Lamar Jackson wasn’t ready to talk about the future in the moments following the Baltimore Ravens‘ heartbreaking season-ending 26-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
The Ravens’ star quarterback declined to answer whether he felt he was going to be back with the team next season and whether John Harbaugh should remain as Baltimore’s head coach.
“We just lost a game — a divisional game — a game to put us in the playoffs,” Jackson said when asked if he thought he would still be with the Ravens in 2026. “I’m not even thinking about that right now, to be honest with you. I’m still caught up in what just happened. That’s not my focus right now.”
Jackson provided a similar response when he was asked if he wanted Habaugh to stay with the Ravens.
“You’re asking me about next year,” Jackson replied. “I’m so caught up in what just happened tonight. I can’t focus on that right now, I just told you. Like he asked me, ‘Are you stunned?’ I’m stunned right now, and I’m still trying to process what’s going on. I know we lost, but what the — you know?”
The Ravens fell to 8-9 with Sunday’s loss to the Steelers, which served as a win-and-in game for Baltimore with the AFC North title on the line. But in the weeks prior to their season-ending loss, rumors about Jackson’s and Harbaugh’s future in Baltimore percolated. A report from the Baltimore Sun in late December indicated that the Ravens might have to pick either Jackson or Harbaugh and move on from the other due to their relationship fracturing.
Both Jackson and Harbaugh have dismissed those rumors since the report emerged, though. Jackson called it “noise” this past week, while Harbaugh said, “I don’t know where that’s coming from” when he was asked about the Baltimore Sun report in December.
One NFL executive told FOX Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano that he finds it hard to believe that the Ravens will trade Jackson this offseason.
“Why would they do that?” the NFL executive told Vacchiano. “Whatever issues they have with him, they’re a playoff team every year with Lamar. Who’s the quarterback there if they trade him?”
The quarterback has two seasons remaining on the five-year, $260 million deal he signed in 2023, but is expected to ask for a new contract this offseason.
Harbaugh, meanwhile, is awaiting word about his future as the Ravens’ head coach. FOX Sports NFL insider Jay Glazer had Harbaugh among the many head coaches whose future he views as uncertain entering the offseason.
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If Harbaugh’s future hinged on the result of Sunday’s Week 18 matchup, rookie kicker Tyler Loop’s missed kick at the buzzer might be the final moment in his 18 years with the organization. Loop missed the potential game-winning kick as time expired, with his 44-yard field goal attempt going wide right.
Jackson, who threw two touchdown passes earlier in the fourth quarter, had helped the Ravens get into Steelers territory after Pittsburgh scored a touchdown to take a 26-24 lead with under a minute left. The star quarterback admitted that he was frustrated with Loop, but over something else that happened earlier in Sunday’s game. Now, Jackson wants the rookie kicker to turn the page.
“I talked to him during the game because I was kind of livid at him when he kicked the ball out of bounds,” Jackson told reporters. “But I told him ‘You know I’m just hyped based on emotions of the game right now.’ I felt like it was gonna come down to him winning the game for us at the end. Just how the game was going. He’s a rookie. It’s all good. Just leave it in the past, man.”
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