Ravens' Lamar Jackson responds to knee injury theories

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has again responded to individuals who claimed he could've played through a lingering knee issue late this past season. 

"Got better probably a month ago," Jackson said during Thursday's news conference related to his new five-year contract, as shared by Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. Jackson noted he "passed" the required physical to put pen to paper on the deal.

Jackson didn't play after Week 13 of the 2022 campaign due to a PCL strain/sprain. Then-Ravens wide receiver Sammy Watkins suggested before Baltimore's wild-card playoff game at the Cincinnati Bengals that he believed the one-time NFL Most Valuable Player would've taken the field in the postseason if he had a long-term deal at that time. Watkins later attempted to clarify those comments, and Jackson addressed the matter via Twitter on March 28. 

"People don’t know what’s really going on," Jackson said about takes he noticed regarding his health. "They’ll be trying to reach and pull and try to see if the club will say [something], or what I’d come out and say. But we keep it in-house. It’s not anyone’s business but ours." 

It's believed no team made Jackson a noteworthy contract offer this spring while his rights for 2023 were retained via the non-exclusive franchise tag, possibly because he missed 11 games (playoffs included) over the past two seasons due to injury setbacks. 

PFT's Mike Florio has reported that Jackson's contract has no-trade and no-tag clauses, contains $112.5M fully guaranteed at signing, increases to $156M in fully-guaranteed money after one season and then goes to $185M guaranteed after two years. 

In short, the 26-year-old will have millions upon millions of reasons to play through any nagging discomfort he feels as Baltimore competes for playoff spots and seeds over the next handful of seasons.