With news that Ravens’ rookie Linebacker Sergio Kindle has a fractured skull and is unlikely to be reporting to the Ravens any time soon, the team has entered unprecedented waters with regard to how to handle their unsigned 2nd round pick. Owner Steven Bisciotti has indicated that the team will sign Kindle, ending the speculation of some that the team would look to simply cut ties with the talented, but trouble-plagued,  former Texas Longhorn.  However, Head Coach John Harbaugh disclosed that the Ravens’ Front Office has had discussions with the NFL Management Council about what options the team may have.  This would seem to indicate that the team may be interested in pursuing options other than simply signing Kindle to a slotted, rookie contract. Normally, Kindle would have been expected to sign a 4-year contract, with a signing bonus, perhaps a smaller option bonus, and minimum base salaries of $320K, $405K, $490K and $575K.  Now, with Kindle likely ...

Midway through the 2009 season, DE Trevor Pryce was removed from the starting line-up and saw his playing time cut.  Now, it appears that Pryce’s salary has been cut too.   NFLPA records indicate that the Ravens and Pryce have recently agreed to a reduction in Pryce’s scheduled base salary of $4.5M.  Pryce is now slated to make only $2M in base salary for 2010.  It is likely that Pryce agreed to the reduced salary in order to remain with the team.   Had there been a Salary Cap in 2010, Pryce most certainly would have been released in early March.  However, without a Salary Cap, Pryce, who will turn 35 in August, was able to remain with the club, but his sizeable base salary still made his roster spot vulnerable.  Now, it appears that Pryce will remain with the club at a more favorable salary for the role that he is expected to fill.    Despite the reduced playing time in 2009, Pryce thrived in the role of a si...

1.  RESTRICTED FREE AGENT (RFA) RULES HEADED INTO DRAFT:    As of last Friday, RFAs are no longer allowed to sign Offer Sheets with other teams.  This essentially makes those players the exclusive property of their current team.   Those players are not, at this time, required to sign the Tender they received and can sit out all offseason programs, OTAs and mini-camps if they choose to.    As of this writing, the following six (6) Ravens have yet to sign their RFA Tenders:  OT Jared Gaither, FB Le’Ron McClain, WR Mark Clayton, CB Fabian Washington, P Sam Koch and S Dawan Landry.   Those players also cannot be traded until they have signed their RFA Tenders.  So, for players like Jared Gaither and Mark Clayton – players rumored to be on the trading block – the first sign that the trade rumors may be true would be a report that the player has signed his Tender, and is thus, tradeable.  ...

With the net loss of one draft pick in the Anquan Boldin trade and the disclosure that the Ravens 7th round pick is headed to Tampa Bay to complete the 2008 trade for Marques Douglas (which was first reported here over 2 weeks ago), many fans are looking for the Ravens to acquire a few more draft picks when the league announces the Compensatory draft picks at the end of the month. In fact, some fans seem to be expecting the team to receive multiple, high Compensatory picks when the announcement is made. Recently, this hope has been fueled by some in the Baltimore media, who are reporting that the Ravens should expect “at least one” Compensatory pick. Those hopes and expectations are based on last year’s loss of premium free agents like Bart Scott and Jason Brown. However, under the Compensatory Draft pick rules, when a team signs as many qualifying UFAs as it loses – as the Ravens did - the best the team can receive is one 7th round Compensatory pick. The Rave...

ANQUAN BOLDIN’S CONRACT DETAILS:  Media reports indicate that WR Anquan Boldin’s new 4-year contract has a total value of $28M, with $25M of that being “new” money.  NFLPA records indicate that Boldin’s base salaries total $24M (2010: $2M; 2011-2013: $6M each year).  Based on those numbers, it would appear that Boldin will receive $8M in bonus money.  Given the relatively modest amount of bonus money, it’s likely that all of that bonus money was paid as a Signing Bonus in 2010.   Year Signing Bonus Base Salary Cap Charge 2010 8,000,000 2,000,000 4,000,000 2011   6,000,000 8,000,000 2012   6,000,000 8,000,000 2013   6,000,000 8,000,000   SETTING DERRICK MASON’S VALUE:  To date, WR Derrick Mason and the Ravens have been unable to reach an agreement to bring Mason bac...

For most of last season, it was assumed that 2009 would be Willis McGahee’s last hoorah in Baltimore.  Even with his newfound “team first” attitude, the Salary Cap implications for 2011 made it seem likely that the team would remove him from their books in 2010 in order to avoid any future Salary Cap implications (assuming the Cap returns).   Since it is almost certain that the team would not be willing to pay his $6M base salary for 2011, the team would have to trade or release McGahee at that time, which would trigger adverse Salary Cap consequences.  Assuming a return of the Salary Cap in 2011 with rules similar to those of past, the team would still have $6.25M in unaccounted for bonus prorations to deal with.  They could deal with that in one of two ways – either (1) take it all in 2011 or (2) do a post-June 1 release and take $2.5M against the 2011 Cap and $3.75M in 2012. The assumption here is that they would do the later, whi...

A recent ESPN Insider report indicated that the Denver Broncos may be willing to trade WR Brandon Marshall for as little as a 2nd round draft pick.  This news was met with great interest from many Ravens fans who view Marshall as the answer to the Ravens’ wide receiver woes.   Still, many are under the mistaken impression that the Ravens, as a Final 8 team, are not able to trade for a player of Marshall’s pedigree or sign him to a long term deal that would violate the Final 8 restrictions.  Happily for the Ravens, those restrictions only apply to UFAs, not RFAs (like Marshall, Vincent Jackson, Miles Austin) or players currently under contract (like Anquan Boldin or Dwayne Bowe).    The trade provisions of the Final 8 Plan are only in place to prevent teams from attempting to circumvent the Final 8 restrictions by trading for a player, who it would have otherwise been unable to sign as a UFA, after that player has signed with ano...

It has been suggested that the 2010 NFL draft pool is one of the deepest and best in recent history - perhaps even the best ever.  That is great news for the Ravens, one of the best drafting teams in the league.   However, they will have to use their draft picks wisely because they will have one less draft pick on April 24th.    In the Fall of 2008, reacting to a season ending injury to DE Dwan Edwards, the Ravens acquired DE Marques Douglas from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a 2009 7th round draft pick and a conditional 2010 draft pick.  When the Ravens released Douglas last February, it was assumed that the conditional draft pick would go away, but Ravens 24x7 has learned that the Ravens no longer have their 7th round pick this year.  Whatever the conditions attached to the 2010 draft pick were, the conditions were met and the Buccaneers are now in possession of the Ravens’ pick.   So, at present, the Ravens have 6 draft picks...

The Ravens have 18 players who are presently slated to become Restricted Free Agents (RFAs) on March 5th.    RFAs are players whose contracts have expired and who have more than 3 years, but less than 6 years of accrued service time.  In order to retain rights over those players, the Ravens will have to offer those players RFA Tenders.  Once done, another team can sign the RFA to an RFA Offer Sheet, but the Ravens then have 7 days to match that Offer Sheet and retain the player under the terms of that Offer Sheet.  On the other hand, if the Ravens decide not to match the Offer Sheet, then they would receive compensation based on which level of RFA Tender was made to the player.    There are 4 levels of RFA Tenders:   High Tender:  Allows the team to receive the other team’s 1st and 3rd round picks - $3.043M for players with 3 accrued seasons; $3.168M for players with 4 or more accrued seasons 1st Round Te...

1.  FINAL 8 PLAN LIMITATIONS:  Many still seem to be confused about whether the Ravens can or cannot sign a big-money Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA).  A recent spin around the radio dial showed that many in the media are apparently confused as well.   There is a “you must lose a UFA before you can sign a UFA” provision that applies to the Ravens, however, the Ravens – by virtue of losing in the Divisional Round of the playoffs  - are also allowed to sign one big-money UFA.  The Ravens ability to sign one big-money UFA is in no way limited by the “you must lose one before you sign one” limitation.  It is only after they’ve signed one such UFA that the “lose one before you can sign one” limitation kicks in for adding another big-money UFA.  There is a middle range of UFAs that they are not able to sign until they lose one.   But, again, if the Ravens wanted to go out and...