NFL insider shares new warning for Ravens amid Lamar Jackson contract situation

Recently, Baltimore Ravens reporter Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic made it known he was optimistic that the club and star quarterback Lamar Jackson will come to terms on a contract extension before the 2026 season gets underway. 

Months before Zrebiec offered that update, a March story claimed that Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta was "having trouble getting" Jackson "to answer his phone and" work out an extension. For a Sports Illustrated article published on Thursday, NFL insider Jason La Canfora hinted that DeCosta isn't any closer to locking Jackson down than the executive was in the closing days of winter. 

Is Lamar Jackson "running out the clock" amid contract saga?

"DeCosta has grumbled some publicly and all the time privately about the difficulty they have getting Jackson, who represents himself, on the phone and engaged in contract talks," La Canfora wrote. "So when he’s in your building for weeks on end, and you get nowhere with him at this incredibly pivotal time, and then he’s back to traveling and going to Miami and then reporting for camp in football mode (which could mean no more contract talks), then he just might be running out the clock and checkmating this front office again."

Jackson's existing deal prevents the Ravens from trading him without his consent or retaining his rights for 2028 via the franchise tag. Meanwhile, Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes recently reset the market for players at the position when he inked a reworked agreement that gave him a new average salary of $64M.

The perception has existed throughout the first half of 2026 that Jackson will want to become the league's new highest-paid player whenever he signs his next deal. 

Has window closed for Ravens to sign Lamar Jackson to contract extension?

"If [the Ravens] didn’t want to give Jackson roughly $250M guaranteed prior to all of this, and they didn’t love $60M a season, then negotiating off of Mahomes now making $64M a year from 2027 on isn’t going to help their cause," La Canfora added. "...The Ravens missed an essential window a year ago when Josh Allen got his long-term extension. DeCosta sloughed it off at the time and said he would have much more work to do the following offseason. Well, training camp is coming fast, and this offseason is getting thin, and the best time to get an audience with Jackson – especially in person – ended last week without any major developments."

Of course, Jackson could sign an extension at any time that his contract demands are met by DeCosta. If such a deal isn't agreed upon before Week 1 of the regular season arrives, however, questions about Jackson's long-term future will grow only louder and hover over the Ravens into the fall.