The Ravens have taken a meaningful step to subdue persistent speculation about seven-time Pro Bowl right guard Marshal Yanda’s future.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the sides have agreed to a one-year extension that keeps the veteran lineman under contract through 2020. Yanda was entering the final season of a four-year, $32 million contract and was scheduled to make $7 million in base salary and carry a $10.125 million salary cap number, but it’s unclear how the additional year might impact those numbers for 2019.
Asked about Yanda at the pre-draft press conference last week, general manager Eric DeCosta made it clear he wanted to keep his best offensive lineman beyond the coming season. A 2007 third-round pick from Iowa with 162 career games under his belt, Yanda tied former teammate Terrell Suggs for the fourth-most Pro Bowl appearances in franchise history last year behind only Ray Lewis (13), Jonathan Ogden (11), and Ed Reed (nine), a trio of Hall of Famers.
“We love Marshal. We’d love to see Marshal continue to play for us for years,” DeCosta said. “He’s a great player; he’s still playing at a high level. He’s a Raven. I mean you could define a Raven and put a picture of Marshal Yanda up there, and that’s him.”
Yanda’s continued presence provides much-needed stability for an organization in great on-field transition with key veterans such as Suggs, Joe Flacco, C.J. Mosley, and Eric Weddle departing this offseason. Despite missing most of 2017 with a broken ankle and undergoing the third shoulder surgery of his pro career last offseason, Yanda returned to start every game last season, finished second on the team in total snaps, and graded fourth among all qualified NFL guards, according to Pro Football Focus.
Introspective comments he made last summer had led many to wonder this offseason whether he would ultimately return for a 13th campaign, even as team officials said they expected him to continue playing. Speaking to reporters at an Ed Block Courage Award Foundation event last month, Yanda noted how great it felt to be healthy in the offseason for the first time in a few years, but he didn’t say definitively whether he would continue his playing career.
“A general rule of thumb is once you get to 10 years, I feel like every year you have to reassess and reevaluate,” Yanda said last August. “Me not playing pretty much at all [in 2017], there was no question I definitely wanted to play this fall and get after it and be a part of it. You reassess and reevaluate. I’ll take my time after the season, but right now I’m focused on this year and doing my part.”
Yanda is one of just six remaining players who were with the organization when the Ravens won Super Bowl XLVII at the end of the 2012 season.
