NFL owners ain’t got that dog in ’em.

Some of the world’s richest people don’t want that smoke. They run from the grind.

If you take anything away from the 61-page report leaked Tuesday by investigative podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out,” understand this: NFL owners would rather save a buck than try to win Super Bowls. They would rather wander through the journeyman quarterback wilderness and miss the playoffs than pay Lamar Jackson a fully guaranteed contract.

If sports debate shows held NFL owners to the same standards as the players, we’d hear no end about how soft these uber-wealthy people actually are. Based on what we know for sure now, they deserve a good skewering.

There’s nothing America’s most profitable sports league hates more than physical copies of investigations of its owners and players, which is why you rarely ever see any. It’s that old adage: If an “oral report of findings” is delivered in a closed boardroom, did the investigation ever really happen?

That’s what makes the podcast’s procurement of this report — an arbitration finding after the NFLPA accused team owners of colluding to lower guaranteed compensation in player contracts — so extraordinary. Given the documentation within, any reasonable person would conclude that owners were definitely rooting for each other to prevent Jackson and other top quarterbacks from breaking the bank.

It seems former federal judge and attorney Christopher Droney, the arbiter over the case, was one of the few people who would look at the circumstances and conclude NFL owners didn’t collude. Yet his own report contains jocular texts among them celebrating when the guaranteed money was kept relatively low.

On the Jackson front, the newest info mostly confirms what was already apparent. Before the 2023 season, there was a shocking lack of interest from the other 31 NFL teams in the 2019 MVP. The report said no other teams contacted Jackson directly to negotiate when he was on a non-exclusive franchise tag — even though, at any given time, at least half the league’s teams are in desperate need of a franchise quarterback, the most consequential yet difficult-to-nail-down position in sports.

“Only a couple of teams expressed interest” to general manager Eric DeCosta, who wound up being the biggest beneficiary of the curious lack of excitement to sign Jackson. With the quarterback going on to win the 2023 MVP and earn runner-up honors in 2024, there’s no way DeCosta could have buyer’s remorse at any price — even if he had needed to pay more than the five-year, $260 million deal with $185 million guaranteed.

Jackson doesn’t get off scot-free here: His text to DeCosta with the “FULLY GUARANTEED” all-caps emphasis and the detail that he said his phone mic wasn’t working in the midst of his contract negotiations underscore that he lacks the polish and professionalism of an actual agent.

Of all the teams that need to eat their share of accountability for a system that clearly values keeping the biggest share of revenue over maintaining a competitive environment, the Ravens come out smelling relatively clean.

DeCosta had no need to bid against himself to give Jackson a record deal — it’s on the other owners who refused to come up with competitive offers for a franchise-changing quarterback. Though Steve Bisciotti put his foot in his mouth three years ago by scoffing at Deshaun Watson’s guarantees, he still ponied up the cash to keep Jackson, and his club has stayed dominant in the AFC North as a result.

Other NFL owners — especially the Atlanta Falcons’ Arthur Blank, who has given the reins of his team to Desmond Ridder and Kirk Cousins since dismissing the idea of even pursuing Jackson — come out looking a lot worse.

Other parts of the report are more damning, specifically accounts of a March 2022 NFL Management Committee slideshow that outlined the hazards of guaranteed money continuing to rise after Watson’s $230 million fully guaranteed deal. The presentation specifically cautioned owners that following the trend would hamstring their rosters in the future and that it could lead to players taking a larger share of annual revenue than they were entitled to under the league’s collective bargaining agreement.

Although owners denied the idea that the presentation was taken as anything more than a suggestion (some owners, including Baltimore’s Bisciotti, said they couldn’t recall the presentation), the actions of the next offseason speak loudly to the owners’ resolve. An NFLPA expert pointed out that average team expenditures dropped by about $10 million even though the salary cap rose by $16 million.

If it’s simply a coincidence that teams spent less on average the year after Watson’s inconveniently expensive deal, it’s a hell of a coincidence.

It’s even less ambiguous seeing texts between Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill and Chargers owner Dean Spanos, who were both facing the champagne problems of paying talented young quarterbacks. When Bidwill celebrated the lowered guaranteed money, Spanos texted back, “Your team helps us for our QB next year.”

Replied Bidwill: “I think many teams will be happy with it once they have a chance to review. Cleveland really screwed things up, but I was resolved to keep the guaranteed [money] relatively ‘low.’”

Two billionaires high-fiving each other over keeping salaries down should make us all taste a little bile. It may not be a coincidence that neither the Cardinals nor the Chargers has ever won a Super Bowl.

It’s worth wondering how Jackson’s next round of negotiations will go now that he is armed with a clearer sense of how NFL owners circled the wagons to protect the bottom line.

It seems that Jackson and Ravens leadership are in a great place (DeCosta quickly fulfilled his star quarterback’s request to sign Jaire Alexander), and Jackson said last week he wouldn’t address any issues about contract extensions through the media. Jackson has said before he wants to retire in Baltimore, but you wonder how much he’ll ask for — and how much will need to be guaranteed.

What Jackson might have suspected in 2023, now he knows for sure in 2025. Now we all know: There are some NFL owners who would rather save money than compete. All the tickets, jerseys and TV packages that are supposed to help these teams win the Lombardi Trophy are really just lifting the bottom line. Too many of them are OK with mediocrity as long as it costs less, something we’ve long suspected about many owners and now can confirm.

This isn’t a revelation that should only discourage players. It ought to make fans who pour out their wallets furious, too.

These owners are supposed to be trying to one-up each other. If they aren’t, what’s all the damn money for?