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, which, while not great, is still not terribly onerous.

Now, barring a decent trade offer, it appears the Ravens intend on keeping McGahee for 2010 and appear willing to accept those future Cap consequences.

However, there is a technicality that the Ravens may be able to use to avoid those future Cap charges, assuming that the new CBA brings back the Salary Cap for 2011 and the new cap rules do not have some sort of retroactive application.

The NFL’s league year is not based on the calendar year. It runs from the first Friday in March to the first Thursday the following year.  Therefore, the 2010 league year runs from March 5, 2010 to March 3, 2011. 

You may recall that last month the Miami Dolphins tried to release LB Joey Porter, but had to rescind the move because they were still technically in the 2009 league year (which didn't end until 11:59:59 on Thursday, March 4th) and they didn't have enough 2009 cap space to take on the cap hit caused by Porter's release.

So, the loophole that appears to exist is that the “league year” does not expire until after the season is over. 

That would mean, at least as the rules are currently written, that the Ravens could keep McGahee this year and then release him before the 2010 league year ends next March 3rd.  Perhaps this has been the plan all along.

As such a February 2011 release would still "count" against the 2010 league year, which is uncapped.  It would essentially have the same effect as releasing him now - but they'd have his services for the 2010 season.

Now again, it is always possible that the new CBA will retroactively make this maneuver a 2011 release. Apparently most teams are still operating as if the same or similar cap rules will return in 2011 and some retroactivity may be applied. If that comes to fruition, the worst case scenario for the team is it would be treated as a 2011 release as laid out above. 

Nevertheless when you add it all up, particularly for a team with high aspirations for next year, keeping McGahee seems like a chance worth taking.