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As speculation swirled Tuesday in Baltimore around coach John Harbaugh’s future, quarterback Lamar Jackson’s latest injury and a spiraling Ravens season, players showed up to work, trying to find peace in the eye of the storm.
The Ravens’ playoff hopes are faint, but still intact. A loss Saturday to the Green Bay Packers would end all hope of a return to the postseason.
“It’s a must-win game, and our focus is on Saturday night and nothing else,” center Tyler Linderbaum said after practice. “Trying to get a win.”
Still, with six Ravens named to the Pro Bowl Games — tied with the Denver Broncos, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks for an NFL high — the disappointment of a season that started with Super Bowl hopes was not far out of reach.
Nor was the uncertainty about what comes next. Four of the Ravens’ Pro Bowl honorees are set to enter the offseason with questions hovering over their future. With over two dozen players set to become free agents, here’s a look at what’s ahead for general manager Eric DeCosta.
C Tyler Linderbaum
Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum runs onto the field during introductions before the team hosts the Bengals on Thanksgiving night. (Jerry Jackson/The Banner)
The Ravens could’ve already had Linderbaum under contract for next year, but his fifth-year option proved too costly last offseason: His cap hit would’ve been $23.4 million in 2026, or $5.4 million more than the average contract value of the NFL’s highest-paid center.
Even with the Ravens’ cramped salary cap picture, it seems unlikely that DeCosta would let a 25-year-old team leader who’s made three straight Pro Bowls reach free agency. Especially with the Ravens’ struggles on the offensive line this year. That leaves the front office with two likely options: Re-sign Linderbaum or tag him.
Left tackle Ronnie Stanley on Tuesday called Linderbaum the “top center in the whole NFL,” and an extension would make him one the NFL’s highest-paid interior linemen. Kansas City Chiefs center Creed Humphrey’s four-year deal is worth $18 million annually, the most at the position. Nine guards have deals worth at least $18 million per year, led by Dallas Cowboys guard Tyler Smith, whose extension, signed in September, is worth $24 million annually. Depending on the structure of the deal, the Ravens could keep Linderbaum’s cap hit in the near future relatively team friendly.
A franchise tag, however, would offer no such help. The projected value of a franchise tag for offensive linemen this next offseason is $27.2 million, according to salary cap website Over The Cap. The projected value of a transition tag, which would give the Ravens the right to match any offer sheet he signs, is $24.6 million.
If contract talks drag on this winter, the Ravens could tag Linderbaum as early as Feb. 17 — the deadline for teams is March 3 — and use the one-year tender as a placeholder until they’re able to agree to a new deal.
WR Zay Flowers 
Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers celebrates after scoring in the third quarter against the New England Patriots. (Ulysses Muñoz/The Banner)
Flowers’ second straight Pro Bowl nod adds a new dimension to his fifth-year option. Flowers’ 2027 option, which the Ravens can pick up this next offseason, will now be worth an estimated $28 million, up from the estimated $24.4 million it would’ve been with just one Pro Bowl nod.
Only 12 wide receivers have deals worth more than $28 million annually, but the market at the position moves quickly. In two years, $28 million for a player of Flowers’ caliber could be seen as a bargain.
The Ravens have also historically struggled to draft and develop stars at the position. Flowers is on pace to set a career high in receiving yards, and he ranks third in the AFC overall (1,043). He’s only the third player in franchise history to post consecutive seasons of 1,000 receiving yards, after Derrick Alexander (1996-97) and Derrick Mason (2007-09).
Even if the Ravens don’t pick up Flowers’ fifth-year option — teams have a May 1 deadline to decide on their 2023 first-round picks — they could still have a future together. Flowers will be eligible for an extension this offseason. The Ravens didn’t wait long to secure Kyle Hamilton’s future last August, making him the NFL’s highest-paid safety after just three seasons in Baltimore.
Flowers isn’t quite the transcendent talent that Hamilton is. But he ranked 14th among all receivers with at least 80 targets last season in yards per route run (2.3), according to Pro Football Focus, and he ranks seventh this year (2.4), ahead of stars like the Cincinnati Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase and Houston Texans’ Nico Collins.
P Jordan Stout
Ravens punter Jordan Stout punts against the Cincinnati Bengals during the second quarter. (Ishika Samant/Getty Images)
Under Harbaugh, the Ravens haven’t hesitated to reward special teams excellence. They made perennial Pro Bowl selection Justin Tucker the NFL’s highest-paid kicker in 2019 with a four-year extension, and again in 2022 with another four-year extension.
Stout, a pending free agent, didn’t enjoy the start to his career in Baltimore that Tucker did. But when the Ravens drafted Stout in the fourth round in 2022, they did so knowing he had the potential for seasons like this. Along with his steady work as a holder for rookie kicker Tyler Loop, Stout ranks first in the NFL in net punting average (44.9 yards) and third in gross average (50.5 yards).
Extensions for elite punters are not exactly bank-breaking propositions. Only six have deals worth more than $3 million annually, and only two are under contracts worth more than $4 million annually: the Seattle Seahawks’ Michael Dickson ($4.050 million) and the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Logan Cooke ($4 million). An extension for Stout, then, seems more a matter of when, not if.
“I think with Jordan, he just came in … he worked and he just tried to find something to get better at every year,” special teams coordinator Chris Horton said Tuesday. “And I think this year, it has really just clicked for him. And everything that he’s doing with [senior special teams coach] Randy [Brown] on the side and just talking about drops and trying different things, these things are paying off for him. And again, it’s a part of growth.”
FB Patrick Ricard
Ravens fullback Patrick Ricard watches from the bench in the second quarter of a game against the Chicago Bears. (Ulysses Muñoz/The Banner)
Ricard’s latest Pro Bowl selection puts him in elite company. Only six other players in Ravens history have earned the honor at least six times: linebacker Ray Lewis (13), offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden (11), safety Ed Reed (nine), guard Marshal Yanda (eight), outside linebacker Terrell Suggs (seven) and Tucker (seven).
Ricard, who turns 32 in May, has long expressed a desire to retire as a Raven. But he’s nearing the end of a one-year deal, he missed the team’s first six games with a calf injury and he plays a position that lends itself to wear and tear. Fellow fullback Lucas Scott, a converted offensive lineman from Army who spent his rookie year on the practice squad, could be a cheap replacement at the position.
Still, Ricard personifies the team’s smashmouth offensive personality. Despite their offensive struggles this season, the Ravens have had a potent passing attack in 21 personnel (two backs, one tight end and two wide receivers) and a potent ground game in 22 personnel (two backs, two tight ends and one wide receiver), both of which Ricard contributes heavily to.
A reunion would likely not be costly — Ricard’s 2025 deal was worth just $2.9 million — but with tight end Mark Andrews already signed to an extension, DeCosta might not have the resources to afford both Ricard and Charlie Kolar, the team’s best blocking tight end and another pending free agent.