The Lamar Jackson drama has gone on long enough for the Baltimore Ravens. As free agency and NFL trades are going down around the league, Baltimore is stuck in neutral with its franchise quarterback’s future in limbo. That’s why the perfect Ravens trade the team must complete in the 2023 NFL offseason is to unload its MVP signal-caller.

The perfect Raven trade in the 2023 NFL offseason is shipping out Lamar Jackson

In March 2023, too much has gone down between Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. Too many reports have been leaked, too many feelings have been hurt, and too many trades have been floated.

After two years of negotiating in vain, the chances that Jackson and the Ravens come to a long-term deal to keep the QB in Charm City.

Unfortunately, no one in the NFL can go back and smack some sense into the Cleveland Browns owners before they gave Deshaun Watson a ridiculous $230 million, fully-guaranteed contract. That’s the reality we now live with. And, as such, Jackson is not going to accept (much) less from the Ravens on his next deal.

And for their part, the Ravens aren’t going to give that to him. The franchise had plenty of chances to pay the man in the last two years, and obviously, they don’t think he’s worth the same amount as Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Russell Wilson, or Watson.

This impasse is hurting the team this NFL offseason. With the 2023 draft now just about a month away, the team hasn’t signed a single free agent from another team, and key veterans like Marcus Peters, Justin Houston, Kyle Fuller, and others haven’t committed to re-signing with the organization.

Baltimore needs to resolve the Lamar Jackson issue ASAP, one way or the other. This means finding an NFL trade partner for the QB.

After the club put the non-exclusive franchise tag on Jackson, the hopes of getting a bounty of picks and players — like Watson, Wilson, or Matthew Stafford — is out the window. Now, the best the team can hope for in a Ravens' trade partner is that another team signs Jackson to an offer sheet, and they recoup two first-rounders for the QB.

The problem is teams — likely at the behest of their owners — are standing pat, not willing to admit Watson and the Browns re-set the QB market. It truly looks like there will be no offer sheet coming for Jackson this NFL offseason.

With no giant NFL trade, no long-term deal, and no non-exclusive franchise tag offer sheet, the Ravens are now down to two options. Keep Jackson on that tag and let him play out the season or trade him for well below market value.

In the first scenario, the Lamar Jackson drama continues throughout 2023, and it likely tanks the Ravens' season. That will be brutal for Ravens fans, the franchise, and head coach John Harbaugh.

The second scenario isn’t ideal, but at this point, it is now the perfect Ravens trade in the 2023 NFL offseason.

The exact parameters of the deal are this: The Ravens get a quarterback, a 2023 second-round pick, and a future later-round pick or two. Of course, this isn’t ideal, but it ends the Jackson saga sooner rather than later and lets all parties move on with their lives. And, it brings back a QB that Ravens may be able to win with this year or in the future, and that’s ultimately what they would hope two first-round picks down the line would accomplish anyway.

As for the specific Ravens trade partner, here are three ideas.

Baltimore can trade with the Minnesota Vikings and bring back Kirk Cousins. This allows the Vikings to become a powerhouse with Lamar Jackson and Justin Jefferson, and Cousins can keep the Ravens a playoff team for the next one to three years.

Option two is the New England Patriots. No one loves a distressed asset more than Bill Belichick, and maybe the Pats can convince the superstar QB to take less on his new deal. In return, the Ravens get Mac Jones — who is out of favor in Massachusetts — to build around.

Finally, there is the San Francisco 49ers. Jackson is the type of signal-caller Kyle Shanahan envisioned when he traded up and drafted Trey Lance in 2021. With both Lance and Brock Purdy possibly on the shelf with injuries to start the 2023 season, Jackson could come in and immediately make the Niners the odds-on favorites in the NFC.

As for the Ravens, they get a former No. 3 overall pick in this NFL trade and can start a soft rebuild with a retroactive high first-round pick when Lance comes back healthy.