The Baltimore Ravens have signed cornerback Tavon Young to a contract extension three years and $25.8 million
Baltimore worked a bit of Young’s extension into 2019, elevating his cap hit by a little more than $1 million to $3.65 million, according to Over the Cap. But the next two years hold cap hits of $8 million, with an $8.345 million cap hit in the final year. By doing this, the Ravens can’t cut Young until at least the 2021 season, when they’d take $5 million in dead money while saving just $3 million that season.
What was going to be interesting about Young’s deal was the guaranteed money. According to Yates and Over The Cap, the deal has total guaranteed money of about $13 million — almost half of the total contract worth. Given Young missed all of the 2017 season with an ACL tear and played through a hernia in 2018 that requires surgery this offseason to fix, that’s quite a bit of guaranteed money.
One would have figured signing Young a full year early would have saved Baltimore either in the total amount of the contract or the guaranteed money, but it doesn’t appear that way. Instead, Young is the highest-paid slot cornerback in the league and has a guaranteed percentage you’d typically see with top free agents. While the argument that signing Young early could have let the Ravens spread out his contract a bit would make sense, Baltimore didn’t really do that in any way that protects them.
I’m not entirely sure why the Ravens signed Young this early. General manager Eric DeCosta has reiterated how he wants to be smarter with the salary cap. But he’s taking a huge gamble Young will suddenly be healthy and elevate his play — two things he hasn’t done since his rookie season in 2016. If either of those doesn’t happen, the Ravens have another bad contract on the books until 2021.
Baltimore should have waited for next offseason to work on a deal with Young. If he’s injured in 2019, the Ravens would have had the leverage to sign him for significantly less. If he plays like the top slot cornerback in the league, he’d earn a contract much like the one Baltimore just gave him. By signing him so early at no discount, all the Ravens did was make an unnecessary gamble.
