Everything Hinging on Jackson

The Ravens never had an offseason with so much uncertainty and it all revolves around Lamar Jackson. 

GM Eric DeCosta is still trying to reach a contract extension with the mercurial quarterback, but the two sides are at an impasse over what is perceived to be the guaranteed money. 

Jackson reportedly wants a deal similar to Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, who landed a five-year, $230 million contract with the Browns, including $230 million in guaranteed money.

The Ravens don’t want to offer that much guaranteed money because it could cripple their 2023 salary cap.

DeCosta will likely place the exclusive franchise tag on Jackson, who would make $45 million next season under that designation. That also means the Ravens won’t have a whole lot of flexibility to add a top-tier wide receiver or cornerback in free agency. 

“Any deal with Lamar is going to affect the salary cap, whether we get a long-term deal done, or we do an exclusive franchise [tag] or the traditional franchise [tag], it’s going to affect the cap,” DeCosta said. “Those are big, big numbers. We’re fortunate I think that we have a better salary cap [situation] than most. We have a lot more room than most teams do, which was by design three or four years ago. I think one of the things that we saw years ago with Joe [Flacco] when we had to do Joe’s deal, we didn’t have enough room to franchise [tag] Joe back then. So, we kind of planned accordingly.”

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Ideally, the Ravens and Jackson can work out a new deal. A new contract could create more than $20 million in salary-cap space and DeCosta could make several aggressive moves to turn the team into a Super Bowl contender.  

However, DeCosta said that regardless of what happens with Jackson, the team is going to be responsible for how it spends money. The Ravens already signed inside linebacker Roquan Smith to a five-year, $100 million extension. 

“Regardless, it’s not going to be a situation where the market’s open, and we’re just going and signing guys left and right,” DeCosta said. “That’s not going to happen in any way – there’s really no scenario [where] that’s probably going to be the case. We’ll be selective, we’ll be targeted, and we’ll find guys like we always do that we think can build this team and help us be the best we can be.” 

Another option could be to trade Jackson for numerous draft picks. However, the Ravens would need a stopgap at quarterback and could possibly look to add a player like Derek Carr or Jimmy Garoppolo for a season or two. The team already has a lot of money invested in the defensive side of the ball and DeCosta may look to reload and not rebuild in 2023. 

Perhaps, the team could have made a Super Bowl run this year had Jackson been in the lineup and not sidelined with a knee injury. 

“We want to be at our best to win the division, and you have to put yourself in position to win the division – that’s why you have to win games early – but be our best at the end, in December, in January,” coach John Harbaugh said. “We talk about that a lot, and I really believe that we were [at our best]. We had the injury to Lamar; that was the biggest challenge that we had faced. And getting Lamar back was a priority, but it was [also] the biggest thing we had to overcome. [If] Lamar comes back – which I believe he would have, because he’s working so hard – we would have rolled.”

Now, there is a possibility the Ravens could begin a new era without Jackson. 

[Related Article: Cash Over Cap Myth]

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