Ronnie Stanley Restructures Deal, Gives Ravens More Cap Funds

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens restructured the contract of left tackle Ronnie Stanley, converting $8.4 million of his base salary into a signing bonus.

The move creates $6.3 million in 2022 cap space, according to ESPN.

This is the second time in just over a month the Ravens have been able to create more cap space by restructuring a contract.

In July, 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.

Baltimore now has $13.4 million available by restructuring both Humphrey and Stanley.

This is key because the Ravens will need money in case there is an injury and the Ravens need to add a free agent.

The Ravens were decimated with injuries last season and did not have the available funds to absorb those losses.

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 all 11 of its draft picks.

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 deal with Stanley doesn't bode well for those negotiations.

3/ This move also means that they’ve given up hope of reaching a deal w/ Lamar since an extension for a Lamar would have created this needed space and they would not have needed to restructure Stanley.
— Brian McFarland (@RavensSalaryCap) August 31, 2022

GM Eric 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."