Just like we all imagined before the season began, the most pressing issue facing the Ravens this offseason will be whether they can get a contract extension done.
Considering the headline, callout and image that undoubtedly accompanied this column, I’m assuming I can go ahead and skip through the rest of the misdirection I had prepared for this lede and indeed acknowledge that this is a column about Ravens linebacker (and the man whose name I secretly replaced all of your friends with in your Secret Santa drawing because he deserves the gifts way more than any of you) Roquan Smith.
What do you think the odds would have been for Roquan Smith to be the 2022 Ravens’ team MVP before the season? I imagine they would have been significantly longer than current linebacker Trystan Colon but probably at least a bit better than former Orioles pitcher Jose Mercedes. And yet with Marlon Humphrey coming off his worst game of the season and Kevin Zeitler hurt, he’s … very much in the conversation despite having played just five games here so far, right?
Smith was the dominant defensive force in the Ravens’ much-needed Week 14 win against the Steelers. Six tackles, a sack, two pass defenses, a massive interception … and a partridge in a pear tree. The man arrived in Baltimore with absolutely insane hype surrounding him. He faced impossible expectations and yet … he’s somehow exceeded them. Save for the final few (and truly inexcusable) minutes against the Jaguars, he has fortified the defense. He’s taken pressure off of Patrick Queen, leading to some of the best football of Queen’s career. He has helped make up for an inconsistent edge rush. He has been the game-changer the Ravens have so badly missed on the defensive side of the field.
It is both entirely too early to say it but also getting less and less arguable that he is the team’s best linebacker since Ray Lewis. Yes, even better than Arthur Brown. Before he became the worst trade in Ravens history, Anquan Boldin was the best trade in Ravens history. But that title is in serious jeopardy at the moment. The Ravens have an absolute superstar on their hands in the prime of his career and they may well have identified the centerpiece of the unit for the better part of the next decade.
And that’s the thing. When the Ravens acquired Smith, every brainless commentator (and your humble columnist knows a thing or two about brainless commentators) said the trade made sense because the Ravens could either sign Smith long term or they’d recoup a compensatory third-rounder in 2024, simply moving back a round in the draft from the 2023 second-rounder they sent the Bears. It was logical analysis at the time but worthless now.
The Ravens have just one choice now. They have to keep Roquan Smith around long term. They cannot, under any reasonable circumstance, allow this to have only been a rental. The player is too good. The impact is too significant. The fit in Baltimore is entirely too logical. Perhaps the team’s offensive identity will need to be reimagined, but Roquan Smith almost singularly represents exactly what their defensive identity should be for the foreseeable future.
Of course, that’s a little complicated given the other thing.
We received multiple calls on 105.7 The Fan’s postgame show Sunday asking if the Ravens would have to decide between re-signing Smith or quarterback Lamar Jackson. The simple answer is no. The complicated answer is also no. The definitive answer is definitively no. They are more than $40 million under the cap for next season with more that definitely will (Nick Boyle) be found and other money that could be found via, say, a Kevin Zeitler extension.
I am quite aware that no matter what else they do, the Ravens will need to have money to try to do something … ANYTHING!!! … at wide receiver. But they should have the money to do all three things. It would be complicated if the Ravens had absorb a $45.4 million cap hit for Jackson should he play on the franchise tag, however. That math … would not math.
The easy answer is to get Jackson’s deal done before that, but that seems complicated. The more complicated answer is to set an earlier deadline to consider the possibility of a trade so that Jackson’s situation doesn’t impact other decisions that need to be made.
The real answer is that while dragging your feet was understandable, if it requires fully guaranteed money to get Jackson’s deal done, you just might have to go ahead and do it. This franchise has cornerstone pieces now on both sides of the ball. That’s the point of all of this. Find these players. Build around these players. Give yourself a chance because of the presence of these players.
It does indeed take two to tango and we don’t know with certainty yet whether Smith wants to prioritize a future in Baltimore, but he at least appears to be enjoying himself. Hopefully that means something.
Because this dude is the dude.
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox