Ravens 2025 Roster Preview

With another season coming to an abrupt and disappointing end, it’s time for the Ravens 2025 roster preview, an annual feature here at RSR.

PLAYERS PRESENTLY UNDER CONTRACT

The Ravens currently have the following 42 players under contract for 2025 (with Cap Numbers indicated):

QBs (1):  Lamar Jackson ($43.65M)

RBs (4):  Derrick Henry ($12.895M); Justice Hill ($2.417M); Keaton Mitchell ($1.036M); Rasheen Ali ($1.033M)

FBs (0):

WRs (4):  Rashod Bateman ($5.148M); Zay Flowers ($3.828M); Tez Walker ($1.159M); Nelson Agholor (VOID)

TE (3):   Mark Andrews ($16.908M); Isaiah Likely ($3.451M); Charlie Kolar ($1.276M)

OL (6):  Tyler Linderbaum ($4.212M); Daniel Faalele ($3.525M); Roger Rosengarten ($1.463M); Andrew Vorhees ($1.056M); Nick Samac (988K); Ronnie Stanley (VOID)

DL (4):  Nnamdi Madubuike ($16.475M); Broderick Washington ($4.6M); Travis Jones ($3.585M); Michael Pierce ($2.667M)

EDGE (6):  Odafe Oweh ($13.251M); Kyle Van Noy ($6.125M); David Ojabo ($2.517M); Adisa Isaac ($1.284M); Tavius Robinson ($1.21M); Malik Hamm ($841K)

LBs (2):  Roquan Smith ($23.719M); Trenton Simpson ($1.474M)

CBs (5):  Marlon Humphrey ($25.377M); Nate Wiggins ($2.914M); Arthur Maulet ($2.5M); Jayln Armor-Davis ($1.29M); T.J. Tampa ($1.135M)

S (4):  Marcus Williams ($8.823M); Kyle Hamilton ($5.172M); Sanoussi Kane ($981K); Beau Brade ($968K)

ST (3):  Justin Tucker ($7.073M); Jordan Stout ($1.275M); Nick Moore ($1.25M)

The above 42 players are under contract for a total Rule of 51 Salary Cap commitment (which includes dead money from players no longer on the team) of $260,691,717.

ASK THE CAP MAN: What’s the “Rule of 51?”

Present projections for the 2025 Salary Cap indicate that the Cap will be in the $270-275M range, with the Cap likely to come in around $272.5M. This would be an increase of $17.1M over the 2024 Cap of $255.4M. The Ravens will most certainly hope it reaches at least 272.5M (and hopefully beyond) and will definitely pray that it won’t be any lower.

So, using the figure of $272.5M for the estimated Cap, the Ravens will initially have around $13,945,126 in Cap space (which includes the $2,136,843 in 2024 carryover), accounting for just the 42 players presently under contract.  But, keep in mind that if contract extensions are not reached with Ronnie Stanley and/or Nelson Agholor, who both have contracts that will void in mid-February, that number will drop to 40 (and essentially 39, given that Marcus Williams is slated to be a post-June 1^st release).

This will be the basis for a lot of early reports on the status of the Ravens’ 2025 Salary Cap, but again, it is important to keep in mind that this number is based on just the present 42 players that are presently under contract and nowhere near representative of the team’s Cap with a full roster.

So, between now and Wednesday, March 12^th at 4:00 p.m., when the new league year and free agency begins, the Ravens have a lot of work to do and a very tight Salary Cap.

PRACTICE SQUAD FREE AGENTS (FAs)

The Ravens have 18 players on their Practice Squad and on Practice Squad Injured Reserve.  Many of these players will be re-signed to 2025 “Future” contracts within the next couple of days or weeks.

OL Sala Aumavae-Laulu

OL Corey Bullock

WR Malik Cunningham

OL Darrian Dalcourt

TE Qadir Ismail

DB Anthony Kendall

CB Desmond King

WE Keith Kirkwood

LB William Kwenkeu

QB Devin Leary

WR Anthony Miller

TE Zaire Mitchell-Paden

DT Adedayo Odeleye

DT CJ Ravenell

DT Josh Tupou

WR Dayton Wade

TE Scotty Washington

DE Chris Wormley

These players will sign 1-year deals with the applicable league minimum salary ($840K, $960K, $1.03M or $1.1M).

EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS FREE AGENTS (ERFAs)

ERFAs are players with less than three (3) years of service time (“accrued” seasons) in the league.  In order to retain ERFAs for the following year, the Ravens must tender the player with an ERFA tender by the first day of the league year on Wednesday, March 12^th.  Based on the player’s length of service in the league, the player will receive a 1-year deal with the applicable league minimum salary ($840K, $960K, $1.03M or $1.1M). Once tendered, these players are fully under the team’s control and are not free to negotiate with other teams.

This year the Ravens have one (1) player who is an Exclusive Rights Free Agents (ERFA):

RB Owen Wright

Given their minimal impact on the Salary Cap, the Ravens (and most teams) usually tender all of their ERFAs.  Wright spent the entire 2024 season on IR, so assuming he is expected to fully recover, the Ravens are likely to tender him with an ERFA tender ($840K).

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS (RFAs)

Restricted Free Agents are players whose contracts have expired and who have three (3) years of accrued service time. In order to attempt to retain the player’s services, the team must tender the player with an RFA offer. Once tendered, another team can sign the player to a RFA offer sheet, but the Ravens then have seven (7) days to match that offer sheet and retain the player under the terms of that offer sheet. If the Ravens were to choose not to match the offer sheet, they would then receive compensation based on the level of RFA tender made to the player.

Under the terms of the CBA, the RFA Tender amounts increase annually at the same rate as the overall Salary Cap.

There are basically 4 RFA tenders: 1^st Round Tender, 2^nd Round Tender, Low Tender and Right Of First Refusal (ROFR).

•  1^st Round Tender: allows the team to receive compensation of a 1^st round pick – $7.279M (est).
•  2^nd Round Tender: allows the team to receive compensation of 2^nd round pick – $5.217M (est).
•  Low/Original Round Tender: allows the team to receive compensation of a draft pick equal to the round in which the player was originally drafted – $3.325M (est).
•  ROFR: allows the team to simply match an offer, with no draft pick compensation or for players who were UDFAs – $3.185M (est).

The Ravens roster currently has two (2) players who are pending Restricted Free Agents (RFAs) this year:

CB Christian Matthew

DB Ar’Darius Washington

Given the sharp increase in salary from the non-RFA minimum for 4^th year players ($1.1M in 2025), the Ravens have recently shied away from giving RFA tenders and instead either offered a one- or two-year deal in lieu of the RFA tender or simply non-tendered the player making them a free agent.

In Matthew’s case, having spent the entire 2024 season on Injured Reserve (IR), he will most certainly be non-tendered. It’s possible that the Ravens will offer a 1-year, $1.1M deal instead, but that’s remains to be seen.

Washington is going to be a very interesting decision given how well he played after replacing Marcus Williams as the starter and how much the defense improved from that point forward. As an UDFA, either of the low RFA tenders would provide the Ravens with only a right to match an offer sheet and if they declined to match, there would be no draft pick compensation. As such, Washington is likely to get the 2^nd Round RFA, thereby pretty much ensuring his return. The Ravens could also pursue a contract extension instead of the RFA tender, which would provide a smaller 2025 Cap number than the $5.217M RFA tender amount while also securing Washington’s services into the future.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS (UFAs)

The following 17 players are Unrestricted Free Agents (UFAs) and will be free to sign with other teams if they haven’t re-signed with the Ravens before Free Agency begins on Wednesday, March 12^th at 4:00 p.m.:

WR Nelson Agholor

LB Chris Board

OL Ben Cleveland

LB Malik Harrison

WR Deonte Harty

LB Kristian Welch

QB Josh Johnson

OL Josh Jones

OL Patrick Mekari

CB Trayvon Mullen

FB Patrick Ricard

WR Steven Sims

OT Ronnie Stanley

DB Brandon Stephens

DE Brent Urban

WR Tylan Wallace

CB Tre’Davious White

FRANCHISE TAG

The window for using the Franchise Tag begins on Tuesday, February 18th and ends at 4:00 on Tuesday, March 4^th.

The Ravens roster doesn’t appear to have any candidates for the Franchise Tag this year.

2025 DRAFT PICKS

The Ravens will have the 27th overall pick in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft and presently are expected to have 11 total picks in the 2025 draft.  They presently have their own 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 6^th and 7^th Round picks. The Ravens traded their own 5^th Rd to Carolina for Diontae Johnson and Carolina’s 6^th Rd pick. The Ravens are also expected to receive four (4) Compensatory Picks for the 2024 free agency losses of LB Patrick Queen (4^th), DE Jadeveon Clowney (5^th), S Geno Stone (5^th or 6^th) and G Kevin Zeitler (6^th).

Based on their present draft position, the Ravens will likely have a rookie Cap of somewhere in the $12-12.5M range.  While that number won’t factor into their initial Cap calculations, it is something that the team will be very mindful of as they otherwise build their roster.

Rookie Cap Explanation

The post Ravens 2025 Roster Preview appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2025/01/21/baltimore-ravens-salary-cap/ravens-2025-roster-preview/