The Ravens and Lamar Jackson have not reached an extension deal yet and General Manager Eric DeCosta provided an update on where things stand with free agency just two weeks away.
"I hope so at some point that we will [reach an extension]," DeCosta said. "We've discussed this at length and I said this before. We will work at Lamar's urgency. He and I have had ongoing discussions. We've talked fairly recently as well. He knows how to find me, I know how to find him."
DeCosta said he had communicated with Jackson once via text within the last month.
"I think that it takes two sides to actively put their heads together and get a deal worked out. We are ready to be there for Lamar at any point when he decides that he really wants to work on it. We will be [ready]," DeCosta said. "We have an awesome relationship. Lamar has spent time with Coach (John Harbaugh) and I, in John's office, on the phone via text. I don't want to speak for him, but I think he's very excited about this season we have coming up."
If a deal isn't reached this offseason, Jackson will play out his fifth-year option, which would be at about $23 million.
That isn't a staggering number for the Ravens to handle under the salary cap, especially for a player of Jackson's caliber, but an extension before free agency opens would create more cap space to re-sign free agents or bring in others.
Jackson previously said that his focus was on getting healthy and improving this offseason in hopes of getting the team back in the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl. Jackson has followed through with those intentions so far this offseason, as he got together with some of his receivers shortly after the Pro Bowl.
"I was very happy to see him working out on the West Coast recently with some of our guys," DeCosta said. "That's exciting and something that we really think will help us this year be the best team that we can be.
"He's a guy that, when we think about the Ravens three, four, five years from now, we envision Lamar being a very very big part of that team and definitely a player that can help us win Super Bowls."
