3 big questions the Ravens must answer in training camp

Join the huddle. Sign up here for Ravens updates in your inbox.

The Ravens’ offseason has been quiet. Perhaps too quiet.

There is, of course, value in silence in July. No arrests. No injuries. No social media drama. Just the slow, torturous drip-drip of player rankings that fill the NFL’s dead zone every summer.

And yet, even in Baltimore, silence can be agonizing. Two weeks from the Ravens’ first full-team practice of training camp, there are still big unanswered questions, as notable for their significance as for their endurance.

Will the Ravens trade for a center? It’s been asked since late April, when the team didn’t draft one to replace departed star Tyler Linderbaum.

Will Nnamdi Madubuike play in 2026? It’s been asked since last September, when the Pro Bowl defensive lineman suffered a season-ending neck injury that some feared would be career-ending.

Will star quarterback Lamar Jackson sign a contract extension? It’s been asked for years, and could be repeated for another two.

As the Ravens prepare for their first camp under coach Jesse Minter, a specter of uncertainty has lingered over their summer dreams. Here’s where each stands.

Finding a center

The Ravens are on Plan C at center. They wanted to re-sign Linderbaum, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, only to watch him join the Las Vegas Raiders on the richest-ever deal for an interior offensive lineman. Linderbaum’s three-year deal is worth $27 million annually, or $3.6 million more than the fifth-year option for 2026 that the Ravens declined last summer.

With few appealing replacements in free agency, the Ravens looked to this year’s rookie class for help, only for their top two targets to be drafted earlier than expected. Iowa’s Logan Jones and Florida’s Jake Slaughter, widely considered third- to fourth-round prospects, were taken late in the second round.

All of which leaves the Ravens with the kind of question mark they’d hoped to avoid after last year, when left guard Andrew Vorhees’ struggles and right guard Daniel Faalele’s regression handicapped the offense. Free-agent signing Danny Pinter is the only center candidate on the roster with starting experience, and he played just 274 snaps there over the past two years with the Indianapolis Colts, according to Pro Football Focus.

Corey Bullock, a former undrafted free agent who impressed in the preseason last year, and Jovaughn Gwyn, who played sparingly for three years in Atlanta under former Falcons and new Ravens offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford, are also in the mix.

“I would say it’s a pretty balanced competition right now,” Minter said in June, after Bullock missed several practices for undisclosed reasons. “With that position especially — because we haven’t had pads on yet, and they’re new — that will definitely sort itself out a little more as we get pads on.”

Upgrades at left guard (free-agent signing John Simpson) and right guard (first-round pick Vega Ioane) should raise the floor around the Ravens’ next starting center. But the clock is ticking for general manager Eric DeCosta to find a new contender by Week 1. A new veteran center — the Chicago Bears’ Garrett Bradbury? The Houston Texans’ Jake Andrews? — would not only have to learn the Ravens’ playbook but also sort out presnap responsibilities with Jackson. Both could take some time.

Madubuike’s status

It’s unclear how bright Madubuike’s future in football is. But it’s certainly less bleak than it appeared 10, seven, even four months ago.

After Madubuike showed symptoms of a neck injury following the Ravens’ Week 2 win over the Cleveland Browns and underwent further testing, then-coach John Harbaugh acknowledged that there were long-term concerns about Madubuike’s health.

In December, Harbaugh said there was “a lot going on there with Nnamdi,” but declined to share any details. In March, team president Sashi Brown said it was “too early to opine or express any optimism or pessimism.”

But in May, Minter said Madubuike was “trending in a great direction” with his offseason workouts. In June, even with the 28-year-old still sidelined, Minter said the Ravens “feel good” about his potential availability for training camp.

Madubuike, who signed a four-year, $98 million extension in 2024 and has a $29.9 million salary cap hit this year, has not spoken to reporters since his neck injury. A return to form would give the Ravens one of the NFL’s best defensive linemen, a high-end run stopper who had two sacks and 10 quarterback pressures in his two games last year, according to PFF.

But first, Madubuike has to be cleared for football activities. It’s unclear whether that will be a long wait. If Madubuike is sidelined for camp and opens the season on the physically unable to perform list, he’d miss at least the Ravens’ first four games, though he wouldn’t count against their 53-man roster.

Jackson’s future

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti’s hope in January was that the team and Jackson could agree on a new deal by the start of free agency in March. That didn’t happen.

Then, with Jackson back in Owings Mills for most of the Ravens’ offseason workouts, the hope was that an extension could be hammered out before the NFL’s summer break. That also didn’t happen.

Now Jackson and the Ravens are bracing for the next round of questions about when he might re-sign. If DeCosta can’t seal the deal by Week 1, the framing of their talks will change. It will, rightly or wrongly, no longer be a matter of when Jackson re-signs, but whether he re-signs at all.

Jackson, under contract through the 2027 season, does not have an agent and has said he won’t negotiate during the season. A new deal would almost assuredly make him the highest-paid player in NFL history for the second time; in 2023, after protracted negotiations, he agreed to a five-year, $260 million contract.

Jackson has considerable leverage over the Ravens’ front office. He has a no-trade clause, meaning he could veto any Ravens trade unless he signs off on his next team. He has a no-tag clause, meaning the Ravens couldn’t designate him with the franchise tag and effectively keep him in Baltimore for another year, as they did early in the 2023 offseason. His cap hit, meanwhile, is set to skyrocket from $34.4 million to an untenable $84.3 million next year.

And Jackson would only stand to profit from waiting out the market, even if it would handcuff the Ravens’ team-building plans next offseason. Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes’ reworked contract is worth an NFL-record $64 million annually starting in 2027, but a wave of potentially historic deals is on the horizon. In March, the Chicago Bears’ Caleb Williams, New England Patriots’ Drake Maye and Washington Commanders’ Jayden Daniels will all be eligible for extensions for the first time.

In 2023, Jackson used Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts’ record-breaking contract extension as a yardstick for the structure of his next deal. Will he do the same with Mahomes’ extension in 2026? Wait until 2027? Or perhaps test the market as an unrestricted free agent in 2028, inviting a potentially unprecedented bidding war for his services?

In Baltimore, the sooner a deal is done, the better — especially with another star in line for a massive extension. Pro Bowl wide receiver Zay Flowers will make $27.3 million in 2027 after the Ravens picked up his fifth-year option, but Seattle Seahawks star and fellow 2023 draft pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba signed an extension this offseason worth over $40 million annually.

Jackson has said time and again that he wants to remain in Baltimore. Having clarity on Jackson’s financial future can only help DeCosta figure out whom else he can keep.