The Baltimore Ravens have re-signed tight end Nick Boyle to a three-year, $18 million deal. The contract was announced by the team on Thursday with the terms being reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Since entering the league in 2015 as a fifth-round draft pick (No. 171 overall), Boyle has played in 48 games with 26 starts for the Ravens. He has 75 receptions for 613 yards but no touchdowns. In 2018, Boyle caught 23 passes for a career-high 213 yards.
Boyle’s main contributions, however, don’t show up on the stat sheet. Boyle played a significant role in paving the way for the Baltimore ground game that amassed an NFL-best 4,297 rushing yards over the past two seasons, leading the Ravens tight ends in snaps last year and leading all NFL tight ends in run-blocking snaps in last season’s final seven games.
“Watch Nick Boyle,” Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said in late November when asked about what had catalyzed the Ravens rushing attack. “That’s a big part of it. That should have been in your multiple-choice question right there.”
Boyle was set to get a lot of attention in free agency.
With Baltimore bringing on Greg Roman as offensive coordinator, having a solid blocking tight end is of even greater importance, as tight ends are essential to his blocking schemes. Over the past two seasons, no team has used more two-tight-end sets than the Ravens.
