Ravens owner reportedly views Deshaun Watson contract as a problem

It sounds like Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti is still against giving star quarterback Lamar Jackson the same type of contract Deshaun Watson received from the Cleveland Browns last year. 

"Every club has to do what they have to do with contracts," Ravens executive vice president Ozzie Newsome said during an edition of "The Bernie Kosar Show," per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "I don’t worry about what other people do, but our owner did say that contract did create some problems. We have to figure out if that’s going to be the norm or is that an outlier. We don’t know." 

The Browns traded with the Houston Texans to land Watson in March 2022 and then rewarded him with a fully guaranteed five-year, $230M contract at a time when he was facing nearly two-dozen lawsuits related to allegations of sexual misconduct during massage sessions. Later that same month, Bisciotti publicly spoke out against the deal. 

"I don’t know that he should’ve been the first guy to get a fully guaranteed contract," Bisciotti said at that time, according to PFT. "To me, that’s something that is groundbreaking, and it’ll make negotiations harder with others." 

It's been reported for months that Jackson wants a deal similar to or even more expensive than Watson's. Baltimore instead used the non-exclusive franchise tag to retain Jackson's rights for 2023, but he now can negotiate with other teams about a contract. The Ravens would have five days to match any deal Jackson accepts or receive two first-round draft picks as compensation. 

Jackson has no personal red flags hovering over his status this spring, but many have pointed out the one-time NFL Most Valuable Player has missed a total of 11 games (playoffs included) since Week 1 of the 2021 campaign due to injury setbacks. Thus far, it's assumed no club has met Jackson's contract requests even though he reportedly has made it known through a representative not certified by the NFL Players Association that he "is ready to move on from the Ravens" for the right price.