Obviously there has been one dominant offseason topic surrounding the Baltimore Ravens — one topic that has meant significantly more than everything else, one topic that stands out among the others.
If you’ve read anything I’ve ever written before, you know that it has nothing to do with Maxx Crosby or Trey Hendrickson.
The most significant topic of the offseason really isn’t what happened there. The Ravens have Hendrickson, which should be good. They don’t have Crosby, which we can measure a few years from now to determine if they should regret it. Others’ opinions about what happened are wildly insignificant. Business will go on as usual.
But there is a very significant story that has been given significantly less breath. The Ravens very clearly wanted to get a contract extension done with Lamar Jackson … and they didn’t. It creates an incredibly cloudy picture about the two-time MVP’s future in Baltimore.
Maybe.
That’s the crazy part about this situation. We know so little (which is how the team and the player almost certainly want it) that it’s hard to truly grasp exactly what’s going on. The only thing we can say we know is that the Ravens aren’t looking to move on from Jackson. Owner Steve Bisciotti made that very clear during his end-of-season news conference. We know that a restructure was not the desired outcome for the Ravens, so we can measure that.
But we have no idea what Jackson’s motivations are.
No matter how many think pieces or tweets are written about the subject, we still have no evidence that Jackson wants to be traded.
The teams that typically come up most frequently in these conversations are the Dolphins and Raiders. The Raiders (unless something completely crazy happens after this column is published) are committing to a long-term plan with No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza, with veteran Kirk Cousins signed to help out in 2026.
The Dolphins signed Malik Willis, who may not necessarily represent a long-term plan but even for 2027, the team has roughly $70 million of cap space tied up between Willis and former quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. It’s not practical to imagine that the Dolphins could add another quarterback to the conversation.
So again, why didn’t an extension get done? Both parties knew that this was the point at which they would need to explore a new contract. The Ravens couldn’t take on a $74.1 million cap hit in 2026, which is why a restructure had to happen. Jackson’s 2026 cap hit is now $34.4 million, but his 2027 cap hit is now $84.3 million.
It’s possible that Jackson simply wants to be a free agent after the 2027 season, knowing the Ravens cannot tag him and he has a no-trade clause. Again, it’s important to say that we have no actual evidence that this is the case, but we have to consider all possibilities given the undesirable result of the restructure.
But if that’s the case, an $84.3 million cap hit in 2027 is far less palatable for the team and there is far less relief to be gained by further restructuring. The goal for the Ravens clearly isn’t to see Jackson get to free agency, which is why Bisciotti was so vocal about getting an extension done.
So why are they here?
One league source reminded me that an issue the Ravens have had in their dealings with Jackson is a lack of urgency. Last summer, we learned details about the sides’ negotiations in 2023 via Pablo Torre’s reporting on the league’s collusion findings. Ravens GM Eric DeCosta acknowledged difficulty in even getting in touch with Jackson for negotiations.
We also learned that Jackson was indeed pushing for a fully guaranteed deal (like Deshaun Watson), texting DeCosta, “I’m going to continue to request a FULLY GUARANTEED contract I understand you all DON’T and that’s fine.”
Jackson actually has more leverage this time around. He is slated to count for more than $80 million of cap space next year. The Ravens can’t tag him like they did last time. He has a no-trade clause. We know definitively that he wanted a fully guaranteed deal the last time around. Even if the NFL has successfully colluded to encourage teams to not give out more of those types of deals, why wouldn’t Jackson ask for it again this time around?
I can understand why the Ravens would have even more trepidation about that this time around. Jackson is older, has still dealt with injuries and rarely looked fully like himself last season.
There is a genuine unknown facing the future of the Ravens and their quarterback. And there is no obvious path for how this gets solved.
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox