The Baltimore Ravens have had a dramatic few days during the NFL offseason. The team first walked away from a major trade with the Las Vegas Raiders for star pass rusher Maxx Crosby. Not long after that surprise decision, Baltimore made another big move by signing defensive lineman Trey Hendrickson to a four-year, $112 million deal.
These rapid moves quickly put the Ravens in the spotlight. However, the team has continued working through its offseason plans. With the Crosby and Hendrickson situation now settled, Baltimore appears to have shifted its focus toward a possible new contract extension for quarterback Lamar Jackson.
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Ravens create cap space while eyeing Jackson extension
During the busy period involving Crosby and Hendrickson, the Ravens also made an important change to Lamar Jackson’s contract. The team restructured his deal to create more salary cap space for the 2026 season, freeing up nearly $40 million.
However, the move also increased Jackson’s expected cap hit for 2027 to $84.49 million. This is one of the reasons the Ravens may need to revisit his contract in the near future.
Baltimore has already made it clear that it wants to extend Jackson again, especially since his current contract runs through the 2027 season. In recent years, some teams have added void years to player contracts to push salary cap costs further into the future. But the Ravens can no longer do that with Jackson’s deal. Because of this, giving him a new extension would help the team spread those future cap costs over a longer period.
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According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the Ravens have been planning for this possibility for some time.
“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.”
Jackson could be in line for another big contract
Jackson previously signed a five-year, $260 million extension with the Ravens in April 2023. Since then, he has continued to play at a high level which means he could be in line for another big contract in the future.
Jackson turned 29 in January and has shown little sign of slowing down when healthy. Because he is such an important player for the team, the Ravens will likely want to work on a new deal sooner rather than later.
For now, the team has delayed that decision by restructuring his contract. But after the situations involving Maxx Crosby and Trey Hendrickson were settled, securing Jackson’s long-term future could become one of Baltimore’s top priorities.
