Mink: The Ravens' strong track record of drafting and development leads to times like these. They have a lot of free agents who are the prize of other teams' eyes, and they can't keep them all. In short, free agency is when it hurts to be good.
I don't have any insider info on how many, or which, players the Ravens will be able to re-sign. Many of the Ravens' free agents want to stay, but much of it depends on what their market looks like if/when they hit it. Now just several days away, it appears that many of the Ravens' pending free agents will go shopping.
Tyler Linderbaum is the top priority. The Ravens need to upgrade their interior offensive line and replacing a Pro Bowl center would make that tough. General Manager Eric DeCosta said the Ravens made Linderbaum a "market-setting" offer, but how high above the market?
According to reports, Linderbaum's team is looking for an annual salary of $25 million per year. That would be a 39% increase over the salary of the current highest-paid center, the Chiefs' Creed Humphrey at $18 million. Will another team be willing to offer Linderbaum that much? How close are the Ravens willing to get to not find out?
Despite a down year, tight end Isaiah Likely seems poised to get lucrative offers, and the Ravens already committed to an extension for Mark Andrews. Charlie Kolar could also get a healthy offer, considering hybrid Y tight ends who can block are becoming a rarer commodity.
Punters typically get re-signed, even after Pro Bowl years, and that's what I would expect for Jordan Stout. But we'll see. It will be interesting to see what kind of market develops for veteran cornerback Chidobe Awuzie after he had a solid season. He's another player who would be good to keep.
What does Dre'Mont Jones get after a seven-sack season? He's still just 29 years old and has been durable. Kyle Van Noy had a tougher season last year, but he had 21.5 sacks over the previous two seasons. The Ravens have two young outside linebackers stepping into bigger roles in Tavius Robinson and Mike Green, and they'll surely add more via the draft.
Do the Ravens run it back with Pro Bowl fullback Patrick Ricard again? Do they let both safeties, Alohi Gilman and Ar'Darius Washington, walk?
There are a lot of questions and, unfortunately, I don't have many answers. But this is what the Ravens are facing, and we'll have our answers soon.
Mink: It depends on what happens with Gilman and Washington, but ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that Baltimore is in the veteran safety market.
It makes sense given that the Ravens and new Head Coach Jesse Minter want to continue to deploy Kyle Hamilton in a variety of roles, including closer to the line of scrimmage. Three safety looks are core to what the Ravens defense will be.
After a breakout 2023 season with seven interceptions, Stone had a tough couple of years as a rival Cincinnati Bengal. He had six interceptions, but Stone was beaten for too many big plays and had too many missed tackles. He was part of Cincinnati's defensive problems and is expecting to depart.
Could a return to Baltimore be what Stone needs? It's worth watching, but the Ravens have many options.
Robertson: Part of why the draft is so appealing is the unpredictability, and first-round trades add to the spice.
The Ravens could trade up a few slots if a prospect they love drops, but I think it's far more likely they will stand pat at pick No. 14 and take the best available player on their board.
It can be very difficult for two teams to agree on terms involving a first-round draft pick. For every first-round trade, there could be 10 that never materialize and go unreported. There's also the risk of mortgaging the future, which DeCosta addressed in 2020, saying, "In general, trading up is dangerous; it's a little bit risky."
At his end-of-season press conference in January, DeCosta was asked about trading for a pass rusher.
"I do think a lot about these kinds of situations, and it's not the draft capital, which is always a lot. You're giving up a lot of times multiple first-round picks," DeCosta said. "It's the combination of the draft capital and the salary, which, in some ways, it's prohibitive. I also think that when you get into that mindset that you're one player away, you're ripe to be fooled."
As for Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain, he's a player I think the Ravens would be very fortunate to see fall to them. The talk with Bain last week at the Combine was about his sub-31-inch arms, and that concern has merit. But drafting a proven pass rusher like Bain, who had 20.5 sacks over three seasons, without giving up any draft capital could be another Kyle-Hamilton-like steal.
Robertson: This is a fun one.
For those who aren't aware, former head coach John Harbaugh installed an infamous conditioning test that players went through before training camp. Former running back Justin Forsett told ESPN’s Jamison Hensley that it was the hardest conditioning test of any team he was on, calling it "pure death."
I can't say for certain what the specifics of Minter's conditioning test will be, but I am certain about the buy-in Minter and his staff expect from the players. Minter has had a consistent mantra about creating and upholding standards that match the team's goal of winning the Super Bowl. The team's conditioning will certainly be a barometer that Minter uses this summer to gauge where the team is.
