BALTIMORE _ Their entire starting offense could be back. Three Pro Bowl defensive backs will return, along with a handful of other defensive starters. On special teams, the "Wolfpack" is still going strong. For a team still a month away from the start of free agency, the Ravens already have one of the NFL's most impressive rosters.
But the defining irony of this offseason might be that league rules will compel the Ravens to spend anyway _ and not lightly, either.
Under the NFL's collective bargaining agreement, teams are required to spend at least 89% of the league's salary cap in cash over a four-year period. The cap for 2020, which will be finalized by next month, is projected to increase from $188.2 million to between $196.8 million and $201.2 million. With a $200 million cap next season, the last year of the CBA's four-year period, the minimum spending requirement would be $651.8 million.
To get there, the Ravens still have checks to sign. According to NFL salary cap website Over The Cap, over the previous three years, the team spent $477.2 million in cash _ the base salaries and bonuses owed to a player in a given season. (They often differ from salary cap hits, which account for the proration of signing bonuses over the duration of a contract.) With another $127.9 million allocated for the 50 players currently under contract for 2020, the Ravens' four-year total is $605.1 million. That's over $45 million short of a possible spending minimum.
And that deficit might grow. Guard Marshal Yanda, who's considering retirement, is owed $7 million in base salary next season. So is safety Tony Jefferson, who's said he doesn't expect to be retained this offseason. Cornerback Brandon Carr's contract has a team option for 2020, which if not exercised would clear another $6 million ($4.5 million base salary and $1.5 million roster bonus). Three of the seven Ravens with the biggest cash figures could be off the books.
There are worse problems to have. As coach John Harbaugh said at his season-ending news conference last month, "We have great cap resources that we haven't had in the past. So we have a chance to build our roster in a way that we haven't been able to, maybe, in the last large number of years."
The question is how the Ravens will choose to spend their cash. Here are a few routes.
