The Ravens are over the salary cap limit and must make moves to become cap compliant, according to Ravens GM Eric DeCosta.
According to overthecap.com, the Baltimore Ravens are over the $255.4 million salary cap by $3.58 million. Spotrac.com has them $2.275 million over the limit. More importantly, Ravens General Manager Eric DeCosta said they’re likely over the salary cap after cutting their roster to 53 players and adding their practice squad, and they’ll have to make moves accordingly.
“We don’t [have the financial flexibility to make a trade] right now because I think we’re over the cap when you factor in practice squads and things like that,” DeCosta said. “But at some point we will have to make some moves in the coming days and weeks and we’ve been planning for all that. So, there’s a lot of things we’ll be able to do.. We will be cap compliant and we will have at least some money to spend if a player is available that we think will help us be the best team we can be.”
Getting cap compliant won’t be a great challenge. There are a number of single-contract restructures they could do to get them into compliancy (Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Williams, Mark Andrews). But the greater need is to be not just compliant, but have to have flexibility to make moves in-season for injuries and potential trades.
DeCosta said the Ravens’ front office have been strategizing for this and with the help of vice president of football administration Nick Matteo and consultant Pat Moriarty, they’re in line to set themselves up for success for the 2024 season.
“We have some flexibility to make some moves, and we will, in the next probably week, be cap compliant. There’s a lot of different things we can do,” DeCosta said. “We’ve been pretty conservative. I’m blessed to have Nick Matteo, who’s a great salary cap guy, and Pat Moriarty, who’s kind of like a Conciliarity of salary cap guys. We’re in good shape upstairs, and we’ll have a good plan.”
What lies ahead of 2024 will be difficult in terms of keeping their rising stars. The latest being cornerback Brandon Stephens, who enters his contract year.
“So again, he’s a guy that we certainly want to keep here long term; it’s not without challenge. He plays a position where the best players are highly compensated, but we’ll do our best,” DeCosta said. “I admire so many things about Brandon. This guy has had some adversity he’s overcome – so many different things [like] position changes, transfers and all these things – and he’s made himself one of the best corners in the NFL.”
DeCosta was forthright in how making Lamar Jackson the highest-paid player in the NFL (at the time) impacted their spending ability, along with how they’ve compensated other elite players on the roster. He concluded they can’t pay everybody.
“It’s hard because we went into this year knowing that when you pay [Lamar Jackson], your MVP quarterback and make him the highest-paid [quarterback],” DeCosta said. “You pay basically the heart of your defense – Roquan [Smith] – and make him the highest-paid linebacker. You pay arguably one of the top three defensive tackles in football last year – Justin Madubuike. You realize you’re going to have to make some changes in the way that you do business. That’s going to affect us, [and] it’s affecting other teams. I can give you 10 other teams that are dealing with that exact same phenomenon, and you see it. It’s just one of the realities of this business. I can think of multiple teams right now that are struggling with this dynamic, and they’re probably going to have to make major, massive in the next coming years. And so, we’re aware of that; you just simply can’t pay everybody.”
The Ravens expenses in the short-term are costly but manageable; their future contracts won’t be cheap.
In 2025, safety Kyle Hamilton and center Tyler Linderbaum will become eligible for extensions, though they will be under contract for their fourth year and the Ravens can exercise their fifth-year options for 2026. But history has shown players aren’t fond of being among the NFL’s best at their positions but being paid on the rookie wage scale.
That same year, many of their biggest names will be in their contract year too, including tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely, outside linebackers Odafe Oweh, David Ojabo and Kyle Van Noy, and running backs Derrick Henry and Keaton Mitchell.
The Ravens can’t keep everybody.