The Ravens won’t have much salary-cap room to sign a top-notch target or trade for one if they have to put the exclusive franchise tag on Jackson next month. All of the Ravens’ $26 million cap space will get taken up by Jackson’s $45 million franchise tag, which means Baltimore will have to cut players and rework contracts to fit him under the cap.
Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta did not sugarcoat the situation when asked whether Baltimore could afford acquiring a No. 1 wide receiver this offseason.
“Honestly, when you have a big-ticket item at quarterback, it makes it more challenging – not impossible,” DeCosta said at last month’s end-of-season news conference.