Lamar Jackson gets nonexclusive franchise tag from Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens announced Tuesday that they were designating Lamar Jackson as their franchise player, preventing him from becoming an unrestricted free agent this month after the expiration of his rookie contract.

The deadline to apply the franchise tag was 4 p.m. Eastern. The Ravens were always expected to use the tag if they didn’t reach a long-term deal with Jackson first. The team and its star quarterback can continue negotiating now, although the nonexclusive tag means he can negotiate with other teams, too.

“There have been many instances across the league and in Baltimore when a player has been designated with the franchise tag and signed a long-term deal that same year," general manager Eric DeCosta said in a statement. "We will continue to negotiate in good faith with Lamar, and we are hopeful that we can strike a long-term deal that is fair to both Lamar and the Ravens. Our ultimate goal is to build a championship team with Lamar Jackson leading the way for many years to come.”

The Ravens would have a chance to match any agreement between Jackson and another team, and if they chose not to match, they’d receive two first-round draft picks in return. If Jackson plays this season on the franchise tag, he’d make $32.4 million.

Baltimore could have prevented Jackson from negotiating with anyone else by using the exclusive-rights franchise tag, but that could have cost significantly more.

The Dallas Cowboys used the exclusive franchise tag on quarterback Dak Prescott in 2020. A year later, they reached a long-term deal with him. Kirk Cousins is another quarterback who played on the franchise tag fairly recently. He did it his final two seasons in Washington before joining the Minnesota Vikings in 2018.

So now the saga between Jackson and the Ravens enters its next phase. Josh Allen, the other star quarterback drafted in 2018 with Jackson, signed a long-term deal with Buffalo two offseasons ago. Jackson, on the other hand, entered last season still without an extension. His contract status didn’t seem too disruptive last offseason — he participated in mandatory minicamp and training camp — but there’s no telling how the next few months will go.

There obviously is some risk involved with using the nonexclusive tag, especially for a player of Jackson’s caliber, but it could resolve this deadlock sooner. If Jackson is able to find a deal he likes from another team, the Ravens could either match it or take the draft picks and allow him to leave.

Jackson, who doesn't have an agent, is one player who should pique the rest of the league's interest, even at the cost of two first-round picks, and his availability to any degree could shake up NFL free agency, which opens later this month.

Jackson was the 2019 NFL MVP, and his dynamic passing and running make him one of the game’s most unusual stars. At age 25, he already is one of six quarterbacks in NFL history with 10,000 yards passing and 4,000 rushing. His 12 games with at least 100 yards rushing are an NFL record.

Jackson has been hurt at the end of the past two seasons, and the Ravens haven’t reached the AFC championship game with him, but his impact on their offense is massive. If he remains with Baltimore, he’ll have a new coordinator after the Ravens hired Georgia’s Todd Monken.

AP source: Chiefs sending Brown, Clark into free agency

The Kansas City Chiefs are about to have two big holes to fill, along with plenty of salary cap space to do it, as they enter free agency and begin putting together a roster for the defense of their Super Bowl title.

The Chiefs plan to decline using the franchise tag for the second time on left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., and they will release pass rusher Frank Clark, a person familiar with the decisions told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because neither of the moves has been officially made.

The Chiefs and Brown's representatives spent all last season working on a long-term deal for him, but the two sides never could reach an agreement and he wound up earning about $16.6 million on the franchise tag. Brown would have made more under second-year franchise tag rules and the Chiefs were unwilling to go there with his salary.

The deadline for teams to use the franchise tag is later Tuesday. And the Chiefs and Browns could still agree to a long-term deal by Monday, at which point he can begin negotiating with other teams.

“As always, it's more beneficial for us to get something done long term,” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said last week at the scouting combine. “Unlike last year, I think we have at least a runway to work with. We've gotten to know his team a little bit better. We're excited to get that process started.”

The Chiefs, who also could lose right tackle Andrew Wylie to free agency, sent a package of draft picks to the Ravens to acquire Brown ahead of the 2021 season. He went on to start every game but one over two seasons in Kansas City, earning Pro Bowl nods each year and helping the Chiefs beat the Eagles in the Super Bowl last month.

What the 27-year-old Brown could demand on the open market is somewhat polarizing, though. He ranked in the top third of offensive tackles in metrics such as pass-block win rate but has been inconsistent at times.

As for Clark, the Chiefs were hoping to restructure a contract that would have been prohibitive for next season — the pass rusher would have counted nearly $29 million against the salary cap. They were able to do that last season and keep Clark in the fold, but they were unable to come to a similar agreement over the past two weeks.

The 29-year-old Clark had five sacks this past regular season before adding 2 1/2 more in the playoffs, moving him into third in postseason sacks since the NFL made them an official statistic in 1982. The victory over the Eagles also gave Clark his second Super Bowl ring in four years in Kansas City.

“I actually talked to him at the (Super Bowl victory) parade,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said last week. “He had to do some stuff for the actual exit physical, but I had a good talk with him. I love Frank Clark. It's just, you know, Veach has got to juggle all these different things going on. But Frank, he's a top-notch guy. I love him. Love him to death.”

Much like Brown, the Chiefs would be keen to reach an agreement with Clark once he hits free agency. He became a locker-room leader this past season, and rookie George Karlaftis praised Clark for helping him adapt to the NFL.

For now, parting with Brown and Clark leave the Chiefs with gaping holes on each side of the ball. But the moves also free up more than $40 million to use in free agency, and the Chiefs are expected to have 12 selections — once compensatory picks are awarded — to further fill holes when Kansas City hosts the NFL draft next month for the first time.

“You’ve just got to be buttoned up on your free agency plan,” Veach acknowledged. “You have to just have a plan, stick to it and knock it out of the park. And if the plan doesn’t work, you have to move on quickly.”

Vikings' Osborn helped pull man from burning car in Texas

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver K.J. Osborn said he was in the “right place at the exact right time” to help save a man from a burning car.

Osborn was riding in an Uber on an expressway around 2:30 a.m. Monday in Austin, Texas, when the vehicle came upon a wrecked car. Austin police said Tuesday that the car ran into a pole and caught fire. Police said the driver “had already been removed from the vehicle” by the time officers arrived.

Police declined to confirm the identities of the rescuers, saying only that the investigation is ongoing. The car’s driver was taken to a hospital with injuries described by police as non-life threatening. The cause of the wreck remains under investigation.

Osborn on Monday posted on Twitter a photo of himself and three others who rescued the man “from a vehicle up in flames after a bad crash.”

“Most of the time the saying goes ‘wrong place wrong time.’ But this time I believe God had me, us, at the right place at the exact right time,” Osborn wrote.

Osborn was in Austin visiting friends. He said Monday in an interview on an ESPN podcast that his Uber driver saw the crash into the pillars of the freeway overpass and pulled over. Osborn said while he approached the vehicle with caution out of concern for an explosion, the ride-share driver went right up to it and opened the door.

“I didn’t even know if he was alive when we walked up to the car,” Osborn said on the ESPN podcast. “Without that, I think that car would have burned on fire, and it would have been really tragic.”

After the man inside the car moved to the passenger’s side, Osborn, the Uber driver and two other bystanders worked to pull him out.

“That’s when I picked him up,” Osborn said. “He’s bleeding all over my shirt and everything, and I pick him up and I carry him about 10 to 15 yards so this way we’re away from the car.”

Osborn is working on finishing his master’s degree in criminal justice at Miami this offseason. He said on the ESPN podcast he hopes to work as a private investigator or in the United States Secret Service.

Osborn was a fifth-round draft pick by the Vikings in 2020 out of Miami, where he finished his college career after transferring from Buffalo.

The native of Ypsilanti, Michigan, played sparingly as a rookie before flourishing as the No. 3 wide receiver in Minnesota's offense. Osborn totaled 110 receptions for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns over the last two seasons.