On April 27, 2023, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson signed a five-year, $260 million contract that made him the highest-paid player in NFL history at the time.
Less than two years later, he’s already in contract talks again.
At the NFL Owners meeting in South Florida, head coach John Harbaugh confirmed that the Ravens and Jackson have begun discussing a potential extension.
“There’s been conversations about that internally, I know,” Harbaugh told reporters Monday morning. “How far along that is or whatever, I don’t know, but I definitely think it’s an obvious point that you’re making. That’s going to continue to have to be addressed, really with all those guys. You just kind of got to manage that dance, that salary cap dance, and Lamar is the main part of that because he’s the franchise player. So, that’s a possibility, I think. Sooner or later, definitely is going to have to happen.”
Quarterback contracts move very quickly in the NFL. Less than two years into his new contract, Jackson now ranks ninth among quarterbacks in terms of average per year (APY) at $52 million. The leader in that category is Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
Additionally, it’s become far more common for teams to extend their quarterbacks with several years remaining on their deal. Most recently, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who controversially beat out Jackson for MVP last season, signed a six-year, $330 million contract despite previously being signed through 2028.
The Ravens have definitely noticed that trend, as general manager Eric DeCosta said after the season.
“Yes, we’ve seen teams do that,” DeCosta told reporters on Jan. 22. “And Lamar [Jackson] and I, we’ve had a lot of discussions about contracts over the years, and at some point, I’ll probably talk to Lamar. I’m just really happy [and] blessed to have watched him play football this year. We just finished the season; I want Lamar relax a little bit and think back to what we accomplished as a team and what he accomplished individually.”
“We’ll have those conversations probably at some point. And from what I’ve seen with Lamar, he’s just grown so much – even just over the last couple of years, in terms of his game as a player, as a leader [and] as a person. I love talking to him. We communicate all the time. And as I said, I’m blessed to be with him for the last seven years.”
Allen’s $55 million per year, which ties him for second in APY among quarterbacks, is likely the baseline for any Jackson extension, though he could feasibly go higher than that.
