Veteran is Unproven And Expensive at New Position
Lardarius Webb worked with the Ravens front office in 2015 and reduced his salary to create some cap space for the team. In 2016 he will Webb’s move to safety, even at his reduced salary, still be too high for an unproven safety?
In 2012 the Ravens signed Lardarius Webb to a 5-year, $50 million deal that included a $10 million signing bonus and a $5 million option bonus. The deal was later restructured. It was not your typical restructure. For all intents and purposes it was a pay cut. Through 2015-2017 Webb will make roughly $2.5 million less per season than he was scheduled to make under the deal signed in 2012.
Now, both Webb and Ozzie Newsome expect the cornerback to move to free safety. Time will tell if the move works, assuming Webb isn’t a cap casualty. We might assume that Webb has the range and ball skills to play center field but is he big enough to deliver and absorb the blows that go with the position? Can Webb come up and drop a 260-pound tight end? Webb has always been an outstanding tackler but that was on the perimeter against smaller players and even then he had his fair share of injuries.
Making the move to safety is even more questionable when you consider Webb’s paycheck, even the reduced one following the pay cut. Webb is scheduled to earn $5.5 million in 2016 and carries a cap figure of $9.5 million. Comparatively speaking, the highest salary scheduled to be paid to an NFL safety in 2016 is $8 million, to Seattle’s Earl Thomas. Webb’s $5.5 would make him the 6th highest paid safety in the game, ahead of accomplished safeties such as Devin McCourty, TJ Ward and Kam Chancellor.
Sounds a bit much for an unproven safety, don’t you think?
Should the Ravens ask Webb for another pay cut? Would he accept?
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If the Ravens cut Webb loose it would trigger $3.5 million in cap savings.
Count Lardarius Webb as yet another of the tough choices the Ravens will be forced to make during the weeks ahead.
