Ravens 2022 Roster Preview

PLAYERS PRESENTLY UNDER CONTRACT

With Monday’s signings of 8 former Practice Squad players, the Ravens now have the following 48 players under contract for 2022 (with Cap Numbers indicated):

QBs (1): Lamar Jackson ($23.106M)

RBs (3): Gus Edwards ($4.5M); JK Dobbins ($1.563M); Justice Hill ($1.15M);

FBs (0):

WRs (8): Marquise Brown ($3.751M); Rashod Bateman ($2.864M); Miles Boykin ($2.754M); Devin Duvernay ($1.228M); Tylan Wallace ($996K); James Proche ($937K); Jaylon Moore ($705K); Binjimen Victor ($705K)

TE (4): Mark Andrews ($9.657M); Nick Boyle ($7M); Josh Oliver ($1.075M); Tony Poljan ($705K)

OL (10): Ronnie Stanley ($18.552 M); Alejandro Villanueva ($9.25M); Kevin Zeitler ($8.975M); Ja’Wuan James ($3.25M); OL Patrick Mekari ($3.1M); Ben Powers ($2.714M); Tyre Phillips ($1.103M); Ben Cleveland ($1.096M); Jaryd Jones-Smith ($795K); Jimmy Murray ($795K)

DL (5): Derek Wolfe ($3.8M); Justin Madubuike ($1.324M); Broderick Washington ($968K); Xavier Kelly ($826K); Kahlil McKenzie ($965K)

LBs (6): Tyus Bowser ($5M); Patrick Queen ($3.317M); Odafe Oweh ($2.576M); Jaylon Ferguson ($1.911M); Malik Harrison ($1.187M); Daelin Hayes ($898K)

CBs (6): Marcus Peters ($15.5M); Marlon Humphrey ($17.451M); Tavon Young ($9.183M); Iman Marshall (1.134M); Robert Jackson ($965K); Kevin Tolliver ($965K)

S (3): Chuck Clark ($4.628M); Brandon Stephens ($1.088M); Ar’Darius Washington ($830K)

ST (2): Justin Tucker ($5.908M); Sam Koch ($3.15M)

The above 48 players are under contract for a total Rule of 51 Salary Cap commitment (which includes dead money from players no longer on the team) of $196,141,681.  (See: https://russellstreetreport.com/salarycap/2022-salary-cap/).

Present projections for the 2022 Salary Cap indicate that the Cap will reach the agreed upon Cap ceiling of $208.2M. This would be an increase of $25.7M from the COVID-reduced 2021 Cap of $182.5M, but still around $20M less than where most had originally expected the 2022 Cap to be.

So, using the figure of $208.2M for the estimated Cap, the Ravens will initially have around $12,058,319 in Cap space, accounting for the 48 players presently under contract.

This will be the basis for a lot of early reports on the status of the Ravens’ 2022 Salary Cap, but while that doesn’t sound too bad – and certainly better than for a lot of NFL teams – it is important to keep in mind that this number is based on just the 48 players that are presently under contract and nowhere near representative of the team’s Cap with a full roster.

So, between now and Wednesday, March 16^th at 4:00 p.m., when the new league year and free agency begins, the Ravens have a lot of work to do and not a great amount of Cap space with which to accomplish it.

PRACTICE SQUAD FREE AGENTS (FAs)

The Ravens have 10 players on their Practice Squad and on Practice Squad Injured Reserve who have yet to be re-signed. Some of these players may be re-signed to 2022 “Future” contracts within the next couple of days or weeks.

DT Isaiah Mack

RB Nate McCrary

RB Jacques Patrick

C Adam Redmond

S Jordan Richards

QB Chris Streveler

LB Joe Thomas

PK Jake Verity

CB Mazzi Wilkins

CB Daryl Worley

EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS FREE AGENTS (ERFAs)

ERFAs are players with less than three (3) years of service time (accrued seasons) in the league. In order to be retained, the Ravens must tender the player with an ERFA tender by the first day of the league year on Wednesday, March 16^th. Based on the player’s length of service in the league, the player will receive a 1-year deal with the applicable league minimum salary ($705K, $825K or $895K). Once tendered, these players are fully under the team’s control and are not free to negotiate with other teams.

The Ravens have nine players who are Exclusive Rights Free Agents (ERFAs):

OL Trystan Colon

DT Aaron Crawford

CB Khalil Dorsey

QB Tyler Huntley

OT Brandon Knight

LS Nick Moore

S Geno Stone

LB Kristian Welch

RB Ty’Son Williams

In past years, because of the minimal cost and minimal impact on the Salary Cap, the Ravens usually tendered all of their ERFAs.

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS (RFAs)

Restricted Free Agents are players whose contracts have expired and who have three years of accrued service time. In order to attempt to retain the player’s services, the team must tender the player with an RFA offer. Once tendered, another team can sign the player to a RFA offer sheet, but the Ravens then have seven 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, they would then receive compensation based on the level of RFA tender made to the player.

Under the terms of the CBA, the RFA Tender amounts increase at the same rate as the overall Salary Cap, plus a certain dollar amount for 2022 ($50K for the low tender and $125K for the 1^st or 2^nd round tender).

There are basically four RFA tenders: 1^st Round Tender, 2^nd Round Tender, Low Tender and Right Of First Refusal (ROFR).

* 1^st Round Tender:  allows the team to receive compensation of a 1^st round pick – $5.562M (est).

* 2^nd Round Tender:  allows the team to receive compensation of 2^nd round pick – $3.986M (est).

* Low Tender:  allows the team to receive compensation of a draft pick equal to the round in which the player was originally drafted – $2.540M (est).

* ROFR: allows the team to simply match an offer, with no draft pick compensation or for players who were UDFAs – $2.433M (est).

The Ravens have two players who are pending Restricted Free Agents (RFAs):

LB Otaro Alaka

CB Chris Westry

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS (UFAs)

The following 22 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 16^th at 4:00 p.m.:

CB Anthony Averett

LB Chris Board

OC Bradley Bozeman

LB Josh Bynes

DT Calais Campbell

S DeShon Elliott

DT Justin Ellis

LB L.J. Fort

RB Devonta Freeman

OLB Justin Houston

S Tony Jefferson

QB Josh Johnson

S Anthony Levine

OLB Pernell McPhee

RB Latavius Murray

FB Patrick Ricard

CB Kevon Seymour

OT David Sharpe

CB Jimmy Smith

TE Eric Tomlinson

WR Sammy Watkins

DT Brandon Williams

2022 DRAFT PICKS

The Ravens will have the 14^th overall pick in the first round and are expected to have 10 total picks in the 2022 draft. They presently have four (4) of their own round picks (their 1^st through 4^th round picks), the Giants’ 4^th (Bredeson trade), Arizona’s 4^th (2021 draft day trade) and Miami’s 6^th (Mancz trade).  The Ravens traded their own 5^th to Minnestoa (Ngakoue trade), their 6^th to Kansas City (Orlando Brown trade) and 7^th to Jacksonville (Oliver trade).

In addition, the Ravens have a 3^rd round Compensatory draft pick for the Texans’ hiring of David Culley as their Head Coach.   The Ravens are also expected to receive two 4^th round Compensatory draft picks for the free agent losses of LB Matthew Judon and DE Yannick Ngakoue.

So, as of now, the Ravens’ present draft picks are expected to be 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 3^rd, 4^th, 4^th, 4^th, 4^th, 4^th and 6^th.

Based on their present draft position, the Ravens will likely have a rookie Cap of somewhere around $12M.  While that number won’t factor into their initial Cap calculations, it is something that the team will be very mindful of as they otherwise build their roster.

Stay tuned for more salary cap preview articles over the coming weeks.