OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Two weeks after head coach John Harbaugh said he’d “fully expect” star tight end Mark Andrews to be part of the 2025 Ravens, general manager Eric DeCosta wasn’t ready to echo that sentiment.
Speaking at Tuesday’s pre-draft press conference, DeCosta sounded like someone not wanting to slam the door on the possibility of a trade while remaining very complimentary of the three-time Pro Bowl selection entering the final season of a four-year, $56 million contract. Offseason trade speculation has persisted even with Baltimore having paid the 29-year-old Andrews a $4 million roster bonus a few days after the start of free agency in mid-March.
Andrews is owed $7 million in base salary this coming fall after catching a career-high 11 touchdowns and becoming the franchise’s career leader in touchdowns last season. Of course, his fourth-quarter failures in last January’s divisional-round loss at Buffalo made his future with the Ravens a hot-button topic, especially factoring in the emergence of fellow tight end Isaiah Likely and his own pending free agency. Likely caught the final touchdown against the Bills before Andrews dropped what would have been the game-tying 2-point conversion pass from Lamar Jackson with 1:33 to go.
“I never know what’s going to happen, and I would never want to say this or that,” DeCosta said. “But I can tell you this — Mark Andrews is a warrior, and he’s played his butt off for us. His competitiveness, his talent, his attitude, his leadership are so valued here. He’s a great player, and we’re in the business of keeping as many great players as we can, so there’s always a lot of unpredictability with the draft. You just never know. I don’t think we’ve traded many of our own players [during the draft].”
Posed the trade of wide receiver Marquise Brown that was announced during the first round of the 2022 draft, DeCosta cited the technicality of that deal with Arizona being agreed upon a few days earlier. However, the more relevant question is what kind of trade market there is for Andrews entering his age-30 season and whether the return would align with what Baltimore wants to forgo having him on a team with championship aspirations.
Though Andrews carrying a $7 million price tag is more appealing to suitors than the $11 million he was owed at the start of the new league year, Baltimore’s asking price is also presumably higher than it would have been before paying him the $4 million bonus. Of course, it’s always possible for a team to pivot to wanting to acquire Andrews if it’s unable to land one of the more coveted tight ends in this year’s draft, but it’s worth noting Philadelphia is reportedly shopping Dallas Goedert, a 30-year-old standout tight end also entering the final year of his deal.
Even if Andrews ultimately stays put, DeCosta has much to ponder about a talented and deep tight end room in which every player — including five-time Pro Bowl fullback Patrick Ricard — is entering the final year of his contract. With Likely being 4 1/2 years younger than Andrews and setting career highs in receptions (42), receiving yards (477), and touchdown catches (six) last season, many have pointed to the 2022 fourth-round pick out of Coastal Carolina being the priority to extend.
But considering how unlikely it would be for Andrews, Likely, Ricard, and Charlie Kolar to all return next season, would DeCosta consider drafting a tight end next week despite the potential 2025 roster crunch it would create? For what it’s worth, the group of tight ends in this year’s draft is highly regarded even if considered by some to be a top-heavy collection that’s headlined by Penn State’s Tyler Warren and Michigan’s Colston Loveland.
“The reality of it is if there’s a tight end that we think is a blue-chip tight end or a running back that we think is a blue-chip running back, we’re going to take them just because they’re important,” DeCosta said. “If the talent is such that we think this guy can impact our team at some point, we can’t just eliminate positions because we’re strong in the short term. We talk about needs, and we’ve seen and you guys have all seen … needs can change in one week [because of injuries], right?”
