There is a lot of noise away from the field surrounding the Baltimore Ravens at the moment and it is a noise that is going to be impossible to silence ahead of the 2022 NFL season.
The team will be looking to improve on last season’s showing where they fell to an 8-9 record after starting 7-3 and looking like a solid AFC playoff contender. Of course, injuries blighted John Harbaugh’s side, and that had a significant impact on the entire campaign, as it seemed nothing went right for the Maryland natives.
Jackson wants things done by Week 1
While many will be looking – and expecting – a huge improvement on last year, one man that will be tasked with that role is Lamar Jackson. The quarterback has been impressive since being drafted by the Ravens, however, there will be questions regarding the relationship between the franchise and their star QB.
All of the noise to have come out of the M&T Bank Stadium recently has surrounded the fact that his rookie contract is entering its final year and whether the organization will look to try and strike a deal to extend his stay with Baltimore.
Indeed, there is no denying that the franchise wants to keep him on their roster, but it appears as though they have been unwilling to come to the table and offer Jackson the deal that he wants. Now, it seems as though he has put a deadline on when that needs to happen by.
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According to a report by the NFL.com site, the player has reportedly said that he wants the contract situation sorted out by the time the Ravens take to the field against the New York Jets in Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season; a contest that is scheduled for Sunday, September 11.
Handling the situation by himself as he continues to represent himself without an agent, Jackson has revealed that he has no update to provide regarding the situation and it seems the date is a hard deadline. If an agreement is unable to be reached, the quarterback would be able to hit free agency in March, although the Ravens could end up simply placing their franchise tag on the star player, thus then having even more time to try and thrash out an agreement.
The contract situation needs to get sorted out as quickly as possible
Lamar Jackson sets deadline for his contract
As the 2022 NFL season approaches, everyone knows what a focused Jackson is able to produce, with the QB currently 37-for-49 in regular-season games that he has been the starter in the four seasons he has been at the organization.
Naturally, given the record that he has, there will be a lot of disappointment and anger from the team’s avid and enthusiastic fans if they were to let the contract situation drag on a lot longer than they perhaps need to given the impact that he has had in Maryland.
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Since sports betting became legal in the state, many have actually continued to back their team to reach the NFL playoffs each season with Jackson as the starter, and many would have been hoping he would go into the campaign with a mind that was not clouded regarding his future at the team.
Indeed, with BetMGM’s sportsbook for Maryland players available in the State many will have been pretty interested in the odds that were made to wager on the team and its chances of reaching the postseason after last year’s disappointment, while some might have even fancied the team for a Super Bowl run if they were to all remain healthy and available for Harbaugh to select on gameday.
However, with no new deal on the table and no real sign or willingness from the Ravens to sit down as we approach the beginning of the 2022 season, there might be some real concern that the 25-year-old will be able to do what he needs to do with a clear mind.
What is Jackson demanding?
There is no doubt that the contract situation that currently presents itself in Maryland needs to sort itself out as quickly as possible. As mentioned, there is plenty of noise and it would surely be impossible for Jackson not to get distracted given that he is representing himself in the negotiations regarding his future at the M&T Bank Stadium.
Unsurprisingly, there has been a lot of talk about what No. 8 is looking to get, with some having compared his potential new deal being around the figures that Deshaun Watson managed to acquire when joining the Cleveland Browns in the offseason.
The former Houston Texans QB managed to net himself a five-year contract worth $230 million fully guaranteed; a contract that is the richest deal in NFL history for any player and would have created some buzz around the league. Some have speculated that Jackson believes he should also be up there in regard to the guarantees that are being offered while feeling this deal could be a blueprint that he could use and follow.
However, the Ravens are yet to budge and whether they do before Week 1’s meeting with the New York Jets remains to be seen.
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Does Jackson deserve a top contract?
Lamar Jackson sets deadline for his contract
It is virtually impossible to deny the fact that Jackson is deserving of a top deal that puts him into the upper echelons of what some of the best players are currently earning in his position.
The 25-year-old has managed to get his team to the NFL playoffs in three of his four seasons – last year being the only time he did not and that could be down to the injury he suffered. In that time, he has managed to throw for 84 touchdowns in the regular season, as well as adding a further 21 rushing TDs.
He did have a troubling year last year, scoring just 20 TDs combined, but he also threw a career-high 13 interceptions. Additionally, it was the most he had ever been sacked (38), thus highlighting the trouble he had because of the lack of players the Ravens had throughout the year.
There is no denying that Jackson deserves top dollar, but whether he will get that and by the Week 1 deadline that has been set remains very questionable at this moment in time.
The Canadian actor, director, screenwriter and producer Xavier Dolan will be the President of the Un Certain Regard Jury of the 77th Festival de Cannes. He will be joined by French-Senegalese screenwriter and director Maïmouna Doucouré, Moroccan director, screenwriter and producer Asmae El Moudir, German-Luxembourg actress Vicky Krieps, and American film critic, director, and writer Todd McCarthy. They will be in charge of awarding prizes for the Un Certain Regard section, which showcases art and discovery films by young auteurs.
This year, 18 films have been selected, including 8 first films. The 2023 Un Certain Regard top prize went to director Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature How to Have Sex.
When the light breaks by Rúnar Rúnarsson will open the Un Certain Regard section on Wednesday May 15, 2024.
XAVIER DOLAN – President Actor, director, screenwriter, producer Canada
An actor since the age of four, Xavier Dolan directed and starred in his first feature film, I killed my mother, which was a big hit at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2009. This was followed by Heartbeats and Laurence Anyways, presented at the Festival de Cannes in 2010 and 2012 at Un Certain Regard, where they were enthusiastically received. In 2013, Tom at the Farm was screened at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize. With Mommy, he is awarded several prizes, including the Prix du Jury at the 2014 Festival de Cannes and the César for Best Foreign Film. Grand Prize winner at the 2016 Festival de Cannes with It’s only the end of the World, he returns to Competition with Matthias & Maxime in 2019. After a few notable roles with other filmmakers, such as his performance in Xavier Giannoli’s Lost Illusions in 2021, for which he was nominated for a César for Best Supporting Actor, in 2022 he directed the series The Night Logan woke up. Xavier Dolan was a member of the Jury in 2015, and now chairs the Un Certain Regard Jury.
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MAÏMOUNA DOUCOURÉ Screenwriter, director France, Senegal
Her first professional short film, Maman(s), was selected for nearly 200 festivals around the world and won more than 60 awards, including the Jury Prize at Sundance, the Best Film Award in Toronto and the 2017 César for Best Short Film. In 2019, Maïmouna Doucouré receives the Gold Fellowship Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures. Released in 2020, Cuties, her first feature film, wins the Best Director Award at Sundance and a Special Mention from the International Generation Jury in Berlin. The film’s lead actress, Fathia Youssouf, won the César for Best Actress. Her second feature-length film, Hawa, produced in 2022 with Prime Vidéo, was also presented in Toronto. Maïmouna Doucouré is currently working on her next feature film about the legendary Joséphine Baker.
ASMAE EL MOUDIR Director, screenwriter, producer Morocco
Asmae El Moudir studied cinema at the Moroccan University and at La Fémis in Paris. She has directed several award winning short films. She completed her Al Jazeera television documentary, The Postcard, in 2020. The Mother of all Lies is her first independent documentary feature premiered at the 2023 Festival de Cannes where it won the Un Certain Regard Directing Prize. The film also won the Golden Eye for Best Documentary. The film is screened at Toronto, Sundance, Melbourne, Busan, Karlovy Vary as well as many festivals around the world and won more than 25 awards. Asmae El Moudir is nominated for the PGA Award and the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Doc. Most recently, she won the IDA Award (International Documentary Association) for Best Director. The Mother of All Lies was also shortlisted in the international features section of the Oscars 2024.
An international actress who works in French, English and German, Vicky Krieps has appeared in Joe Wright’s Hannah (2011), Philippe Claudel’s Before the Winter Chill(2013), Anton Corbijn’s A most wanted Man(2014), Ingo Haeb’s The Chambermaid Lynn(2015), Raoul Peck’s The Young Karl Marx(2017), and starred alongside Daniel Day Lewis in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread(2017). In 2021, she defended two films selected for the Festival de Cannes, Mia Hansen-Løve’s Bergman Island in Competition and Mathieu Amalric’s Hold me tight. The following year, she returned with two young German and Austrian directors in the Un Certain Regard section: Emily Atef’s More than Ever and Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage, which won her the Un Certain Regard Jury’s Best Actress Award in 2022. She will soon be seen in Viggo Mortensen’s The Dead Don’t Hurt and Hot Milkby Rebecca Lenkiewicz.
TODD MCCARTHY Film critic, director, writer United States
Todd McCarthy is a Cannes veteran – his first was in 1970 – who for decades covered the Festival for Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. Among his books are the definitive biography “Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood”, “Kings of the Bs: Working Within the Hollywood System” and “Fast Women” about female race car drivers. He won an Emmy Award for his documentary Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of a Hollywood Genius and is currently working on a project set in Hollywood just after World War II.
Do LaB kicked off its return to Coachella Weekend Two on Friday, April 19 with a couple standout surprise performances and a full lineup of electronic and crossover talent. Check out highlights from the first day of Weekend Two at the Do LaB stage below.
Prolific French DJ and hitmaker DJ Snake performed a special hip-hop set as the headlining surprise guest of the night.
Versatile trap and hip-hop influenced fan favorite TroyBoi performed as the other Do LaB surprise set of the night.
Additional previously announced day one programming featured acts like Juelz, HoneyLiv, CocoRosie, Alleycvt, Yung Singh, and more.
Stay tuned for notifications on announcements, surprise sets, and more by visiting the link here. Set times for the remainder of the weekend can be found here, along with more general info on Do LaB in the press release here. Additional photo selects from each day can be found here (photographer name listed in file name for photo credits).
The Do LaB stage at Coachella provides a preview of the brand’s flagship boutique festival, Lightning in a Bottle. The five day Lightning in a Bottle experience fuses a top tier musical lineup, immersive art installations, cause-driven educational programming, and a variety of yoga and movement programming within a sprawling lakeside venue in beautiful Buena Vista Lake, California.
Taking place over Memorial Day Weekend on May 22-27, LIB 2024’s musical programming highlights include Skrillex, Labrinth, Lane 8, James Blake, M.I.A., Skream, Tycho, ISOxo, Tipper, Fatboy Slim, CloZee, Nora En Pure, Bob Moses, Honey Dijon, Damian Lazarus, and several more.
More info on LIB can be found on their website here and in the official press release here, along with the media application here.
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