Eric DeCosta Gives Update on Lamar Jackson Contract Extension Talks
Signing quarterback Lamar Jackson to a contract extension is at the top of the list of the Ravens' organizational priorities. General Manager Eric DeCosta provided an update on the negotiations.
"We've had some conversations before the draft, after the draft, in person last week," DeCosta told Jerry Coleman on the “BMore Baseball Podcast.” "I think we're in the introductory sort of stage of looking at what an extension might look like."
Jackson signed a five-year, reported $260 million deal ($185 million guaranteed) during the 2023 offseason that made him the NFL's highest-paid player at the time. With a $52 million annual salary, the two-time MVP is now the 10th-highest paid signal-caller.
Head Coach John Harbaugh said at the NFL owners meetings in March that Jackson's next contract will again put him at the top.
"I think every contract he signs till he decides to hang up his cleats, he's going to be that guy," Harbaugh said.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen signed a contract extension in March. It was a six-year, reported $330 million contract with $250 million guaranteed, putting him at $55 million per year, tied for the second-highest annual salary with the Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow, Green Bay Packers' Jordan Love, and Jacksonville Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence behind the Dallas Cowboys' Dak Prescott ($60 million).
NFL.com’s Tom Blair put Jackson at No. 1 in his rankings of veterans who deserve a raise heading into this season.
"How much is too much to pay a walking, talking ticket to Super Bowl contention?" Blair wrote. "Could any contract possibly ever match the value that Jackson and Patrick Mahomes bring to their respective franchises? Jackson has transformed Baltimore into an AFC juggernaut while personally developing into a perennial MVP candidate, becoming the first player in NFL history to throw 40-plus TD passes and rush for 900-plus yards in the same season last year.
"Every team is chasing exactly this kind of superpowered generational QB, but most will never get close to rostering one. 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 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."
Jackson has a salary-cap hit of $43.5 million in 2025, per overthecap.com, and his cap hit would jump to $74.5 million the next two years, so a new deal needs to happen at some point. The Ravens also have several other extension candidates.
"We've got a lot of business that we're conducting with different players," DeCosta said. "We're in a situation where we're blessed to have most of the team coming back, but as we look out over the next two, three, four, five years, we're trying to keep as many good players as we can. We've got some guys that we feel like have a chance to really be prolific players for us that can be here a long time. We're trying to get as many of those guys signed up as possible. That's a big challenge and Lamar's certainly a big part of that."
Wide receiver Rashod Bateman was one of those candidates before he signed a reported three-year extension Thursday.
Kyle Hamilton Ranked No. 1 Safety in the League
Another prime candidate for an extension is Kyle Hamilton. The All-Pro was ranked the No. 1 safety in the league heading into the 2025 season by Pro Football Focus.
"Hamilton showed off his versatility in 2024, moving to free safety for most of the second half of the season after playing mainly in the box or as a slot cornerback initially," PFF’s Zoltan Buday wrote. "He was also the most complete safety in the league as the only player at the position to earn at least an 88.0 PFF grade in coverage, run defense and pass rushing."
The Ravens' selection of first-round safety Malaki Starks figures to allow Hamilton to again play closer to the line of scrimmage this season.
Buday noted that Ar'Darius Washington was excluded from the top 32 safety rankings because it's unknown whether he will be able to play in 2025 after suffering a torn Achilles in mid-May. Harbaugh said recently that he expects Washington to return in November or December.
Pundit Predicts Ravens Will Be Last Team To Lose in Regular Season
The Ravens play five teams that made the playoffs last year in the first six weeks of the 2025 season, including games at Buffalo and Kansas City, but Fox Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano predicted they will emerge from that stretch unscathed.
In fact, he doesn't foresee the Ravens having a blemish on their record until late November.
Vacchiano went through the NFL schedule and predicted when each team would suffer its first defeat. He had the Ravens as the last team to lose, going 11-0 before hosting the Cincinnati Bengals on Thanksgiving night in Week 13.
"Now the whole world will be watching," Vacchiano wrote. "The undefeated Ravens, newly installed Super Bowl favorites, with a quarterback and running back competing for NFL MVP, playing in a stand-alone, nationally televised game against the divisional-rival Bengals on Thanksgiving night. And it will surely be a record-setting ratings bonanza, too.
"But the pressure, the scrutiny, and the short week will all just be too much, even in front of their own, frenzied fans. They'll find out what so many others have learned: The chase for perfection can become a burden. Also, by this point in the season, the Bengals are scrambling to make up for their slow start, which won't help. So, all good things must come to an end, and here's where they do for the Ravens, with the best start to a season in their history and their second-longest win streak ever. They'll be 11-1 and still in command of both the AFC North and the entire AFC."
T.J. Tampa Named Ravens' Top Breakout Candidate
The Ravens had high hopes for cornerback T.J. Tampa when they selected him in the fourth round last year, but injuries limited him to seven games.
A healthy Tampa could be a quality depth piece behind Marlon Humphrey, Nate Wiggins, and Chidobe Awuzie. Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine named Tampa the Ravens' top breakout candidate.
"Cornerback is already a volatile position. It isn't uncommon to see a big leap in production from year to year," Ballentine wrote. "A healthy offseason should give him the chance to improve and show he can be part of the solution in 2025."
Harbaugh said at the start of OTAs last week that he expects Tampa to be a "big factor" this season.
