With yesterday’s news that the Ravens were going to release (or trade) fullback Vonta Leach, many have been searching for answers as to why the Ravens front office feels they must release him. The news has led many to wonder if there is another move coming and many are aiming high with thoughts of the Ravens acquiring one of the Giant’s disgruntled wide receivers, Hakeem Nicks or Victor Cruz. However, the reality is that the Ravens decision to part ways with Leach is likely rooted in two more simple – … Continue reading →

With June 1st now passed, the Ravens will be receiving 4 Compensatory Draft picks in next May’s draft. Under the NFL’s Comp Pick rules, if a team loses more qualifying Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA) than it signs, the team will be awarded Comp Picks for the difference in those two numbers (up to a maximum of 4). In order for a free agent to count for Comp Pick purposes, though, he must be a true UFA, which means that his contract with his prior team has expired. As such, any … Continue reading →

PRESENT SALARY CAP STATUS: With S Matt Elam and NT Brandon Williams being the only remaining unsigned draft picks, the Ravens are currently $1,803,573 under the Salary Cap. Once Elam and Williams have signed, the Ravens will be down to $951,459 in Salary Cap space. However, as of June 2nd, the Ravens will receive an additional $2.5M in Salary Cap space due to designating the March release of S Bernard Pollard as a post-June 1 release. THE PECULIAR CASE OF TE ED DICKSON: Last week, upon their arrival at the … Continue reading →

With the advent of the new rookie wage scale contained in the NFL’s 2011 CBA, much of the mystery of rookie contracts has been removed. With the new system largely being a slotted system, signings are happening much quicker and holdouts are few and far between. Also, with the overall league Salary Cap having increased at such a minimal rate, players are receiving the same Signing Bonus as the player taken with the same pick in the prior year’s draft. The following is a breakdown of the contracts of the … Continue reading →

According to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun, the Ravens will have a “Year One Rookie Allocation” of $5.517M.  This is the team’s “rookie cap” (as it was referred to prior to the 2011 CBA) and encompasses the 2013 Cap numbers of the Ravens’ 10 draft picks. Once signed, the estimated Cap number for each player is as follows: Matt Elam: $1.23M Arthur Brown: $646K Brandon Williams: $534K John Simon: $502K Kyle Juszczyk: $480K Ricky Wagner: $441K Kapron Lewis-Moore: $427K Ryan Jensen: $425K Aaron Mellette: $416K Marc Anthony: $416K Under … Continue reading →

In the days following this week’s NFL draft, the league will announce each team’s “Year One Rookie Allocation” (formerly known as the “Rookie Pool” or “Rookie Salary Cap”).  This is an oft misunderstood number, because while it is part of the team’s Salary Cap, it does not have a dollar-for-dollar impact on the team’s overall Salary Cap. The Rookie Salary Cap is often referred to as “a cap within a cap” because it limits the amount that teams can allocate to their rookies in the year they were drafted (and … Continue reading →

The idea that the Ravens’ Salary Cap has been adversely affected while awaiting WR Aquan Boldin’s return from Africa to take his physical with the 49ers, has been an issue that has greatly frustrated many Ravens fans. As it turns out, it was never an issue at all and the initial reporting (from ProFootballTalk, and repeated, apparently without confirmation, by many others) that the trade wasn’t complete until Boldin passed his physical was totally inaccurate. First, the official NFL transactions report disclosed the trade as being completed on March 12th … Continue reading →

Reports indicate that the NFL will announce the award of Compensatory Draft picks for 2013 at some point on Monday. Based on their free agent losses last offseason, the Ravens are expected to receive four (4) Compensatory Draft picks for the next month’s NFL draft. This would push the team’s total number of draft picks to 12, including the team’s 7 regular draft picks and “undisclosed” draft pick (per the official NFL transaction report) from San Francisco for Anquan Boldin. Compensatory Draft picks are awarded to teams that suffer a … Continue reading →

Pollard Release with “June 1st” Designation According to the NFL’s official transactions report, the Ravens’ release of Safety Bernard Pollard was made with a “Post June 1 Designation”.  This means that Pollard will remain on the Ravens Salary Cap until June 1, at which time the team will receive the Cap savings from his release. First a little background on the difference between a pre-June 1st release and a post-June 1st release. When a player is released prior to June 1st, the team is relieved of having to count the player’s base … Continue reading →

Yesterday was a busy day for the Ravens, albeit, with mixed results.  The Ravens did get a lot of work done in shaping their roster and getting their Salary Cap in order, but they lost out on their No. 1 target, when linebacker Dannell Ellerbe signed a 5-year, $35M contract to join the Miami Dolphins. While that contract was certainly more than the Ravens were willing to spend – and a somewhat shocking amount for a player with less than a season’s worth of starts over his 4 NFL seasons … Continue reading →

Now that Joe Flacco’s contract has been resolved, it’s much easier to give an accurate forecast of where the Ravens will stand when the 2013 league year begins on next Tuesday at 4:00 pm.  So, with that in mind, here’s a look at the Ravens’ 2013 Free Agency and Salary Cap status:  PLAYERS UNDER CONTRACT:  The Ravens presently have the following 48 players under contract for 2013 (with Salary Cap numbers indicated): QBs (2):  Joe Flacco ($6.8M), Tyrod Taylor ($581K) RBs (4):  Ray Rice ($5.75M), Bernard Pierce ($619K), Vonta Leach … Continue reading →

So, they got it done! Joe Flacco and the Ravens have hammered out a long term deal to avoid the dreaded Franchise Tag and provide the team with some much needed Salary Cap space for 2013. At 1:30 this afternoon, Flacco will sign the deal that makes him – for now – the highest paid player in NFL history. The team will hold a celebratory press conference to coronate Flacco as their “elite” cornerstone quarterback. There is no question the deal is huge and that it had to get done, … Continue reading →

Thursday was a very busy day around the NFL and a lot of the action and announcements have a direct impact on the Ravens’ Salary Cap and the team’s pursuit of a long-term contract for Quarterback Joe Flacco. EXCLUSIVE FRANCHISE TAG AMOUNT:  The first bit of news – good news, at that – was the disclosure that Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has agreed to restructure his contract.  Like Tom Brady’s restructure earlier in the week, this restructure operated to reduce the Exclusive Franchise Tag tender amount by $497K.  This reduction, … Continue reading →

Will the Ravens and quarterback Joe Flacco be able to reach an agreement on a long-term contract and ease the fears of many Ravens fans? Real or not, storm clouds appear to be forming. In the world of negotiations, it can be expected that things will at times turn sour and can often look very bleak leading up to the negotiating deadline. But, the adage “Deadlines spur actions” applies. Neither side is going to make their “best” offer until they have to, and that “best offer” often doesn’t comes until … Continue reading →

Last week, Patriots QB Tom Brady restructured his contract to lower his 2013 Salary Cap number in order to help his team create some additional Salary Cap space.  Brady’s restructure removed him from the top 5 2013 Cap numbers for quarterbacks and caused an $880K reduction in the tender amount for the Exclusive Franchise Tag.  As of that time, the amount of the Exclusive Tag was $19.583M. Today, news broke that the long-awaited Ben Roethlisberger restructure was also completed.  According to reports, Roethlisberger’s restructure reduced his $19.595M Cap number by … Continue reading →

With reports circulating that Patriots QB Tom Brady has agreed to a contract extension that will lower his 2013 Cap number, the big question for Ravens fans is what impact this development will have on the negotiations between Joe Flacco and the team? As far as negotiations on a long term deal go, the answer is – probably very little.  The differences between Flacco’s situation – 28 years old and pending free agent – and Brady’s – 36 years old this summer – make it such that it’s hard to … Continue reading →

This week has been consumed by the question of whether the Ravens will be able to re-sign QB Joe Flacco to a long-term contract or whether they will be forced to use the Franchise Tag to retain their rights over him.  It’s likely a discussion that will continue for several more weeks as well.  If Flacco doesn’t receive a long-term deal over the next couple of week, the discussion then will turn to which Franchise Tag the team should use – the “non-exclusive” Tag or the “exclusive” Tag. It appears … Continue reading →

THE MONEY CLIP – RAVENS’ SALARY CAP ANALYSIS Ravens 2013 Free Agency Preview Super Bowl Champs! Every offseason should start off like that. The 2012 season was a season of great highs and great lows for the team and its fans.  A promising 9-2 start was followed by a 3-game losing streak (and losses in 4 of the last 5 regular season games), but the team then turned it on in the post-season and rode the emotional wave of Ray Lewis’ impending retirement all the way to a World Championship. … Continue reading →

Based on their playing time in 2012, CB Corey Graham and OT Michael Oher saw their 2013 base salaries increased for 2013 due to playing-time escalators.  Graham, who was signed for his Special Teams prowess, became a starter after injuries to starting CB Lardarius Webb and former first round pick, Jimmy Smith.  Making the most of this opportunity – and becoming one of the biggest unsung heroes of the season – Graham saw his base salary increase by $250K from $1.8M to $2.05M. Graham’s 2013 Cap number will be $2.65M. … Continue reading →

While the emotional impact of today’s news that Ray Lewis is going to retire after this season has yet to truly sink in, the 2013 Salary Cap ramifications are much easier to discern. For Salary Cap purposes, the retirement of a player is treated exactly the same way as the release of a player – his Salary Cap number is reduced by any remaining unaccounted for yearly bonus prorations. In 2013, Lewis, in the 5th year of the 7-year contract he signed in March of 2009, was scheduled to have a … Continue reading →