The Ravens will close out the week by adding a linebacker.
Jeff Zrebiec of TheAthletic.com reports that they are going to sign Jamon Johnson to their active roster. Johnson tried out for the team on Thursday.
Johnson signed with the Packers after going undrafted last year. He had 10 tackles and a pass defensed in two appearances. The Packers released Johnson during their offseason program.
Ravens linebacker Teddye Buccanan remains on the physically unable to perform list and Zrebiec notes that Carl Jones has also missed practice time recently, so the Ravens were in need of a healthy body at linebacker as they head toward their first preseason game.
Ravens Clips
Earlier this week, the Ravens and receiver Zay Flowers agreed to terms on a new deal that, by way of new money, put him in the Justin Jefferson tax bracket at $35 million annually.
The full details of the Flowers contract are now available.
Here they are, per a source with knowledge of the terms:
1. Signing bonus: $24.855 million, $18.855 million of which will be paid within 10 days, and the remaining $6 million of which will be paid by October 31, 2026.
2. 2026 base salary: $1.145 million, fully guaranteed.
3. 2027 option bonus: $26.74 million, fully guaranteed; $20 million will be paid my March 31, 2027, and the remaining $6.74 million will be paid by October 31, 2027.
4. 2027 base salary: $1.26 million, fully guaranteed.
5. 2028 base salary: $26.5 million, guaranteed for injury and fully guaranteed in March 2027.
6. 2029 base salary: $27.5 million, guaranteed for injury and fully guaranteed in March 2028.
10. 2030 offseason roster bonus: $2 million.
11. 2030 base salary: $28 million.
12. 2031 offseason roster bonus: $2 million.
13. 2031 base salary: $29.962 million.
The four-year extension has a new-money average of $35 million. Factoring in the existing money owed in 2026 and 2027, the full six-year deal has an average value of $28.327 million at signing.
The deal includes $54 million fully guaranteed at signing, $80.5 million fully guaranteed by March 2027, and $108 million fully guaranteed by March 2028.
At 32, Derrick Henry is the NFL’s oldest starting running back. But he’s not even thinking about retiring.
Henry made that clear in a social media post after seeing a post that quoted him as saying he wants to retire as a Raven. Henry responded by saying that while he would love to play with the Ravens for the rest of his career, he never said anything about retiring with the Ravens or anyone else, because retiring isn’t on his mind.
“I would like to finish my playing career with Ravens . I never said anything about retiring lol, I’m enjoying being a Raven. I’ll worry about that retirement sh* later,” Henry wrote.
Despite his advancing age, Henry is still playing at a high level. Last year he started all 17 games and carried 307 times for 1,595 yards, an average of 5.2 yards per carry, and scored 16 touchdowns. All of those numbers are better than his career averages. In Henry’s mind, retirement is a long way off.
Zay Flowers landed a big new contract in Baltimore this week, but he’s not the only wideout that the Ravens are excited about for the 2026 season.
Third-round pick Ja’Kobi Lane is off to a strong start at training camp and his playing style reminds offensive coordinator Declan Doyle of someone he worked with earlier in his career. Doyle was a Saints offensive assistant from 2019-2022 and Michael Thomas was in New Orleans at that time.
On Wednesday, Doyle invoked Thomas’s name while discussing Lane’s play this summer.
“He’s got this huge catch radius. He’s got great hands. He’s very sticky,” Doyle said, via the team’s website. “Mike Thomas had these strong hands where he could pull it down, in a way, if you threw it in the vicinity, you felt like he was going to go get it. He’s a very friendly guy to throw to.”
Thomas kicked off his career with a 92-catch season for the Saints in 2016. With Flowers, Rashod Bateman and others on hand in Baltimore, Lane may not approach that kind of volume but continuing to look like Thomas into the regular season should serve him well as he kicks off his NFL career.
Wide receiver Zay Flowers agreed to a four-year, $140 million contract extension on Tuesday, but quarterback Lamar Jackson has not been able to reach common ground with the team on one of his own.
Jackson has two years left on his current deal, but is set to have a cap number north of $84 million next season and that’s made the prospect of an extension a popular talking point around Baltimore. Flowers didn’t wade into any discussion about numbers or where things stand at a Wednesday press conference, but he did make it clear that he’s hoping to see Jackson remain in town for many years to come.
“I would love for him to be my quarterback until I am done playing,” Flowers said, via the team’s website. “No matter whether it is 12 years or 13, it does not matter how long; I want him to be my quarterback, because to me, he is the best in the world.”
Jackson declined to discuss contract matters at the start of training camp and it’s unclear how close the two sides might be to a deal that would get Flowers closer to his goal of being a one-quarterback receiver for his entire career.
When the Ravens rewarded receiver Zay Flowers with a new deal that carries a new-money average of $35 million per year, plenty of other receivers surely took notice.
The most obvious raised eyebrows belong to Rams receiver Puka Nacua and Cowboys receiver George Pickens. Nacua, who’s making $5.767 million in the final year of his rookie contract, has other issues that are complicating a long-term deal. Still, with each new big-money receiver deal that’s done, the absence of one for Nacua becomes more glaring.
With Pickens, the real question is whether the Cowboys will tag him again next year. At $27.298 million for 2026, the Cowboys could hold Pickens in place for $32.75 million in 2027 — still well below the top of the market. Surely, Jerry Jones will be inclined to do that.
But it’s not just the guys who haven’t gotten paid who will take notice of the Flowers deal. Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson, like Flowers, is at $35 million per year. All due respect to Flowers, he’s not Justin Jefferson.
Eventually, Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase will start to wonder whether he’s fairly paid at $40 million. Especially as more players who aren’t Ja’Marr Chase approach and pass his APY.
So, yes, the Flowers deal will make waves. The Drake London deal will make waves. Eventually, it will fuel a wave of contracts for other receivers who’ll see those deals and get ideas of their own that, given the market and the ever-increasing salary cap, are more than fair to have.
The Ravens have locked up one of their young offensive players.
Baltimore and receiver Zay Flowers have agreed to a four-year contract extension, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
The deal is worth a reported $140 million, with $108 million guaranteed.
Flowers’ deal puts him just behind Drake London in terms of average new money per year at $35 million. Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s contract leads the market at $42.15 million per year.
The No. 22 overall pick of the 2023 draft, Flowers was already under contract through 2027 after Baltimore exercised his fifth-year option in the spring.
Flowers became the first wide receiver in Ravens franchise history to be selected to the Pro Bowl in 2024. He was again selected to the Pro Bowl in 2025, having caught 86 passes for 1,211 yards with five touchdowns in 17 games.
Overall, Flowers has caught 237 passes for 3,128 yards with 14 TDs in 50 games over his three seasons. He’s also registered nine receptions for 156 yards with a touchdown in two playoff games.
The Ravens aren’t in any rush to name a starting center.
They signed Ethan Pocic just before the start of camp and he is competing with Danny Pinter and Jovaughn Gwyn as the Ravens look for a new starter in the wake of Tyler Linderbaum’s move to the Raiders in free agency. Pocic tore his Achilles last December, which head coach Jesse Minter cited as a reason why the team plans to take its time.
“I don’t know that there’s a deadline,” Minter said, via the team’s website. “One of them in the mix of the battle is coming off of an injury. That timeline may or may not be perfect for that first game. There will come a point in time where we will certainly focus on getting ready for that first game. I think a couple weeks out, that will probably shake itself out.”
Pocic has the most starting experience of the trio and we’ll find out if the extended time to compete for the job leads to him landing it before Week 1.
The Ravens lost an experienced backup offensive lineman when Hakeem Adeniji retired, but they’ve found another one to take his spot on the roster.
Jeff Zrebiec of TheAthletic.com reports that the Ravens are signing tackle Kendall Lamm. Lamm was one of three offensive linemen to work out for the team on Monday.
Lamm has played for four teams since entering the league as an undrafted free agent in 2015. He spent the last four seasons in Miami and started 16 of the 46 games that he played for the Dolphins. Lamm has also played for the Titans, Browns and Texans.
The NFL’s daily transaction report shows that Jake Curhan and Nicholas Petit-Frere also worked out for the Ravens.
Veteran defensive lineman Calais Campbell is on the field at Ravens camp for the first time this summer on Monday.
Campbell was not placed on any injury list to open camp, but the team gave him time off to open camp as he worked his way back from a family tragedy. Campbell’s mother was killed in late June and his brother was arrested for murder on July 1.
“From a preparation standpoint, that took up a lot of his time and his mental focus and energy. . . . We’re here for Calais, to get ready at the rate he can get ready at,” Ravens head coach Jesse Minter said last week, via the team’s website. “It’s different than a 25-year-old that played only a year or two. This guy’s got so many banked reps of experience of getting himself ready in camp. We’re going to work with Calais to have a great plan, to have him ready for September, December, January and February.”
Campbell wasn’t the only Ravens defensive lineman making his first appearance of the summer. John Jenkins is off the physically unable to perform list and practicing with the team as well.
