Veteran defensive end Chris Canty has become the latest veteran player to find himself on the free agent market. The Ravens announced today in a press release that they’ve parted ways with the 32-year-old Canty, terminating his contract two days after releasing wideout Jacoby Jones.
Canty, a 10-year veteran, joined the Ravens prior to the 2013 season, after spending his first eight years in the NFC East with the Cowboys and Giants. In two years with Baltimore, Canty started 14 of 26 games he played, registering 65 total tackles and 2.5 sacks. While he didn’t have a huge impact on the field, the veteran lineman was a good leader and locker room presence, according to ESPN.com’s Jamison Hensley (Twitter link).
While Hensley speculated that Canty could transition into TV work in 2015, Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun tweets that – despite initially contemplating retirement – the Virginia product has been working out since the season ended and intends to keep playing. The defensive lineman confirmed as much in a statement.
“I am going to continue to prepare to play again and will explore other possibilities to play the game I love,” Canty said.
By cutting Canty, the Ravens removed his $2.66MM base salary from their books, leaving about $667K in dead money. Canty had initially been slated to count for approximately $3.327MM against the club’s 2015 cap.