A year after signing safety Eric Weddle, the Ravens are set to make another splash at the position in free agency. The club will sign Tony Jefferson, report Adam Schefter and Dianna Russini of ESPN (Twitter link).
Jefferson is the second big-name defender who has agreed to depart the Cardinals this evening, joining soon-to-be Jaguar Calais Campbell. The safety’s decision to sign with the Ravens came in spite of a better offer from the AFC North rival Browns, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. The Jets also had interest in Jefferson, per Rich Cimini of ESPN.com (Twitter link), but Weddle helped convince him to head to Baltimore, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (via Twitter).
Jefferson hit clubs’ radars in the wake of a season in which he logged career bests in tackles (92), starts (14) and sacks (two). Although Jefferson failed to intercept a pass last year, and has recorded only two picks in four NFL seasons, he’s known for his line-of-scrimmage prowess and managed to rank an outstanding fifth in performance among Pro Football Focus’ 89 qualified safeties. He also rated as our 11th-best free agent and top safety.
The addition of an in-his-prime Jefferson, 25, is a boon for the Ravens, but not for one of their other safeties, Lardarius Webb. The team is now primed to release him and pick up $5.5MM in cap room, according to Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com. Interestingly, PFF liked the 15th-ranked Webb’s play nearly as much as it did Jefferson’s last season. However, at 31, Webb is the far older of the two. To this point, he has spent his entire eight-year career in Baltimore, where he has amassed 111 appearances, 82 starts and 13 interceptions. Webb started all 16 of the Ravens’ games last year.
Finally some good news for Ravens fans today.
Finally…..get rid of Ladarius Webb…Pleeeeeeeze!
“The safety’s decision to sign with the Ravens came in spite of a better offer from the AFC North rival Browns, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.”
Same guy who made up the story about the Dallas-San Francisco-Washington three-way Romo/Cousins trade. Makes me think this whole thing about the Browns offering the most money may have been a false narrative by agents and sports media to make it appear as though free agents were taking less money from other teams just to avoid the Browns.
Seriously, I can’t believe anything Ian Rapoport says. He’s wrong way too often.
Plus, there are no specifics. “Offered more money” doesn’t explain anything. Maybe the Browns offered more money, but fewer years and/or less guaranteed money, which might make their offer less than the “best” offer available. I’m just not going to believe what these media members are saying unless the Browns themselves come out and say we offered this much money, this much guaranteed and these many years, and it all proves to be better than what he ultimately signed for.
He’s not the only only one who’s reporting it…coming from numerous sources.
“Numerous” sources also said that the Browns were going to put the franchise tag on Pryor, that Kyle J from Baltimore was going to the Bills, the Bills were going to release Tyrod Taylor, etc and on and on. None of which happened. “Numerous” sources reporting something can still be wrong, especially if they all run with one thing they hear from possibly the same places.
Rather have a Rookie
A young experienced proven playmaker is the better choice compared to a non proven rookie anyday.