Steelers Could Wind Up Big Winners In The Lamar Jackson Contract

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens have had very different offseasons tin 2023. Pittsburgh set out with a mission to get bigger and badder across the board, while the Ravens found themselves at the mercy of their self-represented quarterback, Lamar Jackson. For quite some time, it seemed as though 2023 would be a drastically changed Baltimore team and one with either Tyler Huntley or Anthony Brown under center. At the eleventh hour, however, Jackson and the team came to terms on an extension. 

Many experts began debating whether the Ravens had won the contract talks or if Jackson ended up winning, but no one seemed to wonder whether the actual winner of the extension was another team entirely.

Steelers' Rivals Take Massive Swing With Extension

While Jackson's contract extension didn't leapfrog Deshaun Watson for most guaranteed money (Watson's has $230 million guaranteed compared to Jackson's $185 million), it still gave Jackson the most money over three years in NFL history ($93 million more than Patrick Mahomes). That is just a feather in the cap that is a contract extension making Jackson the highest-paid NFL player in history per year ($52 million), but will the cost be more than financial in the long run?

The Ravens will end up saving around $10 million in 2023 thanks to the extension (Jackson's cap hit was $32 million, now down to $22 million), but after that things get sticky. Baltimore will start devoting more and more to Jackson as the cap hits rise to $33 million in 2024, $43.5 million in 2025, then a whopping $74.5 million in 2026 and 2027. The last two massive hits occur outside of the fully guaranteed money for Jackson, but the Ravens used the language of money to put their complete faith in Jackson for at least the next three seasons.

The Ravens brought in $26 million worth of new passing options for Jackson this offseason and at least one of which, Odell Beckham Jr., will need to prove that he is worth the contract. If Baltimore falls into the same rut they've been in and start cycling through receivers each season, the constraints of Jackson's contract will progressively lower the potential quality of the rental receivers brought in to surround their franchise quarterback.

Jackson can stoke the fire and give out quotes where this receiving corps (last in the NFL three of the last four seasons) will top 6,000 yards, but the reality is that the Ravens banked it all on Jackson and everything else is a "hope it works out" situation that will get less flexible by year.

Steelers Are The Happiest In The AFC North About Jackson's Extension

There is little doubt remaining after five years that Jackson is a special kind of athlete, however, the questions that have begun to rise up regularly concern his injuries (five missed games in 2021, missed final five games in 2022 and missed the 2022 Wild Card loss) and his ability to win in the postseason.

Jackson has posted a respectable 45-16 record in the NFL, but within the microcosm of the AFC North, on paper, it appears as though he generally continues to dominate with a 13-5 record. When he faces the Steelers, though, things get a bit muddier for the former MVP. Pittsburgh is 2-1 against Jackson when he has started, but the real statistic that stands out is the 16 sacks he has taken in those three games. The rest of the AFC North has combined for 29 sacks against Jackson, less than 10 per team. The Steelers know that Jackson wins games, but when he goes up against Pittsburgh not only has he struggled to win, but he's done it on his back most of the time.

Despite the impressive regular season record, Jackson has the fifth largest drop-off in passer rating from the regular season into the playoffs (96.7 in the regular season, 68.3 in the playoffs). On the surface, the NFL watched as an MVP-winner, dual-threat and self-represented player made up with the team that drafted him, and for most outside Baltimore, the feelings ranged from frustration to anger. In Pittsburgh, though, for all the highlights and TV clips, Jackson comes across much less impressive.

Steelers Ready For The 2023 Version Of The Lamar Era

For the last five years, the Steelers have been struggling with their identity, saw a future-HOF quarterback retire and gone through more than a few growing pains, yet the Ravens seem unable to wrestle anything consistent or lasting from the Steelers' grip. Jackson has made it quite clear that he considers himself healthy and doesn't consider his past injuries concering for the coming season, but that isn't the only component that is waiting for him.

This isn't the same Steelers team that was still finding its way, yet still sacked Jackson 16 times. The 2023 Steelers have been crafted with everything taken into account, an offense designed to be massive and to overcome an incompetent offensive coordinator, Matt Canada and more ready than they have been in Jackson's career to content for the division. The Ravens believe that they have signed the future of both the division and league, but the truth is that the window for the Ravens to stomp the Steelers down is rapidly closing and if 16 sacks seemed a lot to Jackson before, the kind of team lurking on the other side of the offseason will drive him crazy.

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