With the Ravens’ brass meeting with the media for the end-of-the-year press conference on Thursday morning, here’s an early look at their list of free agents this offseason. Much will be determined by the contract status of quarterback Joe Flacco and whether the organization will need to use the franchise tag or be able to sign him to a long-term contract.
A Flacco long-term agreement is a must to avoid a large number of salary-cap casualties that could include key veterans such as wide receivers Anquan Boldin and Jacoby Jones, fullback Vonta Leach, and linebacker Jameel McClain.
As we move closer to March, I’ll provide a closer look on how the Ravens might proceed this winter and spring.
UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS
The Ravens will have the opportunity to re-sign any of the 13 following unrestricted free agents before they are free to sign with any other team on March 12 at 4:00 p.m.:
QB Joe Flacco
S Ed Reed
LB Paul Kruger
LB Dannell Ellerbe
OT Bryant McKinnie
CB Cary Williams
DT Ma’ake Kemoeatu
S James Ihedigbo
S Sean Considine
TE Billy Bajema
DT Ryan McBean
LB Ricky Brown
CB Chris Johnson
RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS
The following players have accrued three years of service and have expiring contracts. The Ravens must tender each with a restricted free agent offer, but other teams may then sign that player to an offer sheet. If that happens, Baltimore has seven days to match the offer and keep the aforementioned player. If the Ravens choose not to match the offer sheet, they would receive compensation based on which tender was initially offered to that player.
There are three different tenders that can be made: a first-round tender (estimated $2.88 million) would award the competing team’s first-round selection, a second-round tender ($2.02 million) would award the competing team’s second-round selection, and a low tender ($1.32 million) would award the competing team’s draft selection equal to the round in which the player was originally chosen. For example, a restricted free agent selected in the fifth round would be worth a fifth-round pick if given the low tender. If a player went undrafted originally and is given the low tender, the Ravens would simply hold the right to match the offer and would not receive any compensation if they elected not to match a competing offer.
The original round in which each player was drafted is noted in parentheses:
TE Dennis Pitta (4th)
DT Arthur Jones (5th)
TE Ed Dickson (3rd)
LS Morgan Cox (undrafted)
WR David Reed (5th)
OL Ramon Harewood (6th)
EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS FREE AGENTS
These players have less than three years of accrued service and must be tendered a contract for the league minimum based on their length of service in the league. If tendered, these players are not free to negotiate with other teams.
LB Josh Bynes
LB Albert McClellan
RB Anthony Allen
RB Damien Berry
RB Bobby Rainey
LB Adrian Hamilton
DT Bryan Hall
S Anthony Levine
S Omar Brown
S Emanuel Cook
