It appears as if the Ravens are leaning toward placing the franchise tag on Jamal Lewis, although the team declined to reveal its intent yesterday. The Ravens have until Thursday's deadline to officially announce whether to use the tag on their all-time leading rusher or let him become an unrestricted free agent. One indication that the Ravens might be planning to keep Lewis with a one-year, $6 million tender is they have not had any negotiations with backup Chester Taylor, who will become a free agent March 3. It would be a challenging situation for the Ravens to enter free agency without their top two running backs from last season. "They told me that they would let me know this week [but] it won't surprise me if they franchised him," said Mitch Frankel, Lewis' agent. If the Ravens don't franchise Lewis or re-sign Taylor, they would have to pursue an expensive free-agent running back such as Shaun Alexander, Edgerrin James, DeShaun Foster or Ahman Green.