Looking ahead to 2027? The Ravens’ salary cap situation is a mess.

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With Lamar Jackson on injured reserve for a possibly season-ending injury, many Ravens fans have punted their Super Bowl hopes to 2027.

The problem is the Ravens have also punted something to 2027: a lot of money against the salary cap.

The Ravens are projected to be $53.2 million over the cap in 2027, according to Spotrac. That’s the biggest deficit in the league.

As of now, the projected 2027 roster will be the highest paid in the league. Given the Ravens are on a four-game losing streak during which many highly paid veterans have struggled, that’s deeply concerning.

Here’s a closer look at the situation.

The 2027 cap

It can be difficult to produce accurate numbers when looking ahead because the salary cap changes every year based on the NFL’s profits.

Right now, Spotrac projects the salary cap to rise to $323 million, while Over the Cap projects it to be as high as $327 million.

Either way, the Ravens are well past those numbers in what they owe. Their current roster will cost them $378,852,840, and that’s before any free agent signings and the draft.

How did they get there?

The most significant move was the restructure the Ravens did when they couldn’t agree to a contract extension with Jackson.

It gave them relief this season, but it shot his cap hit up to $84.3 million next year. That’s about 26% of the cap.

Linebacker Roquan Smith’s cap hit doubled from 2025 to 2026, and it will hold at that number, $32,718,750, in 2027. That’s about 10% of the cap.

So two players account for over a third of the cap.

Defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike’s cap hit is not far behind Smith’s. His increases from just under $30 million to just over.

Meanwhile, safety Kyle Hamilton’s cap hit will almost triple, going from about $10.7 million to just over $26 million. And left tackle Ronnie Stanley’s more than doubles from just under $10 million to over $24 million.

After that, the Ravens have seven players under contract with cap hits of over $10 million: outside linebacker Trey Hendrickson, defensive lineman Travis Jones, running back Derrick Henry, tight end Mark Andrews, wide receiver Zay Flowers, left guard John Simpson and wide receiver Rashod Bateman.

Cornerback Marlon Humphrey is not under contract, but the Ravens included three void years in his deal. That means, if they don’t extend his contract, they have to account for his $11.931 million in dead money on their 2027 cap.

All told, it leaves the Ravens in a difficult spot. Their 20 most expensive players already have them exceeding the salary cap, and they have 46 players signed into 2027.

Reviewing Jackson’s contract

It’s been well documented that owner Steve Bisciotti wanted Jackson to sign an extension during the offseason. That didn’t happen, so the Ravens restructured his contract.

The contract still ends at the end of 2027, but there are now three void years that allowed the Ravens to break up his dead money.

He has $74,810,000 left in that dead money the Ravens have to account for; $33.09 million of that is currently on the 2027 cap, in addition to the salary he’d be paid ($51.25 million).

If the Ravens extend Jackson’s contract, they can continue to tinker with the accounting. If they let him play out his deal and leave, they will have to pay the $84.34 million in 2026 and $42.47 million in 2028 while he’s not on the team. Jackson has a no-trade clause, but if they were to trade him, they’d still have to account for his almost $75 million in dead money.

What can the Ravens do?

Jackson’s contract extension is one of the most important components of the equation.

The Ravens can also look at extending some other contracts and pushing their cap hits to later seasons, but the challenge would be finding candidates. Smith and Madubuike are nearing the end of their deals — and approaching their 30s. Henry is already there.

Hamilton, Hendrickson, Flowers and Bateman are on the front end of long deals, so it wouldn’t make sense to extend beyond there. Jones probably makes the most sense, if the Ravens want to commit to him longer.

The Ravens can also restructure contracts, which means they can convert salaries to bonuses. The player would make the same amount of money and be under contract the same amount of time, but the bonus would allow the front office to break up the accounting.

Cutting players is another option. Besides performance, the next consideration would be how much dead money they have left compared to how much the team would save by not having to pay the salary.

The Ravens could try to trade players for picks to lower their cap hit, as well, but not many players make great trade candidates.

There are many accounting methods, but the Ravens must first determine their future with Jackson.