So much of how you make your money in football operations is about looking beyond the here and now. Sure, there are times that it’s tempting, perhaps even necessary, to put everything you have into trying to win a championship this season (case in point, the LA Rams a few seasons ago), but you don’t just want to get to the mountaintop, you want to do everything within your power to stay there. To stay competitive, you look beyond your 53-man roster, and when free agency, trades, and retirements loom, you have to have a succession plan in place.
For @Ravens — Late for Work: Pundits Prioritize Key Free Agents
– Things We Learned from Ravens 2023 Season
– Takeaways From Season Review Press Conference
– Perfect Match: EDGE/DL Darius Robinson
– Shrine Bowl Standouts the Ravens Could Eyehttps://t.co/EOWTeq0T92— Kyle Phoenix (@KylePBarber) February 5, 2024
As of now, Baltimore sits in the bottom half of the league in available cap space with a bunch of players slated to become free agents. Granted, some roster gymnastics and creative accounting could lead to some more available funds by the time the draft rolls around…
6 moves the #Ravens can make to create $51M in cap space for 2024 via @thacover2NFL https://t.co/nRONql7mSi
— The Ravens Wire (@TheRavensWire) February 5, 2024
…but there are still going to be some tough decisions on which names to prioritize in keeping in-house. Let’s talk about some of the headliners and some potential options if they move on.
Keep two, lose two
Ravens 2024 free agent edition pic.twitter.com/02CHBM8UCv
— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) February 4, 2024
DT Justin Madubuike: For my money, any conversation about this free agent group should start with “Re-sign Justin Madubuike.” Beeks’ production this year absolutely exploded compared to last season, and he led the team with a whopping 13 sacks. The Ravens got some decent production from their veteran EDGEs this year, but Madubuike was the first Raven to record double-digit sacks since Terrell Suggs in 2017. If they want any semblance of the interior pressure they posted this year, a new deal or franchise tag is imperative. As much as I’d like to believe that Travis Jones and Broderick Washington could have higher production with expanded roles, I just don’t see them coming close to the numbers we saw from Beeks, and expecting any interior lineman coming out of the draft to match that is a tall order.
One way or another, Baltimore’s gotta pay the man.
ILB Patrick Queen: If you’ve been following the rhetoric around the team, it sounds more and more like Patrick Queen is in line for a payday elsewhere.
From Patrick Queen’s IG story.
The song choice doesn’t give you good feelings if you’re a Ravens fan. Plenty of speculation that PQ was going to get paid elsewhere, but it still hurts. pic.twitter.com/K3Q7HEN771
— KMack Sports (@KMackSports) January 29, 2024
When Baltimore selected Trenton Simpson in the third round of last year’s draft, a lot of people around the team figured the writing was on the wall for PQ’s time as a Raven. Still, you can’t discount how productive he’s been over the last two seasons, and the expectation that Simpson would come right in and fill that gap is unrealistic. Simpson showed some promising development in the final regular season performance against Pittsburgh, but he’ll need to take a big jump over this offseason to be Roquan Smith’s right-hand man in the middle of the defense.
Then, of course, the question remains of who fills Simpson’s spot. There are a few inside backers I really like in this draft class, but names like Jeremiah Trotter, Jr. and Edgerrin Cooper would likely demand too high a pick with too many other needs to fill. I’d keep an eye on NC State’s Payton Wilson, who has the leadership skills and disciplined play to be the kind of guy this team loves. Michigan’s Junior Colson has also been a fast riser in this year’s prospect pool, and I doubt Baltimore’s love for Michigan players dwindles just because Mike Mac is gone. He’ll be on my short list at iLB.
Geno Stone ended the regular season as the #1 ranked zone coverage safety in the league, according to @PFF. pic.twitter.com/emmQpAmk4N
— 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝙇𝙄𝙑𝙀 (@LIVERavenNation) January 30, 2024
S Geno Stone: Speaking of players who took massive steps forward this season, Stone emerged into a ball-hawk extraordinaire as he finished second in the league in interceptions with seven. Stone rode out a rocky portion of his career on the fringes of the roster to become the kind of player that the Ravens love, and my hunch is that they figure out a way to bring him back. Not only did Stone make himself indispensable opposite Kyle Hamilton, but as of right now, the only other FS under contract on the Ravens roster is Marcus Williams. The only safety in the pipeline for the draft class who showed similar ball skills was Miami’s Kamren Kinchens, who had five interceptions last season, but Kinchens is projected as a top-30 to 40 prospect, and the front office will likely decide the juice isn’t worth the squeeze with the draft capital he would cost.
G Kevin Zeitler: This is an interesting one. As much as the team and the fans would love to have KZ back, his cap number just might not be conducive to a return given what he’ll likely be offered elsewhere. Unlike at safety, the Ravens do have some depth pieces in their wings that could potentially fill in for Zeitler if he departs, but the jury’s still out on Ben Cleveland. Sala Aumavae-Laulu was a regular healthy scratch last season, and Andrew Vorhees is a true unknown after having missed the entirety of last season. Beyond that, if John Simpson, a fellow free agent, also departs, you’ll have multiple vacancies at Guard that need to be addressed. If that happens, the Ravens may have to buy low on a guy like Boston College’s Christian Mahogany in the draft while the in-house replacements battle for the spots in camp.
At the risk of not making this piece an exhaustive list of “if this, then that,” we’ll save some of those positions for another day.
There are few better people in all of football at handling roster dilemmas than Eric DeCosta, but I certainly don’t envy him at a time like this.
One Response
Keep up the good work Kevin.