Lamar Jackson Has Leverage in Ravens Extension Talks

Two years ago, Lamar Jackson signed a five-year, $260 million extension with the Baltimore Ravens, making him the highest-paid player in NFL history at the time.

In the past, that likely would've been the end of contract talks for at least four years, but the NFL has changed.

It's recently become far more common for teams to give lucrative extensions who already have mutliple years remaining on their deals, particularly quarterbacks. The Buffalo Bills recently did so for Josh Allen, signing him to a new six-year, $330 million contract despite him already being signed through 2028, and now the Ravens are looking to do something similar for Jackson.

"There has been conversations about that internally, I know," head coach John Harbaugh told reporters at the NFL Owners meeting this week. "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 have to kind of manage that dance – the salary cap dance – and Lamar [Jackson] is the main part of that, because he's the franchise player. That's a possibility. Sooner or later, that's definitely going to have to happen."

What exactly the extension talks between Jackson and the Ravens look like now is unclear, but according to former player agent and CBS Sports analyst Joel Corry, one side has significantly more leverage than the other.

"Jackson shouldn't be in a rush to get a deal done. ... Jackson already has a tremendous amount of contract leverage thanks to his performance," Corry wrote. "His leverage will be even greater in 2026 when his $74.5 million cap number is the NFL's third highest."

Harbaugh previously said that Jackson is "going to be the highest-paid player in football" on his next contract, and insinuated it could be that way until he retires. So, it sounds like the Ravens are very much aware of the leverage the two-time MVP has.

There are a couple of different approaches the Ravens could take in negotiations. Either they can have Jackson's new deal completely replace the old one, like the Bills did for Allen, or they can add on to the old one, like the Philadelphia Eagles did when they signed wide receiver A.J. Brown to a three-year, $96 million extension that runs through 2029.

Either way, the end result could look fairly similar.

"The sweet spot for Jackson would be a new $342.5 million deal over six years," Corry wrote. "The Ravens could characterize the renegotiated contract as averaging $57,083,333 per year where he is behind only [Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak] Prescott's $60 million-per-year extension or new-money average.

"Since Jackson is making $147.5 million for the remaining three years of his contract running through 2027, the $195 million of new money over the three new contract years (2028 through 2030) is a three-year extension, averaging $65 million per year."