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Steve Davis: Ravens Facing Big Decisions

The Ravens braintrust is back from its annual trek to Florida to meet with Steve Bisciotti, or as Ozzie likes to put it "get called to the principal's office." I doubt there was too much chastising going on. They went to and won a game in the playoffs for the 6th time in 7 years, and nearly beat the eventual Super Bowl Champs.

There are some tough decisions to be made.

Let's start with Haloti Ngata, who has a cap number of $16 million and salary of $8.5 million. It would be hard to keep him at that cap number, so you know they would like to extend him. You don't want to lose him because he played very well. The challenge is coming up with a deal that is enticing enough for him to sign, but doesn't commit too much money to an aging player, coming off a suspension who felt like he needed Adderall to compete.

Related: Ravens Top 10 Toughest Off-Season Decisions

Webb is another tough one. He has plenty of time left on his deal, but his cap number is $12 million, pretty steep for a guy who doesn't appear to be the player that he was when they gave him #1 cornerback money. Cutting him won't work because he will cost you $10 mil in dead money, plus he's still a good player and the Ravens are already short at corner.

Jacoby Jones' cap number is about $3.4 million. Not terrible, but a lot for a player who only helps you in returns. Making him a cap casualty doesn't make much sense though, because he still would cost about $2.5 mil in dead money unless they wait until after June 1, but you need the cap space now, not in June.

Related: Report - Jacoby Jones A Candidate For Release

I think there is a good chance Gino Gradkowski is gone. His cap number is $1.7 million, and that is too much for someone who is a back-up who doesn't play.

Another player to keep an eye on is Marshall Yanda, who is in the final year of his contract. His cap number is $8.45 million, which is reasonable. The bigger deal with Yanda is you don't want him to become a free agent so he might be someone they lock up this off-season.

Of course, then there are some free agents that they have to figure out how much they want to get in a bidding war with other teams, most notably Torrey Smith and Justin Forsett.

Related: Report - Ravens Made Torrey Smith An Offer
 

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