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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — With a bag of popcorn in a single hand and a milkshake within the different, the Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson on Sept. 14 advised reporters with a smirk that he would now not focus on negotiations of his new contract. Earlier than the beginning of the common season, he and the crew’s entrance workplace agreed to desk talks till the subsequent low season.
“Respectfully, I’m actually accomplished speaking about it,” Jackson mentioned.
On Wednesday, standing at his locker on the Giants facility, quarterback Daniel Jones gave the same response when assessing his looming contract extension.
“I don’t assume it was ever actually my focus to show to folks by hook or by crook,” Jones mentioned. “My focus was to play in addition to I believed I may play and put the crew ready to win.”
The 2 quarterbacks, each 25 years previous and drafted a yr aside, have reached the tip of their rookie offers. However with Jackson’s contract talks stalled and the Giants’ declining to signal Jones to an extension, each are successfully making a case for compensation — both from their present groups or a bidder in 2023 free company — by their play.
However when Jackson’s Ravens (3-2) go to Jones’s Giants (4-1) on Sunday, the stark distinction of their arguments shall be on full show. Jackson, a one-time league M.V.P., will most certainly command a market-setting deal, whereas Jones auditions to stay on the Giants roster below a brand new management regime. Each gamers are being evaluated not simply on how they carry out in a contract yr, but in addition on the breadth of their careers thus far. And the evaluation will tweak the marketplace for what beginning quarterbacks needs to be paid going ahead.
“Their most up-to-date play is most essential, however the entire physique of labor is actually an element as properly,” mentioned Mike Tannenbaum, an ESPN analyst and the previous basic supervisor of the Jets. “You’re attempting to match how they’re enjoying to the way you assume they’re going to play.”
Jackson is representing himself with out an agent and failed to achieve a long-term extension with Ravens Basic Supervisor Eric DeCosta earlier than the season. A two-time Professional Bowl choice, Jackson will earn $23 million in 2022, the fifth and remaining yr of his rookie deal, a good low cost for the Ravens.
Aaron Rodgers of the Packers, Russell Wilson of the Broncos and Dak Prescott of the Cowboys every signed latest offers with annual salaries of a minimum of $40 million. Whereas the annual-earnings common is an enormous driver of contract negotiations, assured cash and different bonuses are additionally essential.
Jackson reportedly sought phrases just like these of Deshaun Watson, who in March signed a five-year, $230 million absolutely assured contract with the Cleveland Browns, the most important of its sort in N.F.L. historical past.
His argument for matching or surpassing the highest tier of N.F.L. quarterbacks thus far has been sound.
This season, Jackson’s efficiency is on tempo to surpass his 2019 Most Useful Participant Award marketing campaign. He ranks third within the league in passing touchdowns (12), and the gamers who rank forward of him — Kansas Metropolis’s Patrick Mahomes (15) and the Payments’ Josh Allen (14) — earn a minimum of $43 million yearly.
Jackson has additionally been Baltimore’s most constant offensive menace for a crew bereft of choices. His 213.4 passing-yards-per-game common is outpacing the 208.5 common he posted in 2019, regardless of the Ravens’ having traded their greatest receiver, Marquise Brown, this low season. Jackson has relied totally on tight finish Mark Andrews and a revolving solid of operating backs and leads the crew in dashing yards (374).
Baltimore’s secondary has been racked with accidents for the second straight season, and the protection, which gave up essentially the most passing yards within the N.F.L. in 2021, surrendered second-half leads within the Ravens’ two losses already this season, placing stress on Jackson to throw the crew again into video games.
Jones’s contract lobbying has occurred below completely different circumstances. Not like Jackson, the Giants quarterback has but to win a playoff recreation or be named to a Professional Bowl, and his struggles to carry onto the ball — he has dedicated 52 turnovers since coming into the league in 2019 — have coincided with the crew’s instability.
Taking part in for his third head coach in his 4 N.F.L. seasons, Jones should impress Basic Supervisor Joe Schoen and Coach Brian Daboll, each former assistants in Buffalo who helped rebuild that franchise right into a Tremendous Bowl contender.
In April, they declined to select up the fifth-year choice on Jones’s contract, prompting this “prove-it” season.
He’s getting an help from operating again Saquon Barkley, additionally in a contract yr, who ranks second within the N.F.L. in dashing yards (533). Efficient operating has opened up play-action ideas on quick and intermediate throws, high-efficiency passes that Jones is maximizing.
Jones has accomplished 66.7 % of his passes, the best mark of his profession and tied for eighth-most within the league. He’s averaging six air yards per try, in keeping with ESPN’s Subsequent Gen Stats, and flinging far fewer deep balls now that the improved Giants protection below the veteran coordinator Don Martindale has stored opponents’ scoring totals manageable.
That’s additionally helped Jones (three turnovers this season) reverse his ball-security points.
“I feel Daniel’s accomplished an excellent job with the ball,” the Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka mentioned Thursday. “I feel he’s placing the ball in the appropriate spot and he’s making good selections.”
With a projected $61 million in cap house in 2023, the Giants may gauge potential free-agent suitors for Jones within the spring or look to discover a new starter within the draft. However given how Jones has performed below Daboll by 5 weeks, Tony Dungy, the previous coach of the Indianapolis Colts and a present NBC analyst, mentioned Jones was making a case for additional consideration.
“We’re seeing the most effective of Daniel Jones,” Dungy mentioned.
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