A week before the deadline for another team to sign him to an offer sheet, restricted free-agent center Matt Skura has inked his tender, keeping him with the Ravens through the 2020 season.
Still working his way back to full strength from a serious knee injury sustained in late November, Skura, 27, received the low tender worth $2.133 million last month. Other teams had the opportunity to sign Skura to an offer sheet that the Ravens would have had the right to match, but the injury likely cost him just over $1 million as Baltimore may have offered him the second-round tender to prevent other teams from trying to sign him away if healthy. That tender would have awarded the Ravens a second-round pick if they declined to match an offer sheet executed by another team.
Skura suffered a torn ACL, PCL, and MCL as well as a dislocated kneecap in the Week 12 win over the Los Angeles Rams and spent the remainder of the season on injured reserve. The realities of free agency created by the coronavirus pandemic would have made it extremely difficult for a potential suitor to evaluate his surgically-repaired left knee.
The 6-foot-3, 313-pound lineman hopes to return during training camp, but the Ravens received solid play from undrafted rookie Patrick Mekari in the final month of the regular season, easing concerns at the center position as the organization tries to replace the retired Marshal Yanda at right guard.
Signed as a rookie free agent from Duke in 2016, Skura has started 39 games over the last three seasons.
