In this series, we are going to hit on each team and give you a brief rundown of how they look going into free agency, what moves are at their disposal, and what you might expect from the team.  NFL free agency begins during the legal tampering period on Monday, March 14, 2022, and then players can officially sign on March 16th.  All salary numbers within the article are courtesy of OverTheCap.com.

With this article, we are going to explore all potential options for the Baltimore Ravens – some of which will be more realistic than others. 

 

 

Projected Cap Space: $8,768,345

 

OVERVIEW

The Ravens are smack in the middle of their window to compete with many young weapons on rookie deals, like Lamar Jackson, JK Dobbins, Marquise Brown, and Rashod Bateman.  In fact, with guys like Ronnie Stanley and Mark Andrews locked up through 2026, the offense is in pretty good shape going into 2022.  The obvious looming question is more about how to get Lamar Jackson signed for the long-term while balancing the cap implications.  Defense is a bit of a different story with several free agents and potential holes, so let's get into some potential moves the Ravens can make this off-season to free up some cap space and get back on the right track. 
 

 

 

CAP MANEUVER OPTIONS

Restructure

The most common way to generate money via restructuring is to convert base salary to signing bonus, which can then be spread out over the remaining years of the contract.  You can also potentially incorporate an extension to spread that money out further.  How favorable that is for both the team and player comes down to the long-term outlook for the player.  In certain circumstances, you may even have the leverage to ask a player to take less money.  

 


Technically, you can’t restructure a deal that’s in its final year in the fashion we mentioned above. Still, you can use an extension to spread that money out over future years of the deal.  Since Lamar Jackson hit some performance qualifiers during his rookie deal, his fifth-year option is for $23 million and all of that counts against the cap.  As part of an extension, they could work out a way to lower that cap number for this season by spreading out a signing bonus over however many years the deal is for.  Per OverTheCap, they could actually reduce his cap number by over $17.5 million this way if they wanted to. 

Ronnie Stanley – Stanley helped them out last year by converting base salary to signing bonus and, if need be, he could do the same thing again this year to the tune of $6,348,750.  It moves money into the future, of course, but the cap is expected to spike in 2023 following the new TV deals like the one lined up with Amazon.  

Marlon Humphrey – Same situation here with Humphrey - he has a $10 million base salary and they could free up another $7 million by converting some of that to a signing bonus and spreading it over the remaining years of the deal. 
 

 


Mark Andrews/Kevin Zeitler – While not as dramatic, Andrews and Zeitler could do similar restructures that would free up about $2 million each.  Nick Boyle could technically do the same as well but, given his age and healthy, that seems like a move the team would be less likely to make as opposed to asking him to take less money. 
 

Trade

Marcus Peters – Marcus Peters is in a classic “last year of his deal” conundrum in regards to whether they should extend him or look to trade him.  He has a $10 million base salary this year and a $15.5 million cap hit, so an extension would likely lessen his cap number for this year - possibly by as much as $7 million.  That said, the cornerback who has been both controversial and brilliant, at times, could also be a piece they may want to move on from – especially after tearing his ACL this past season, which could bring back some valuable pieces.  
 

 

 

Cut

 


This one isn’t a slam dunk by any means, but there has been widespread speculation that he could be a cap casualty this offseason.  The reality is that the Ravens knew they weren’t going to be able to keep Orlando Brown because Ronnie Stanley was already locked in at left tackle, so they moved him in a trade last offseason while they could.  Villanueva was the best option they could find at the time but he didn’t play at a high level.  They could save $6 million in 2022 by trading or releasing him and looking to upgrade at right tackle – and I think that makes a lot of sense. 
 

 

Young is simply not playing up to the caliber of his contract.  If he is back this year, it’s reportedly likely to be on a reworked deal where he takes less money – though it’s really not easy to convince guys to do that.  The more likely outcome is that he’s cut as it would save $5.845 million in 2022.     

 

 


This one hurts, but the reality is that they pretty much told us how they felt about Boykin the day they drafted Rashod Bateman.  And that’s that he’s not a starting-caliber player.  The Ravens use a lot of different personnel groupings and any time you bring a second tight end on the field or a fullback, that takes a wide receiver out of the game. So, they don’t even need as many every-down wideouts as most teams.  Boykin hardly even played in 2021 and his presence wasn’t missed, so they might just be better off with the $2.5 million they could save by cutting him.  His dead cap would be just over $200K.  

IMPORTANT FREE AGENTS

Calais Campbell – Calais Campbell has been a stud in this league and he’s already said that he wants to keep playing where he will likely continue to be a highly effective player.  That said, he’s 35 years old now and, at some point, the wheels fall off for everyone – so he’s most likely to play out the end of his career on one-year deals.  If it were up to Lamar Jackson, he would be back with Baltimore based on his recent Twitter banter with former Raven Yannick Ngakoue.

Justin Houston – It is a shame that so many injuries to key players (JK Dobbins, Gus Edwards, Marlon Humphrey, etc.) derailed the Ravens' 2021 season because they were set up for a nice one-year push.  Like Calais Campbell, Houston is a year older now at 33 and his window as an effective pass rusher could be diminishing soon.  If it’s possible to bring both players back and make the run at the title that they were supposed to make last year, the Ravens should do it. 

Brandon Williams – While we are hitting on the guys up front, we might as well touch on Brandon Williams.  The part-time run-stuffing nose tackle has played all nine years of his career with Baltimore but he’s now 32 years old and faces essentially the same decisions as to the two guys we just mentioned.  Do the Ravens bring back the older guys and make another run at it or do they move on and look for younger, more long-term solutions? 

Bradley Bozeman – You want your guys to play well but every once in a while it backfires on you a bit.  For instance, the New England Patriots punter Jake Bailey making the All-Pro team triggered clauses in his contract that made him the second-highest-paid punter in the league this year.  With Bozeman, he simply went out and played well in a contract year, which unfortunately now might make him too expensive for the Ravens to retain.  That’s always the risk when you are deciding whether to extend guys or not before they are set to be free agents. 

Sammy Watkins – At this point, Watkins is primarily valued for his run-blocking ability – which oddly makes him a pretty good fit for what the Ravens like to do at times.  So at the end of the day, his return boils down to how affordable he’ll be.  In the past, they got similar production from run-blocking wide receivers like Willie Snead for a lot cheaper.  

Honorable Mention Free Agents: DeShon Elliott, Patric Ricard, Jimmy Smith, Latavius Murray, Devonta Freeman, Chris Board, Justin Ellis

 

 

POSITIONS OF NEED (FREE AGENCY / DRAFT)

Offensive Line – Based on everything we just discussed above, they are likely going to NEED a right tackle and center assuming Villanueva and Boseman aren’t back.  But they could also potentially use an upgrade at left guard as only Ronnie Stanley and Kevin Zeitler are truly locked in.  Given their cap constraints, the draft might be the best way to attack those positions since left tackle is the hard position to find and right tackle/center don’t necessarily need to be high-end first-round picks.  

Defensive Line – As we laid out above, the Ravens need to decide which direction they are going in.  If they can free up some cap space and bring back the three older guys (Campbell, Houston, and Williams) – great! But they are still going to need to figure out some sort of long-term plan at those positions as all three of those players are 32 or older.  Derek Wolfe also got banged up last season and it’s yet to be seen how he’ll recover, so they are going to need to do something depth-wise up front on defense.        

Safety – The first two positions we discussed are things they technically have on the roster and could bring back, but a true ball-hawking free safety is something they don’t really have.  DeShon Elliott is a free agent and he’s more of a physical safety than a true FS.  Some pretty great players have a chance of hitting free agency like Marcus Williams or Jessie Bates III but, from an affordability standpoint, the draft might be the best option.  Otherwise, they could roll the dice on someone like Marcus Maye or older guys like Devin McCourty or Kareem Jackson. 


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