NOTE: This is an early preview of the Ravens’ 2013 roster and offseason preview. Once the 2013 offseason begins, a more thorough preview and Salary Cap projection will be published.
PLAYERS UNDER CONTRACT:
The Ravens presently have the following 37 players under contract for 2013 (with base salaries indicated):
QBs (1): Tyrod Taylor ($555K)
RBs (3): Ray Rice ($1M), Bernard Pierce ($480K), Vonta Leach ($3M)
WRs (7): Anquan Boldin ($6M), Torrey Smith ($683K), Jacoby Jones ($3M + $1M Roster Bonus), Tandon Doss ($555K), LaQuan Williams ($555K), Deonte Thompson ($480K), Tommy Streeter ($480K)
TE (0):
OL (7): Michael Oher ($3.085M + possible $1M escalator), Marshall Yanda ($4.5M), Matt Birk ($2.75M), Jah Reid ($555K), Kelechi Osemele ($480K), Bobbie Williams ($1.2M), Gino Gradkowski ($480K)
DL (5): Haloti Ngata ($4M), Terrence Cody ($630K), Pernell McPhee ($555K), Michael McAdoo ($555K), DeAngelo Tyson ($480K)
LBs (5): Ray Lewis ($5.4M), Terrell Suggs ($6.4M), Jameel McClain ($3M), Courtney Upshaw ($631K), Brendan Ayanbadejo ($940K)
CBs (5): Lardarius Webb ($2.385M), Jimmy Smith ($1.05M), Cory Graham ($1.8M), Chykie Brown ($555K), Asa Jackson ($480K)
S (2): Bernard Pollard ($2M), Christian Thompson ($480K)
ST (2): Justin Tucker ($480K), Sam Koch ($1.9M)
These 37 players are under contract for a total Salary Cap commitment of just over $106.5M. (Link to 2013 Salary Cap Spreadsheet).
EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS FREE AGENTS (EFAs):
These players must be tendered contracts of the league minimum, based on the player’s length of service in the league (either $555K or $480K). Once tendered, these players are fully under the team’s control and are not free to negotiate with other teams.
The Ravens have 7 players who are Exclusive Rights Free Agents (EFAs):
RB – Anthony Allen
RB – Damien Berry
RB – Bobby Rainey
LB – Josh Bynes
LB – Albert McClellan
DT – Bryan Hall
S – Anthony Levine
RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS (RFAs):
These are players whose contracts have expired and who have 3 years of accrued service time. The team must tender the player with an RFA offer. Once done, another team can sign the RFA to an RFA offer sheet, but the Ravens then have 7 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, then they would receive compensation based on which level of RFA tender was made to the player.
There are 3 RFA tenders (the new CBA did away with the “high” tender of 1st and 3rd round draft picks as compensation):
1st Round Tender: allows the team to receive the other team’s 1st round – $2.879M (est)
2nd Round Tender: allows the team to receive the other team’s 2nd round pick – $2.023M (est)
Low Tender: allows the team to receive a draft pick equal to the round in which the player was originally drafted or the Right of First Refusal (ROFR) for an undrafted player – $1.323M (est)
The Ravens have 7 players who are Restricted Free Agents (RFAs)
TE – Dennis Pitta
TE – Ed Dickson
LS – Morgan Cox
DT – Arthur Jones
OL – Ramon Harewood
WR – David Reed
S – Emmanuel Cook
In the past, the Ravens have usually tendered all of their RFAs, but on occasion, the team has non-tendered some players and instead, offered them one-year veteran minimum contracts. The veteran minimum salary for those players would be $615K. This year, Emmanuel Cook could be a candidate for such a deal, if he’s even retained at all.
PRACTICE SQUAD FREE AGENTS (FAs):
In past years, the Ravens have usually re-signed their Practice Squad players for the following year.
Those 8 players are
S – Omar Brown
LB – Nigel Carr
OT – Jack Cornell
QB – Dennis Dixon
OLB – Adrian Hamilton
OLB – Sergio Kindle
G – Antoine McClain
TE – Alex Silvestro
Most will sign one-year contracts for $405K. Kindle and Dixon would receive contracts of $480K.
UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS (UFAs):
The following 13 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 13th at 4:00 p.m.:
QB – Joe Flacco
S – Ed Reed
LB – Dannell Ellerbe
CB – Cary Williams
DT – Ryan McBean
LB – Paul Kruger
OT – Bryant McKinnie
S – Sean Considine
DT – Ma’ake Kemoeatu
S – James Ihedigbo
LB – Ricky Brown
TE – Billy Bajema
CB – Chris Johnson
2012 SALARY CAP CARRYOVER:
Under the new CBA, teams can now carry over excess Salary Cap space from one year to the next. Unfortunately, though, the Ravens currently only have around $1M in available 2012 Salary Cap space, so whatever amount they will ultimately be able to carry over (depending upon further injuries in 2012) will be minimal.
PROJECTED SALARY CAP COMMITMENT:
At this point, it’s a little too early to project – especially without knowing what the 2013 league-wide Salary Cap is going to be – but, assuming the projections of a minimal increase in the Cap are correct, the Ravens will be very tight against the Cap heading into the 2013 offseason. Recent estimates of have pegged the league-wide Cap somewhere in the $122M range and, with only 37 players under contract for 2013, most of the team’s present Cap space will be eaten up by the contract tenders for the team’s RFAs and ERFAs.
The team will probably see some players retire and will need to release some others in order to create necessary Cap space, but, make no mistake, the Ravens – short of a possible long term deal for QB Joe Flacco – will not be big offseason spenders.
22 Responses
THANK You!!! Appreciate your always great writing.
I am a patriot fan checking up on the competition for next year. Great read and very well presented. Welcome to the NFL world where your QB eats up 15% of your cap. (Brady is at 18% this year) My comprehension skills are not great, did you note the allocation for the rookie pool?
No, didn’t factor that in at this point – mainly because of the Rule of 51.
Also, because they will be picking 32nd, the rookie allocation will only have a minimal impact on the team’s Cap.
http://russellstreetreport.com/an-explanation-of-how-the-rookie-salary-cap-really-work/
LOL, I have no idea how anyone can keep all of that straight. Just so we keep the core of the team on the field, do what ya gotta do!! Love my Ravens!!
I hate the thought of gutting a newly-minted Super Bowl team but the implications of Flacco’s potential franchising are downright scary. I’m not looking for a hometown discount ala Tom Brady because Joe Linta will play hardball from start to finish with Bisciotti, using Drew Brees’ contract as the starting point.
As always Brian, a great article.
Tom Brady didn’t do a hometown discount just so you know. He still gets his $18M a year although like most qbs he’s probably structured it in a team friendly way at some point
Hey Brian, I’m curious: Does the NFL allow deferred payments as part of restructuring deals? Such as, suppose the Ravens wanted to lessen Boldin’s cap hit for next year. Could they defer part of what he’s owed in 2013 to future years?
The CBA does allow some deferred payment (and advances as well), but they are still treated as present payments, so there’s no advantageous Cap treatment to them.
Nice job on 105.7 this morning, Cap Master!
When do we have to make sure we are in compliance with cap numbers? I know a lot of times, it will be reported that Team X is 10 million over the cap, so they have to make moves to clear that space by a certain date.
My only thinking is, if we give Joe the exclusive tag, possibly using a month or two to continue negotiating without gutting the roster, in the thinking that you WILL NOT let him play on the exclusive tag, and by the end date when you have to comply with the cap, you’ll accept wherever Linta has been negotiated down to.
Joe – Brian would know better than I, but my understanding is that teams must be in compliance before Free Agency begins on March 12th at 4:00 p.m (which is also referred to as the start of the league year)
Yes, Bob is correct. They must be under the Cap – and stay under the Cap – from the beginning of the league year – March 12th @ 4 pm.
Wonderful article. I look to the money clip every year at this time for the best assessment of the team’s cap situation available. 2 items that I have:
Is there any advantage to a player retiring vs. being released? So, it Birk retired, would that be better from a cap standpoint than if we ended up releasing him?
Do you really believe a 2nd round tender is sufficient for Pitta? I have to think he’s caught the eye of many a team and they’d be willing to cough up a 2nd rounder to grab him. It would seem the team would be willing to spend the ~850K to secure him with a 1st rounder.
Bob –
1. No, from a Cap perspective there is no difference between a release or retirement. They are both treated the same – the team does not have to pay the remaining base salary(ies), but does have to account for all remaining bonus prorations. Those accelerate and all count against the Cap as dead money.
2. I don’t think they can afford to tender Pitta any higher. Ideally, they work out an extension to make it all moot, but even so, I don’t think anyone is going to offer a 2nd (and a contract the Ravens can’t/won’t match) for Pitta. Perhaps a calculated risk, but I think they’ll be safe.
Based on reports I am hearing (related to Pitta’s 2nd round tender), I’m worried. I hope you are still correct on point #2.
Amazing how the NFLPA agreed to this situation. Salaries would be so much larger for non stars in a sport as violent as football. Look at baseball hire can a Seattle afford 7 years 175 million for one player, and that is guaranteed money. For the physical trauma football players endure the money should be guaranteed.
hey brian in your opinion who is the one player on the roster that is replaceable and can save us money on our cap space?
Great article! Really helps put things into perspective!
Brian – Thanks for your responses above. As I listened to the team’s latest press conference, another question comes to mind.
They stated clearly that restructuring existing contracts is virtually off-limits and may be done in a given case but only as a measure of last resort. In your article, you bring up the possibility of contract extensions (most specifically for Boldin, Jones, Leech and/or Oher).
In what ways do these two actions differ – restructuring a contract, keeping the contract length static vs. a contract extension, that I’d presume still pushes some current year cap money forward? Does the contract extension not have as significant future impact as a contract restructuring? If these are fundamentally the same, I’d think the FO’s response would also mean that such extensions would be highly unlikely as well.
Brian,
Can the Ravens get the prorated bonus money back from Ray Lewis (it may be sacrilegious to ask). I know when you are released it is accelerated, but with his retirement, like when the Lions went after Barry Sanders, can they get that back? I surely do not know what his contract says, but with the threat of retirement when he signed the contract I would have thought that the Ravens would have put in some provision to protect themselves.
Thanks.
Do signing bonuses count against the cap? It seems that other teams have circumvented the cap that way.
Yes, but they can be prorated over the life of the contract. See more here (“bonus proration” column): http://russellstreetreport.com/salary-cap/