The Baltimore Ravens are making the move they had to make.
After season-ending injuries to Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley, Baltimore was staring at a quarterback situation that wasn’t going to hold up much longer. Joe Fagnano showed a few encouraging flashes in Week 8, but he was never a real solution for the stretch run.
That left the Ravens with a thin trade market and not many appealing paths forward. Daniel Jones, Anthony Richardson and Tyson Bagent were all options that would have created as many problems as they solved. Jacoby Brissett, though, stood out as the most realistic answer.
Per Ian Rapoport, the Ravens are finalizing a trade for Brissett. The compensation has not been revealed yet. With the veteran in place, Baltimore at least has a shot to keep its playoff hopes breathing.
A lot of analysts already wrote the Ravens off when Jackson went down, and it’s easy to see why. Without their star quarterback, the offense has lacked the kind of stability it needs to function.
Baltimore’s backup quarterback issues have been a recurring problem for years, and this season has followed the same script. Since 2020, the Ravens are just 6-13 without Jackson.
Brissett gives them something they haven’t consistently had behind Jackson: dependable quarterback play. He has built a reputation as one of the league’s steadiest backups, often delivering play that borders on starting level in a range of situations.
He’s not operating at his best right now. In Week 8 against the Dallas Cowboys, Brissett missed several open throws and wound up getting benched. Even so, he still offers Baltimore a competent option under center.
The numbers back that up. Brissett ranks 22nd in EPA per play, 18th in success rate and 19th in completion rate. In each of those categories, he sits ahead of quarterbacks like Sam Darnold and Aaron Rodgers.
He also takes care of the ball. Since 2022, Brissett has posted the 11th-best interception rate in the NFL, and he’s tied with Jackson at 1.6%.
Baltimore doesn’t need him to be a star. It just needs him to be steady enough to keep the offense afloat.
That means the Ravens will have to adjust around him. Declan Doyle will need to reshape the offense for a quarterback who doesn’t bring Jackson’s mobility and can’t access every throw the same way at this stage of his career. The attack will have to lean even more heavily on Derrick Henry and the running game.
There’s still more work to do if Baltimore wants to make a real push. Jesse Minter’s defense has to get right, and someone other than Zay Flowers has to step up in the passing game. But if a few of those pieces come together, Brissett at least gives the Ravens a path back into the playoff race.
For now, Fagnano is still expected to start Thursday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Brissett is likely to make his first start for Baltimore in Week 10 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
In Other News...
Lamar Jackson's Future With The Ravens Suddenly Feels Less Certain
Lamar Jacksons status has become one of the biggest questions hanging over Baltimore after the quarterback suffered a thumb injury that required surgery. The timing is brutal for a Ravens team built around his presence, and it adds another layer of uncertainty to a contract situation that was already tricky because of his high cap number and no-trade clause.
Around the league, the chatter has already started about what comes next if this situation drags into 2027, with some clubs doing their homework on a possible pursuit. The Ravens still have every reason to hope Jackson remains the face of the franchise, but for now his future in Baltimore feels far less settled than it did not long ago. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Catch A Break As Ravens Quarterback Chaos Hits Week 9
The Ravens are in the middle of another quarterback shuffle, and it lands at an awkward time for a team trying to steady itself heading into Week 9. Baltimore is finalizing a trade to bring Jacoby Brissett over from the Arizona Cardinals, a move that points to a new direction under center, but the timing means the transition will not happen right away.
For the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Joe Fagnano is expected to get the start, leaving Baltimore to navigate one more week before Brissett is available. The plan is for Brissett to take over beginning in Week 10, which gives the Ravens a short runway to sort out their offense while the Jaguars face a version of Baltimore that looks different than the one the team may have envisioned when the schedule was set. [Read more 🡒]
Ravens Make A Desperate QB Move With Playoff Hopes On The Line
With Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley both dealing with injuries, Baltimore moved quickly to shore up its quarterback room by acquiring Jacoby Brissett from the Arizona Cardinals. It is the kind of emergency depth move that says plenty about where the Ravens are right now, with the season suddenly hanging on how well they can stabilize the most important position on the field.
The deal gives Baltimore a veteran option as the team tries to keep its playoff hopes alive, and it has already drawn plenty of reaction from analysts weighing how much it can actually change the outlook. The timing alone makes it noteworthy, but the bigger question is how much runway the Ravens still have to make this move matter before the schedule tightens and the pressure keeps building. [Read more 🡒]