Where the Ravens can — and can’t — create salary cap space in a pivotal offseason | ANALYSIS

At the Ravens’ offseason planning meetings in the Bahamas last month, team officials talked about how they should spend and how they can spend more. “I think we’ ll have enough salary cap room to do everything we need to do, to do responsible, good deals that work for the club but also work for the player,” general manager Eric DeCosta said at his season-ending news...

At the Ravens’ offseason planning meetings in the Bahamas last month, team officials talked about how they should spend and how they can spend more. This is one of the most important offseasons in franchise history. It also might be among their least flexible.

“I think we’ll have enough salary cap room to do everything we need to do, to do responsible, good deals that work for the club but also work for the player,” general manager Eric DeCosta said at his season-ending news conference earlier this month. He later added: “We’ll have some more cap room at some point. We could pretty much sign anybody we want to sign if we could get a deal done.”

The big question for the Ravens, one month before the start of free agency: Just how much more cap room will they have?

While the NFL’s 2022 salary cap has been set at $208.2 million, up from a pandemic-suppressed $182.5 million last year, the Ravens’ budget is a moving target. Depending on the team’s handling of small-ticket players — exclusive-rights free agents like quarterback Tyler Huntley, restricted free agents like cornerback Chris Westry — DeCosta could have about $7 million to $9 million in space. The Ravens’ draft class will take several million more off the table. So will their practice squad and in-season emergency fund.

That leaves DeCosta with not a lot of spending power and not much recourse. NFL front offices have two primary levers for carving out salary cap space: reworking contracts and releasing players. The Ravens’ roster situation will likely constrain those possibilities. Here’s a look at what could limit their cap relief and where they could look instead.

Restructures

If the Saints’ team-building process has revealed anything in recent years, it’s that “salary cap jail” is a low-security institution. It’s easy to get out of. New Orleans cleared about $52 million off its books last year through restructured contracts alone.

Under the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, teams have the power to convert most of a player’s base salary or roster bonus into a signing bonus so that his cap charges can be prorated over the duration of his contract. The Buffalo Bills, for instance, saved roughly $8 million in cap space last year by converting about $11.7 million of wide receiver Stefon Diggs’ $12.7 million base salary into a signing bonus. (The restructuring also bumped up Diggs’ cap hit by nearly $5 million in both 2022 and 2023.)

The longer a player’s deal and the bigger his salary, the more flexibility a team has in its financial management. According to salary cap website Over the Cap, eight teams can create over $50 million in cap space this year with “simple restructures,” contract conversions that don’t require additional contract years. The Saints can clear an NFL-high $101.4 million in space through these simple restructures, a staggering accounting feat made possible by New Orleans’ reliance on void years, which backload cap charges to free up room in the short term.

DeCosta does not have that luxury this year. According to Over The Cap, only four teams can clear less cap space than the Ravens ($26.2 million) through simple restructures. One such move is considered unlikely: Given left tackle Ronnie Stanley’s injury history, the Ravens aren’t expected to convert his 2021 salary and create $6.3 million in cap relief. Should Stanley’s ankle problems linger, the Ravens will need an escape plan with as little dead money as possible.

Other restructures would be more prudent. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey is an obvious candidate: His $10 million salary in 2022 could be converted into an approximately $1 million salary and $9 million signing bonus, which, because of its proration over a deal that lasts through 2026, would reduce his 2022 cap hit from $17.5 million to $10.3 million.

Elsewhere, a simple restructure of guard Kevin Zeitler’s deal would save $2.4 million. For tight ends Mark Andrews and Nick Boyle, restructures would amount to about $2 million apiece. Only three other Ravens — outside linebacker Tyus Bowser, kicker Justin Tucker and running back Gus Edwards — have contracts that would net over $1 million in savings.

Extensions

A long-term deal for quarterback Lamar Jackson, who’s entering the final year of his rookie deal, would shatter franchise records for contract value. Maybe just as urgently, it would also free up much-needed cap space this year.

With his fifth-year option exercised, Jackson is guaranteed $23 million in salary this season, making his cap hit the Ravens’ biggest. A new contract would function like a restructured contract, converting much of that 2022 salary into a signing bonus that’s amortized over the life of the new deal.

The savings for the Ravens this year could be substantial. If Jackson were to sign a four-year extension identical to the one the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott got last year, his cap hit would fall to $19.3 million. If Jackson’s new deal mirrors Deshaun Watson’s extension with the Texans, which Watson signed before the start of his fourth season in Houston, his hit would fall even further. Watson’s cap charge in 2021, his fifth year under contract, was $15.9 million.

Until the Ravens and Jackson can hammer out a new deal, however, no savings will be realized. DeCosta indicated earlier this month the Ravens would be comfortable entering next season without an extension signed.

“Listen, we have the cap room,” DeCosta said. “We’ll have more cap room at the beginning of the new league year. We’ll be flexible. We’ll have an ability to make some moves. We can certainly take on that amount. Based on who Lamar is and what he has to offer, that’s not a huge ticket for a quarterback of that ability and of that personality and what he brings to the table for the team.”

Because of the Ravens’ aggressiveness in retaining homegrown players, few of the team’s highest-paid players have contracts that DeCosta might target for extensions. Stanley ($18.6 million cap hit in 2022), Humphrey ($17.5 million) and Andrews ($9.7 million) all signed multiyear deals within the past 16 months. Cornerback Marcus Peters ($15.5 million), who’s entering the final year of his first extension after a lost 2021 season, turns 30 in January and wouldn’t come cheap.

Releases

The simplest way to create cap space is to shed contracts. And there are a handful of Ravens who could be cap casualties:

• Offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva ($6 million in savings, $3.3 million in dead money) struggled at left tackle and might be even more compromised if he moves back to right tackle, where he started the season. Cornerback Jimmy Smith indicated late last season that Villanueva was considering retirement, which would forfeit his 2022 salary.
• Cornerback Tavon Young ($5.8 million in savings, $3.3 million in dead money) has battled injuries for much of his career. Even last season, when Young appeared in all 17 games, he played over half of the defensive snaps just eight times.
• Wide receiver Miles Boykin ($2.5 million in savings, $214,000 in dead money) is coming off the most disappointing season of his young career. The 2019 third-round pick, limited by hamstring and finger injuries, had one catch in eight games and earned just 35 offensive snaps.
• Guard Ben Powers ($2.5 million in savings, $174,000 in dead money) could be more useful as a trade piece; the former fourth-round pick has started 19 games and appeared in 30 games over his three years in Baltimore. But if the Ravens see higher upside in linemen Ben Cleveland and Tyre Phillips — and possibly Patrick Mekari, plus a 2022 draft pick — Powers could be on the outs.

Whatever the Ravens do in the coming weeks and months, they’ll have some money to spend. But how much will they have? And how much will they spend? That depends on whom and what their front office values.

“We’ve never been a big, huge free-agency team,” DeCosta said at his season-ending news conference. “We’ve dabbled in it a little bit. We’ll continue to look for players that benefit the club in different ways, certainly. Right player, right price, as always.”