Richard Sherman blames other QBs for Lamar Jackson saga

Former Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman has blamed multiple big-name quarterbacks for the situation Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson finds himself in this spring. 

As mentioned by Chris Rosvoglou of The Spun, Sherman remarked on the latest edition of his podcast that he assumed Kirk Cousins forever changed quarterback contracts with the deal he received from the Minnesota Vikings back in 2018. At that time, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported Cousins' three-year, $84M deal was historic since it was the first fully guaranteed multiyear contract in NFL history. 

However, Sherman pointed out that Kansas City Chiefs starter Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills later failed to do right by their peers due to the contracts they accepted. 

In the summer of 2020, Mahomes signed a 10-year contract extension worth up to $503M that, per ESPN's Adam Schefter, included a $140M injury guarantee and also "$477M in guarantee mechanisms." The following offseason, Allen agreed to a six-year contract extension worth up to $258M with $150M guaranteed. 

Both Sherman and retired wide receiver Calvin Johnson suggested teams are now actively working to avoid signing contracts similar to the fully guaranteed five-year, $230M deal signal-caller Deshaun Watson received from the Cleveland Browns last March. 

"Now Lamar is trying to set it after Deshaun’s already set it, and they're [NFL teams] like 'Nah,'" Sherman said. 

"They don’t want to allow certain things to happen because it sets a trend going forward," Johnson added.

Ravens executive vice president Ozzie Newsome essentially admitted that Watson's contract "did create some problems" for teams looking to negotiate with top-tier quarterbacks. Jackson, meanwhile, is currently on the non-exclusive franchise tag and can speak with other organizations. Baltimore would have five days to match any offer Jackson agrees to or accept two first-round draft picks as compensation for his services. 

Thus far, no team has presented Jackson with the type of fully guaranteed contract he has allegedly wanted since at least last summer. One wonders what the quarterback market would look like today had Mahomes and Allen worked to receive more guaranteed money years ago.