Can the Ravens Survive a Monster Contract for Lamar Jackson?

When discussing the future of this Baltimore Ravens franchise, the topic often comes back to the assumed monster contract of one Lamar Jackson.

If we’re doing this under the pretext of Jackson receiving said deal, and it is indeed a whopper, that’s definitely something to take under consideration when trying to forecast this team’s fortunes in coming years. It will be a lot of money. There’s a salary cap. That “lot of money” will take up a significant share of the salary cap.

Therefore, the sky is falling, the Red Coats are coming and the time for judgement is now upon us, right? Not so much.

Teams can successfully navigate large contracts to their signal-callers if they have a few other factors working for them.

Don’t let the injury bugs bite

This one is hard to control, and the 2021 Ravens have been a comedy of errors when it comes to their injury reports. If Jackson was making $40-plus million this year, with the amount of players the team has had to sign just to fill roster spots… yikes. But if a team can stay relatively healthy, as the Ravens largely did in 2019 and 2020, you can compete.

Verdict: I can’t weigh in one way or another here. Injuries largely feel like bad luck to me, and it seems the Ravens have had a particularly poor run of fortune this season in this regard.

You’re not a one-star team

It doesn’t matter how good that quarterback is, he ain’t winning in this league without some other studs in the room. Look at the end of Tom Brady’s run in New England, when compared to how he’s performed in Tampa Bay. Patrick Mahomes looked like a punching bag when his star offensive linemen went down in last year’s playoffs. You need some other game-changers on your side when you might have to sacrifice some experience at other positions to save some money.

Verdict: The Ravens are theoretically good here, pending health. Players like Mark Andrews, Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters, (the assumed return of a healthy) Ronnie Stanley, J.K. Dobbins, Justin Tucker, Gus Edwards and others are guys who can step up in big moments and change games in an instant. Rashod Bateman and Odafe Oweh, this year’s first-rounders, have shown glimpses of their vast potential, as well. That’s a really good base.

You have a coaching staff that consistently coaches Players 1 through 53

When you have a top-heavy roster, at least in terms of salary allocation, you pretty much need every other guy on the roster who isn’t a star to contribute to the best of his abilities, on offense, defense and special teams. That requires good old-fashioned position coaches who improve players.

Verdict: As this year has proven, this is a strength of the Ravens franchise under John Harbaugh. Question his taste in coordinators, his utilization of a “doghouse” or his tendency to stroll along the petty side of the road a bit too much. The fact is that he highly values old-school coaching of his players, and putting an emphasis on good special-teams play. Again, when you have to make some sacrifices due to financial constraints, dominating on special teams, and being able to play the substitution game to your advantage, is critical.

[Related Article: The Ravens’ Dilemma]

Stay young, cheap and on the up

We’ve spoken quite a bit already about having to fill up a good bit of the roster with players making less money as part of your decision of paying your franchise quarterback. While signing some veterans at reduced rates is definitely part of the equation as far as building the type of team you want to field, it is imperative that your franchise has the ability to consistently restock the cabinets with young players who come with smaller paychecks and have the potential to improve from year to year while they are under franchise control. We’re talking hitting on playmakers in the first couple rounds to finding adequate starters and rotational pieces through the middle rounds to stocking up your special teams and building depth in the back end of the draft, and through undrafted free agents.

Verdict: Every team has hits, and every team has misses, and the Ravens are certainly included in both. That being said, they typically fare pretty well with their draft picks, and do well above average on the undrafted free-agent scene. Guys like Pat Ricard, Tyler Huntley and Chris Board have been multi-year contributors on cheap salaries, and it’s important the Ravens continue to find these economically-brilliant players once they pay Jackson.

It better be the right quarterback

Paying your quarterback $40 million a year and having him turn out to be average or worse is not what you can afford, unless you find some yahoo interested in taking him Goff your hands (see what I did there?)

The cost of having a franchise quarterback goes up every year, and if you want one, you’re going to have to pay him. But if that player sucks up a huge portion of your cap (as well as the owner’s cash) and he is a detriment to your team’s chances of winning games? Absolute disaster. Like… final season of Game of Thrones type of disaster.

Verdict: I like Jackson’s chances, despite his recent slump and ankle injury, and let me tell you why.

He seems to identify something to work on each offseason, and, to my eye, he shows improvement on that something each regular season. After his first season as a starter, you could tell Jackson worked hard on his base, and it helped him improve as a passer. After his MVP-season, Jackson seemed to work on trying to generate more big plays — it resulted in him holding the ball a little too much, but he did make progress, particularly down the seams. After last season, the criticism of Jackson focused on his perceived inability to throw outside the markers, and I feel like he showed progress there this season. I would be interested in seeing him focus on developing his rhythm-passing game more this coming offseason, and having the ball pop out on that third, fifth or seventh step. I expect to see that improve, both because of his celebrated work ethic and his continued comfort with his receivers — who he didn’t get to play with much this past offseason due to the injury hurricane that landed on the team.

I’m on board with paying Jackson, and paying him handsomely.

Is there room for improvement? Yes. Sure. And, in fact, there’s room for a lot of improvement. That’s part of what makes him so tantalizing.

But he works hard. He’s liked by his teammates and coaches. He’s conscious of his position in the city and within the fanbase. He has shown that he can bring his team back from nearly any deficit. And he can singlehandedly win a game by himself when everything else goes sour on him. And, in the NFL, things inevitably go sour from time to time.

If you’re not going to pay that guy, who are you going to pay?

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