Lamar Jackson has posed a problem for every NFL team that has played the the past nine years. Now he is the biggest problem the Ravens are perhaps about to face since they arrived in Baltimore in 1996.
Jackson, as everyone understands, must have surgery to repair the battered thumb on his right (throwing) hand that he injured Sunday against the Buffalo Bills â an injury coach Jesse Minter said would land the team’s quarterback on injured reserve and “potentially” threaten his status for the remainder of this season.
That, believe it or not, is the good news.
The bad news is what comes next because that includes the possible departure of a generational player who turned a solid Ravens franchise when he arrived into a playoff contender every game of every season he was healthy and played since 2018.
So here we are: Jackson may have played his final game for the Ravens.
His constant and often losing battle to stay healthy, against a backdrop of a difficult contract and salary cap situation in 2027, could force a divorce between the Ravens and Jackson next offseason.
The Ravens will find themselves in a situation where they must decide to pay a 30-year-old, often-injured, very expensive Lamar Jackson because he’s a difference-maker when healthy?
… Or do they try to trade him â with his permission because he has a no-trade clause â to a team of his choice that is willing to improve instantly?
(Whispers Miami Dolphins, Jackson’s hometown team).
The questions boggle because a two-time MVP is typically a piece of the puzzle for an team and not the puzzle itself that requires a solution.
This crazy situation is, at its root, going to be about money and business and not love or emotion.
Simply:
Jackson is carrying an $84.34 million salary cap charge next year on a team that is estimated to be $45.9 million over the estimated cap. That is not sustainable.
And it wouldn’t be a problem if Jackson were healthy this season, playing at his usual heights, and promising more of the same in the future. The Ravens would then negotiate an extension with Jackson that would lower his cap charge while rewarding him with a lot of new cash.
Except that might not be the view the Ravens can logically share anymore. Their view post-injury that threatens to knock him out of the lineup for 16 of 34 games after this season, is not known. But the club might decide paying Jackson as if a season-crashing injury had not happened might not be the smartest approach.
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The Ravens and Jackson have squared off on the contract front before. The 2023 offseason brought one dramatic moment after another before Jackson and the club agreed to a $230 million deal.
Jackson absolutely expects an extension next offseason because he will not want to play the season on an expiring deal. That is not how business is typically done in the NFL and definitely not with a franchise-type of quarterback.
And did I mention, Jackson expects to be the league’s highest-paid player when he
