Lamar Jackson negotiation seem...

INDIANAPOLIS — When the Baltimore Ravens' braintrust held a season-ending news conference on Jan. 19, the tone was hopeful but pointed: There was significant ground to cover in contract negotiations with quarterback Lamar Jackson and a shrinking window of time to work with. Six weeks later, the talks remain stuck in a quagmire of ambiguity, while the environment among the Ravens keeps getting more tense.

The latest turn came this week, when general manager Eric DeCosta somewhat stunningly shaded his wide receivers while meeting with the media at the NFL scouting combine, framing Baltimore’s struggles in evaluating the position with a line that was bound to catch the attention of his locker room:

“I would say a lot of people would say the same thing; it’s a challenging position to evaluate in different ways. If I had an answer, that means I would probably have some better receivers, I guess. We keep trying.”

The response from one of DeCosta’s wideouts — 2021 first-round pick Rashod Bateman — was predictably frigid. The less predictable aspect was that Bateman responded publicly on social media, while also including a defense of Jackson. In a tweet that was deleted minutes later, Bateman responded directly to DeCosta’s remarks:

“[H]ow bout you play to your player’s strength and & stop pointing the finger at us and #8,” Bateman wrote, referring to Jackson. “[B]lame the one you let do this…. we take heat 24/7. & keep us healthy … care about US & see what happen..ain’t no promises tho … tired of y’all lyin and capn on players for no reason.” After taking the message down, Bateman tweeted out “my apologies” with a hugging emoji.

What can’t be erased or replaced is the simplicity of the message: Bateman appeared frustrated enough to go at his general manager publicly (in a manner that you could argue was fair game, given DeCosta’s remarks), and he chose to include Jackson in his message despite the quarterback not being part of DeCosta’s quote. 

The line “blame the one you let do this” also appeared to be a not-so-veiled reference to former offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who “stepped down” in January and was replaced by Georgia Bulldogs offensive coordinator Todd Monken last month, a hire that was reportedly made without Jackson being a central part of the process. And if that wasn’t enough, Bateman’s inclusion of “keep us healthy” and “care about US” comes one day after the NFL Players Association released league-wide team report cards that eviscerated Baltimore’s strength coaches, ranking them dead last in the NFL with a grade of F-.

In that report card, which was the result of anonymous polling of more than 1,300 of the NFL’s 2,200-plus active players, the NFLPA remarked that Baltimore’s strength coaches “[W]ere even significantly below the second-worst team [in the NFL]. Players do not feel like the strength staff helps them be more successful. The team recently parted ways with Head Strength Coach Steve Saunders, so we will be interested to see if this area improves in his absence.”

All indications from league and union sources have been that Jackson is seeking a long-term fully guaranteed deal similar to the one signed by Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson last year. This despite a report from ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith that Jackson isn’t seeking a fully guaranteed deal, which continues to be shot down by multiple sources familiar with the negotiations between Jackson and the Ravens.

The next five days will reveal what all this means, with the ultimate answer likely to be provided in whatever form of franchise tag the team puts on Jackson, followed by his subsequent response to the move. Either he will accept the tag and move into the offseason with the team, or he will reject it and ask to be traded. What seems less likely to happen with each passing day is a last-ditch extension.

The period to make that happen is coming to a close. And about the only change that has taken place is that things around the Ravens have gotten worse rather than better.