Quote:
Originally Posted by GrantDawg
That was cost and circumstances. If he had an agent that teams could have worked with, and had some kind of actual framework for what he was asking for, then teams would have been interested. Instead, no one was willing to blindly negotiate a contract just for the Ravens to match it and keep him.
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Exactly. I don't think it was realistic that anyone other than the Ravens was going to sign Lamar Jackson.
They have a similar RFA system in hockey, where when a player is a restricted agent, teams can offer that player a contract and the other team can either accept that contract and keep the player, or let the player go for draft pick compensation.
It's very, very rare that these players ever get contracts from another team and, if they do, they are often matched. So, teams rarely feel the need to "do the work" for a rival.
That being said, every once in a while it happens and it's pretty fun! It creates a lot of bad blood between the franchises and teams can get pretty creative with their offers. A few decades ago Red Wings forward Sergei Fedorov was a RFA and Carolina eventually offered him a deal. There was a $14 million signing bonus upfront, and about $12 million in bonuses that would be paid throughout the remaining years of the contract. However, there was the caveat that if Fedorov’s team reached the conference finals, he would be paid all $12 million upfront. The actual salary worked out to only $2 million per year. That would mean that there was the potential of having to pay Sergei Fedorov $28 million for one season. Carolina wasn't making the Conference Finals, but the Wings were coming off a Stanley Cup win.
The Wings matched it and Fedorov was paid $28 million for all of four months of hockey.