Lamar Jackson’s injury sparks major questions about his Ravens future

Lamar Jackson’s latest injury raises obvious questions about his future in Baltimore.

Jackson, the two-time NFL MVP, is on injured reserve after suffering a thumb injury on the first offensive play of Baltimore’s Week 8 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

The injury could end his ninth NFL season after just three full games and two first-half exits.

He will miss at least four games on IR, and with the Ravens sitting at 4-4, the team may shut him down for the year if the playoff race slips away.

The Ravens are now 10-point underdogs for Thursday night’s home game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Third-string quarterback Joe Fagnano, an undrafted rookie from UConn, is set to start.

Fagnano completed 10 of 21 passes for 91 yards and an interception in relief against Buffalo, adding three carries for three yards and a fumble.

He has also been dealing with an ankle issue.

Backup Tyler Huntley is out for the season with turf toe, suffered in the same Bills game.

With both Jackson and Huntley unavailable, the Ravens have traded for Arizona Cardinals veteran Jacoby Brissett, a league source confirmed to The Athletic.

Brissett, 33, has made 73 career starts over 11 NFL seasons with six teams.

He opened 2026 as Arizona’s starter but was benched during the team’s comeback win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 8.

Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur announced Monday that Gardner Minshew will keep the starting job, with rookie Carson Beck as the backup, pushing Brissett to QB3.

That made a trade logical for both sides.

Brissett is familiar with Ravens quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork, who coached him last year in Arizona.

With a mini-bye after Thursday’s game, Baltimore should have time to get Brissett up to speed before a Nov. 16 game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

But the bigger story is what Jackson’s recurring availability problems mean for his long-term future in Baltimore.

Jackson is under contract for one more season, through 2027.

Crucially, the Ravens cannot use the franchise tag or the transition tag to restrict his movement after that.

He will become an unrestricted free agent in March 2028, just 16 months from now.

If Jackson wants a fresh start at age 31, he will be able to have one.

The Ravens made it clear in January 2026 that they wanted to extend his contract by the start of the new league year in March.

It did not happen.

The reasons never became clear because neither Jackson nor the Ravens — at Jackson’s request — share information about the negotiations.

Before the season began, it seemed a new contract was just a matter of time.

The Ravens surely would like to do it before March 2027, when Jackson’s cap number spikes to $84.34 million.

The team has the right to restructure again to reduce the 2027 cap hit, but that would make the dead-cap reckoning even larger in 2028.

A trade would avoid the final $52 million in cash and cap charges, though the cap realities would make a post-June 1 move the far better option.