Despite the continuous work of the Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson to reach a long-term agreement, it’s seemingly become a foregone conclusion that the Ravens will utilize their franchise tag to keep Jackson in Baltimore for another year.
On its surface, the decision seems simple: keep Jackson around so that the two parties can continue to negotiate. In reality, even the decision to tag Jackson becomes complicated as the two types of tags available (assuming Baltimore doesn’t go the route of the transition tag) hold major implications for their hopes of a future deal, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. 
The Ravens have the option of applying the exclusive franchise tag or the much more common non-exclusive franchise tag. The non-exclusive franchise tag allows the tagged player to negotiate a deal with a new team while granting the original team to option to match or refuse to match the new team’s offer. The exclusive franchise tag guarantees that the tagged player will remain with the original team but comes at a higher cost.
If Baltimore applies the non-exclusive franchise tag to Jackson, it opens the door for another franchise to submit an offer sheet. There’s a risky potential benefit for Baltimore in doing this. If the offer sheet comes in lower than what Jackson is asking for, the Ravens would have more solid ground to stand on in their contract negotiations.
This leaves the team vulnerable, though, to an offer sheet coming in far higher than the offers they’ve presented to Jackson. A team could, in theory, hamstring the Ravens by offering a contract that is higher than what the Ravens are offering but that they know the Ravens will not let Jackson walk over, leaving the Ravens in a precarious position financially. This kind of subterfuge is technically not allowed by the league, but it would be hard to prove intent over an asset like Jackson.
With that sort of risk, one might think it would just make more sense to apply the exclusive franchise tag to Jackson and be done with it. Sure, it would cost more, but it’s just for one year, right? Not exactly. Rumors have already come out that Jackson would be willing to play out two franchise tags before coming to a new deal, much like was done by Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. OK, so it’s only two years then. No big deal. Unfortunately for Baltimore, while that would be the easiest immediate option, it would limit its negotiating power when seeking a long-term contract.
The exclusive tag for a quarterback currently would cost the Ravens $45.46MM in 2023. The cost of a second consecutive tag would likely be more in 2024 and adds an additional percentage. This means that, when devising a new contract for Jackson, Baltimore would have to include at least a two-year guarantee of $100MM because that would be the projected sum of two consecutive exclusive franchise tags, and the goal is to convince Jackson not to go that route.
Another danger Breer points out, and this one seems a bit less likely, is that Jackson may elect not to sign the exclusive franchise tag right away. This would allow Jackson to opt-out of any mandatory team activities through August with no penalty. Only if he misses games would Jackson incur any penalties by sitting out.
The Ravens have got plenty of decisions to make this offseason, but none seem bigger than how they are going to keep Jackson in black and purple for years to come. It’s sounding more and more likely that they tag Jackson to keep him from conventionally hitting free agency, but even that holds more decisions for general manager Eric DeCosta and company.