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The Ravens have set themselves up well to hand Lamar Jackson a contract extension
The Baltimore Ravens have turned the NFL offseason on its head over the past couple of days. In a span of less than 24 hours, the Ravens backed out of a blockbuster trade with the Las Vegas Raiders for superstar defensive end Maxx Crosby, only to turn around and sign the best defensive lineman on the free agent market, Trey Hendrickson, to a four-year, $112 million contract.
This slate of moves has drawn a lot of attention to the Ravens, but they have continued to press forward with their offseason business. And now that this chaos appears to be in the rearview mirror, it looks like the team has turned its attention to hammering out a new contract extension with quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Ravens Get Positive Update on Lamar Jackson Contract Extension Hopes
Amid all the madness involving Crosby and Hendrickson, the Ravens made an eye-opening move involving Jackson’s contract. In an effort to create more cap space for 2026, Baltimore restructured Jackson’s deal and freed up nearly $40 million in cap space in the process. However, with his cap hit for 2027 now set to be $84.49 million, it’s clear the front office has some work to do when it comes to Jackson’s deal.
Baltimore hasn’t been shy in expressing a desire to sign Jackson to another contract extension, especially with his current deal set to expire after the 2027 campaign. Teams have gotten creative in adding void years to contracts for their players in order to push their cap hits off into the future, but the Ravens can’t do that anymore with Jackson’s deal.
As a result, signing Jackson to a new contract would allow the front office to continue pushing money down the line. And after the latest restructure to Jackson’s contract, it sounds like the Ravens’ front office has put itself in a good position to get something done with its franchise quarterback later this offseason.
“The Ravens have made clear since last year they want to extend Lamar Jackson, which would allow them to keep pushing cap hits into the future,” Tom Pelissero of NFL Network wrote in a post on X. “As of now, he is signed through 2027 and has a no-tag clause, meaning he would be able to hit free agency in 2028.”
Lamar Jackson Set to Earn Another Major Payday
GettyBaltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Jackson signed a five-year, $260 million contract extension with the Ravens in April 2023, and with his play remaining at a high level, he’s going to earn another major contract when he eventually hits the negotiating table. It is worth noting that Jackson just turned 29 years old in January, but when he’s healthy, he’s shown little to no signs of decline so far in his career.
For the time being, Baltimore has done what it had to in order to push this decision down the line, but it’s clear that, given the money involved and Jackson’s importance to the team, it would rather get this deal done sooner rather than later. And now that the Crosby/Hendrickson situation has sorted itself out, this will likely be the most important item on the Ravens’ to-do list moving forward.
Owen Crisafulli Owen Crisafulli is a Breaking News Writer at Heavy. In addition to writing for Heavy, Owen works as a Content Producer for More Views Media. His work has also appeared on ClutchPoints, The Sporting News, Athlon Sports, Basketball Network, and FanSided, where he shared his insights on a variety of sports topics primarily surrounding the NFL, NBA, and MLB. More about Owen Crisafulli
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