The Ravens did not offer CB Chris Westry a contract, cut CB Tavon Young, and announced the OT Alejandro Villanueva had retired. RSR staff react to the moves here.
Not a real surprise. I had tentatively shown Westry as receiving the low RFA tender ($2.433M), but as their Cap got tighter, I had removed him from my projections. As Jeff said, they have often signed pending RFAs to more Cap-friendly, 1- or 2-yr deals. Seems like a good fit. https://t.co/nPADSD20CU
— Brian McFarland (@RavensSalaryCap) March 9, 2022
With today's move, the Ravens are $15.72M under the Cap. pic.twitter.com/MmQCAI72ps
— Brian McFarland (@RavensSalaryCap) March 9, 2022
Darin McCann
I don’t think any of these are particularly surprising, especially if you’ve been keeping up on your Russell Street Report content. You have been, right?
Westry will most likely get some attention from a few corner-hungry teams (and all teams are basically corner-hungry these days), and could head somewhere else due to his physical traits, if nothing else. I’m still holding out hope that we could see Young return on a smaller contract, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he gets scooped up by Wink Martindale with the Giants. That just makes too much sense to me.
As a veteran myself, I’ve always admired Villanueva, and wish him nothing but the best in his next chapter of life. But I’m not shedding too many tears over the separation, to be honest.
Rob Shields
These are expected moves that had to be made. It’s possible both Young and Westry are brought back for a lot less money but you can’t keep them at their current figures.
There are a lot of other moves coming and it will be interesting to see who else they not only cut but who has their contracts restructured or extended.
Aidan Griesser
Tavon Young was a favorite of mine, but his cap hit was not worth the risk of yet another injury for the Slot CB. He’ll be missed, but I’m not surprised by the move. Westry was surprising to me, and while I understand wanting to bring him back at a lesser number, Baltimore did tender a contract for RB Ty’Son Williams, who barely saw the field. I’m hopeful Westry will be back. While I wish Villanueva all the best in retirement, he was already gone in my mind. Let’s find a true starter at RT to protect Jackson.
