The die has been cast in Baltimore. The Baltimore Ravens have made one of the franchises biggest mistakes by non-exclusive franchise tagging Lamar Jackson, leaving the door open for other teams to negotiate with him.
Are the Ravens allergic to franchise quarterbacks?
I know this team has had monumental success in the last 25 years by winning two Super Bowls (SB 35 and SB 47) without a franchise quarterbacks (Trent Dilfer in Super Bowl 35; Joe Flacco in Super Bowl 47), but does this team truly want to spend the rest of eternity (if the NFL lasts that long) praying an all-time great defense forms every 15 or so years for Super Bowl runs? If that’s the case, then the Ravens won’t be winning too many more Super Bowls in the future.
Prior to Lamar Jackson being drafted by the Ravens, there hadn’t been a franchise superstar quarterback in the city of Baltimore since the days of Johnny Unitas. And he was the quarterback of an entirely different franchise (Baltimore Colts)!
Like I said, the Ravens have solely relied on drafting and acquiring the best defensive players in football, such as Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, Rod Woodson, and Jonathan Ogden, and assembling fantastic defenses that won them AFC North titles and Super Bowls. Obviously, it’s not a bad strategy as it has given the Ravens two Super Bowl wins, but it’s without a doubt the hardest of the two paths in building Super Bowl contending rosters.
The path of drafting and building around a franchise quarterback, which is the easier of the two (in my opinion), not only yields more chances of winning a Super Bowl, but it also was in Baltimore’s hands before this offseason. Yes, Lamar Jackson isn’t on the level of Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow (no one is at the moment), but he’s proven his worth and skill with his 2018 MVP win and two AFC North crowns the team has secured under Jackson’s reign.
Moreover, building around Jackson is a more affordable option as the Ravens could theoretically interchange pieces year after year if they so desired and still have a competitive offense. Aside from a star #1 receiving option (whether a TE or WR) and Jackson himself, everyone on a hypothetical Jackson-tailored Ravens offense would be expendable and subject to rotation. That isn’t the case with an all-time great defense.
In order to have a brilliant defense capable of winning Super Bowls, there needs to be at least 11 great, compatible starters to go toe-to-toe with the best offenses in the league. Hall of Famers like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Jonathan Ogden, and Rod Woodson (and hopefully Terrell Suggs one day) certainly elevated the defenses they were a part of, but it was a collective effort of 11-18 starters and rotation players that made said defenses magnificent.
If you removed 3-4 pieces from the 2000 Ravens defense (one of the Top-3 best ever) or the 2012 Ravens defense (a great defense in its own right), those teams don’t win the Super Bowl. However, franchise QBs like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, John Elway, and Patrick Mahomes have all had receiving weapons added and replaced year after year, but they still were able to reach and win Super Bowls.
And, with Lamar Jackson now completely ostracized from the organization with this non-exclusive tag, the Ravens hope of winning a Super Bowl with Jackson have ended.
There’s no way Jackson resigns with the team once this tag expires…if he’s still on the team next season.
As I mentioned, the Ravens have given every team in the NFL the ability to negotiate with Jackson if they are willing to fork over 2 1st round picks as compensation. Now, the Ravens could always match whatever offer a team gives Jackson, but I’d be surprised if the QB negotiates anything more than two seasons to run out his franchise tag eligibility.
Why would he accept a 4-year deal with another team that the Ravens could just match? It’s obvious both he and the Ravens want a divorce, and a long term deal the Ravens could hijack from another team would not facilitate that.
The Lamar Jackson era in Baltimore is truly over, even if the QB finds himself stuck for another year or so.
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