“One of the Most Happiest Moments of My Life”- Eric DeCosta Opens Up on Resigning Ravens Superstar Lamar Jackson Despite Challenges

Baltimore Ravens’ general manager Eric DeCosta is proud of his quarterback Lamar Jackson. There is no doubt that Jackson’s extension contract will forever remain an interesting one in NFL history. One because of his mother, Felicia Jones’ involvement and securing one of the highest deals in the league’s history, the other due to DeCosta’s challenging phase.

Ravens GM was at the NFL Combine in early March of 2023, when the quarterback asked for a trade, on his social media. At that time, the franchise had no plans to trade him, as he was given a non-exclusive franchise tag. However, later after signing him with a massive $260 million contract, DeCosta in Adam Jones podcast, mentioned that he learned from a renowned GM, Ozzie Newsome, about staying patient and strategic. This clearly states, it wasn’t easy at all for DeCosta to re-sign his favorite player in the team.

Eric DeCosta revealed the challenges in re-signing Lamar Jackson!

In a latest episode of Next Up with Adam Breneman, Ravens GM Eric DeCosta joined in talking about his team, the quarterback, and his challenges while extending Lamar Jackson’s contract. DeCosta described Lamar as not only a talented player but also a person he deeply admired for his humility. However, negotiating with Jackson directly instead of through an agent presented unique difficulties for him. DeCosta expressed, “It’s very hard well I’ll tell you when you’re a parent, some of you might be parents, it’s very hard to tell your kids that they’re not very good at something, or they’re not as good as they think they are, or to disagree sometimes and with Lamar it was very hard for both of us to disagree at times.”

He further explained, “With an agent, it’s….easy for a general manager to say to an agent your client is not as good as he thinks he is, or I’m not giving you this, I know you want it, but I’m not giving you this. And here’s why I disagree with a player that you care for with the emotional aspect of a friendship and a respect it creates all these different Nuance challenges.” Negotiating with the QB, whom DeCosta respects both as a player and as a person, created emotional challenges. Despite the difficulties, DeCosta and Jackson made a pact to keep their negotiation private, which they successfully did, as “the media was very wrapped up in this negotiation.”

The general manager then expressed pride in overcoming these challenges, saying that all these things successfully happened “because Lamar wasn’t talking to anybody and I wasn’t talking to anybody but it was a challenge in saying that when we got the deal done it was one of the happiest moments in my professional career.”

Read more: Lamar Jackson Chose to Respond His Doubters After Becoming the Highest Paid QB With His Mom as His Agent

It’s true that this deal might have affected their friendship. But they managed it maturely!

How is the relationship between Lamar Jackson and Eric DeCosta?

At the end of 2022, there were some rumors that Lamar Jackson wasn’t happy with the team and was looking for the next spot. The rumors continued to swirl during his contract negotiations, affecting his and GM Eric DeCosta’s friendship. However, later, DeCosta, during the contract talks with him, expressed his love and respect for the quarterback. He clearly mentioned, “Our relationship with Lamar [Jackson], I think is fantastic every single day.”

Calling the scenario a business work, GM cleared the two communities very often, and even spent some time together. He also showed his belief in Jackson saying that they can’t win without a quarterback like him. Not only this, in November 2021, DeCosta also stated, “He’d be the kind of guy you’d be very proud to have as a son.”

This statement made by him and the efforts he made to keep him back, were evident enough to show how much respect and love is in his heart for his quarterback, Jackson.