A departure that was inevitable last November became official Wednesday with the Ravens releasing former starting safety Marcus Williams.
Originally signed to a five-year, $70 million contract in 2022, Williams was benched for poor play in November and deactivated for Baltimore’s final seven games including the postseason. The 28-year-old’s departure became a formality when the sides reworked his contract in early January to ease the salary cap burden for his release with a post-June 1 designation at the start of the new league year. The restructure immediately created $9.9 million in space on the 2025 cap, which otherwise wouldn’t have been realized until after June 1. The Ravens will now gain an additional $2.1 million in savings in June with dead money hits of $6.7 million on both the 2025 and 2026 caps.
Despite much excitement at the time of his signing and a red-hot start to his Ravens tenure with three interceptions in his first two games, Williams struggled to stay healthy over his first two seasons, missing a total of 13 contests. His on-field performance hadn’t been a problem until this past season, however, when his struggles in coverage headlined a pass defense that ranked last in the NFL when he was benched for good in Week 11. Pro Football Focus graded Williams 97th out of 98 qualified safeties this past season.
“It was a tough season for Marcus, but I admire the way he handled it,” head coach John Harbaugh said in late January. “He faced a lot of adversity that just kind of came with the production at the end and also the performance. You never pin it on any one thing. There’s no way to pin it on any one thing — you know that. You have to kind of look at it as a whole, and there are a lot of factors in there. But I was impressed by the way Marcus handled himself through all of that.”
A leading factor in the defensive turnaround over the second half of the 2024 season was Williams being replaced by Ar’Darius Washington, who paired with Pro Bowl safety Kyle Hamilton to tighten up the back end of the secondary. Over the final seven games of the regular season, the Ravens allowed NFL lows in total yards per game, net passing yards per game, yards per play, and points per game with Washington making no shortage of impact plays in coverage and against the run.
The 5-foot-8, 180-pound defensive back’s breakout year followed an injury-plagued start to his career that consisted of just eight games played over his first three seasons. An undrafted free agent out of Texas Christian, Washington finished with 64 tackles, two interceptions, eight pass breakups, and a sack in 2024, validating the organization’s high regard for his potential the last couple offseasons.
“This year, he stayed healthy, and he became that guy that we saw in college,” general manager Eric DeCosta said in late January. “He’s tough, physical, a playmaker, instinctive, smart, a leader — great story. Just another one of these undrafted guys over the years that we’ve had that has developed into being a really good football player. We’re proud of him.
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“He’s going to be a restricted free agent this year for us, and we’re fortunate that we have him back again next year.”
After speculation about Washington receiving the second-round restricted tender that would have all but guaranteed no other team trying to sign him to an offer sheet, the Ravens elected to tender him with only the right of first refusal, which costs $3.263 million compared to $5.346 million. That will save more than $2 million in cap space, of course, but it means the Ravens would receive no draft compensation if another team signs Washington to an offer sheet and DeCosta choose not to match.
Washington graded an impressive eighth out of 98 qualified safeties by PFF in 2024.
