MATT BIRK’S CONTRACT:  On Monday, Ravens’ Center Matt Birk passed his physical and signed his new 3-year, $8.525M contract.  Birk received a $2.1M signing bonus with a base salary of $925K in 2012.   He will have a base salary of $2.75M in both 2013 and 2014.  Given Birk’s age, this contract is basically a one-year, $3.025M contract.  In both 2010 and 2011, Birk had a base salary of $3M, so this deal is in line with his past pay scale, but because of their Salary Cap issues, the Ravens needed … Continue reading →

The 2012 free agent frenzy is set to begin at 4:00 this afternoon when the 2012 league year begins.  At that time, the Ravens are expected to be just under $7.7M under the 2012 Salary Cap.  This number will include the 40 players presently under contract, the franchise tender for RB Ray Rice, the 3 RFA tenders (Webb, C. Williams, D. Ellerbe) and the 7 ERFA tenders (Cox, Gorrer, C. Williams, McClellan, Kindle, Boren, Bynes).  As reported last evening, the Ravens tendered 3 of their RFAs – CB Lardarius Webb … Continue reading →

CAP SPACE:  Now that the NFL has finally announced that the league-wide Salary Cap for 2012 will be $120.6M, it has become easier to estimate the Baltimore Ravens’ expected Salary Cap space for the beginning of the 2012 league year. As explained in our last article, the Ravens are able to increase their team Salary Cap by carrying over $5.831M of unused 2011 Salary Cap space and can borrow an additional $1.5M in Cap space from future Caps.  These additions will give the team adjusted team Salary Cap of a … Continue reading →

One way that the Baltimore Ravens could create additional Salary Cap space is through restructuring the contracts of some of its more highly paid players.  The Ravens don’t have a lot of ideal candidates for restructures, but could look to restructure the contracts of LB Terrell Suggs, G Marshall Yanda or DT Haloti Ngata.  First, though, a little explanation of what “restructuring” usually means.  About 95% of the time that it is reported that a player has “restructured” his deal it does not mean that the player has taken a pay cut … Continue reading →

Most of the recent media reports are indicating that the 2012 Salary Cap will be announced by the end of the week and that it is expected to again be around $120M.  With that part of the equation pretty much settled, we can now more accurately predict what the Baltimore Ravens’ Salary Cap picture will look like on next Tuesday, March 13, the day the 2012 League Year begins. The $120M number is for the most part, right where it was last year. But the Baltimore Ravens have done (or … Continue reading →

CUTS:  Unlike last year when the Baltimore Ravens surprised just about everyone when they released TE Todd Heap, WR Derrick Mason and DT Kelly Gregg, there aren’t expected to be any surprise cuts this year.  The cuts that are expected have pretty much been common knowledge since the 2011 season ended in the AFC Championship game.  The first of those cuts to be reported is the release of CB Chris Carr.  Signed just last August to a new 4-year contract, Carr spent most of the 2011 season on the bench … Continue reading →

When the new CBA was signed last August, the 2011 Salary Cap was artificially set by agreement between the NFL owners and the NFLPA.  With the new CBA essentially now really in its first year, the amount of the 2012 Cap is to be set by the new formula as set out in the new CBA.  At this point, that amount is a mystery.    So, the biggest variable in determining the Ravens’ Salary Cap status is just what the Salary Cap is going to be.  Some media reports have indicated … Continue reading →

Change. It’s inevitable in today’s NFL.  Some teams embrace it, others run from it.  If the 2011 offseason told us anything, it’s that Ravens’ GM Ozzie Newsome and the Ravens’ Front Office are not afraid to embrace change.  So, tomorrow, the Ravens staff will begin to address yet another offseason after a near-miss and try and figure out what changes are needed to get them over the hump and back to the Super Bowl. The question is, how much change will we see? Based on various media reports, it appears … Continue reading →

With yesterday’s news that the Ravens have finally signed star DT Haloti Ngata to a long term extension, the next question becomes what will the team do with the approximately $5.4M in Salary Cap space created by the signing? The good news is that the Ravens have several options, all of which are good for the team’s future.  First, removing the Franchise designation from Ngata allows the Ravens to use the Tag on another player in 2012.  If the team were to use the Tag next year, the most likely … Continue reading →

Today is the deadline for the Ravens to sign star DT Haloti Ngata to a long term extension.  If they fail to get him signed by today’s deadline, they will not be able to work out a long-term deal with him until after the season.  If need be, they would again be force to use the Franchise Tag on him in 2012. So, it’s really imperative that they get something done today.  If he is signed today, look for him to be paid as one of the top defensive players … Continue reading →

As media reports continue to filter in, the size and scope of DT Haloti Ngata’s newly signed contract extension are coming more into focus. Based on a variety of sources, it appears that Ngata’s new deal is worth a total of $61M over 5 years, with $40M of that amount being guaranteed.  He’ll receive a signing bonus of $25M and an Option Bonus in 2012 of $10M.  All of the $40M in guaranteed money will be paid out over the first two years of the deal, with $27.1M of that … Continue reading →

With today’s news that OT Jared Gaither has signed with the Kansas City Chiefs, the large number – 12 to be exact – of free agents who have departed Baltimore has many Ravens fans dreaming of multiple Compensatory Draft Picks in next April’s draft. However, based on the Comp Pick rules, it is seems unlikely that the Ravens will get any more than one (1) Comp Pick.  The key issue in determining Comp Picks, is how many qualifying UFAs did a team lose versus how many were sign?  This first … Continue reading →

1.  SALARY CAP IMPLICATIONS OF FREE AGENT SIGNINGS:  Based on media reports and NFLPA salary information obtained by Ravens 24×7, the following are the terms of the contracts and yearly Salary Cap numbers of the recently signed Free Agents.  As of this afternoon, no information was yet available for Bernard Pollard.  Marshall Yanda: OG Marshall Yanda signs a 5-year, $32M contract, which includes a $10M bonus. Year Signing Bonus Base Salary Cap Charge 2011 10,000,000 2,000,000 4,000,000 2012 4,500,000 6,500,000 2013 4,500,000 6,500,000 2014 5,500,000 7,500,000 2015 5,500,000 7,500,000 Chris … Continue reading →

Last week’s news that the Ravens would release RB Willis McGahee was really of no great surprise.  For quite awhile, it had been a foregone conclusion that the Ravens were not going to pay McGahee’s 2011 base salary of $6M. This $6M base salary was part of the (over)generous 7-year, $40.12M contract that the Ravens gifted McGahee upon acquiring him from the Buffalo Bills in March of 2007.  At the time, the contract raised eyebrows amongst many because McGahee had not proven worthy of such a top of the market … Continue reading →

Earlier this week, Ravens’ CB Domonique Foxworth expressed frustration with the pace of his recovery from last August’s knee surgery and indicated that he wasn’t where he wanted to be at this point.  While it can be expected that there will be an adjustment period for Foxworth – both mentally and physically – he is now over a year removed from his surgery and it appears that he should be further along than he is now.  This situation has probably been made worse by the 5-month lockout, during which time, … Continue reading →

1ST ROUND PICK – JIMMY SMITH Status:  SIGNED – Five-year deal, worth $7.46M with a $3,926,000 bonus. Smith’s Salary Cap charges will be as follows: Year Signing Bonus Base Salary Cap Charge 2011 3,926,000 375,000 1,356,500 2012 714,000 1,446,500 2013 1,053,000 1,536,500 2014 1,392,000 1,626,500 2015 Note:  The 5th year of the deal is a team option year at an amount prescribed by the new CBA. 2nd ROUND PICK – TORREY SMITH: Status:  SIGNED – Four-year deal, worth $3.38M with a $946,900 bonus. Smith’s Salary Cap charges will be as … Continue reading →

1.       Impact of “Black Money” Releases: It’s been reported that the “Black Monday” releases of WR Derrick Mason, TE Todd Heap, RB Willis McGahee and DT Kelly Gregg has created $18.6M in Salary Cap space for the team. But that number isn’t entirely accurate.  The release of those players does remove $18.6M of what was attributable to those players (leaving $4.857M in “dead money” still counting against the 2011 Cap), but the overall impact on the Cap is a little less.  Why? Well at this time of the year, the … Continue reading →

Last week, with all of the uncertainty about just how the new Salary Cap rules would work, I finished my column with “Stay tuned……….”. Boy, I didn’t see this coming. This evening, multiple media outlets are reporting that the Ravens have informed TE Todd Heap, WR Derrick Mason, RB Willis McGahee and NT Kelly Gregg that they will be released later this week.  While McGahee’s and Gregg’s releases were somewhat predictable, the releases of Heap and Mason do come as a surprise, although the $9.1M in Cap savings certainly goes … Continue reading →

With the NFLPA and NFL owners seemingly close to coming to a final resolution of the labor impasse that has forced the league to shutdown since March, it’s now time to take a look at the coming Free Agent period and where the Ravens stand with the Salary Cap. First, though, I’ll start this article with a disclaimer, courtesy of a Twitter post by NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora, who stated when referencing the new Cap rules – “no cap guy in the NFL even has a full handle on … Continue reading →

Over this past weekend, the Baltimore Sun’s Mike Preston sent many Baltimore Ravens fans into football La-La Land with his blog stating that the Ravens “will have an interest” in Free Agent CB Nnamdi Asomugha once a new CBA is agreed to.  This is the second recent mention of the Ravens and Asomugha in the last month, as Adam Schefter of the ESPN also recently speculated that the Ravens should not be dismissed as a potential landing spot for the talented Raider cornerback.  While neither Preston nor Schefter even bothered … Continue reading →