Lamar Jackson’s future with the Baltimore Ravens will be one of the biggest storylines of the NFL offseason. The 2019 MVP is due a new contract after dramatically overplaying his rookie deal. Rarely do big-time quarterbacks hit the market, and head coach John Harbaugh doesn’t sound like he thinks Lamar is going anywhere.
Harbaugh and General Manager Eric DeCosta spoke at the team’s press conference on Thursday. The media event stemmed from the team parting ways with the oft-criticized Greg Roman. During the presser, Lamar Jackson came up, as expected. The head coach was quick to leave little doubt on what he wanted Jackson’s future to be.
“John Harbaugh: Lamar Jackson is our quarterback,” Baltimore Banner’s Jonas Shaffer tweeted. Shaffer quoted Harbaugh in a tweet and added, “Harbaugh said he ‘200%’ wants Jackson as the Ravens’ quarterback of the future.”
It would probably be concerning if Harbaugh said anything else. With the Ravens’ recent rounds of dissension, you figure anything could’ve been possible. But the head coach definitely knows what he’s working with and doesn’t want to risk losing him to another team.
Elsewhere, DeCosta later would express significant interest in restarting negotiations with Jackson again. DeCosta later revealed that the two sides met Thursday, in fact.
The Ravens will have a long but historic offseason on the horizon. Baltimore almost has to re-sign Jackson, likely to a huge contract, or risk falling behind in the AFC’s ongoing quarterback race. Which has only gained steam with the recent rise of Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville, on top of many others. The Ravens could potentially still tag Jackson, but whether he’s into that idea is an entirely different question.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022