Ravens

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti recently said that it’s important for them to sign QB Lamar Jackson to a new extension, given that his cap hit will rise to $74.5 million in 2026 and 2027. Bisciotti mentioned that he’s spoken to Jackson about a deal, and the quarterback seems “amenable.” 

“If he doesn’t want to do an extension, then we throw those $74 million out into void years, and Lamar’s coming back at the same cap number he was last year,” Bisciotti said, via Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. “That’s not what we want. We want another window, and Lamar knows that. I think that he’s amenable to doing something that mirrors the last deal he did, although the annual number will be a little higher. But I’m hoping that it’s plug a new number into the same contract he signed last year and move on. And the urgency of that matters to me because we’ve got free agents, and I don’t want to go into free agency with that hanging over our head. I made that clear to Lamar, and I think he was very appreciative of my stance.”

As for the decision to fire John Harbaugh, Bisciotti said it was always his choice, and he didn’t need the players to be on his side. 

“I made the decision by myself, and they understood,” Bisciotti said. “I didn’t need them to come to my side of the fence. It was a wonderful, wonderful marriage. My instincts told me that this was the time. I may be right, I may be wrong, but I did it because I’m in charge of doing it. We love John like a brother. It was really the most difficult decision that we made, but we made it.”

Bisciotti remains confident in GM Eric DeCosta. 

“The hits and misses, you have to average them out, and I think Eric is one of the best GMs in the league,” Bisciotti said. “I’m very, very pleased with Eric.”

Ravens

Ravens owner Steve Biscotti said that he won’t rule out hiring a retread as the next head coach if the circumstances prove it wasn’t his fault.

“The one thing that I know that I will probably take it on the chin is if our final candidate is an ex-[head] coach who has a losing record,” Bisciotti said, via ESPN. “You all are going to have to understand that we are going to be able to judge that failure with his circumstances and marry that up and not disqualify them.”

Biscotti added that he believes the Ravens’ opening is the best one available and a lot of first-time head coaches took on jobs in worse situations.

“I think you have to remember that they were the hottest coaches in their cycle, and they got jobs and they got tough jobs, and I don’t think we have a tough job,” Bisciotti said. “I think that we created the best opening in this cycle, and so, that was the one category that I didn’t want to ignore, because the first thing you all are going to say is, ‘My God, he went 38-48 in his last job, and they’re hiring him. And so, it’d be very easy for me to try and avoid those ex-head coaches because they have losing records, but I’m telling you, we are keen to their circumstances, and we won’t let their first shot at a job influence us negatively for this one.”

Biscotti added that he plans on being patient with his next coach and didn’t rule out giving him a long-term contract and allowing him to see it through.

“Maybe I’ll give this guy six [years],” Bisciotti said with a smile before adding, “I hope we pick the kind of guy that’s going to get us there. I think we have a roster that’s capable of it. I think we have a GM [Eric DeCosta] that’s capable of making that roster better on the fly, and yes, I’ll be patient to that point. I’d probably give him five or six years — as long as I like everything else I see in him.”

Biscotti said that he doesn’t want to get into the cycle of hiring a new head coach every few seasons.

“To me, that’s hell on Earth,” Bisciotti said. “So, we’re going to make it right, and we’re going to make it so right that we’re going to have a lot of patience. Is that fair to say? We’re going to be so confident in our choice that we’re going to grant him a decent amount of patience.”

Biscotti wants to do his due diligence, but doesn’t want the process to play out too long so they can get to work on free agency and reshape the team in the new coaches’ image.

“The urgency of that matters to me because we’ve got free agents and I don’t want to go into free agency with that hanging over our head,” Bisciotti said. “And I made that clear to Lamar and I think he was very appreciative of my stance and hopefully willing to work with Eric [DeCosta, Ravens general manager] and not get this thing dragged out into April like the last time. It’s very hard for him to build a roster when that thing is not settled.”

Steelers

The Steelers’ organization was both surprised and upset when HC Mike Tomlin announced that he was stepping down.

“It felt like a funeral,” one staff member said, via The Athletic. “I teared up. It’s like finding out your dad died.”

The team genuinely thought that Tomlin would stay with the organization for at least another season.

“No one really saw it coming,” another player said. “Did we have an inkling? There were rumblings, but we thought he would play out his contract, at least one more year. We all thought at least one more year.”

Added another player: “We knew something was going to change. We just didn’t know it would be that. The guys that have been here longest, we don’t think that Mike T was the issue. We genuinely never lost the belief in the locker room. It was super emotional for us, because it’s not him.”