SATURDAY, 2:03pm: The fourth-year safety’s signing bonus is worth $3.5MM, per ESPN.com’s Jamison Hensley (on Twitter). Hill’s base salary for 2015 is $660K, all of it guaranteed. $1MM of his $2.84MM 2016 salary comes with a guarantee, Hensley tweets.
FRIDAY, 10:50am: Hill’s two-year deal is worth a total of $7MM, plus another $400K in playing-time incentives, tweets Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, adding that the safety got a $2.84MM guarantee. Considering Hill had only been set to earn $1.542MM in 2015, he got a nice pay bump for allowing Baltimore to buy out his first year of unrestricted free agency.
THURSDAY, 1:21pm: The Ravens and safety Will Hill have agreed to terms on a new two-year contract, according to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter links). The deal, which covers the 2015 and 2016 seasons, has since been confirmed by the team (Twitter link). Hill had already been under contract with Baltimore, but his previous deal was set to expire after the 2015 season.
Hill, who turned 25 earlier this year, served a six-game suspension to start the 2014 season, but was his usual effective self when he returned, recording 47 tackles and returning an interception for a touchdown. The Ravens safety also ranked 14th out of 87 qualified players at the position last year, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required) — his 584 defensive snaps were the fewest of any safety with a top-20 grade.
While his play on the field was solid, Hill still has some red flags off the field, having served multiple suspensions for violating league policies. That may explain why he didn’t appear to draw a ton of interest as a restricted free agent this offseason. Baltimore gave Hill an original-round tender, which means that, as a former UDFA, he had no draft pick compensation attached to him. However, the former Florida Gator didn’t sign an offer sheet with another club, re-signing his tender to return to the Ravens on a $1.542MM salary.
The financial terms of Hill’s new contract aren’t yet known.
Makes a lot of sense. After Jimmy Smith went down last year, Hill was the only bright spot in the secondary, and at this point he looks completely comfortable in the defense and has by all accounts looked like the player that flashed so much promise for the Giants a couple years ago. A relatively inexpensive deal for a player of his (potential) caliber is a good risk for Baltimore.