Ravens given trade warnings, deadlines amid latest Lamar Jackson contract saga

Back in 2023, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson requested a trade before he ultimately signed a five-year deal reportedly worth up to $260M with $185M guaranteed to stay with the club. 

Jackson and the Ravens are again involved in a contract-related situation this spring. For a piece published on Friday, NFL insider Jason La Canfora of Sports Illustrated spoke with agents who suggested things between Jackson and the Ravens could get messy sooner rather than later. 

Lamar Jackson should want a signed contract extension in hand by this date

"A trade demand would absolutely be on the table if I was advising Lamar," one agent told La Canfora. "I’m not coming in with it, but I’m coming in with a very firm hand, and I’m not putting up with any of their bull----. And if it’s not done before training camp, we’re done talking."

Jackson operates as his own agent and may be looking for a fully guaranteed deal that carries a higher annual average value than the four-year extension reportedly worth $240M with $231M guaranteed that Dak Prescott received from the Dallas Cowboys in September 2024. 

"You are giving us a significant increase on the Prescott deal," the agent continued while speaking about Jackson. "That’s not even a discussion. We are asking for 100% guarantees, again, and not wavering … And, yes, we are absolutely willing to play that trade demand card." 

Meanwhile, a different agent noted that Jackson has the Ravens "by the ba--s" due to the salary-cap hit related to the team restructuring his contract to create about $40M in cap space earlier this offseason. 

"If he doesn’t get what he wants now," that agent said about Jackson, "he almost has to get it by March (given the $90M cap hit), or they will have to trade him. That’s where this is heading. It’s one of those two outcomes."

Are Ravens prepared to trade Lamar Jackson instead of paying him?

Interestingly, a general manager who examined the contract restructure told La Canfora that the Ravens could trade Jackson "tomorrow if they had to." 

"They didn’t have to convert the full $50M and take him down to the vet min ($1.3M base salary)," the general manager continued. "If he says he wants out, the contract wouldn’t hold them back. They’re prepared for it."

For what it's worth, neither Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta nor team owner Steve Bisciotti has given any indication that the team wants to move on from Jackson. That makes sense, as the two-time regular-season Most Valuable Player is presumably in his prime and will turn just 30 years old in January of next year.

Nevertheless, one long-time NFL contract negotiator told La Canfora that the Ravens "executing the full conversion makes the contract easier to trade" if things between the two sides get uncomfortable. 

"If I was negotiating the deal," the negotiator said, "it wouldn’t surprise me if [Jackson] asked for a trade again. From a team perspective, you are very aware of that. If this isn’t put to bed before Week 1, you could reasonably assume he’d go public with that again to try to get what he believes he is worth."

Of course, such chatter could go away if Jackson and the Ravens put pen to paper on an extension this spring or summer. With each week that passes, however, whispers about Jackson once again asking for a trade could grow louder.