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Lamar Jackson says he requested a trade from the Ravens on March 2

Tyler Greenawalt
·Staff writer
·3 min read

Lamar Jackson has spoken.

The embattled Baltimore Ravens quarterback tweeted Monday morning he requested a trade March 2. He did so in the second of a series of tweets posited as "a letter to my fans." He added that the Ravens haven't "been interested in meeting my value."

If he's is to be believed, it means he requested a trade five days before the Ravens placed the non-exclusive tag on Jackson. His contract situation has been one of the biggest unanswered questions of the NFL offseason, and the non-exclusive tag allowed him to speak with and negotiate with other teams. The Ravens could still match any offer sheet Jackson signs, or trade Jackson to the team that signed him in exchange for two first-round picks.

Jackson doesn't have an agent and the NFL warned teams about negotiating with a person named Ken Francis, who is not NFLPA-certified but allegedly attempted to speak with teams about Jackson's contract. Jackson denied this report, though.

Almost as soon as Jackson tweeted, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh was scheduled to speak at the annual NFL owners meeting in Phoenix. Harbaugh, bombarded with questions about Jackson and the tweet, told reporters he still expected Jackson to be the Ravens' quarterback in 2023.

"I haven't seen the tweet. It's an ongoing process," Harbaugh said. "I'm following it very closely. ... I'm thinking about Lamar all the time. Thinking about him as our quarterback. We're building our offense around that idea."

Former Ravens safety Tony Jefferson, who played two years with Jackson in Baltimore, tweeted Monday that "at this point it’s best Lamar and Ravens go their separate ways."

Jackson has until July 17 to agree to a long-term extension — either with the Ravens or another team. Otherwise, he'd have to play the 2023 season on the fully guaranteed $32.4 million franchise tag this year.

It's unclear exactly what type of contract Jackson wants, but many have surmised he wants something similar to the fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract the Cleveland Browns gave Deshaun Watson in 2022. Kirk Cousins is the only other quarterback with a similarly fully guaranteed contract. Former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman recently blamed Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen for not asking for fully guaranteed deals when they signed their long-term extensions.