Head of players’ union says NFL owners could be colluding against Lamar Jackson
NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith questioned why the Ravens and other teams have been unwilling to offer Lamar Jackson a fully guaranteed deal.
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In a memo shared Friday on the NFL Players Association's website, executive director DeMaurice Smith questioned why the Ravens and other teams have been unwilling to offer Jackson a deal with guarantees similar to those in other sports. It's unclear whether Jackson, who's free to negotiate contracts with other teams after two plus-years of unsuccessful talks in Baltimore, has received any offer sheets since free agency opened Wednesday.
Smith, who's served as executive director since 2009, said Friday that he's "never witnessed teams being so quick to publicly announce their lack of interest in an MVP quarterback, who is in his prime and who is also going to get an injury guarantee, regardless of his contract." After the Ravens designated Jackson with the nonexclusive franchise tag March 7, leaving themselves vulnerable to being outbid this offseason, a handful of potential suitors indicated through media reports that they would not be pursuing the star quarterback.
"The fully guaranteed structure for franchised players in the NFL CBA [collective bargaining agreement] was created precisely because we as a union know that owners have colluded in the past — and might do it again, as they are potentially doing right now — when it comes to highly sought-after players," Smith wrote. "So for those people out there who chant the power of a mythical NFL 'free market' — the market that would supposedly work to secure the highest and best contracts without a draft because all the owners want to win just the same — wake up and look at a market that is supposed to be but isn't, and teams that should be doing everything to win but do not."
"The NFL wants to send a message to all of the above-named stars that they will not get a fully guaranteed contact, simply because other first-ballot Hall of Famers didn't get them and — if they can help it — because Jackson didn't get one, either," Smith wrote. "The message for the non-quarterback free agent market is equally harsh: You don't stand a chance of getting this type of contract."
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