request public.

During Thursday's presser, Jackson shared that other teams contacted him when free agency opened in March, but despite the interest and his trade request, Jackson said he wanted to stay with the team that drafted him in 2018.

"To be honest with you, I really didn't care for other teams, really," Jackson said. "I just really wanted to get something done here. I wanted to be here. I was like, ‘Man, OK, other teams, cool, but I want to be a Raven.’ … I really wanted to get this done before anything, before my time up and branch off somewhere else. I really want to finish my career here and win a Super Bowl here."

The negotiations between the two sides seemed contentious considering they lasted for nearly a year. Jackson set a hard deadline to end contract talks prior to the start of the 2022 regular season as he reportedly sought a fully-guaranteed contract like the five-year, $230 million deal that Deshaun Watson received from the Cleveland Browns. 

There was also some drama surrounding Jackson's PCL injury, which caused him to miss the last six games of the season. 

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All the negativity that might have come up in Jackson's contract negations are in the past though, adding that he fully recovered from his PCL injury "probably a month ago."

"Today, we're gonna keep it about the future," Jackson said. "I'm not really worried about what happened in the past. We're gonna keep it about these next five years and keep it about what's going on today."

Part of that future with the Ravens includes new talent at wide receiver. Jackson will have some new players to throw to in 2023, as the team signed All-Pro receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to a one-year deal and drafted Boston College wideout Zay Flowers in the first round of the draft. The Ravens also hired Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken for the same role. 

Jackson said he's "very eager" to get to work with the new receivers, saying he thinks he told someone that he wants "to throw for 6,000 yards with the weapons we have."

"I'm not an individual award type of guy or a stat watcher, I just want to do that because no one has ever done that," Jackson said. "And I feel like we have the weapons to do it. We've got explosive guys. Like coach said, the new additions Zay, OBJ, and we got [Rashod] Bateman gonna be 100 percent healthy, too."

Jackson also shouted out All-Pro tight end Mark Andrews and 2022 second-round pick Isaiah Likely as players he thinks can help him reach the next level.

But Jackson's biggest shout-out of the day was saved for his mother, Felicia Jones. Jackson said his mother worked as his manager during the negotiation process.

"I feel like she managed me very well," said Jackson, who reportedly received $185 million guaranteed plus a no-trade clause and a no-franchise tag clause in the deal. "Don't you think so?"

Jackson recalled how his mother became "influential" in his life when he was growing up and watching her raise four kids while she wanted him to play football and take care of himself.

"Just seeing that, [I knew] if she could do that, I could do anything," Jackson said. "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."

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