The Baltimore Ravens have had an exciting start to the new year thus far. On January 5, 2023, the Ravens extended M&T Bank’s stadium lease through 2037. As part of their agreement, the Ravens stated that there will be significant upgrades to their stadium to maintain “best-in-class facilities” and keep the fan experience vibrant.
This could be one significant step in keeping Lamar Jackson a Baltimore Raven because not only is the pride and joy of Baltimore, he is the heartbeat of the Ravens and the idea of playing in a top-tier stadium has to be enticing to him.
Not only do the Ravens have plans to upgrade their stadium, but they also have plans on keeping their defense strong as they recently extended Roquan Smith’s contract to a five year, $100 million dollar contract with $60 million in guarantees. Having a dominant defense can help to ease a quarterback’s mind when he is off the field because he will know he won’t have extra pressure on him to score on every drive.
Roquan Smith is a type of player that can affect a defense in such a way that he can take some pressure off of Lamar Jackson. So, signing him could also be an enticing move for Lamar Jackson to stay and more notably could be a move that the Ravens prepared in advance to impress Lamar to stay.
The most recent development in the Keep Lamar Jackson campaign is the signing of cornerback Trayvon Mullen. Mullen was recently placed on waivers by the Dallas Cowboys and the impact of his signing to the Ravens is that he is also Lamar Jackson’s cousin. If the Baltimore Ravens are buckling up for a contract to extend to Lamar Jackson, it seems as if they are doing everything they can to entice him to stay.
Not only with the signing of his blood relative, but Baltimore has also recently let go of Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman, whose offensive scheme may not have been the most ideal for a quarterback to succeed. Former Ravens backup quarterback Robert Griffin III had this to say about Greg Roman’s offense.
Greg Roman may be of the greatest run game tacticians I have ever been around at the NFL level. RBs and TEs love his system because they EAT. WRs absolutely hate it. That’s why free agent WRs didn’t want to go to or stay in Baltimore. It was never about Lamar Jackson.
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) January 19, 2023
With this insight into his system, it makes sense why Mark Andrews was Lamar Jackson’s number one target, especially with the receiving corps he had to work with this past season. It also makes sense as to why highly coveted wide receivers did not want to go there in free agency or would want to stay there long-term.
So, with the letting go of Greg Roman, this could be another drop in the bucket of goodies that Baltimore is setting up to pitch to Lamar Jackson in order to convince him to stay. But, the main order of business next on the list should be to offer him a contract similar to, or greater than, one of his peers in the AFC North.