Ravens Reacts: Recapping a Busy Day Three of Free Agency!
The Ravens lose three players, restructure contract with Stanley to save money!
Welcome back to another edition of ‘Ravens Reacts’, a Cool Sports Newsletter series made by a die hard Ravens fan! The Ravens signed Derrick Henry yesterday, the first major move Baltimore made in the free agency period. However, Baltimore continues to make major moves on day three. The Ravens released long-time veteran and draftee of the organization Tyus Bowser, announced they won’t resign Odell Beckham Jr. in complicated terms, restructured Ronnie Stanley’s contract and traded away right tackle Morgan Moses to New York. Let me break down the moves, why they made them, and if they made the right ones!
After the Ravens paid Justin Madubuike an at-the-time record setting deal for a defensive tackle (just to get broken by Chris Jones not even 72 hours after), the Ravens had to free up money by the Wednesday, March 13 deadline. And with the Ravens adding more salary on the books with Derrick Henry, even after letting go of six free agents, the Ravens still had to work to do.
Let’s start with the only move that is important for a player currently on the roster. The Ravens restructured Ronnie Stanley’s contract, a move I absolutely love. Stanley signed a five year, $98 million deal in October of 2020 coming off of an All-Pro season. Injuries and inconsistency has made his once highest O-Line deal in the league look like a mistake. However, Stanley has made a compromise with Baltimore. Stanley, who if had been released could have saved Baltimore $15 million, decided to restructure his contract, to where instead of a $26 million cap hit, he will get paid less but with an opportunity to surpass his now drastic yearly total if hitting certain, unknown incentives.
I love this! First, amazing by Stanley. A player who’s been homegrown in Baltimore and turned into a star in Baltimore, restructures his deal for the good of the team and put himself and his salary aside. The greats do it: Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes and others. Ton of respect. And this was perfect. Baltimore can still keep Stanley around and hope he can have a non-injury plagued season and see his post-major injury full potential. Worst case scenario, he is no longer digging into the Ravens cap as he is nowhere close to reaching certain incentives. It was a no-brainer for Baltimore, who was still able to keep their former All-Pro around.
The Ravens also did some work on his right side, as Baltimore traded Morgan Moses back to the team he was on in 2021—the New York Jets—in exchange for swapping fourth round picks (Ravens getting the higher-value pick) as well as a 6th round pick, both from this coming 2024 draft. Moses was heading into the final year of his contract he had signed with the Ravens back before the 2022 season, and while it was rated as one of the better value signings of the offseason, Moses was very average in his RT position. And Baltimore has been also seeing how talented both Patrick Mekari and Daniel Faalele are, who can easily take his spot. And with Moses back to New York, Baltimore has stockpiled on picks, with now nine picks for this coming draft.
And this is what is going unnoticed by Baltimore this offseason. Baltimore has had to let go of valuable pieces like Gus Edwards (13 TD’s in 2023), Geno Stone (AFC-leading 7 interceptions in 2023), Patrick Queen (2nd team All-Pro) and other rotational pieces because they were going to be too expensive. Now Eric DeCosta, but more so the Ravens organization in general, will do what they’ve done as good if not better than any team in the league since their arrival in 1996; draft. The Ravens have always been one of the better drafting teams, and find talents from all rounds. For example, Madubuike was a 4th round pick and is now the best defensive tackle in the league. EDC knows how to draft, and now has nine of those picks to rebuild this team while getting younger and cheaper for the future. Amazing decision.
The Ravens, still needing to get under the cap by the beginning of the new league year (March 13 and 4:00 PM ET), released their 28 year old homegrown pass rusher Tyus Bowser. The release frees up about $5.5 million in cap space for Baltimore, and this move was another amazing move. Baltimore signed Bowser to a four year, $22 million deal back in 2021, where he had a terrific season with seven sacks and 15 QB hits. However, injuries had him miss eight games in 2022 and all of 2023, while Baltimore has seen production from veterans, development of Odafe Oweh and possible ability of David Ojabo. The Ravens no longer need Bowser or maybe whatever he still has left in the tank. They’ve moved on. And so has his $5.5 million, which is really important for the Ravens to get off the books.
And the last thing Baltimore did in their busy afternoon was release wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr…more or less. ESPN’s Dan Graziano reported and quote, “Barring an unexpected last-minute extension, you’ll see the Ravens release Odell Beckham before midnight ET tonight with a post June 1 designation.” Basically, the Ravens are going to be letting Beckham walk and will not resign him, designating him with a June 1 designation. A June 1 designation is when a player is released before June 1st which allows the team to separate any money they still need to pay the players across two seasons, freeing up more money for the offseason they release him in.
This is not a shocker or one to lose sleep over. OBJ ran his course in Baltimore. We all knew he wasn't coming back, and for good reason. Beckham came in to help the team, but to more so convince Lamar Jackson to stay in Baltimore. Jackson is here and committed on winning a Super Bowl. Beckham, at 31 years old and inconsistent, does not help achieve that goal for the money Baltimore would have to pay him. He can be very easily replaced. Thank you for your service OBJ, but this was not going to work for more than one year. A move that as big as it is, really isn’t a huge deal that could affect this team in the long-term, or really even short-term.
So let’s recap: the Ravens are keeping Ronnie Stanley around but for a discounted price, but Tyus Bowser and Odell Beckham Jr. are not coming back. And nor is Morgan Moses, as Baltimore frees up a ton of money and gets draft capital to rebuild this team in multiple facets the next few months. And they freed up money without giving away any of their top tier players like Buffalo and Kansas City had to do, something I thought Baltimore was going to have to do as well. EDC had to go to work today, and he sure did. What a great two days from Baltimore’s front office!
Chase Coburn
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