Two pros and two cons for the Ravens making a blockbuster WR trade

Con: It takes away the Ravens’ team-building flexibility

Ultimately, the reason I would lean against trading for a star receiver is it simply takes away the roster flexibility that is the hallmark of the Ravens, which will become even more important in the era of Lamar Jackson’s second contract.

Oftentimes people view the salary cap through the prism of being able to bring in players, but the smartest NFL teams view the salary cap through the prism of being able to keep players while maintaining flexibility to identify veteran talent on the second or third-tiers of free agency.

While the Ravens now have future salary cap room, a good chunk of that will be eaten by Lamar Jackson’s new contract.

Of course, this assumes that the team is good enough at drafting that they have players worthy of second contracts, but the good news is that this current roster has seven Pro Bowlers that were drafted by or signed as rookies with the Ravens, and two more who were acquired in exchange for fifth-round picks.

Because of the nature of team control in the NFL, players will always be cheaper when they are re-signed.

The Ravens generally do not traffic in the business of big-money acquisitions- rather, they draft and keep players, and are able to identify players on the free-agent market like Kevin Zeitler, who came to Baltimore on a three-year, $22 million contract and finished 2021 in the top-10 in both pass and rush block win-rate.

What’s more, first-round picks matter more to the Ravens not only because of the players available in that round but because of the way they are able to manipulate a draft when trading.

Remember that 2018 draft I cited? Well, that was all possible because of two first-round trade backs, which allowed them to first trade back into the first round for Lamar Jackson, before using the excess picks on Mark Andrews, Bradley Bozeman, and Kenny Young, who was later traded with a fifth-round pick for Marcus Peters.

With Lamar Jackson under contract, the draft and salary cap margins will become more important than ever.

If the Ravens were to trade a first-round pick and give a big contract, they would be facing a situation next offseason where Marcus Peters has an expired contract and both starting guards have one year left, with little draft or financial capital to adequately replace them.

They will also have to make a decision on Patrick Queen and will make it harder to either re-sign or replace him.

While a couple of guys here or there may not sound like a big deal, those situations can compound upon themselves and the roster will start to slowly deteriorate because you have to start cutting players or trading them for cheap.

Part of the Ravens’ success stems from acquiring players who were capped out on other teams, instead of being the ones pinching pennies.

When you have a young quarterback like Lamar Jackson entering a second contract, the goal should never be to maximize the next two years but rather to maintain the flexibility to maximize the next decade.

And yet, there are really good arguments to be made about why the Ravens specifically should invest in a receiver, and if they were to do so I would not necessarily be fully opposed. But for now, I would hold off.