If Stafford was making Lamar's contract demands, how would you handle it?

**edromeo** · 03-30-2023, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by AlbertN

I think the biggest reason that there is so much disagreement about Lamar's contract negotiations is that there is so much uncertainty (rightfully) over how good he is. At one extreme some people think he's better than Mahomes and at the other extreme, some people think he's no better than Stafford (a very good Super Bowl winning quarterback)....

So in the interest of bringing us all back together a bit, if Matthew Stafford were our quarterback and making the same contract demands as Lamar what would you do if you were DeCosta?

I think this thought experiment will help us determine if our disagreements about how the Ravens are handling the negotiation are mostly based on how good we think Lamar actually is, or if they actually had to do with Ravens are negotiating. (I think the former.) I picked Stafford as my exemplar because he's a very good quarterback who's about 10th best in the league and not a lot of uncertainty about what he can and can't do. If you don't like Stafford, imagine whatever quarterback that you consider then 10th best in the league........ If I were DeCosta, I would approach the situation exactly the same as DeCosta has done so far with Lamar.

This is just business for the Ravens, nothing personal.

The Ravens are reacting to the player's decisions.....if the decisions are the same then the Ravens reaction would be the same.

In this case the QB is making contractual demands that even the best QB in the NFL (Mahomes if there's a doubt) didn't. In this case the player is making demands that are clearly an outlier to the extent that the Browns have already been forced to restructure it.

I say no change if you swap Stafford for Lamar.

**ShadeRaven** · 03-30-2023, 02:37 PM

The ravens would sell high on an aging mathew Stafford, him being a traditional pocket passer, would have more value across the league than a dual threat

**Ravenmallard** · 03-30-2023, 07:55 PM

Originally Posted by ShadeRaven

After being chosen No. 1 overall by the Detroit Lions' in the 2009 draft, Stafford went 74-90-1 in 12 seasons under three different head coaches — Jim Schwartz, Jim Caldwell and Matt Patricia.

And then went to a respectable franchise with a good HC and immediately won a SB.

**usmccharles** · 03-30-2023, 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by edromeo

This is just business for the Ravens, nothing personal.

The Ravens are reacting to the player's decisions.....if the decisions are the same then the Ravens reaction would be the same.

In this case the QB is making contractual demands that even the best QB in the NFL (Mahomes if there's a doubt) didn't. In this case the player is making demands that are clearly an outlier to the extent that the Browns have already been forced to restructure it.

I say no change if you swap Stafford for Lamar.

This is spot on.

Just because X does a bad business deal doesn't mean Y should follow. I feel that Lamar was expecting to have a bidding war and clearly that's not the case and I don't expect him to swallow his pride and take less than his number.

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**AlbertN** · 03-31-2023, 08:54 AM

I guess I didn't phrase my question well enough because the thread has gone off in directions I didn't anticipate. Still, I got enough answers to make things clear to me. The guys that think that we should pay Lamar whatever he wants think that way because they think he is a generational quarterback. They believe that DeCosta's negotiating tactics are bad, because they don't think a generational quarterback should be treated the way Lamar has been.

On the other hand I bet that the Ravens think that Lamar is somewhere around the 5th best quarterback in the league and they are negotiating based on that ranking. So there really is no disconnect on the negotiating style, it seems to be ENTIRELY a disagreement with how to rank Lamar. For obvious reasons (that have been discussed here ad nauseum), the error bars on Lamar's talent evaluation are wide and this causes most of the rancor in this message board.

I wish people would realize that no matter what their opinion of Lamar's talent, they could well be wrong because lots of other smart people have a different opinion.

**Unibomber** · 03-31-2023, 02:27 PM

Stafford is good, but he's not worth that kinda contract either. I would give it to Mahomes, no one else.

**The Excellector** · 03-31-2023, 03:22 PM

You have the idea. I would have handled it differently, because I believe that Lamar’s ceiling as a passer is immense, but that said ceiling would never be reached here in Baltimore, because it would be anywhere near high enough up on the priority list, but if it were, I don’t think anybody would be arguing about paying Lamar any amount of money, unless they were just dead set against any and all fully guaranteed contracts.

**John Reglarperson** · 03-31-2023, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by dscola31

I disagree with the premise. I think if they had any questions about Lamar's ability, it should have been answered by firing Roman and getting a 21st century OC in the building.

Tell me more about all those running QBs in the 60s 70s 80s.

Air Coryell was invented by Don Coryell in the 70s.

The Old and Dated offense is Air Coryell.

**KidRock20** · 03-31-2023, 03:42 PM

Injuries matter. Lamar has been injured or sick numerous times over his career. He has been offered the second most fully gtd money in the NFL history. Im not sure what else needs to be said. The Ravens were fair. Lamar is great.

Why be greedy and take all the money when your team has proven to put a decent product on the field and spend up to the cap. I love having Lamar on the team but i'm firmly on the Ravens side that they were fair. Really wish Lamar would sign the deal.

**The Excellector** · 03-31-2023, 03:43 PM

Yeah, Lamar’s been sick. Sick of the Ravens offensive philosophy. Just thinking about our philosophy is enough to make you stress eat.

**simplesimon** · 03-31-2023, 03:46 PM

Matthew Stafford had Megatron for his wide receiver. Lamar Jackson had Bumblebee (not even Optimus Prime).

**KidRock20** · 03-31-2023, 03:48 PM

Originally Posted by The Excellector

Yeah, Lamar’s been sick. Sick of the Ravens offensive philosophy. Just thinking about our philosophy is enough to make you stress eat.

If Lamar thinks the Ravens wronged him by keeping Roman the extra year, not giving him enough talent around him or running a dated philosophy, I wont disagree with him. I cant disagree. If he wants to leave because of that, that's fair.

But the offer they gave him was fair and in line with what could be expected in MY opinion.