The One Offseason Move Ravens MUST Make: Bill Barnwell
The Baltimore Ravens have a ton of important questions to address this offseason as the organization attempts to improve from last season's Wild Card loss to the Bengals.
If general manager Eric DeCosta & Co. want help, they don't have to look any further than Bill Barnwell and ESPN.
Barnwell recently discussed each team's biggest free agency move to improve this offseason, and the Ravens were addressed.
His advice should be no surprise to anyone:
"Have serious conversations about trading Lamar Jackson ... before using the franchise tag."
"The Ravens aren't going to let Jackson leave for nothing in free agency this offseason. They obviously would prefer to get a longer deal done right now, but the two sides reportedly aren't close on a new contract, and the price tag for upper-echelon quarterbacks is only going to go up as Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts all sign extensions soon.
"Jackson, who isn't using an agent in these negotiations, is a smart guy and hardly naive about where the market is going. If Baltimore isn't willing to get a deal done now, what's going to change when the price goes up even further?"
It's all about trade leverage and when would be the best time to try and trade Jackson.
"While Jackson missed the final five games of the season for the second consecutive year after suffering a knee injury, the Ravens have more leverage in making a trade now than they would next year. As such, teams will likely be willing to offer them more this offseason than they will a year from now when he would only be one year from unrestricted free agency."
Baltimore is looking for first-round picks, and they're not all created equal. Why even negotiate with teams like the Giants or Saints when their first-round picks fall near the bottom of the round?
Teams like the Panthers and Falcons are more attractive partners for DeCosta as they hold top-20 picks.
But then this all brings up an entirely different problem. If Jackson is gone, who plays quarterback for Baltimore? Aside from his bizarre trip to the Pro Bowl, Tyler Huntley has averaged 5.8 yards per attempt in 13 games over the past two seasons. Baltimore can go after a backup in free agency, but there's no long-term replacement on the roster.
Unfortunately the old adage, "There's nowhere to go but up," doesn't apply here.
The Ravens can get worse.
Quickly.
So this offseason is extremely important to the organization and a fan base that's ready to pounce on management and ownership if things go south quickly.
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