S.I.’s Albert Breer: Why Lamar Jackson Might Not Want a Ravens Contract Extension

Everyone assumes the hard part of a Lamar Jackson extension is getting the Ravens to pay. Albert Breer thinks everyone has it backwards.

"I think the Ravens are totally willing to do a deal," the Sports Illustrated reporter told Rich. "Does Lamar want to do a deal?"

That is the question almost nobody is asking, and Breer laid out exactly why it deserves to be asked. Jackson has a no-tag provision in 2028. Not a franchise tag the Ravens can lean on, not a bridge to buy a year of leverage. Nothing.

"If he wants to take it, he's got an open freeway to free agency," Breer said. "And this is a guy who's thought differently over the course of his career."

That last part is the whole ballgame. A player who has consistently thought differently is a player who looks at an open lane to free agency differently than someone who just wants the security signed and filed.

Breer was careful to note this is not a Baltimore problem in the usual sense. The building loves him.

"I think Jesse Minter is in on Lamar Jackson. I think Declan Doyle is in on Lamar Jackson. I think Eric DeCosta is in on Lamar Jackson," Breer said. "They love him. They want to build around him."

So what would break it? Breer floated the one thing money cannot fix.

"What if Lamar had in the back of his head, I want to go home?"

Home is Miami. And Breer noted, almost as an aside, that Malik Willis just signed a two-year deal. He was not predicting anything. He was pointing at the shape of the thing.

"You just start to think about those things," he said.

The math is not far-fetched either. The no-tag clause sits at the end of his current deal. March of 2028 is two years out. Jackson will be 31 when he gets there, which in the current quarterback economy is not old, it is prime. A quarterback at that age with no tag hanging over him and a full market bidding is a scenario the league almost never gets to see.

Breer did not close the door on Baltimore getting it done. He leaned the other way, in fact.

"It's possible the Ravens put something in front of Lamar by the end of August that he cannot refuse," he said. "I would not be surprised if the Ravens really try, and they should."

The same conversation touched C.J. Stroud, and Breer was noticeably cooler there. He would be a little surprised if they completely broke the bank based on how last season ended, and he is not sure Stroud would take something less than the top of the market anyway. What insulates Stroud, Breer said, is his draft slot. Second pick in the draft, relatively big contract already, less urgency on either side.

Jackson has no such buffer. He has a clause, a clock and a history of doing things his own way.

Rich, as usual, found the button. Not bad, he noted, for a guy some people at the combine wanted to see work out at receiver.