​When it comes to his contract, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has a consistent habit of sharing as few details as possible. He has continued to choose to keep the situation as private as he can.Jackson was asked during his first press conference of training camp whether he would provide an update on any negotiations with the team.”I’m gonna keep it the same way I’ve been keeping it. You know, not here,” Jackson said. “You know, it’s private between me and the G.M.”Because he doesn’t have an agent, Jackson has in the past cut off talks once football season began. He was asked whether he’d be working on a new deal, now that training camp has opened.”Yeah, you know, focus on football, like it’s always been,” Jackson said.It’s been clear for more than a year that Jackson wants, and deserves, a new deal. When he signed his current contract in 2023, he became the highest-paid quarterback in the league, at $52.5 million. Since then, that APY has slid farther and farther down the list of top quarterback compensation packages.In January, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti made it clear that the team wanted to get a new deal done, ideally before the beginning of the league year in March. That didn’t happen. And it still hasn’t happened — even though it would be very easy to get it done.With the new Patrick Mahomes deal moving the bar to $63 million per year, a Jackson deal at say, $63.5 million per year, would consist of three new years at $190.5 million plus the remaining $104 million on the final two years of his current contract. That’s a grand total of $294.5 million over five years, an average from signing of $58.9 million.The guarantees would also need to be negotiated, with perhaps the first two years fully guaranteed at signing and the third year fully guaranteed as of the start of the second year. That essentially makes the first three years fully guaranteed.Still, both sides have to get there. Before they can get there, they have to want to get there. Since neither side will say anything about the negotiations, it’s impossible to know how and why a fairly simple negotiation has once again been bogged down — like it was throughout 2021 and 2022, until a new contract was finally signed after the rookie deal had expired in 2023.This time around, the Ravens won’t be able to use the franchise tag, if/when the current deal expires. That gives Jackson more leverage than he had under his rookie deal. If a new contract isn’t done before the end of the 2027 season, he’ll be in line to become an unrestricted free agent in 2028.