Weddle quickly finds new home with defending NFC champions

Former Ravens safety Eric Weddle wasted little time finding a new home and may have improved his chances of winning that elusive Super Bowl championship to cap an impressive career.
The six-time Pro Bowl selection agreed to a two-year contract with the defending NFC champion Los Angeles Rams on Friday, ending a brief stay on the free-agent market. According to NFL Network, Weddle received a deal worth up to $12.5 million and $5.25 million fully guaranteed. The 34-year-old was scheduled to make a $6.5 million base salary in 2019 before being released on Tuesday, a move that saved Baltimore $7.5 million in salary cap space.
Weddle is a California native and still lives in San Diego after spending the first nine years of his NFL career with the Chargers, making his new team a good geographical fit as well. The Ravens are scheduled to travel to Los Angeles to take on the Rams during the 2019 season.
“He is just the consummate football player, the consummate leader,” head coach John Harbaugh said on Thursday. “He will go down in history like that. I think he should be in the Hall of Fame.”
How general manager Eric DeCosta plans to replace Weddle at safety remains to be seen, but there are several attractive options on the free-agent market. Six-time Pro Bowl safety Earl Thomas headlines the group, but Tyrann Mathieu, Landon Collins, Adrian Amos, Lamarcus Joyner, and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix are other notable safeties who will officially become available next week.
In another offseason move that was anticipated, the Ravens placed a second-round tender on restricted free-agent linebacker Patrick Onwuasor, according to ESPN. The tender carries a $3.095 million salary for the 2019 season, but any team wishing to pursue the 26-year-old would need to sign him to an offer sheet and surrender a second-round pick if the Ravens chose not to match the deal. His role would likely increase if four-time Pro Bowl inside linebacker C.J. Mosley departs via free agency next week.
Restricted free-agent defensive tackle Michael Pierce is also likely to receive a second-round tender.
Upon tendering Onwuasor and Pierce and officially completing the trade of quarterback Joe Flacco to Denver on Wednesday, the Ravens will have roughly $30 million in salary cap space at the start of free agency. However, that number does not yet include the tendering of exclusive-rights free agents or the 2019 cap number for tight end Nick Boyle, who was re-signed to a three-year, $18 million contract on Thursday. The year-by-year terms of Boyle’s deal haven’t yet been reported.