On Thursday, news broke that the Ravens had signed Safety Will Hill to a new 2-year contract that replaced the $1.542M Restricted Free Agent (“RFA”) tender he had been set to play the 2015 season under. This was a deal that the team and Hill had been working on since early Spring and the team clearly has been happy with Hill’s performance and leadership in the team’s revamped secondary.
This deal locks up another of the team’s pending 2016 free agents and allows the Ravens to now focus on extensions for Placekicker Justin Tucker and Guards Marshal Yanda and Kelechi Osemele (or one of the other).
Hill received a base contract totaling $7M, which included a Signing Bonus of $3.5M. The deal also reportedly contains $400K in incentives, bringing the maximum deal to $7.4M.
Based on media reports and NFLPA information, Hill’s contract breaks down as follows:
This deal reflects Hill recent off-field transgressions, but is a pretty fair deal for both sides. It shows the Ravens’ newfound faith in Hill by paying him better than the RFA tender and giving him a little more security in 2016, while the Ravens get a pretty decent discount on a solid starter at Safety for the next 2 years. It also allows Hill to rehabilitate his image over the next 2 seasons and potentially hit the free agent market in 2017 at the age of 27.
