Ravens could make horrendous Lamar Jackson decision if 'long shot' prediction comes true

The Baltimore Ravens fired John Harbaugh after the 2025 season, hired Jesse Minter, and revamped the coaching staff while reshuffling the roster a bit.

But heading into the 2026 season, there's still plenty of optimism around the Ravens potentially being one of the best teams in the NFL. IT would not be a surprise if they won the AFC North, or even made the Super Bowl.

However, there's a different outcome, which ESPN's Dan Graziano called a "long shot," where the season goes very poorly, and then he predicts the Ravens could trade Lamar Jackson after failing to get a contract done in what would be a horrendous outcome.

Ravens predicted to make awful Lamar Jackson trade decision

"Long-shot outcome: The season doesn't go the way Jackson or the Ravens hoped, and extension talks next spring get testy. Armed with the leverage of the no-franchise tag clause, Jackson drives a hard bargain, and the Ravens decide they don't want to meet his price," Graziano writes. "They're forced to decide whether to let him play out the final year of his contract and hit free agency in 2028, or to trade him before 2027."

This predicted outcome for the Ravens is, fortunately, a "long shot" to actually happen. It probably couldn't get much worse than this for Baltimore in 2026.

If they struggled to play well, missed the playoffs, and Jackson and the Ravens got into a serious contract dispute that led to a trade, there might not be a worse result possible for the Ravens for the 2026 season and the following offseason.

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Trading Jackson would net a massive fortune of draft capital, and there are surely many teams around the league that'd be willing to offer it.

Maybe the Ravens could get the three first-round picks from the New York Jets, or multiple firsts from the Miami Dolphins. The Atlanta Falcons would make a lot of sense for a trade as well.

This predicted "long shot" outcome would be a complete disaster for the Ravens, and one they should hope to avoid at all costs. A lot would have to go wrong to get to this point, but unfortunately, it's still one potential path the Ravens could take this upcoming season.

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