Examining Lamar Jackson Franchise Tag Value, Ravens Salary Cap amid Contract Rumors

While presenting the Baltimore Ravens with a straightforward solution to retaining Lamar Jackson, the franchise tag will carry a heavy cost for the team.

The Ravens have the non-exclusive or exclusive franchise tag at their disposal, and ESPN's Jamison Hensley reported the latter is the likelier of the two.

The non-exclusive tender would slightly ease the salary cap burden, putting Jackson's salary between $30 million and $35 million for the 2023 season. The exclusive tag would mean paying the 2019 MVP around $45 million.

The lower salary cap hit of the non-exclusive tender is offset by the fact it would lock in Jackson's trade value. Another team could sign him to an offer sheet and send two first-round picks to the Ravens to make the deal official if Baltimore declined to match.

The exclusive tag costs more but precludes another team from negotiating a contract with Jackson, and the Ravens could set their own asking price for a trade.

Either scenario isn't ideal for Baltimore considering the team is projected to have $33.8 million in cap space for next year. That's barely enough to cover the non-exclusive tag before even getting to outside free-agent additions and draft picks.

General manager Eric DeCosta might have trouble executing the kind of cost-savings maneuvers that give a front office more financial flexibility as well.

Cutting Calais Campbell creates $6.5 million in cap space while carrying a $2.4 million dead money hit. Letting Kevin Zeitler go would have a similar effect on the cap. Hensley also cited Chuck Clark ($3.6 million) and Gus Edwards ($4.4 million), who are both entering the final year of their deals, as possible candidates to get cut.

Adding up a bunch of small contracts only gets you so far, though, in terms of accommodating Jackson's franchise tag.

The trouble for the Ravens is that the majority of their highest earners (Mark Andrews, Ronnie Stanley, Marlon Humphrey and Roquan Smith) are either too valuable or have contracts with too much guaranteed money left.

In a perfect world, the Ravens ink Jackson to a somewhat backloaded long-term extension—or at least one that pays him less than his true value in 2023.

But Hensley wrote a multiyear contract "is thought to be the least likely result" because negotiations have stalled for so long.

ESPN's Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen reported in September that Jackson turned down a $250 million offer because he wanted more guaranteed money than the $133 million the team tabled.

Because of the current divide, Baltimore is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Re-signing Jackson means taking a lot of long-term risk or getting saddled with an expensive franchise tag that handcuffs your ability to improve the roster this offseason.

Trading Jackson forces you to start over at quarterback. Finding a replacement of equal value is almost impossible, and draft picks are never guaranteed to deliver.

DeCosta has quite the dilemma on his hands.