The Ravens Aim to Secure Lamar Jackson as Top-Paid QB

The Ravens are keen on making Lamar Jackson the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL. However, Jackson doesn’t seem ready to engage just yet.

Interestingly, there haven’t been any significant discussions for an extension lately, and sources suggest that Jackson is, perhaps, hesitant about pursuing that path.

As the season opener approaches this Sunday against the Colts, Jackson is reportedly set to enter the game without a new contract, and a deal isn’t anticipated anytime soon.

Jackson reportedly prefers concentrating on football, even though Baltimore is clearly willing to invest heavily in him. It appears that he’s the one delaying any potential agreement.

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti mentioned back in January that he hopes to keep “Jackson as my quarterback,” indicating that securing an extension for him before free agency in March was a key priority.

Bisciotti remarked, “If he doesn’t want to do an extension, then we throw those $74 million out into void years, and Lamar’s coming back at the same cap number he was last year. That’s not what we want. We want another window, and Lamar knows that. I think that he’s amenable to doing something that mirrors the last deal he did, although the annual number will be a little higher.”

He added, “And the urgency of that matters to me because we’ve got free agents, and I don’t want to go into free agency with that hanging over our head. I made that clear to Lamar, and I think he was very appreciative of my stance.”

Despite the urgency, a deal was not reached before free agency or training camp, and Jackson will carry an $84.3 million cap hit for the 2027 season — a figure the team would prefer to reduce with a new contract.

Currently, he is in the fourth year of a five-year, $260 million extension he signed in 2023, and without a new agreement, he would enter free agency after the 2028 season.

Across the league, Jackson is anticipated to be the first player to earn $70 million a year, as noted by ESPN.

After his team missed the playoffs last year, resulting in John Harbaugh’s departure, Jackson is working with a new head coach, Jesse Minter, and a new offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle.

Securing a third MVP title — and perhaps finally making it to the Super Bowl — could definitely bolster his position in negotiations.

“We talk about how to get there,” Jackson reflected on the Super Bowl recently, indicating that the focus has always been on that elusive goal. “It’s about getting there. But it starts Week 1. We can’t worry about February until we are actually there.”