‘Historic Event’ Begins Today, As Teams Can Negotiate With Lamar Jackson

There’s been ample speculation about which teams may or may not be interested in pursuing Jackson, and there are reasons why teams could be wary.

For one, since the Ravens have repeatedly made it clear that their goal is to sign Jackson to a long-term deal, the prevailing opinion is that the Ravens will match.

While that would surely be frustrating for the team that made the offer, there are tangible consequences beyond simply having wasted their time.

“Under league rules, any signed offer sheet counts against the team’s cap as if it were finalized,” The Baltimore Banner’s Jonas Shaffer wrote. “So if a suitor were to design a front-loaded contract, knowing that the Ravens would labor to find enough financial flexibility to match a 2023 cap hit of $50 million, $60 million or more, a sizable chunk of their budget would vanish with it. … The money freed up on their salary cap would have little power to help build a winning team in a free-agent market that, by then, would likely be plucked clean of its top available talents.”

The other issue facing a team who was to make a failed attempt to sign Jackson is the message it would send to its current quarterback.

“Few scenarios would create a bigger headache for a front office than one in which Jackson signs an offer sheet, only for the Ravens to match it,” Shaffer wrote. “One surefire way to make it worse? Have a young starting quarterback who’s just found out that the team doesn’t believe in him anymore. Or at least not as much as his coach and general manager said they did.”

Brandt summed up the entire, history-making situation thusly: “The Lamar thing is enigmatic as hell. I cannot wait.”

While the Jackson contract situation continues to be discussed and debated, a decision regarding the future of another Ravens quarterback is imminent.

The Ravens have until 4 p.m. ET today to decide whether to tender a contract to their six restricted free agents, one of whom is backup quarterback Tyler…