Ravens Get Bad News After Jaxon Smith-Njigba Record Contract

Jaxon Smith-Njigba's record contract is bad news for the Baltimore Ravens and one of their key targets. The Seattle Seahawks signing NFL Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba to a history-making contract extension will have a ripple effect set to negatively impact the Baltimore Ravens. It's a warning from ESPN's Jamison Hensley to the Ravens and wideout Zay Flowers. Hensley believes "The rising cost for receivers could soon impact the Ravens because Zay Flowers can become a free agent in 2028. Flowers is scheduled to make $2.6M this season and would make $27.3M with his 5th-year option in 2027 (which the Ravens are expected to pick up this offseason)." To underscore his point, Hensley referenced his colleague Adam Schefter reporting Smith-Njigba becoming the highest-paid receiver in football "on a per-year basis" on Monday, March 23. The $168.6 million Smith-Njigba is getting over the next four years is unmatched in league history. Numbers like these could reset Flowers' expectations for his own next deal. Especially when the Ravens' first-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft is keeping pace with the other prolific pass-catchers from his class. Flowers won't earn Smith-Njigba money from his second contract, but he may not be too far behind. Not based on how Flowers has produced on a comparable level. Impressive numbers from Hensley show Flowers trails only Super Bowl champion Smith-Njigba and Los Angeles Rams All-Pro Puka Nacua among receivers who have taken the game by storm since being drafted around three years ago. His stats indicate Flowers is already one of the premier players at his position in the league. The 25-year-old has been treated as a go-to receiver by being targeted over 100 times in each of his three seasons since entering the pros. Flowers will remain the primary focus of Baltimore's passing game, even after Declan Doyle replaced Todd Monken as offensive coordinator. There simply isn't another receiver on the roster able capable of assuming the same status. It's a problems Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta can't solve by reuniting with a $95 million veteran. Nor by preventing an ageing five-time Pro Bowler from a joining an AFC North rival. Not having a genuine game-changer on the depth chart could also create two other issues. The Ravens are in a difficult position with Flowers. He's a free agent in 2028, and while he hasn't reached Smith-Njigba levels yet, if he does, Flowers will surely cash in, with or without the Ravens picking up his fifth-year option. This scenario could put the Ravens in the middle of a bidding war for the closest thing they have to a marquee receiver. Needing to pay a player producing at a high level is a nice problem to have, but things are likely to be tricky when Jackson and All-Pro middle linebacker Roquan Smith are also poised to be free agents in two years. Alternatively, if Flowers doesn't make a Smith-Njigba level leap, it would only magnify the lack of a truly dominant force among franchise quarterback Lamar Jackson's wideouts. Flowers has back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons on his CV, but JSN got paid because he posted consecutive 100-catch campaigns and topped the NFL's receiving charts last season. Smith-Njigba quickly emerged as a weapon defenses need special plans to stop. That's the elite expectation Flowers must meet if he's going to give the Ravens a good problem.