Ravens should get better handle on their offseason questions at NFL combine (2024)

The Athletic has live coverage of the NFL combine.

It’s possible, if not probable, that when the Baltimore Ravens contingent returns home from Indianapolis next week, the team’s roster will look the same as it did when the NFL Scouting Combine began.

There’s a decent chance the Ravens will make no re-signings or cuts this week or verbalize a decision about using the franchise tag on defensive lineman Justin Madubuike. It’s hardly a certainty that the Ravens will even leave Indianapolis with any better idea of how the 29 first-round picks ahead of them in the 2024 NFL Draft will play out.

But in many respects, this week’s combine, which will bring executives, coaches, draft prospects, agents and the media together in one place and spur plenty of speculation and perhaps some answers about what will happen when the new league year begins, is the perfect prelude to one of the busiest times on the NFL calendar.

The combine begins Tuesday and runs through March 4. Exactly a week after it ends, teams will be allowed on March 11 to contact the representatives of pending free agents to begin contract talks. Two days after that, on March 13, the new league year starts as players can officially join new organizations and every team must be salary-cap compliant.

When the first and second waves of free agency die down, the lead-in to the late-April draft will pick up.

General manager Eric DeCosta and Baltimore’s front office will have plenty of key decisions to make over the next couple of weeks. Final calls might not be made in Indianapolis this week, but in meeting with agents, prospects and executives from other teams, the Ravens should have a better idea of the answers to these five questions:

Is a contract extension with Madubuike realistic, or is the tag inevitable?

Tagging Madubuike, the 26-year-old who led all NFL interior defensive linemen with 13 sacks in 2023, is a $22.1 million decision. Extending him would at least allow the Ravens to structure the contract in a way where his 2024 cap hit wouldn’t be as prohibitive in the team’s efforts to make the necessary roster additions or re-signings.

With the final day of the tag window looming on March 5 and the salary cap needing to be in order by the midpoint of next week, the Ravens should be operating with a sense of urgency in trying to reach a resolution with Madubuike. Maybe that manifests itself in a meeting in Indianapolis with Ben Renzin, Madubuike’s agent. By the end of this week, the Ravens should know whether an agreement on an extension with Madubuike is attainable soon or if the two sides are far enough apart where the franchise tag is inevitable. It seems unlikely the Ravens will let him walk in free agency.

What moves have to be made to create the necessary cap room?

The Ravens got good news on Friday when the league set the salary cap at $255.4 million, a jump of more than $30 million. The number, which came in about $10 million higher than most pundits expected, makes the situation less dire for the Ravens, but they’re still operating with very little financial flexibility. Over The Cap has them with $16.6 million of space, which isn’t nearly enough for DeCosta to do what he needs to this offseason.

More cap space is essential, and the Ravens will have to consider roster cuts, pay cuts, restructures and even extensions in some cases. The cut options include fullback Patrick Ricard ($4 million in savings), right tackle Morgan Moses ($5.5 million) and outside linebacker Tyus Bowser ($5.5 million). An extension for the valuable Ricard that lowers his 2024 cap number may make more sense.

Baltimore has a call to make on left tackle Ronnie Stanley, but that could be a decision for down the road (more on that later). Several top players, including quarterback Lamar Jackson, tight end Mark Andrews and middle linebacker Roquan Smith, could have their contracts restructured. The good news for the Ravens is they have plenty of avenues to cap relief, and not all of them include losing contributing players.

However, the challenge for DeCosta, who presumably won’t want to push too much money onto future caps with restructures, will be figuring out how much space the Ravens need and what are the most sensible ways to get it.

What’s the best approach for Stanley?

The Stanley situation deserves its own question because it’s one of DeCosta’s most interesting, and probably most difficult, decisions. The soon-to-be 30-year-old left tackle carries the team’s second-highest 2024 cap hit at $26.2 million, behind only Jackson’s $32.4 million. That’s problematic because the oft-injured Stanley has missed 36 of the Ravens’ 67 games over the past four regular seasons. He played in 13 games in 2023, his most since 2019, but it was often a struggle when he was on the field.

If the Ravens cut him now, they’d create just over $8 million of cap savings. But they’d also have nearly $18 million of dead money on their 2024 cap. If the Ravens designate him a post-June 1 cut, they could spread the dead money over the next two years and generate $15 million of cap savings, but that space wouldn’t be available until June, long after the free-agent market has been picked through.

The Ravens could also go to Stanley and request he takes a pay cut, selling him on the fact that they’d still be paying him more than what he’d likely get on the open market. That, however, can be a tough sell, particularly with a proud veteran like Stanley who has battled myriad injuries. And if he refuses the pay cut, where do the Ravens go from there? They don’t have an obvious replacement for him on the roster — Patrick Mekari is better suited for the swing tackle role — and there’s no guarantee there will be a starting left tackle available to them when they’re on the clock at No. 30 in the first round of the draft.

The other option would be just not touching Stanley’s contract this year and hoping he remains healthy and plays closer to his pre-injury Pro Bowl form. That doesn’t change the fact that it would be challenging for the front office to make meaningful outside additions or even notable re-signings with Stanley carrying a $26.2 million camp number.

Who will the Ravens be able to re-sign?

DeCosta’s preference has always been to re-sign his own players rather than spend chunks of money on the free-agent market. A good portion of his time in Indianapolis is usually spent on meeting with the representatives of Baltimore’s free agents and seeing if there’s a deal to be made. That chore will keep him plenty busy this year as the Ravens have nearly two dozen unrestricted free agents, many of whom played significant roles for last season’s 13-4 team.

Already paying Smith at the top of the inside linebacker market, the Ravens seem unlikely to be able to afford Patrick Queen, who figures to be quite popular. Safety Geno Stone, who led the AFC in interceptions last season, will likely sign to be a starter somewhere, a role he won’t necessarily have in Baltimore with Marcus Williams and Kyle Hamilton on the roster. Veteran guard Kevin Zeitler seems unlikely to return after the Ravens didn’t aggressively try to keep him before his contract was voided last week.

However, the Ravens’ list of free agents also includes running backs J.K. Dobbins and Dalvin Cook; wide receiver/return specialist Devin Duvernay; left guard John Simpson; linebackers Jadeveon Clowney, Kyle Van Noy and Malik Harrison; defensive end Brent Urban; and cornerbacks Ronald Darby and Arthur Maulet. The Ravens have myriad needs and re-signing several of their own free agents will allow them to stick to the best-player-available strategy in the draft and prevent them from having to sign a boatload of outside free agents, which would cancel out potential compensatory picks for the potential losses of guys such as Queen, Stone and Zeitler.

Who might be available at No. 30 and beyond?

Baltimore’s list of needs could change through free agency, depending on who it’s able to keep or add and who it loses. It’s no secret, though, that team officials view solidifying the offensive line as one of the top priorities this offseason. In Indianapolis, the Ravens will get the most extensive look to date at an offensive line draft class that’s touted to be one of the best and deepest in many years.

The Ravens probably don’t have the salary-cap space to dive into the deep end of the free-agent edge-rush market, so that’s another position that will be monitored closely in Indianapolis. It seems likely that they’ll draft a pass rusher at some point. DeCosta also always preaches the importance of adding cornerback depth. If one of the draft’s better corners is available at No. 30, Baltimore could pounce.

Depth is also needed at running back, wide receiver, inside linebacker and safety. The Ravens will have a close eye on the prospect workouts, and they put a lot of stock in the in-person interviews they’re able to conduct at the combine.

(Top photo of Eric DeCosta: Justin Casterline / Getty Images)