After acquiring Pro Bowl inside linebacker Roquan Smith at this season’s trade deadline, the Ravens didn’t want to risk letting him get away this offseason.
According to NFL Network, the sides have agreed to a five-year, $100 million contract extension that includes $45 million fully guaranteed. The deal keeps the 25-year-old in Baltimore through the 2027 season and cements his standing as a pillar for a defense that’s played markedly better since his arrival in early November. On Nov. 1, general manager Eric DeCosta traded second- and fifth-round picks in the 2023 draft and veteran linebacker A.J. Klein to Chicago for the talented Smith, who now becomes the highest-paid off-ball linebacker in NFL history at $20 million per season.
The Ravens ranked second in the league in points allowed per game (14.7) and third in total yards allowed per game (288.8) from the moment Smith arrived in Week 9 after ranking 20th (22.9) and 24th (364.3) in those categories through the first eight weeks of the 2022 season. Despite playing in just nine games for the Ravens, the 2018 first-round pick out of Georgia still finished third on the team in both tackles (86) and tackles for a loss (seven) while also collecting two sacks and an interception. Smith’s presence has also been cited as a big reason for the improvement of 2020 first-round inside linebacker Patrick Queen, who had the best regular season of his young career.
Coaches and teammates have repeatedly spoken about Smith’s leadership from the moment he arrived in Owings Mills.
“He has been fantastic that way. He’s all about it,” head coach John Harbaugh said Monday. “He doesn’t worry about what people think; he doesn’t care. He wants to do the things that are required to be a great player and to be a great unit and then to impact your team. That’s what he’s all about — 100%. That’s what I love about him. He’s one of the top guys I’ve ever seen that way, and I think that does always impact everybody as a leader for sure. I want all of our guys to lead that way.”
Last month, Smith — a two-time second-team NFL All-Pro selection — became the first Ravens inside linebacker since C.J. Mosley in 2018 to make the Pro Bowl. Since his rookie season, the 6-foot-1, 232-pound linebacker is one of only three NFL players — Shaquille Leonard and T.J. Watt being the others — to produce at least 15 sacks and five interceptions, demonstrating his playmaking ability at a position many perceive to not be quite as valuable in the modern pass-happy game. Smith also became the first player since Hall of Fame middle linebacker Ray Lewis to register at least 100 tackles, two sacks, and one interception in each of his first five seasons, putting him in the company of Baltimore football royalty.
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Projected to be the Ravens’ second-best pending free agent behind Lamar Jackson this offseason, Smith signing an extension means DeCosta can now proceed without hesitation in using the franchise tag on his star quarterback if the sides can’t reach a long-term agreement before the start of the new league year in March. The Ravens clearly wanted to avoid a scenario in which they needed to tag Jackson while letting Smith test the open market.
This marks the second time in four years that DeCosta and the Ravens have acquired a Pro Bowl defensive player at the trade deadline and signed him to a long-term contract extension before the conclusion of that season. In 2019, Baltimore traded for three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marcus Peters and signed him to a three-year, $42 million extension in late December of that campaign.
