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INDIANAPOLIS — Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta provided only a cursory update Tuesday on Lamar Jackson — and it did little to ease concerns about the star quarterback’s future in Baltimore.

Jackson is entering the fourth year of the five-year, $260 million extension he signed in 2023 that made him the NFL’s highest-paid player. But his salary cap hit in 2026 is $74.5 million, one of the league’s largest figures and nearly 25% of a projected $303.5 million cap.

The Ravens have acknowledged a need to lower that number, but DeCosta evaded questions about his negotiations with Jackson, saying he and the quarterback have an agreement to “handle business kind of in-house internally.” All he confirmed was that they have talked.

“I have spoken to Lamar about a lot of different things over the last month,” DeCosta said. “He’s been very engaged. As I said, he was a big value to us in the coaching search, but we’ll continue those conversations moving forward.”

However, DeCosta said he was confident they can complete some sort of deal, whether it’s an extension (which would require Jackson’s input) or a restructured contract (which would not, but would create further cap complexity in future years).

Jackson, a two-time NFL Most Valuable Player, is coming off a disappointing 2025 season. He missed four games with lower-body injuries and finished with a career-high sack rate (10.7%), a career low in rushing yards (349) and one of his worst completion rates (63.6%) as the Ravens, a popular preseason Super Bowl pick, went 8-9 and missed the playoffs. Coach John Harbaugh was fired in January. Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter was named his replacement after a coaching search that sought Jackson’s input.

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, in a rare news conference appearance, said last month that he wants Jackson “to be my quarterback.”

“We want another window, and Lamar knows that,” Bisciotti said. “I think he is amenable to doing something that mirrors the last deal that he did, although the annual number will be a little higher. But I’m hoping that it’s plug a new number into the same contract he signed [in 2023] and move on. And the urgency of that matters to me because we’ve got free agents, and I don’t want to go into free agency with that hanging over our head. And I made that clear to Lamar, and I think he was very appreciative of my stance.”

Bisciotti said that if the Ravens and Jackson cannot agree to a new deal, the quarterback’s contract would be restructured to lower his cap hit to “the same” number it was in 2025 ($43.5 million). Jackson is signed through 2027, but by adding void years to his contract and converting part of his base salary into a signing bonus, the Ravens could free up space ahead of a crucial free agency period.

DeCosta has $13.4 million in “effective” salary cap space, according to Over the Cap, and will need more to bolster the roster. Tyler Linderbaum, a three-time Pro Bowl selection who could become the league’s highest-paid center, is the team’s top pending free agent. But other key contributors, such as tight ends Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar, outside linebacker Dre’Mont Jones and punter Jordan Stout, are also set to reach the market.

DeCosta, whose negotiations for Jackson’s first extension took two years to consummate, said in August that talks were “ongoing.” Jackson said in late December that he “absolutely” wanted to remain in Baltimore, where he has spent his entire eight-year career.

Bisciotti said last month that he hoped Jackson was “willing” to return to contract talks early this offseason and “not get this thing dragged out into April like it was the last time.” Jackson, who’s not believed to be represented by a licensed agent, agreed to his five-year deal on April 27, 2023, the first day of the NFL draft.

Bisciotti also acknowledged DeCosta’s “failures” in building the Ravens’ roster, which he said partly contributed to Harbaugh’s firing. A new deal for Jackson, DeCosta said last month, would “certainly give us more flexibility” in the team’s offseason revamping.

“We do have a nice little nest egg,” DeCosta said, referring to the team’s cap space. “It’s not as much as we’d like. A deal with Lamar would give us the ability to be more active, to re-sign some more players on the team and to potentially go after a couple of big-ticket items. We haven’t traditionally done that. We’ve been more reserved when it comes to free agency. ... We do have money to go out and re-sign guys — free agents that we have right now, some good players, certainly — but having more money would be helpful, for sure.”

Banner reporter Giana Han contributed to this story.