The Ravens’ ground game has been dynamic over the past couple of years, and they’re not going to let a key piece of that get away. Baltimore has placed a second-round tender on restricted free agent Gus Edwards, a source told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
The second-round tender will be worth around $3.4MM this year, so it’s a nice payday for Edwards. It also means that any team that wants to sign Edwards to an offer sheet would have to give up a second-round pick, which virtually guarantees he’ll be back with the Ravens next year. Since Edwards is a former UDFA, had they tendered him at the original-round level, opposing teams wouldn’t have had to give anything up to poach him.
That original-round tender would’ve paid about $2.1MM, so it’s a better than 50 percent increase for Edwards. The Rutgers product started off on the practice squad in 2018 but quickly moved up to the active roster and even started six games that year.
Impressively, he’s averaged at least 5.0 yards per carry in each of his three pro seasons while carrying the ball at least 133 times in each of those. This past season in 16 games and six starts, he rushed 144 times for 723 yards and six touchdowns. With Mark Ingram out of the picture now, Edwards will be back splitting carries with second-year player J.K. Dobbins in 2021.
I’m a big fan. Hope he stays with Ravens. If I was a team and had a pick in bottom of second round I would try to make a deal with him though for like 5 years and 25 mill with 10 mill guaranteed.. long term it would be a good deal salary cap wise and I don’t think Ravens would match.. good running backs averaging 5 yards a carry abs tiubg are hard to come by
Sooooo many cheap running backs out there. No one is gonna give a 2nd and pay the man.
A deal averaging 5 mill a year which will end with him on right side of 30 years old isn’t like paying the man in today’s NFL.. that’s a very good deal although not saying Edwards would accept that knowing he will only be one more year til free agency where he should easily fetch 7 mill plus if he averages over 5 ypg again and gets more reos with Ingram departing
I’d be cool with them giving him Ingram’s deal.