The Ravens still have tomorrow to make final injury designations for their Week 6 matchup against the visiting Rams, but their Friday injury report already lists six players with “out” designations, the most notable of which would be star quarterback Lamar Jackson. Unfortunately, it may be a while until he returns to the field. 
According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, team sources have said that “he’s not going to go back out there unless he can be his normal, dual-threat self.” He hasn’t practiced once since injuring his hamstring over a week and a half ago, and depending on the severity, hamstring injuries can take weeks to come back from. There have been reports that Jackson has been rehabbing behind the scenes, getting pool work with the underwater treadmill in the Ravens facility.
Fowler’s report came before the injury report, and he claimed that if Jackson could see the practice field Saturday, there would be a chance of him playing against Los Angeles, but obviously, that’s no longer the case. Instead, the Ravens will either return to Cooper Rush to make his second start in a Ravens jersey, or they’ll return to practice squad passer Tyler Huntley to make his first start in Ravens jersey since 2023.
Likely Rush will be under center to start Sunday. Despite the rough, three-interception performance last weekend, Baltimore paid Rush way too much in free agency to come be the primary backup to just give up on him after one start. And while Huntley has seen success at times as a close fit for Jackson’s gameplan, his effectiveness has waned as team’s get more film on him each year.
On one last note with Jackson, ESPN’s Dan Graziano noted recently that despite Baltimore’s recent efforts to extend key players on expiring deals, there hasn’t been much movement on a new record extension for Jackson. The pressure is mounting to make something happen in that regard as a $75MM cap hit looms on the horizon for the 2026 season.
While one might think this recent injured stretch may give the Ravens the upper hand in negotiations, Jackson’s MVP-level play last year and the massive cap hit lingering as a potential consequence of not finding common ground swing momentum in Jackson’s corner pretty heavily. The two sides have plenty of time to work something out still, but like with their previous contract dispute, this may go down to the wire before seeing an eventual resolution.