Playing for New Contracts, but Making Very Different Cases

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 instructed reporters with a smirk that he would now not talk about negotiations of his new contract. Earlier than the beginning of the common season, he and the workforce’s entrance workplace agreed to desk talks till the subsequent low season.

“Respectfully, I’m actually completed speaking about it,” Jackson stated.

On Wednesday, standing at his locker on the Giants facility, quarterback Daniel Jones gave an identical response when assessing his looming contract extension.

“I don’t assume it was ever actually my focus to show to individuals by some means,” Jones stated. “My focus was to play in addition to I assumed I may play and put the workforce able to win.”

The 2 quarterbacks, each 25 years outdated and drafted a yr aside, have reached the tip of their rookie offers.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 means of their play.

However when Jackson’s Ravens (3-2) go to Jones’s Giants (4-1) on Sunday, the stark distinction of their arguments might be on full show. Jackson, a one-time league M.V.P., will almost definitely command a market-setting deal, whereas Jones auditions to stay on the Giants roster beneath 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 to this point. And the evaluation will tweak the marketplace for what beginning quarterbacks ought 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,” stated Mike Tannenbaum, an ESPN analyst and the previous common 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 Normal Supervisor Eric DeCosta earlier than the season. A two-time Professional Bowl choice, Jackson will earn $23 million in 2022, the fifth and last 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 a giant driver of contract negotiations, assured cash and different bonuses are additionally essential.

Jackson reportedly sought phrases much like these of Deshaun Watson, who in March signed a five-year, $230 million totally assured contract with the Cleveland Browns, the biggest of its variety in N.F.L. historical past.

His argument for matching or surpassing the highest tier of N.F.L. quarterbacks to this point has been sound.

This season, Jackson’s efficiency is on tempo to surpass his 2019 Most Priceless 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 risk for a workforce 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 finest receiver, Marquise Brown, this low season. Jackson has relied totally on tight finish Mark Andrews and a revolving forged of working backs and leads the workforce in dashing yards (374).

Baltimore’s secondary has been racked with accidents for the second straight season, and the protection, which gave up probably the most passing yards within the N.F.L. in 2021, surrendered second-half leads within the Ravens’ two losses already this season, placing strain on Jackson to throw the workforce again into video games.

Jones’s contract lobbying has occurred beneath totally different circumstances. Not like Jackson, the Giants quarterback has but to win a playoff sport 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 workforce’s instability.

Enjoying for his third head coach in his 4 N.F.L. seasons, Jones should impress Normal 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 possibility on Jones’s contract, prompting this “prove-it” season.

He’s getting an help from working again Saquon Barkley, additionally in a contract yr, who ranks second within the N.F.L. in dashing yards (533). Efficient working has opened up play-action ideas on brief and intermediate throws, high-efficiency passes that Jones is maximizing.

Jones has accomplished 66.7 p.c of his passes, the very best mark of his profession and tied for eighth-most within the league. He’s averaging six air yards per try, in accordance with the NFL’s Subsequent Gen Stats, and flinging far fewer deep balls now that the improved Giants protection beneath 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 believe Daniel’s completed a great job with the ball,” the Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka stated Thursday. “I believe he’s placing the ball in the correct spot and he’s making good choices.”

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 beneath Daboll by means of 5 weeks, Tony Dungy, the previous coach of the Indianapolis Colts and a present NBC analyst, stated Jones was making a case for additional consideration.

“We’re seeing one of the best of Daniel Jones,” Dungy stated.