SerpApi.Org
Buried inside the five-year, $260 million contract Lamar Jackson signed with the Baltimore Ravens in 2023 is a provision that makes the organization’s push for an extension this offseason less about generosity and more about survival: a no-tag clause that prevents Baltimore from placing any form of the franchise tag on Jackson when his current deal expires.
The clause means that if Jackson and the Ravens do not reach a new agreement before his contract runs through 2027, he enters 2028 as a fully unrestricted free agent with zero mechanism for Baltimore to retain him. No exclusive tag. No non-exclusive tag. No restricted tag. He walks, and the highest bidder wins.
Jackson said at OTAs that he wants to stay in Baltimore
That is the core of why Ravens GM Eric DeCosta told reporters in February 2026 that he is “definitely” confident the team will extend Jackson, and why the organization has treated the extension as a matter of when rather than whether. Without one, the no-tag clause does not just create leverage for Jackson in negotiations. It hands him the most powerful position a quarterback can hold.
Jackson is currently under contract through 2027 at approximately $52 million per year, but his scheduled 2027 cap hit will spike to $84.34 million, a number which, of course, makes the timing of a new deal a financial necessity for Baltimore regardless of the no-tag clause.
The Ravens restructured his 2026 cap charge earlier this year to create immediate space, but that maneuver only deferred the problem.
Jackson appeared at Ravens OTAs in May and said “absolutely” when asked whether he intends to stay in Baltimore. He declined to discuss the details of where talks stood. DeCosta confirmed a mutual interest exists but acknowledged no agreement has been reached.
What a new deal would look like financially is its own issue: per Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox, it would be a major surprise if Jackson’s extension does not at minimum match Dak Prescott’s $60 million per year average and a realistic chance it surpasses it.
The Florida dimension is the complication the Ravens cannot address internally. Jackson grew up in Pompano Beach, Florida, and has made no secret of his affection for his home state over the years. During tense contract negotiations in 2022, he liked a social media post showing him in a Miami Dolphins jersey and separately said the Dolphins were his “second” team growing up after the Cowboys.
The Dolphins currently have Malik Willis on a three-year, $67.5 million contract and are deep in a rebuild, a circumstance that could position them as a credible 2028 bidder if they rebuild quickly enough and Jackson reaches open market.
Baltimore enters training camp next week with Jackson unextended, his 2027 cap figure looming, and the no-tag clause ensuring that every day without a new deal brings his untouchable free agency one day closer.
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The post Lamar Jackson could walk to free agency in 2028 completely untouchable, and the Ravens know it appeared first on Gridiron Heroics.
