The Ravens have officially completed hiring the staff under new head coach Jesse Minter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That means the more conventional parts of the offseason are underway with the scouting combine in Indianapolis beginning next week and the start of free agency looming in less than a month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While there will be the typical discussion of pending free agents and draft prospects, all eyes are on Lamar Jackson\u2019s contract after general manager Eric DeCosta spent the first month of the offseason searching for John Harbaugh\u2019s replacement and then helping Minter settle in and find his assistants. It\u2019s not exactly a secret that Jackson carries a $74.5 million salary cap number for each of the final two seasons of the five-year, $260 million deal<\/a> he signed three years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n Something will have to give, and we\u2019ve known this was coming from the time that deal was struck hours before the start of the 2023 draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n The good news is the sides aren\u2019t starting from scratch, and it should be easier to work out an extension from a preexisting structure, something to which owner Steve Bisciotti alluded last month. Most would assume any deal would start with making Jackson the NFL\u2019s highest-paid player in terms of average annual value, a title currently held by Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott at $60 million per season.<\/p>\n However, if we learned anything from the previous saga that played out over multiple offseasons, the contract remains an issue until it\u2019s not anymore, especially when Jackson does the negotiating himself in lieu of a certified agent.\u00a0<\/p>\n We know Jackson had communication and input as the organization hired Minter and offensive coordinator Declan Doyle<\/a>, but DeCosta was vague in describing the degree of involvement of the two-time MVP quarterback and other select veterans in the head coach interview process. And while Minter knew Jackson from his first stint in Baltimore, their previous relationship wasn\u2019t considered anything remarkable, which is about what you\u2019d expect between a starting quarterback and a lower-level assistant coaching on the opposite side of the football.\u00a0<\/p>\n Minter acknowledged late last month that building a deeper relationship will take time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve\u00a0been working towards that already.\u00a0We\u2019ve\u00a0had wonderful conversations. I\u00a0look forward to many, many more,\u201d Minter said. \u201cBut\u00a0with\u00a0Lamar, I just look forward to connecting with him, helping him become the best version of himself, creating a team identity that allows him to thrive, which he\u2019s already proven to be \u2026 one of the best players\u00a0in the National Football League,\u00a0and put a team around him that allows him to reach that ultimate goal of bringing a Super Bowl back to Baltimore.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s all the more reason to find a contract resolution that makes both sides happy and paves the way for Jackson to be present for all \u2014 or at least most \u2014 of the voluntary offseason program. With a brand new coaching staff and new offensive system to learn, Jackson\u2019s spring attendance will be scrutinized even more than it was the last few springs when he exercised his right to stay away more frequently than most starting quarterbacks do around the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the matter of building a better roster around the 29-year-old with DeCosta admitting the cap space created by an extension would allow him to be \u201cmore active\u201d and \u201cpotentially go after a couple of big-ticket items\u201d in free agency next month. While making clear that he wants Jackson to be his quarterback for years to come, Bisciotti cited the alternative to a new deal rather matter-of-factly.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf he\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0want to do an extension, then we throw those 74 million out into\u00a0void years\u00a0and Lamar\u2019s coming back at the same cap number he was last year,\u201d said Bisciotti, referencing Jackson\u2019s $43.5 million number for 2025. \u201cYou can play with that [cap dollars] all you want.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0not what we want. We want another window, and\u00a0Lamar knows that.\u00a0I think that he\u2019s amenable to doing something that mirrors the last deal he did, although the annual number will be a little higher.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019m hoping that it\u2019s\u00a0plug a new number into\u00a0the same contract he signed last time and move on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Of course, kicking the can down the road with a contract restructure would only create new questions \u2014 and an even bigger cap number for 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n What if Jackson were to have another injury-plagued campaign on the heels of missing at least four games for the third time in the last five seasons?\u00a0<\/p>\n If the Ravens have another disappointing season or his rapport with the new coaching staff isn\u2019t as strong as everyone hopes, would Jackson be inclined to do an extension only a year away from becoming a free agent, especially knowing the organization wouldn\u2019t have the use of the franchise tag this time around<\/a>? Jackson is currently 10th in average annual value<\/a>, but the $51.25 million base salary he\u2019s owed in each of the next two years is hardly going to jeopardize his financial future. \u00a0<\/p>\n Another MVP-caliber season and a deep postseason run would make Jackson\u2019s asking price even more lucrative a year from now, but it\u2019s tough to imagine the Ravens being too upset with such an outcome. At the same time, two years is a long time in any veteran\u2019s career to forgo an extension and assume the same lucrative bite at the free-agent apple will be there ahead of what would be his age-31 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Working out a deal now just makes too much sense for both parties. It shouldn\u2019t take that long or be all that complicated if the Ravens and Jackson are truly motivated to do this at a fair price.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the clock is ticking with DeCosta having quite a to-do list on the roster front after the Ravens missed the playoffs and rebooted their coaching staff. <\/p>\n \u201cThe urgency of that matters to me because\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0got free\u00a0agents,\u00a0and\u00a0I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0want to go into free agency with that hanging over our head,\u201d Bisciotti said. \u201cAnd I made that clear to\u00a0Lamar,\u00a0and\u00a0I think\u00a0he\u00a0was very appreciative of my stance and hopefully willing to work with\u00a0Eric\u00a0and not get this thing dragged out into April\u00a0like it was the last time. It\u2019s\u00a0very hard\u00a0for\u00a0[DeCosta]\u00a0to build a roster when that thing is not settled.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ravens have officially completed hiring the staff under new head coach Jesse Minter.\u00a0 That means the more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,2282,7,6,169],"class_list":{"0":"post-756626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-baltimoreravens","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-ravens"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116082035061512600","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}