As the team prepares for another hopefully deep playoff run - this time deeper than last season - the readying began for some at OTAs.
One player was conspicuously absent from the team activities for the second straight year.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson will forfeit another $750,000 for missing more than 20 percent of this season's OTAs. Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio broke down Jackson's five-year, $260 million contract he signed prior to the 2023 season, and it includes a $750,000 bonus for each season from 2024-27 if he attends at least 80 percent of OTAs each season.
This year, he's been to one of six, so he can't reach that bonus number. But the team isn't concerned about his absence.
"I'm not taking any position on it or judging it, or whatever," head coach John Harbaugh said Friday. "Lamar, the day he was out here, played great. I could see he was in great shape, threw the ball great, made the right reads, knew the offense in an excellent kind of way. I thought he was fantastic. When he comes back and practices, when that happens, I expect him to play at that level. That's what you measure. You measure, for any player, how they play. I'm not measuring, really, the attendance. I mean it's a voluntary camp, so I'm not measuring that. I love being out here, and I think all the players do.
"And when Lamar's out here, I promise you, he loves being out here. You could see it when he was out here. He's my guy. I love him, and I can't wait to just get into this season and get going."
Jackson's salary next season is $43.5 million, so he'll probably be ok without that $750,000 check in the bank.