Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta typically keeps his cards close to his chest heading into the offseason. So his press conference at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis on Wednesday did not betray much information about his plans for free agency. Here are some of the highlights<\/p>\n
The Ravens have repeatedly emphasized the importance of signing MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson to a contract extension before free agency begins in March. But the two sides kept their last set of negotiations under wraps, and DeCosta said that he plans to maintain that policy this time around.<\/p>\n
DeCosta confirmed that the team was hoping to retain center Tyler Linderbaum, but added that the franchise tag was not an option. We discussed why last week.<\/p>\n
Likely has been expected to price himself out of Baltimore since the Ravens signed Mark Andrews to an extension during the 2025 season. DeCosta still said there is \u201cdefinitely\u201d a chance of re-signing him, noting that the two sides had engaged in negotiations last year. It still seems unlikely that Baltimore can afford to pay Likely more than teams searching for a starting tight end can.<\/p>\n
Humphrey has been pegged as a potential cap casualty after a down year in 2025 and his $26.3MM cap hit. A pay cut would also make sense, but DeCosta downplayed the potential to adjust Humphrey\u2019s contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do expect him to be on the team,\u201d DeCosta said, adding \u201cI love Marlon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fans have also grown somewhat frustrated with Roquan Smith\u2019s lack of impact on a massive contract. But DeCosta said he has not discussed any contract adjustments with him, either.<\/p>\n
DeCosta also declined to offer any update on Nnamdi Madubuike, who missed almost all of the 2025 season with a neck injury. There is some doubt about his future in the NFL, but that will not affect the Ravens\u2019 plans moving forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if we have the chance to draft a great defensive tackle, of course we will,\u201d DeCosta said. \u201cIt is one of the most important positions in football.\u201d But losing Madubuike destroyed the Ravens defense last year and particularly hamstrung the pass rush. The Ravens signed Travis Jones to an extension during the season, but if Madubuike does not return in 2026, they will need to find another interior disrupter on defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta typically keeps his cards close to his chest heading into the offseason. So…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,849,2282,7,6,169],"class_list":{"0":"post-777068","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-baltimore-ravens-news","11":"tag-baltimoreravens","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-ravens"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116135685339271715","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777068","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=777068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}