Did signing Odell Beckham Jr. help Ravens keep Lamar Jackson?

Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta has suggested "overpaying" for star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. helped smooth things over with quarterback Lamar Jackson this spring. 

"Well, I don’t think it hurt," DeCosta told Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio when asked if signing Beckham positively impacted negotiations with Jackson. "I think Lamar was probably happy. I mean, I think his social media posts indicated that he was happy about the OBJ signing, but for us, you know, it was more about building out the receiver room as best as possible not necessarily as an olive branch to Lamar Jackson but building the best team we could at the time." 

Florio reported on April 12 that Beckham and the Ravens agreed to a one-year contract that includes $15M in guaranteed money and $3M in "reachable" incentives. A thought at the time was that was a steep price to pay for a 30-year-old wide receiver who hasn't played in a meaningful game since he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in February 2022 and who tore the ACL in that same knee back in October 2020. 

"Obviously, we paid a lot of money to him," DeCosta admitted to Florio. "We think we’re gonna get that benefit from him as a player. But we’re looking at a lot of other things too. We’re looking at potentially what he might get as a [compensatory] pick the following year, on a one-year deal, has a good year for us, hits the market next year, what’s that gonna look like? We were looking at things like the benefit to the community, the benefit in ticket sales, jersey sales." 

DeCosta also said he believes Beckham will help "maximize Lamar’s ability" as a passer in Baltimore's offense. 

Weeks after DeCosta and company introduced Beckham as a Baltimore player, the Ravens and Jackson agreed to a five-year deal reportedly worth up to $260M with $185M in guaranteed cash. 

"He reached out to me," Jackson said about recruiting Beckham during a Thursday news conference related to the quarterback's new contract, per Clifton Brown of the Ravens' website. "I was like, 'You're thinking about coming to us, I'm still part of the Ravens.' I was hyped about it." 

Jackson noted he was excited about the thought of Beckham joining an offense that includes Rashod Bateman, Devin Duvernay, Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely. It is, however, possibly most interesting Jackson considered himself "still part of the Ravens" while on the non-exclusive franchise tag and after he announced he requested a trade from the club on March 2.