Is the Lamar Jackson Era Over in Baltimore?

The Ravens are swiveling this week from their $260 million, two-time MVP quarterback to a undrafted rookie with a league-minimum salary who’s about to make his first NFL start.

That will provide intrigue both in the short term, with Joe Fagnano set to play Thursday night against the Jaguars as the replacement for the injured Lamar Jackson and the NFL trade deadline looming, and beyond that, with an ongoing public conversation about whether Jackson’s thumb injury and contract situation mean that he has played his final game for the Ravens.

“The question is: Is the season over for the Ravens right now?” ESPN analyst Domonique Foxworth, formerly a Ravens defensive back, said on The Domonique Foxworth Show. “And I think a bigger question is: Is this chapter for the Ravens over?”

Jackson made his highly anticipated return to the Ravens’ lineup Sunday against the Bills in Orchard Park, N.Y., after missing three games because of an ankle injury. But that return lasted only one play, as he injured the thumb on his right hand while throwing a pass on Baltimore’s first offensive snap.

Ravens coach Jesse Minter said after the game that Jackson would undergo surgery and would be placed on the injured reserve list with a “potentially” season-ending injury.

Fagnano was listed as the emergency third quarterback on the Ravens’ game-day inactive list Sunday but was forced into the game against the Bills when Jackson’s veteran backup, Tyler Huntley, suffered a toe injury. Huntley reportedly will be sidelined for the remainder of the season because of turf toe.

That makes Fagnano, who was signed after going undrafted out of Connecticut, the starter for now. He’s making the NFL’s minimum salary of $885,000 for this season. The Ravens signed Fagnano and fellow rookie quarterback Diego Pavia, the Heisman Trophy runner-up from Vanderbilt, after he also went undrafted. But the team waived Pavia just before training camp, essentially choosing Fagnano over him.

The Ravens have quarterback Kedon Slovis, just signed off the Packers’ practice squad, on the roster and Austin Reed on the practice squad. They are discussing a trade with the Cardinals for Jacoby Brissett, a source told Front Office Sports. Brissett just was demoted to third-string by the Cardinals behind new starter Gardner Minshew and rookie Carson Beck. The deal could be completed before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline.

But it’s debatable whether this season is salvageable. The Ravens are on a three-game losing streak that has dropped their record to 4-4. According to ESPN Analytics, their chances to make the playoffs are 7.2% and their chances to win the AFC North are 0.5%.

The Ravens fired their former Super Bowl-winning coach, John Harbaugh, following last season and hired Jesse Minter to replace him. This season was supposed to be about Jackson’s dual pushes for his first career Super Bowl appearance and his next mega-contract.

His current deal, which runs through the 2027 season, made him the NFL’s highest-paid player when he signed the five-year extension. Now 11 players have a higher annual average value than his $52 million.

Jackson—who represents himself in contract negotiations—and the Ravens failed to agree before this season to an extension. Barring a new deal before then, Jackson will enter the offseason with only one season remaining on his contract. His current deal would count approximately $87 million against the Ravens’ salary cap next season, an unwieldy figure that probably would have to be addressed.

That precipitated this week’s public discussion about whether Jackson has taken his final snap with the Ravens.

“I would absolutely hate to see him playing in a different uniform,” ESPN analyst Rex Ryan, the former Jets and Bills head coach who once was the Ravens’ defensive coordinator, said on the network’s Get Up program. “I mean, Ray Lewis always played for the Baltimore Ravens. And there’s a statue of him, and there’s gonna be another one of Lamar Jackson right by him. But, I mean, you are the Baltimore Ravens. … I don’t care. Pay him way over what he’s asking because to me, he needs to stay in Baltimore. … But is there another situation that he wants to play in, more than being a Baltimore Raven?”

Harbaugh was hired by the Giants after being fired by the Ravens. He has coached them to first place in the NFC East. Former Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken was hired as the Browns’ head coach and has them in playoff contention.

The star quarterback they left behind in Baltimore is now the one having the issues.

“It’s probably more likely that he’ll come back,” Foxworth, also a former president of the NFL Players Association, said on his show. “But I will say I’ve never had this much of a question mark in my head for a quarterback of this caliber at this stage of his career, where he orchestrated his contract in such a way that he has the ability to make a decision with a no-trade clause, a no-franchise clause and a big cap hit at the end of the season. … Why set it up like that if you’re not at least considering making that decision? No one else goes about it this way.”