Ravens, Lamar Jackson remain in limbo on contract talks

The Baltimore Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson haven’t agreed on an extension yet, but things appear in a tenuous place for now.

Lamar Jackson has won two division titles, is an unanimous MVP, made First-Team All-Pro and made two Pro Bowls. All this in the first four years of his illustrious career.

Yet with the fifth-year option of his rookie deal set to play out in 2022, he’s without a contract extension. Jackson, 25, has to be hoping for the life-changing deal shortly. However, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta told media at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis that while things are good between the two sides and will eventually get done, nothing appears imminent. Per NFL.com:

“Well I hope so, at some point, yeah, we will. We’ve discussed this at length and I’ve said this before: We will work at Lamar’s urgency. He and I have had ongoing discussions. We’ve talked fairly recently as well. He knows how to find me; I know how to find him. I was very happy to see him working out on the West Coast recently with some of our guys. That’s exciting. Something that we really think will help us this year be the very best team we can be.

“He’s a guy that when we think about the Ravens three, four, five years from now, we envision Lamar being a very, very big part of that team and definitely a player that can help us win Super Bowls.”

There’s danger in this stance from Jackson’s perspective, or at least there should be. Last year, Jackson was forced to miss the last month of the season with an ankle sprain, the first time he’d be sidelined in four years. However, with his playing style, there’s always going to be concern this is the start of his body breaking down, fair or not.

Jackson is a phenomenal player and a singular talent, and should be treated as such. But with every hit, he runs the risk of Baltimore’s brass deciding not to pay him because they’re worried about what he’ll become, and now what he’ll be.

Until the extension is signed, Jackson is taking a huge risk every time he steps on the field. While things are copasetic between the sides now, it doesn’t mean circumstances and feelings can’t change.