All Aboard the Offseason Rollercoaster

The 2023 offseason has finally – maybe even mercifully – arrived.

The Ravens – and the city of Baltimore right along with them – were riding the highest of highs at the end of the 2019 season. Lamar Jackson capped off a record-breaking season with a unanimous MVP, and with three years remaining on his rookie deal, the championship window felt wide open well into the 2020s.

It’s been a slow, painful comedown since, punctuated by a series of sudden, precipitous drops: major injuries at all levels of the roster, soul-crushing playoff losses, and trade requests from star players. Through it all, though, there was still hope, anchored in brilliant performances from Jackson and awe-inspiring efforts from backups and practice squad-ers who stepped up in place of their injured teammates.

We can finally get off that rollercoaster this offseason by finally coming to some resolution of a question that should’ve been answered a lot sooner: who will the Baltimore Ravens be for the rest of this decade?

Firing Greg Roman (praise be!) was the obvious first step to finding an answer to that question. But it gets considerably harder from there, due mostly to one figure: the aforementioned quarterback, Lamar Jackson.

Will the Ravens be his team, with annual Super Bowl expectations and the limitations imposed by quarterback cap hits? Or will Baltimore double down on a dangerous defense and attempt to reinvent their offense once again?

This offseason offers the widest range of outcomes in franchise history. As a fan, it’s terrifying. As a wannabe GM, it’s exhilarating.

Like I said, rollercoaster.

But through all of the twists and turns, I truly believe there is a path back to the Super Bowl for the Ravens. In fact, I think there’s multiple, and the Ravens know that, too. They’re weighing their options, trying to figure out which way they’ll compete for a championship in the future.

Everything starts, of course, with the Ravens’ impending decision on Jackson. Can they find a way to get a deal done with him – even if that means fully guaranteeing the entire deal – or will they trade him for what should be the biggest haul ever?

There’s hardly enough room in this article to cover all angles of what could be the most insane contracts in league history, so I won’t even try to capture it here. What I will say is that it represents the franchise’s most important decision since their hiring of John Harbaugh and drafting of Joe Flacco in 2008. It will determine the team’s path for at least the rest of the decade, and it will have massive implications league-wide.

I don’t think there’s one right decision, though. There are clear risks and rewards for each of Baltimore’s options, and the tougher moves will be (re)building around Lamar or the next Ravens QB.

The Ravens have made one of those decisions already, hiring former Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken for the same job in Baltimore. I think Monken is a fantastic hire for a few reasons, chief among them his adaptability to his personnel. While that’s a great trait for any OC, it’s particularly important for the Ravens right now with their uncertain future. While Jackson is by far the biggest factor in that, it also speaks to Baltimore’s team-building philosophy of “right player, right price” in free agency and “best player available” in the draft. Like it or not, that’s how this team operates, and Monken fits right in. He’ll get to work right away assessing his offense and preparing for schematic futures with and without Jackson.

The Ravens, meanwhile, will also be preparing for all possible outcomes – trade, extension, and even a season on the franchise tag – but they all include the same process. First, the front office has to prepare the roster for its annual turnover, with a series of in-house decisions: extensions, pending free agents, cap casualties, and more.

A Jackson trade would free the Ravens up to retain most, if not all of their potential cap casualties, as well as dole out extensions for soon-to-be free agents. An extension would still likely require some moves, but offer a bit of flexibility for at least the next two seasons. But a season on the franchise tag would demand cuts just to stay under the salary cap, much less make any moves before the draft.

Those needs – starting with revamping the WR room and adding a quality cornerback – are too many to start subtracting from this team, which is why I think the franchise tag is the most treacherous route under consideration.

If the Ravens trade Jackson, they’ll have the draft picks and cap space to make a run at almost any receiver available – think DeAndre Hopkin, Mike Evans – while also making another quality addition to fully revamp the wide receiver room, like Jakobi Meyers.

A Lamar extension will allow the flexibility to make one mid-level move, but little beyond that with multiple other needs to fill. That starts with a reliable second outside cornerback. While I’m higher on Brandon Stephens than most, the Ravens can’t rely on a third-year leap from him with no proven depth behind him. Baltimore will need to re-sign Justin Houston for their edge rush at a minimum, and Ben Powers has likely priced himself out of Baltimore, leaving a hole at LG as well.

Options for all of these needs can be found in-house or acquired through free agency or trade, with the Jackson decision obviously weighing heavily on the Ravens’ limitations.

That’s not even mentioning the biggest beast of the offseason: the draft. The Ravens are currently set to have just five picks in the 2023 NFL Draft – their lowest pool since 1999 – a number that would almost certainly go up if Jackson were traded.

The possibilities of this offseason are endless, and as anxiety-inducing that can be, I’m excited to break them all down.

The rollercoaster is set up for one hell of a finale, one last corkscrew that could send the whole city off the rails or to the moon. You may want some Dramamine for this one.