Two Ravens from 2022 NFL Draft who need a contract extension

The 2022 Draft Class is available for extensions now, including the two most important pieces from the draft.

With the conclusion of the 2024 regular season, the three-year benchmark for the 2022 NFL Draft class has concluded. This allows teams to begin contract extension talks with any of their players from said draft class.

For the Ravens, that means second-rounder David Ojabo, third-rounder Travis Jones, and fourth-rounders Daniel Faalele, Jalyn Armour-Davis, Charlie Kolar, Jordan Stout, and Isaiah Likely are all capable of being signed long-term. The idea of keeping Jones and Likely, paired with their running mates Nnamdi Madubuike and Mark Andrews, are certainly enticing and worthy of discussion. Others in this draft class like Ojabo, Faalele, Kolar and Stout, may not have earned extension talks yet but could have big fourth years next year to make returns to Baltimore a possibility.

However, the names that are top priority are both first-round picks from 2022: safety Kyle Hamilton and center Tyler Linderbaum. Both have quickly become the best of their positions league-wide, and Hamilton might be the best safety in the NFL. Hamilton and Linderbaum earned their second Pro Bowl nods this season, bumping up the price of their fifth-year options. Hamilton is up for his second first-team All-Pro nod and Linderbaum is certainly in the running for an All-Pro, be it first- or second-team.

While the Ravens have more important things to worry about at this moment, namely putting together a Super Bowl run, General Manager Eric DeCosta has to be thinking about the idea of getting those two inked to a long-term deal. For all the strife that the offensive line has gone through during the Lamar Jackson Era, including multiple snappers, rotating tackles, and off-and-on again guard play, since Linderbaum was drafted, the center position has been rock solid. Less than five years ago a playoff run was arguably ended because of an errant snap over Jackson’s head that put him in concussion protocol. Linderbaum, and Ronnie Stanley as well, have helped to stabilize an offensive line this year that hasn’t had great guard play on either side of him and had three new starters on it from 2023. Locking up Linderbaum long-term is imperative to keeping Lamar Jackson upright long-term.

As for Hamilton, not much needs to be said other than he is the best safety in the NFL. There is simply no replacing what Hamilton is capable of doing as far as impact and versatility. Defensive backs who can play deep safety, in the box, in the slot, run fit, blitz, and run man-to-man against every type of wide receiver and tight end in the NFL don’t pop up all that often.

A 6-foot-4 deep safety who can rush the passer like an edge rusher shouldn’t also be able to run step for step with a slot wide receiver like this on a deep corner route.

Hamilton is arguably the biggest reason for the defensive turnaround this season, with the Ravens going from a bottom-five unit in the league through the first 10 weeks to now being a top-three unit since Week 11. The Ravens asked Hamilton to change his chess-piece role from last year, playing everywhere on the field, to being a primarily deep safety. The change contributed to better communication on the field and the Ravens’ defense allowing less explosive plays through the air. The last two seasons are enough to show Hamilton’s impact everywhere on a defense, at all levels of the field. He’s simply too valuable to a defense’s success to allow him to walk away.

It wasn’t too long ago the Ravens front office and its fans had to endure Lamar Jackson’s contract saga. The Ravens didn’t get the early extension done with him and there was much stress and questioning about whether Jackson would stick around long-term, including the non-exclusive franchise tag and a trade request from Jackson. The front office would do well to not allow Hamilton and Linderbaum to get to that point. Get the extension’s done now and pick up the fifth-year options once available. Keep these guys in Baltimore.