Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield could soon sign lucrative new deals that will keep them in the AFC North. How should Pittsburgh Steelers fans feel about this?
It’s not a matter of if, but when Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield will be signed. Jackson proved to be an excellent predecessor to Joe Flacco in Baltimore while Baker Mayfield will probably end up being the best Cleveland Browns quarterback in my lifetime.
Both players were selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, and they each have one year remaining on their rookie deals and a fifth-year option in 2022. However, as we have seen around the NFL in recent years, teams typically aim to please their franchise quarterbacks and oftentimes don’t wait until their contract is up until attempting to strike a new deal.
In fact, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk recently wrote an article claiming that Jackson could be ‘closing in on $40 million or so per year.’ It stands to reason that Baker Mayfield’s new contract numbers could be close to that range.
Right now, Patrick Mahomes is the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL in terms of annual value with $45 million per season. Dak Prescott’s new deal has him making $40 million per season. With Jackson and Mayfield already building impressive resumes, they could be looking at money similar to what Dak received on his new contract.
Should Steelers fans care about these future deals?
New contracts for Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield are important to the Steelers because these are the quarterbacks Pittsburgh will be facing for the foreseeable future. At this point, we know that Cleveland and Baltimore will find a way to get deals done with their young franchise passers. It’s just a matter of how much money.
While it’s unfortunate for Steelers fans that the Browns and Ravens already have their franchise quarterback in place, there’s a positive we can look at with these new deals. Pittsburgh’s two biggest rivals for the division will have a substantial amount of cap space tied up into these two quarterbacks for a long time.
This means that the roster Cleveland has right now is not one they will be able to afford in just a few years. In fact, these next two years for both the Browns and the Ravens could prove to be their best shot at winning a Super Bowl title for quite some time, as they can currently afford to put more talent around their quarterbacks.
While there’s a chance that Jackson or Mayfield could outplay their new deals, it seems more likely that they don’t live up to the amount of money they will be making. If both players earn in the ballpark of $40 million per season, we expect them to play like top-tier quarterbacks each year. However, if they don’t improve much from the players they currently are, these are deals that the team and their fans could eventually come to resent.
Obviously, the Ravens and Browns are in a much better situation when it comes to the quarterback position. They have young passers that will be locked up for the foreseeable future. At this point, we just have to hope that Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield make an obnoxious amount of money that ends up hurting their team in the long run.