ExtremeRavens Posted 8 hours ago Posted 8 hours ago The microphone on Lamar Jackson’s cell phone is apparently working just fine these days. A week ago, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti fired coach John Harbaugh. After 18 seasons, one Super Bowl title and a dozen postseason appearances, a more recent string of blown fourth-quarter leads, playoff regression and not living up to expectations led to the billionaire’s instincts believing that now was the time to relieve the only coach he’d ever hired of his duties. Amid that decision, Bisciotti also spoke with Jackson the night before he let Harbaugh go. He has talked to him in the days since, too. Bisciotti even extended an open-ended invitation to the two-time NFL Most Valuable Player to use his private jet to fly him to town to be part of the process of hiring the next coach. While Bisciotti said that Jackson did not play an “outsized” role in Harbaugh’s dismissal and the star will have “a lot of say” but “no power” in who will replace him, the owner’s feelings about the 2018 first-round draft pick who on the night Baltimore selected him promised to bring a third Vince Lombardi Trophy to the Charm City couldn’t have been clearer. The 65-year-old who said that he possibly plans to own the team for around another 10 years or so and the Ravens are all in. “I want him to be my quarterback,” Bisciotti said Tuesday when asked if he is 100% sold on the 29-year-old being the central figure in the organization for the foreseeable future. Now the only questions are how and if that will happen and what it will mean for Baltimore. Jackson still has two years left on his current contract, but with a $74.5 million salary due each of the next two seasons, his cap hit would be prohibitive for a team perennially tight on space and long on needs, from the offensive line, to a bonafide pass rusher to re-signing some of their roughly two dozen free agents. That’s why there is an urgency to get an extension signed, which would be the second one of Jackson’s career after he signed a five-year, $260 million deal in 2023 following two long and at times contentious years of negotiations that included the quarterback at one point saying that he couldn’t talk to DeCosta because his cell phone microphone was broken. Despite the stalemate that led to a public trade request before an agreement was finally reached, Bisciotti believes that not only is Jackson the man to take him where he wants to go, but that they will be able to reach an understanding. There are also mathematical gymnastics that can be played, including reworking his current contract to push the $74.5 million out into void years, though that’s not the preference for Bisciotti. “We want another window, and Lamar knows that,” he said. “I think that he’s amenable to doing something that mirrors the last deal he did, although the annual number will be a little higher. But I’m hoping that it’s, plug a new number into the same contract he signed last year and move on. “And the urgency of that matters to me because we’ve got free agents, and I don’t want to go into free agency with that hanging over our head. I made that clear to Lamar, and I think he was very appreciative of my stance, and hopefully willing to work with Eric and not get this thing dragged out into April like it was the last time. It was very hard for him to build a roster when that thing is not settled.” "I think we underachieved as a scouting staff, as a coaching staff and as players," Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said of the 2025 season. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Building, or in many ways rebuilding, the current roster is among DeCosta’s primary objectives — behind, of course, signing Jackson to an extension. Doing the latter would allow him to address the many needs the team has. Pick just about any position group and there is a desire to revamp, be it on the offensive line, at outside linebacker, on the defensive line, at wide receiver, cornerback or elsewhere. “When you underachieve, you can blame a lot of things,” DeCosta said. “We didn’t play consistently from game to game. Some games, the offense played well, the defense didn’t perform well. Some halves, the offense looked good and the defense didn’t. “I think generally speaking, we’ve got to do a better job of creating pressure on defense — that will help the secondary, I think, being complementary on defense that way. Getting after it affecting the quarterback — affecting the pocket would be something big. I know the offensive line seemed to be a narrative this year. … I think we underachieved as a scouting staff, as a coaching staff and as players.” How to improve on that, DeCosta added, includes looking internally and what can be done better. “I think it starts with me; it starts with the new coaching staff; and I think the players will be accountable as well,” DeCosta said. It also includes the ability to go after what he called potential “big-ticket” stars, something that is made difficult if not impossible unless the Ravens can sign Jackson to an extension to lower his salary cap hit. That, of course, starts with being able to communicate with the quarterback in the first place and the two sides being on the same page, particularly with a new coach being hired in the coming weeks. Was it where it needed to be this past season under Harbaugh and the rest of his staff? Bisciotti said that Jackson told him that he had no issues with Harbaugh or offensive coordinator Todd Monken. Now that one is gone and the other to follow, it will be imperative for Jackson and the new regime, along with the owner and general manager, to be simpatico. “I think communication can always be better,” DeCosta said. “You have to over-communicate; I believe in that. “I think with players, especially, they’re looking for feedback. They want to have a voice, but you also have to encourage the feedback and encourage the voice and work and set expectations and hold people accountable every single day. That’s what the most successful organizations do on a consistent basis, whether that’s with your star quarterback or your third-string inside linebacker; you have to set expectations, hold players accountable, foster a relationship where they love this place and love this culture, and football’s the most important thing in their lives.” For Jackson and the Ravens, that starts with talking, so they’ve at least got that going for them. Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article Quote
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