Ravens Reportedly Solve Their Salary-Cap Challenges
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens went from having the least money under the salary cap to having a substantial cushion to make more offseason moves.
The team created $7.2 million in available funds by converting $8.96 million of cornerback Marlon Humphrey’s $10 million base salary into a signing bonus, according to a report by ESPN.
This means the Ravens now have significant funds to sign a veteran free agent during training camp.
More importantly, the team will have money to sign a player if there is a significant injury during the regular season.
Baltimore is also trying to reach an extension with quarterback Lamar Jackson and that has been a key area of focus over the past several months.
The Ravens were decimated with injuries last season and did not have the available funds to absorb those losses.
That appeared to be the same challenge this year.
Before restructuring Humphrey's deal, Baltimore had $732,000 in available funds, the least among all 32 teams, according to the latest figure by SI's Monday Morning Quarterback.
The Ravens were active during free agency by signing safety Marcus Williams, offensive tackle Morgan Moses and nose guard Michael Pierce. The Ravens also re-signed defensive end Calais Campbell and outside linebacker Justin Houston.
The team also signed 10 of their 11 draft picks.
DeCosta has experience dealing with a tight cap and dealt with a similar issue in 2020. Now, he has more financial flexibility.
"One of my regrets this year is that when the salary cap went down to whatever it was, $182 million or something in that range, that hurt our ability to be flexible during the season," DeCosta said. "Then when we got hit with all these injuries that we did, as you all know, we then took on a lot more money on the cap. We had to sign more players. We had to activate a lot more players. We had to elevate more guys on gameday."
