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Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is coming off one of the best seasons in NFL history, falling just a few votes shy of winning his third MVP award. With Jackson once again demonstrating he’s one of the best quarterbacks of his era, Baltimore is eyeing a new deal with the face of the franchise.
During an appearance on Sunday’s SportsCenter, ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler said that the sense around the NFL is that Baltimore may follow the structure of the Josh Allen contract in its upcoming extension with Jackson that could come this offseason.
“The sense here around the league is that Baltimore could follow the blueprint that Buffalo put together back in March when they extended Josh Allen, even though he had multiple years left on his contract. The feeling is, get ahead of that huge quarterback market money in three or four years from now, just pay your guy now when he’s got multiple years left on his current deal.”
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler on how the Baltimore Ravens will approach Lamar Jackson contract negotiations
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It’s a very different approach from what Baltimore did in its last round of negotiations with Jackson. In March 2023, the team placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on their quarterback. It allowed Jackson to enter NFL free agency, giving him the ability to negotiate with other teams, but Baltimore had the right to match any offer he received. If the Ravens declined to match an offer sheet, they would receive two first-round picks from the team that signed Jackson.
No NFL teams expressed any interest in Jackson, with many coming out publicly to state they wouldn’t pursue him. A month later, the club signed him to a five-year deal worth $260 million. Baltimore structured the contract with a future extension in mind, as evidenced by the cap hits in 2026 ($74.5 million) and 2027 ($74.5 million). He is eligible for NFL free agency in 2028, when he would be 31 years old.
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Allen’s contract, which made him one of the highest-paid NFL players, was a six-year extension worth $330 million that replaced a four-year $129 million extension he signed a few years earlier. If Baltimore takes a very similar approach, Jackson’s extension will likely be worth upwards of $60 million per year and keep him under contract into his mid-30s.
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