In a move that comes as no surprise, the Ravens will cut veteran cornerback Chris Carr in a move to free up money on the salary cap with free agency less than two weeks away.
First reported by Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network on Thursday, Carr was reportedly set to make a base salary of $2.5 million in 2012 and carried a cap number of $3.45 million.
Hamstring and back injuries forced Carr to miss seven games in 2011 after the seven-year pro had previously never missed a game in his career. He made one start, collecting 19 tackles and three pass breakups. The 28-year-old started all 16 games for the Ravens in 2010, intercepting two passes and making 67 tackles while serving as the team’s most reliable cornerback with Domonique Foxworth missing the season with a torn ACL and Lardarius Webb not 100 percent recovered for his own ACL tear the previous December.
“Thanks everyone in [Baltimore] love the team and the city,” Carr said from his official Twitter account. “It’s a business, I think it was the best for both parties.”
After signing a new four-year contract last July, Carr entered training camp as a favorite to start, but a hamstring injury forced him to miss the second half of the preseason as young cornerbacks Lardarius Webb and Cary Williams secured starting spots on the Baltimore defense. Predicting Carr’s fate in Baltimore became all but elementary when he was a healthy inactive in the Ravens’ divisional playoff win against the Houston Texans.
The day after the season-ending loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC championship, Carr acknowledged to the media that he was unsure whether the Ravens would retain his services with Webb, Williams, and 2011 first-round selection Jimmy Smith leapfrogging him on the depth chart.
The Ravens are also expected to cut cornerback Domonique Foxworth and wide receiver Lee Evans in the coming days. Foxworth, who spent most of the last two seasons on injured reserve, carries an $8.6 million cap number for 2012, and his release would save just over $5.5 million in cap room.
After making just four receptions in an injury-plagued season, Evans is owed a $1 million roster bonus a few days after the start of free agency, so the Ravens would not have to fork over the cash and would save nearly $4.5 million in cap space by releasing him.
Luke Jones
Luke Jones is the Ravens and Orioles beat reporter for WNST BaltimorePositive.com and is a PFWA member. His mind is consumed with useless sports knowledge, pro wrestling promos, and movie quotes, but he often forgets where he put his phone. Luke's favorite sports memories include being one of the thousands of kids who waited for Cal Ripken's autograph after Orioles games in the summer of 1995, attending the Super Bowl XXXV victory parade with his dad in the pouring rain, and watching the Terps advance to the Final Four at the Carrier Dome in 2002. Follow him on social media @BaltimoreLuke or email him at Luke@wnst.net.
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