Why the Ravens Need to Extend Lamar Jackson

The salary cap is an intriguing topic that directly influences where players want to play, how much they make, and whether a team can keep their big-time playmakers. Its goal is to make the league fair and balanced while giving players the compensation they feel they deserve based on the assumption of risk in their sport, the training it requires, and how impactful they are to the game itself. Some contracts are huge wins; others are categorized as complete and utter disasters. In this article, I will dive into the Ravens' salary cap situation and why Baltimore needs to keep Lamar Jackson in the purple and black for the rest of his career.

Starting at the beginning, Jackson was drafted 32nd overall in the 2018 NFL Draft as the successor to Joe Flacco, who was not concerned that the Ravens drafted his potential replacement, welcoming Jackson in with open arms. The Ravens were 4-5 entering their Week 10 bye, officially naming Jackson the starter for the rest of the season due to a Flacco hip injury. Jackson was not playing as an All-Pro yet, but went 6-1 in the final stretch, leading all QBs in rushing yards. Jackson took the field on the day before his 22nd birthday as the youngest QB to make a playoff start, but the AFC North Champions fell short to the Chargers by six points. It was soon after this moment that the Ravens decided to toss the entire offensive playbook into the fire and restart with Jackson in mind, taking snaps under center, jump-starting a historic career for the former Heisman winner.

Over the next six seasons, Lamar played and started in 87 games, posting a 64-23 record, two NFL MVPs, and many records set by players like Michael Vick, Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees, and more. After the 2021 season, Jackson, who represents himself rather than an athlete agency, turned down a contract offer because he thought he could play better on his fifth-year option and earn more money. It was around this time that many believed the Ravens would trade Lamar because he wanted too much money, had some problems staying healthy, and struggled in the playoffs. Despite having the singular MVP at the time, Lamar had missed 10 total games over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, combined with a 1-3 playoff record. The Ravens were never going to let Jackson leave, but the fan base was torn on whether it was worth keeping him around or continuing to let him develop into a more traditional passer.

Jackson’s injury late in the 2022 season did not necessarily help his case for making more money. The Ravens used the franchise tag on him days after he requested a trade because the front office was not meeting the requested value during negotiations. However, about a month after going public with his trade request, the Ravens signed Jackson to a 5-year, $260 million deal with $185 million guaranteed. The per-year salary at $52 million was the highest for an NFL player for a few months, and the signing bonus of $72.5 million was the largest in NFL history for almost two years. The Ravens locked up their QB for the future, but like many contracts, the new deal was backloaded for salary cap advantages. By putting more money at the back end of a contract, the Ravens were able to allocate more money to signing other star players like Marlon Humphrey, Mark Andrews, and Nnamdi Madubuike. Unfortunately, the backend of the contract has reached the present, and Lamar’s future cap hit is exponentially larger than anyone on Baltimore’s roster.

In 2023 and 2024, Jackson’s cap hit was $22.15 and $32.4 million for those respective years, contributing to about 10% and 13% of the allowed cap space. For 2025, Jackson’s cap hit increased to $43.5 million or 15.58% of the Ravens' cap space, which ranks fourth in QB cap hit percentage. This is where the contract starts to eat at the Ravens' chances of being contenders. For each of the 2026 and 2027 seasons, Jackson’s contract is worth $74.5 million, accounting for more than half of his entire contract value in the last two years. Jackson’s percentage cap share would increase to more than a fifth of the Ravens’ entire salary cap, making the already problematic cap situation in Baltimore worse. An extension is the only way around the overarching cap hit, shifting the remainder of his contract into later years while guaranteeing he can play for the Ravens until he hangs up his cleats.

Now with two MVP awards and a robbery for his third this past season, coaches, players, and fans are aware of Jackson’s impact on the game. Baltimore does not want to lose him. NFL.com’s Tom Blair put Jackson at No. 1 in his rankings of veterans who deserve a raise heading into this season. "How much is too much to pay a walking, talking ticket to Super Bowl contention?" Blair wrote. “Jackson has transformed Baltimore into an AFC juggernaut while personally developing into a perennial MVP candidate, becoming the first player in NFL history to throw 40-plus TD passes and rush for 900-plus yards in the same season last year.” Jackson is also the first player to throw for 4,000 yards and rush for 800 in the same season, further proving his successful development into a star QB.

Ravens GM Eric DeCosta spoke earlier in June on the status of Lamar’s extension. "We've had some conversations before the draft, after the draft, in person last week," DeCosta told Jerry Coleman on the BMore Baseball Podcast. "I think we're in the introductory sort of stage of looking at what an extension might look like." Head coach John Harbaugh even added at the NFL owners meeting in March that Lamar’s extension will put him back on top of the highest-paid QBs. Unfortunately, with Jackson’s exceptional talent and the exponentially increased market for QB contracts, an extension may only delay the salary cap problem until after the Ravens’ Super Bowl window has closed, but that can be a problem for another time.

Jackson will be 30 by the time he potentially tests free agency again, and a lot could change in the next few years in terms of success and overall roster makeup. The Ravens are going to need to pay Kyle Hamilton, Tyler Linderbaum, Zay Flowers, Isaiah Likely, Odafe Oweh, and many more over the next few years, but that cannot be achieved with Lamar taking a fifth of the salary cap. Lamar, who acts as his own agent, needs to get the extension negotiated, agreed, and signed before March of 2026 to ensure ample cap space in future free agent frenzies. It would also be in the Ravens’ best interests to extend Lamar now because he has solidified himself as one of the best QBs in today’s game and is making a name for himself in the NFL history books.