Ravens Must Address These 3 Contract Situations Before Week 1

The Ravens are pushing a $400M payroll this season.

Owner Steve Bisciotti has gone to levels he has never approached before, he is in the top 10 in overall spending two years in a row for the first time in a very long time, and the overall cash commitment, per Spotrac.com numbers, is pretty staggering.

We dissected the payroll back in the early offseason, and it skews decidedly older and injury-prone at the very top, with mostly players in the final year of their deal comprising the higher-reaches of the roster (guys making $10M or more this season). They are most definitely pot committed, which makes you wonder about the need to shed some salary now in order to have the potential to take on contracts later.

This isn’t about salary cap, as that is mostly a myth billionaires foist upon the public with cover from the media; it’s a super soft cap and it’s beyond fungible and that’s why the Ravens can have about $394M committed to payroll this year with a cap at $301M. Some owners are willing to go this route, consistently, than others, and the Ravens are certainly pot-committed right now.

Seems to me, being able to save a few million on a player not worth what he costs here, and maybe another $10M there might be an immediate focus for general manager Eric DeCosta, knowing that this roster will have flaws and he’ll probably be going back to Bisciotti between now and the midseason trade deadline to probe about available big-ticket contracts that other teams are trying to shed.

And for all their spending and machinations to this point, this front office still has three significant and pressing contract matters to tend to, right now.

One of them might already be a lost cause at least for 2026 – possibly forever with a franchise quarterback they never seem willing to extend when they should - and two veterans who should have been dealt by now. We’ll see if DeCosta can check any of these boxes in the coming days with the season nearly upon us.

Lamar Jackson

Jackson was quite coy and sheepish talking about his contract when it’s come up this offseason. He gets to play the role of aw-shucks football player outwardly, and ruthless negotiator behind closed doors and the Ravens need to entice him to secure his future to them, and not the other way around.

They have failed miserably at such to this point, pinning themselves in a corner with a max restructure that gives Jackson de-facto free agency in 2027 with an $85M cap charge, and a no-trade clause, and a no-tag clause. As Mark Levin, formerly of the of the NFLPA and actively involved in Jackson’s previous negotiation, told us, “I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he asked for a trade again,” and longtime NFL personnel exec and contract negotiator Pat Kirwan, who has a decidedly more management approach to this deals, conceded on “The Daily Flock Show” that Jackson holds all the cards.

“They painted themselves into a corner,” Kirwan said, the latest in a line of guests to make the same point. “They’re the ones who gave him he no trade and no tag. So they have no leverage. Ultimately they’re going to have to make him the highest-paid quarterback in the league and get that cap number down.”

Easier said than done, and time is 100 percent on Jackson’s side. This needed to be done a year ago. And the Ravens future is murky until or unless it is. And this QB is not going to be negotiating a contract while he’s playing. He’s made it abundantly clear he is “cool” playing this contract out. He's betting on himself, knowing he can't really lose.

That’s a checkmate.

"I'm in a great place with the offense right now," Jackson said after practice Wednesday, somehow not asked a single question about his contract. Doubtful he would have said much anyway, as he always has complete control. But has to be asked.

Marlon Humphrey

They didn’t want to re-do his deal, because they’ve have to add years on to it and future guarantees if they did that, and DeCosta knows the former Pro Bowler might be a sunk cost at this point. But that $19.25M in cash – 10th among all corners – with $15M of it still owed to the player, yeah, that’s a big problem.

My man Kirwan was with me they should eat more to move him on, because a dollar saved is a dollar earned, and they’re going to want to add salary at the deadline, trust me. He was one of the worst starting boundary corners in the NFL last year and the Ravens are going to pay more dime coverage with more safeties on the field and they already have Kyle Hamilton in the slot and they have two young and cheap slot corners with different body types to get in the mix and I dare them to run Humphrey back out there opposite Nate Wiggins and watch what happens, even in a zone scheme.

They don’t want that either; if they did, they would have worked out an extension with him. It won’t be easy, given how rough the 2025 film is and the injury concerns, but this needs to be a priority.

Rashod Bateman

He is facing three counts of family violence charges in Georgia from the spring, and the disturbing details of the police accounts, but the Ravens don’t want to talk about or address that. They released a statement that said absolutely nothing and had their rookie head coach bark, “no comment” at reporters who asked about the starting wide receiver over the weekend.

He is someone who they should have moved on from by now, for football reasons. He is neither dependable nor consistent, and he isn’t a winning football player and his attitude leaves much to be desired and he’s an injury risk. They need to get real about their lack of real pass catchers, and his lack of chemistry with Jackson.

They’ve tried to move him before and failed to find a match. Moving him now might be impossible given the off-field concerns. But with a puny $2M base salary, you never know. They already gave him $4M in a bonus, like Humphrey. This guy has cried out for a fresh start somewhere else for a long time. They’re going to need to throw more money at a real pass catcher between now and the deadline.

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