The morning after his team’s season ended with a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta was on a plane bound for Alabama and the start of Senior Bowl practices.
Disappointment from the loss hadn’t abated. The shock of finishing one game shy of the Super Bowl was still raw. Yet, there was work to be done.
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“We don’t have a lot of time,” DeCosta said at his Feb. 2 season-ending news conference.
DeCosta made his first notable offseason roster move Sunday afternoon, re-signing wide receiver Nelson Agholor to a one-year deal less than 24 hours before the veteran’s contract would have been voided. There are other calls to make in short order.
Nelly puts the pen to paper!! 🔏 pic.twitter.com/vK1E1L5Z7I
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) February 18, 2024
When a season extends into late January, there isn’t a lot of space for NFL front offices to deliberate over the key decisions that await in the offseason. That’s particularly true of the Ravens this year, thanks largely to moves they made last offseason to protect themselves against another team signing star quarterback Lamar Jackson to an offer sheet.
Looking to maintain as much salary-cap flexibility as possible, the Ravens added “void” years to different deals, which allowed them to spread out cap charges to future seasons and lessen the cap impact in 2023. It’s a practice other teams have been utilizing for a while, but DeCosta and company had previously avoided similar cap gymnastics and what team officials liked to call “kicking the can down the road.”
Due to the Jackson situation, they made an exception — and it’s hard to argue with the results. No team made a run at signing Jackson, who ultimately agreed to an extension with Baltimore in late April. The Ravens also used the extra cap flexibility to sign a handful of veteran free agents, who were key components of a team that went 13-4 and finished as the AFC’s top seed.
DeCosta and the Ravens now have to deal with the ramifications of those “void” years. They already took care of business with Agholor, whose return should add some continuity for a wide receiver group that, before Sunday, was essentially Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, Tylan Wallace and a host of potential free agents. The 30-year-old had modest regular-season numbers, with 35 receptions for 381 yards and four touchdowns before registering another score in the postseason. However, he performed his role well and was widely praised by teammates and the coaching staff for his leadership and selflessness. His return will only increase the speculation that Odell Beckham Jr. might not be back.
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DeCosta and company will now have to decide whether it’s worth trying to keep running back Gus Edwards, right guard Kevin Zeitler and defensive backs Geno Stone and Rock Ya-Sin. Their contracts will void Monday at 4 p.m. ET if they’re not re-signed by the Ravens, and they’d all become free agents. At this point, that seems to be the likely result as there has been little evidence that Baltimore has been aggressive in trying to negotiate their returns.
Not only would that result in roughly $8.5 million of dead money on the team’s 2024 salary cap if they’re all not re-signed, but it would leave the team a few roster holes to fill. The Ravens could re-sign the players at a later date. However, that would mean Baltimore will have to absorb both the dead money from the void years and the cost of the new contract. That would be prohibitive, at least in Zeitler’s case, for a team that figures to be snug against the cap.
Monday’s deadline represents the first of many key decisions DeCosta will have to make as the Ravens navigate a tight cap situation in a post-Jackson contract extension world. Getting Agholor done is a solid start. Yet, the Ravens still have nearly 20 other free agents — and that’s before the players with void years hit the open market. Free agents are allowed to start talking to interested teams on March 11, with the new league year beginning two days later.
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The lead-in to the next notable deadline starts Tuesday and extends until March 5. That will be the window to use the franchise tag on the team’s top pending unrestricted free agent, defensive lineman Justin Madubuike. Even with their cap situation, it would be inconceivable for the Ravens to let Madubuike, a 26-year-old who led all interior defensive linemen with 13 sacks, field offers on the open market. If the Ravens are unable to reach an agreement on a contract extension with Madubuike — and that’s currently their top priority — they’ll have to use the tag on him. That means an approximate $20 million charge on the 2024 salary cap, which would further limit the team’s offseason ability to make meaningful offseason re-signings and outside additions
“We’ll know what’s best for us to do,” DeCosta said earlier this month. “It’s something that we haven’t just started thinking about, obviously. It’s something we’ve been thinking about. Justin had a great year, as did (pending free agent) Patrick Queen. Those two guys obviously are Pro Bowlers, had great seasons, and we’ll have a good plan in place for those guys.”
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Regardless of how the team proceeds with Madubuike, the Ravens will have to make some cap-cutting moves. The cuts might have to go a little deeper, however, if Baltimore is forced to carry Madubuike on the tag. The Ravens’ list of potential cap cuts includes fullback Patrick Ricard, right tackle Morgan Moses and outside linebacker Tyus Bowser.
Ricard is one of a handful of Ravens who could agree to extensions that lower their 2024 cap numbers and keep them on the roster going forward. Oft-injured left tackle Ronnie Stanley could be a post-June 1 release candidate, or the Ravens could look to him and a few others to take pay cuts or restructures.
But first things first: The Ravens will have to decide just how much they want to keep Edwards, Zeitler, Ya-Sin and Stone before their contracts void at 4 p.m. Monday.
For most of the group, it isn’t all that debatable. Ya-Sin, 27, was signed by the Ravens a few days after the 2023 NFL Draft and was touted as a replacement for Marcus Peters. Ya-Sin, though, never really found his footing in Baltimore. He hurt his knee during training camp, and when he returned he was outplayed by other cornerbacks, including fellow veteran free-agent signing Ronald Darby. If the Ravens work to re-sign a pending free-agent corner, it seems more likely that it would be either Darby or Arthur Maulet, who had a nice season as well.
Stone, 24, led the AFC with seven interceptions and had the best season of his young career. The Ravens, though, already have plenty invested in starting safeties Marcus Williams and Kyle Hamilton. As much as they like Stone, there will almost certainly be teams that will value and pay him at a higher level than the Ravens. He’d be almost guaranteed a starting job there, too. That wouldn’t be the case in Baltimore.
In Edwards’ situation, the Ravens could just decide to go in a different direction. They seemed reluctant to fully trust the 28-year-old, particularly in the second half of the season. He exceeded 10 carries just twice over the team’s final eight games. Edwards also posted a career low in yards per carry (4.1) and a career high in fumbles (three). There will be a host of quality veteran running backs available this offseason, so it seems likely the Ravens will want to keep their options open.
Zeitler is, far and away, the most impactful decision. He’s coming off the first Pro Bowl season of his 12-year career, and he’s generally been one of the most successful free-agent signings the Ravens have ever made. If Zeitler’s contract voids, it would mean just over $4 million of dead money on the Ravens’ 2024 salary cap. Given how well he’s played and how much uncertainty they have on their offensive line, it stands to reason that there would be organizational support to bringing him back. Zeitler, 33, has made it clear that he wants to return. Yet, the Ravens have seemed hesitant to go down that road, even going back to last offseason when there was a reasonable deal to be made.
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DeCosta vowed earlier this month to continue conversations with Zeitler about a return. Those conversations will need to amount to something by 4 p.m. Monday if the offensive guard is going to be a Raven in 2024. Absorbing the $4 million in dead money and giving him a contract at a later date wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense.
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(Photo of Geno Stone: David Richard / USA Today)
