Ravens 2023 Offseason Roster Preview

PLAYERS PRESENTLY UNDER CONTRACT

The Ravens currently have the following 41 players under contract for 2023 (with Cap Numbers indicated):

QBs (1):  Anthony Brown ($870K)

RBs (3):  Gus Edwards ($5.634M); JK Dobbins ($1.823M); Ricky Person ($872K)

FBs (1):  Patrick Ricard ($3.905M)

WRs (4):  Devin Duvernay ($4.53M); Rashod Bateman ($3.436M); Tylan Wallace ($1.111M); James Proche ($1.052M)

TE (3):   Mark Andrews ($13.658M); Charlie Kolar ($1.406M); Isaiah Likely ($996K)

OL (7):  Ronnie Stanley ($23.668M); Kevin Zeitler ($9.475M); Morgan Moses ($5.46M); Patrick Mekari ($6M); Tyler Linderbaum ($3.009M); Ben Cleveland ($1.315M); Daniel Faalele ($1.07M)

DL (5):  Calais Campbell ($9.44M); Michael Pierce ($5.905M); Justin Madubuike ($3.107M); Broderick Washington ($968K); Travis Jones ($1.206M)

LBs (8):  Roquan Smith ($9M); Tyus Bowser ($6.5M); Patrick Queen ($3.87M); Odafe Oweh ($3.093M); Malik Harrison ($1.31M); David Ojabo ($1.798M); Daelin Hayes ($1.103M); Josh Ross ($753K)

CBs (3):  Marlon Humphrey ($19.994M); Jalyn Armour-Davis ($1.06M); Damarion Williams ($996K)

S (4):  Marcus Williams ($7.803M); Chuck Clark ($6.268M); Kyle Hamilton ($3.694M); Brandon Stephens ($1.305M);

ST (2):  Justin Tucker ($5.958M); Jordan Stout ($1.045M)

The above 41 players are under contract for a total Rule of 51 Salary Cap commitment (which includes dead money from players no longer on the team) of $190,598,304.

2023 Salary Cap Spreadsheet

Present projections for the 2023 Salary Cap indicate that the Cap will in the $220-227M range, with the Cap likely to come in around $225M. This would be an increase of $16.8M over the 2022 Cap.

So, using the figure of $225M for the estimated Cap, the Ravens will initially have around $35,797,479 in Cap space, accounting for the just 41 players presently under contract.

This will be the basis for a lot of early reports on the status of the Ravens’ 2023 Salary Cap, but while that doesn’t sound too bad – and certainly better than for a lot of NFL teams – it is important to keep in mind that this number is based on just the 41 players that are presently under contract and is nowhere near representative of the team’s Cap with a full roster.

So, between now and Wednesday, March 15^th at 4:00 p.m., when the new league year and free agency begin, the Ravens have a lot of work to do, especially, if they need to use the Franchise Tag on QB Lamar Jackson.

PRACTICE SQUAD FREE AGENTS (FAs)

The Ravens have 15 players on their Practice Squad and on Practice Squad Injured Reserve. Many of these players will be re-signed to 2023 “Future” contracts within the next couple of days or weeks.

WR Tarik Black

TE Nick Boyle

WR Shemar Bridges

LB Josh Bynes

QB Brett Hundley

WR Andy Isabella

CB Thakarius Keyes

FB Ben Mason

G Kahlil McKenzie

LB Jeremiah Moon

DT Rayshad Nichols

OT David Sharpe

G John Simpson

WR Mike Thomas

WR Binjimen Victor

EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS FREE AGENTS (ERFAs)

ERFAs are players with less than three (3) years of service time (accrued seasons) in the league. In order to be retained, the Ravens must tender the player with an ERFA tender by the first day of the league year on Wednesday, March 16^th. Based on the player’s length of service in the league, the player will receive a 1-year deal with the applicable league minimum salary ($870K, $940K or $1.01M). Once tendered, these players are fully under the team’s control and are not free to negotiate with other teams.

This year the Ravens have only one player who is an Exclusive Rights Free Agent (ERFA):

DB Ar’Darius Washington

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS (RFAs)

Restricted Free Agents are players whose contracts have expired and who have three years of accrued service time. In order to attempt to retain the player’s services, the team must tender the player with an RFA offer. Once tendered, another team can sign the player to a RFA offer sheet, but the Ravens then have seven days to match that offer sheet and retain the player under the terms of that offer sheet. If the Ravens were to choose not to match the offer sheet, they would then receive compensation based on the level of RFA tender made to the player.

Under the terms of the CBA, the RFA Tender amounts increase annually at the same rate as the overall Salary Cap (so, below estimates are based on a $225M Salary Cap).

There are basically four RFA tenders: 1^st Round Tender, 2^nd Round Tender, Low Tender and Right Of First Refusal (ROFR).

* 1^st Round Tender:  allows the team to receive compensation of a 1^st round pick – $6.011M (est).

* 2^nd Round Tender:  allows the team to receive compensation of 2^nd round pick – $4.308M (est).

* Low Tender:  allows the team to receive compensation of a draft pick equal to the round in which the player was originally drafted – $2.745M (est).

* ROFR: allows the team to simply match an offer, with no draft pick compensation or for players who were UDFAs – $2.629M (est).

The Ravens have six players who are pending Restricted Free Agents (RFAs):

OL Trystan Colon

QB Tyler Huntley

LS Nick Moore

OLB Del’Shawn Phillips

S Geno Stone

LB Kristian Welch

Due to some of the rules changes in 2020 because of COVID, several of the above players earned an accrued season in 2020 for playing in just 1-3 games (as opposed to the normal six games needed to earn an accrued season). This rule change allowed these players to become a RFA, as opposed to an ERFA, a year sooner.

Given the sharp increase in salary (from the non-RFA minimum of $1.01M), the Ravens may very well not tender many of their RFAs. In some cases, as they have done in the past, they will likely offer several of these players lesser deals for closer to the minimum (often with a little bit of guaranteed money to help entice the player). Players in this position will often accept such an offer because the Ravens might be offering the best deal and the player is unlikely to earn anywhere near the RFA tender amount elsewhere.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS (UFAs)

The following 17 players are Unrestricted Free Agents (UFAs) and will be free to sign with other teams if they haven’t re-signed with the Ravens before Free Agency begins on March 15^th at 4:00 p.m.:

LB Vincent Biegel

RB Kenyan Drake

CB Kyle Fuller

RB Justice Hill

OLB Justin Houston

QB Lamar Jackson

OT Ja’Wuan James

DE Steven Means

TE Josh Oliver

DE Jason Pierre-Paul

CB Marcus Peters

G Ben Powers

WR Demarcus Robinson

CB Kevon Seymour

DE Brent Urban

WR Sammy Watkins

CB Daryl Worley

FRANCHISE TAG:

The window for using the Franchise Tag begins on Tuesday, February 21st and ends at 4:00 Tuesday, March 7^th.

2023 DRAFT PICKS:

The Ravens will have the 21^st or 22^nd overall pick in the first round (depending on the outcome of Monday night’s Buccaneers-Cowboys game) and presently only have five total picks in the 2023 draft. They presently have their 1^st, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th Round picks.The Ravens traded their own 2^nd and New England’s 5^th (acquired in the 2022 trade of CB Shaun Wade) to Chicago for LB Roquan Smith and also traded their 7^th as part of the 2022 trade of G Ben Bredeson to the New York Giants.

Based on their present draft position, the Ravens will likely have a rookie Cap of somewhere around $6.4M. While that number won’t factor into their initial Cap calculations, it is something that the team will be very mindful of as they otherwise build their roster.

[Related: How Does the Rookie Salary Cap Work?]

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