Steve Davis: Cap Casualties On The Way For The Ravens
The Ravens have one week, next Wednesday, to be under the cap. It seems inevitable that some players are in jeopardy of losing their jobs. But who?
Well, a big key will be if they get a new deal done with Joe Flacco and what his new cap number is for this season. Right now, it is set for $28.55 million against the cap. That is almost crippling. It would be the third highest cap number in the league. Despite them saying they can function just fine with that number, don't buy it. They need to get that number down. The lower it goes, the more problems it will create later. The higher it is, the less they can do in free agency this year. I would say a happy medium is around $20 million against the cap this year, but that is still more than $5 million than he counted last year. Even with a re-done deal, it seems inevitable they will jettison some players.
With Webb moving to safety (and counting over $9 million against the cap), the Ravens have a lot of contracts tied into safety. There's Webb, Will Hill, Kendrick Lewis, Matt Elam, and Terrence Brooks, plus Kyle Arrington, a corner who can't start and plays in the slot. You have to figure a couple of those guys go. I think Arrington is certainly gone, and I will take a guess on Lewis and/or Elam. Canty seems headed to the cut line, but you don't save a tremendous amount. Darryl Smith, who has done an excellent job, might be in trouble because they could save a couple million, but the problem is they don't have a replacement on the roster. Monroe is definitely gone if they sign Osemele, but even if they don't, as much as they have touted wanting Osemele, you have to wonder if they don't plan to dump Monroe anyway, since his cap number is almost $9 million and he has had trouble staying healthy.
There might even be a surprise or two, after all this was a 5-11 team so they need to not only clear cap space, but they need better players to.
