Cam Newton ran for more touchdowns than any other quarterback in NFL history, but he does not consider himself the greatest dual threat ever to play the game.
Asked on the 4th and 1 Show whether he’s the greatest dual threat ever, Newton answered, “No. Lamar Jackson.”
Newton says that what really separates Jackson is his speed, which allows him to break more big plays than Newton did. Newton said his own specialty was power in short yardage situations, but that Jackson and Michael Vick were greater threats with their legs because they were faster.
“Lamar’s style is different than mine,” Newton said. “He’s got big plays any play. He’s got speed that I never had. And he’s just a legend. I played the game more powerful. I can run, but I’m going to probably get caught. Vick, Lamar, they ain’t getting caught.”
Newton retired with 5,628 rushing yards, the second-most for a quarterback in NFL history behind Vick, as well as his record 75 rushing touchdowns. Jackson currently has 5,258 rushing yards and 29 rushing touchdowns. Jackson has a good chance of surpassing Vick’s quarterback record of 6,109 rushing yards this season, but he’s still a long way off from Newton’s record for the most rushing touchdowns.
Fifteen years ago today, former NFL quarterback Steve McNair was killed. He was only 36 years old.
The official explanation was that McNair had been murdered by his 20-year-old girlfriend, Jenny Kazemi, and that she then committed suicide.
The story always seemed incomplete. Suspicions lingered that it was a double murder made to look like a murder-suicide. Six years ago, SI.com released a nine-part podcast series on the crime.
The third overall pick in the 1995 draft from Alcorn State, McNair spent 13 years in the NFL. He played for 11 seasons with the Oilers and Titans before finishing his career in 2006 and 2007 with the Ravens.
He led the Titans to an appearance in Super Bowl XXXIV, nearly forcing overtime against the Rams with a late drive that ended in receiver Kevin Dyson being tackled just short of a touchdown.
McNair shared the 2003 MVP award with Peyton Manning. He had more than 31,000 career passing yards, and he appeared in 161 regular-season games with 153 starts.
He’s a member of the Titans Ring of Honor, and his No. 9 has been retired by the team.
If you haven’t seen it, the episode of A Football Life devoted to McNair is worth watching.
The Ravens didn’t make any major additions to their receiving corps this offseason, which signals their belief that players already on the team are set to take a step forward.
Rashod Bateman would be at the top of that list. The 2021 first-round pick missed time with injuries in his first two seasons before recording 32 catches for 367 yards in 16 games last year. That’s not quite what one would have in mind for a player with that draft pedigree, but the Ravens have shown continued faith that Bateman’s best days are in front of him.
The team signed him to a two-year extension this offseason and extending his stay through 2026 is a sign of that faith. As offseason work wound down, tight end Mark Andrews said that he believes his teammate is set for a breakout season.
“I think he looks incredible,” Andrews said, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com. “Everything -- his route running, catching the ball, being where he’s supposed to be -- he has it down to a science. I know he’s worked really hard, but he looks about as put together as he’s ever been. So, it’s going to be a big year for Rashod Bateman. I’m calling it now.”
Offseason hype doesn’t always translate to the fall, so the Ravens will be hoping that the hopeful offseason developments don’t prove to be a tease when it comes to Bateman.
The Ravens have added a veteran receiver.
Baltimore announced on Friday that the club has signed Keith Kirkwood.
Kirkwood, 29, had participated in the Ravens’ minicamp on a tryout basis.
He appeared in 13 games with four starts last season for the Saints, catching five passes for 37 yards. He was also on the field for 89 special teams snaps.
In 31 career games since entering the league in 2018, Kirkwood has caught 24 passes for 294 yards with three touchdowns.
Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley agreed to a couple of major contract changes this offseason.
Stanley agreed to cut his base salary from $11 million to $3 million with incentives in place that could allow him to earn back some of that compensation. He also turned the 2025 season into a void year, which puts him on track for free agency a year earlier than expected.
Stanley told Jeff Zrebiec of TheAthletic.com that he agreed to the revisions because he “just wouldn’t have personally felt good about leaving Baltimore” after a run of injury-plagued seasons that have limited both his availability and effectiveness. Stanley said he doesn’t “like not playing to my capability,” so it’s good news that he’s feeling a lot healthier as the 2024 season draws closer.
“I would just say I’ve been feeling more like myself than I have in previous years,” Stanley said. “For the most part, just to be able to feel like myself physically has made me a lot happier. I guess being in that state when I was younger, it wasn’t as savory as a moment or savory as a time, just knowing that, “OK, your career could have been over after one play,” and not knowing if I was ever going to feel like that again physically or athletically. To truly feel like that and be out there and just notice myself getting better every day and feeling more like my old self every day, it definitely makes me happy.”
Stanley turned 30 in March, but a return to good health and good form would set him up well for another big deal after the 2024 season along with providing a boost to an overhauled offensive line in Baltimore. That makes his status something to watch on multiple fronts in the coming months.
Justin Madubuike showed steady improvement as a pass rusher before landing a long-term deal with the team this offseason and one of his teammates on the interior of the Ravens defensive line is hoping to make a similar leap in 2024.
Travis Jones has 2.5 sacks through his first two seasons, which is close to the three sacks that Madubuike managed in his first two years with Baltimore. Madubuike had five sacks in 2022 and then posted 13.5 while making second-team All-Pro last season.
During the Ravens’ offseason program, Jones said he was looking for the same kind of third-year breakthrough this season.
“I just want to go out there and dominate and improve off the things I did last year and just keep being better, stacking days,” Jones said, via the team’s website. “I think I want to go out there for like five, six sacks, at least. Bare minimum.”
Achieving that goal would put Jones on the right track for a big payday of his own and the Ravens would likely put that into the category of good problems to have because of the benefits it would provide to their defense.
The Ravens waived wide receiver Tayvion Robinson on Wednesday, the team announced.
The team signed Robinson, along with 21 other undrafted free agents, following the draft.
Robinson spent three seasons at Virginia Tech before transferring to Kentucky for his final two seasons. He finished his college career with 194 receptions for 2,604 yards and 14 touchdowns in 60 games played.
In 2023, Robinson totaled 41 catches for 552 yards.
He also served as a punt returner, with 639 yards and a touchdown on 67 career returns.
When Ravens starting tight end Mark Andrews missed the last six games of last season, backup Isaiah Likely played very well in his place. This year, the Ravens hope to have Andrews healthy for 17 games — but don’t want to reduce Likely’s role in the offense.
That means Likely and offensive coordinator Todd Monken have been doing plenty of work together this offseason to figure out new ways to use Likely, not just at tight end but all over the field.
“It’s being a chess piece, being anywhere ‘Monk’ needs me to be in this offense – whether it’s in the slot, in-line, in the backfield, split out wide by myself,” Likely said, via the Ravens’ website. “The more you know, the more you can stay on the field.”
Likely said he doesn’t need to campaign for more playing time because the coaching staff knows that he and Andrews are both excellent tight ends.
“They watch film. They see it,” Likely said. “It’s an emphasis for them to try to see what we can do on the field together and harp on the little things so we can get on the field together and make the most of it.”
The Ravens are giving Malik Cunningham a chance to make their roster as a wide receiver after he played quarterback in college at Louisville, and worked mostly with the quarterbacks last year on the Patriots’ practice squad. Ravens coach John Harbaugh says Cunningham is picking things up nicely.
Harbaugh said that Cunningham’s understanding of the passing game as a quarterback is helping, and he has the athletic talent to play wide receiver in the NFL.
"[He’s] kind of a natural at the position,” Harbaugh said, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN. “I’ve seen that he understands the game from the perspective of the quarterback, so [his] routes and coverage and timing and things like that have been excellent.”
Cunningham, who ran for 3,182 yards and 50 touchdowns in his college career, also could have the talent to return kickoffs, a skill that became increasingly important with this year’s rule change. Cunningham can do a lot on the football field, and the Ravens are giving him every opportunity to prove he belongs on the 53-man roster.
In two years, the market has gone from $46 million (Deshaun Watson) to $51 million (Jalen Hurts) to $55 million (Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence). Inevitably, a quarterback will get to $60 million per year in new-money average.
Who will it be? Rich Eisen asked that question recently. I threw out a couple of possible names. I’ve since had a chance to go team by team and to compile a full list of possibilities.
In the end, it’s going to be a product of negotiations and circumstances. More than one of the names listed below could get to $60 million. For now, the question is who gets there first?
Here they are, listed in a loose hierarchy of most likely to least likely. For anyone who isn’t on the list, it’s not just unlikely — it’s likely impossible.
Dak Prescott, Cowboys: He’s currently in the best position to get a contract that starts with a 6. Between the growth of the market, the ongoing increases to the salary cap, and the leverage that comes from the final year of the contract that the Cowboys waited too long to give him, Prescott can basically name his price. Why wouldn’t that price be $60 million per year?
Jordan Love, Packers: The Packers and Love are working on a new contract. With $11 million in cash due for 2024, a five-year, $300 million extension would have a new-money average of $60 million — and a total-money average of $51.83 million over six years. With no owner diverting profits to superyacht construction or maintenance, the Packers can reinvest all profits in their football operations. If they’re truly sold on Love (and if they can construct the contract to give them an out after two or three years), it wouldn’t be a shock if he gets to $60 million first.
Matthew Stafford, Rams: He originally wanted a new contract in order to have fully-guaranteed money beyond 2024. Now that the guy he beat in a Super Bowl is at $55 million (Burrow), a guy who has never been past the divisional round is at $55 million (Lawrence), and the guy the Rams gave up a first-round pick to get off their books is at $53 million (Jared Goff), why shouldn’t Stafford want $60 million?
With $94 million owed to Stafford over the next three years, a three-year, $180 million extension would get him to $60 million per year in new money — at a total six-year average of only $45.66 million.
Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins: He wants a market-level deal. The Dolphins haven’t offered one yet. Whatever they put on the table, it surely won’t reach $60 million per year. At very best, he’d get something like $55.1 million, nudging the current bar up by just a little bit.
That said, don’t discount the possibility of a fugazi back-end year or two that artificially drives up the average. The Dolphins already did that with Tyreek Hill, getting his latest contract from a true $25 million to a phony $30 million per year in new money. If Tua wants to be able to tell the world he got $60 million, there’s a way to get there without actually going there.
Brock Purdy, 49ers: He’s not eligible for a new contract until after the end of the 2024 regular season. If no one else has gotten to $60 million by then, could he? For Purdy, having $1.1 million in 2025 salary makes it easier to pump up the new-money average. A five-year, $300 million extension translates to a six-year, $301.1 million contract with an average value from signing of $50.18 million.
That still seems like much more than the 49ers would want to pay.
C.J. Stroud, Texans: The window for a new Stroud deal opens after the conclusion of the 2025 regular season. If no one else gets to $60 million by then, Stroud likely will. He’d have $1.145 million for 2026 and the fifth-year option for 2027. A five-year extension at $60 million would entail another much lower total payout at signing.
Josh Allen, Bills: With each new quarterback contract, Allen’s six-year, $258.3 million extension becomes more glaring. He has a new-money average of $43.05 million. Thus, one of the top two quarterbacks in the NFL isn’t even in the top 10 in new-money average.
He has four years left on his current contract, at a total payout after 2024 of $156.05 million. That’s an average of $39 million per year on the back end of his current deal. The Bills might not want to hear this, especially with upcoming cap charges of $60.7 million, $56.4 million, $49.4 million, and $45.7 million, but Allen is underpaid. He should want a new deal. He should get a new deal. If his agents are currently rattling the cage behind the scenes, he could be the first to $60 million.
Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs: Mahomes did an ultra-long-term deal at $45 million per year in new money. The contract ties him to the Chiefs through 2031 (possibly their first season in Kansas) and relies on the willingness of the organization to move money around in order to ensure that the player with the most value in the NFL feels like he’s being treated fairly. Last year, for example, the Chiefs reshuffled the financial deck after the Burrow deal was done to give Mahomes cash flow of $52 million per year from 2023 through 2026.
The Chiefs hope to keep doing that, every few years. At some point, a new deal will be needed. If that were happening now, he’d surely get to $60 million per year in new money — especially since he’s worth far more than that to the Chiefs, and to the league at large.
Lamar Jackson, Ravens: From the player with the most value to the league to the league’s defending Most Valuable Player. He’s only one season into his current contract. It’s highly unlikely that the Ravens would even consider giving him a new one now. Still, at some level, Lamar Jackson might be looking at the ongoing growth of the market and wondering what’s wrong with this picture?
Consider this wrinkle. If the Ravens had given Jackson a market-level deal after 2020 (and not after 2022), he’d be three years into his second deal and, riding last year’s MVP award, in position to ask for an extension. That logic could prompt him to ask for one now.
At this point, there’s no reason to think Jackson wants to revisit his contract. If he unexpectedly decides to take a stand, he could potentially emerge from a training-camp holdout as the first $60 million quarterback.