Lamar Jackson Standoff Looms Over Ravens as Team Treads Water

BALTIMORE—Lamar Jackson’s push for a new contract is on hold. So is his team’s push for a Super Bowl.

The Ravens need both back on track as soon as possible.

With Jackson, the two-time league MVP, on their game-day inactive list and missing his third straight game because of an ankle injury, the Ravens failed to hold things together Sunday. They fell to the Bengals, 35–13, as their record dropped to 4–3 with their second straight loss. Fans headed to the exits early, leaving the stands mostly empty at M&T Bank Stadium in the game’s final minutes.

The Ravens and Jackson did not agree to a contract extension before this season, raising the stakes considerably for what will occur from here. The quarterback is in the fourth season of a five-year, $260 million deal. That contract runs through the 2027 season. Barring an agreement before then, Jackson will enter the upcoming offseason with only one season remaining on his contract.

He was the NFL’s highest-paid player when he signed his contract in 2023. Now his deal ranks 12th in the league in average annual value, according to Front Office Sports.

Jackson represents himself, which can serve to limit negotiating windows while he focuses on his play during the season. His last set of negotiations was lengthy and included Jackson publicly issuing a trade request.

It also produced a collusion grievance filed in 2022 by the NFL Players Association under its former executive director, DeMaurice Smith, over the failure by Jackson and fellow quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray to be able to land fully guaranteed contract extensions. The NFL and teams prevailed in the grievance and on an appeal but the NFLPA’s new executive director, JC Tretter, pointed via a memo to player leaders in April to a “finding that the NFL had encouraged and invited clubs to take steps to reduce salary guarantees and bonuses.”

This time around, there has been speculation that Jackson perhaps could become the first NFL player with a contract worth $70 million per season.

For now, it’s all about the Ravens trying to regroup and reach their first Super Bowl with Jackson as their quarterback. The team fired John Harbaugh—who won a Super Bowl with Joe Flacco at quarterback but couldn’t get over the hump with Jackson—following last season and hired Jesse Minter to replace him.

The Minter-led Ravens won four of their first five games this season. But Jackson suffered his injury during an Oct. 4 victory at home over the Titans. The Ravens won at Atlanta with Tyler Huntley filling in, but now they’ve lost their past two games to AFC North rivals, first to the Browns and now to the Bengals.

“I think in every game we’ve proven that we’re good enough to be the type of team that we want to be,” Minter said after Sunday’s defeat. “And we’ve proven that we’re bad enough to be not a very good team as well.”

The Ravens allowed 35 second-half points Sunday after leading 13–0 at halftime.

“We don’t want to give up 35 points, whether he’s on the field or not, you know,” veteran defensive lineman Calais Campbell said of Jackson’s absence. “That’s just not something we want to do on defense. But obviously he’s one of the best players in football, one of the best players to ever play the game of football. And so when he’s on the field, we’re a whole lot better, of course. But, you know, we also believe in Huntley. Huntley’s a good player. … But we have to be better and execute, especially on defense. We can be so much better than we’re playing.”

Jackson practiced on a limited basis last week and initially was listed as questionable for this game on the Ravens’ injury report, but he was downgraded Saturday to out. He potentially could practice fully this week and play next Sunday at Buffalo. If he does, it would be a matchup of former MVP quarterbacks with the Bills’ Josh Allen.

“I think over the next couple days, we’ll figure that out,” Minter said.

The Ravens clearly need their $260 million quarterback back.

“Right now, we’re too much of a momentum team,” Minter said. “So we’re riding the wave when it’s good. And we’re riding the wave when it’s bad.”