Ravens' QB Tops Veteran Players Most-Deserving of Pay Raise

In the NFL, the only asset more valuable than having a top-10 quarterback on a rookie deal is having a perennial MVP candidate under center, because that is priceless. It comes with a shot to win the Super Bowl in any given year and a baseline of 10-plus wins every season unless their defense is well below league average. That was the case for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2024, when Joe Burrow had the best season of his career by far, but still couldn't even earn a Wildcard berth.

The Ravens are one of the select few teams who can proudly claim they have one of the league's most elite quarterbacks: two-time league MVP Lamar Jackson who many believe was robbed of his third this past season. Two offseasons ago, he briefly held the mantle of the highest-paid player in NFL history after inking a five-year deal worth $260 million with $135 million guaranteed at signing. Fast-forward to 2025 and his average annual salary of $52 million has him ranked 10th among all quarterbacks and first on NFL.com's Tom Blair's list of veterans players who deserve a pay raise ahead of the 2025 season.

"Jackson and Patrick Mahomes could probably hold a spot on top of this list forever -- or at least for as long as they are playing football, no matter what their game checks look like," Blair wrote. "How much is too much to pay a walking, talking ticket to Super Bowl contention? Could any contract possibly ever match the value that Jackson and Mahomes bring to their respective franchises? Jackson has transformed Baltimore into an AFC juggernaut while personally developing into a perennial MVP candidate."

Jackson is coming off the best dual-threat season of any quarterback in NFL history in which he became the first player ever to throw 40-plus touchdowns to just four interceptions and rush for 900-plus yards in the same season. His single-season passer rating of 119.6 in 2024 also ranks fourth all-time in league history.

"Every team is chasing exactly this kind of superpowered generational (quarterback), but most will never get close to rostering one," Blair wrote. "That feverish pursuit has helped inflate the quarterback market to the point that, somewhat ludicrously, nine signal-callers are paid more per year than the two-time MVP.

The Buffalo Bills signed the reigning league MVP, Josh Allen, to a massive six-year extension this offseason back in March worth $330 million with $250 guaranteed. However, it still didn't earn him the mantle of the highest-paid player in NFL history or even at his position. His average annual salary of $55 million put him in a four-way tie for the second-highest figure with the Dallas Cowboys' Dak Prescott leading the pack at $60 million annually.

"The game of Highest-Paid-Player Hot Potato often, of course, seems to be driven more by timing than merit, but this discrepancy is begging to be corrected with a new deal for one of the top talents in football," Blair wrote. "Hopefully, Baltimore's willingness to publicly discuss the topic is a sign that balance will be restored soon -- and with fewer bumps on the road to resolution than we saw last time."

With a 2025 salary-cap hit of $43.5 million that jumps to $74.5 million in each of the next two years per spotrac, the Ravens have no choice but to sign Jackson to a new deal. Doing so would not only lock him up for the foreseeable future but they also have several other key starters and role players who will be unrestricted free agents next offseason and other young players entering the back half of their rookie contracts who will need to be extended in the next couple of years.