The restricted free agent and exclusive rights free agent tender decision deadline is a little more than a week away. Some teams are already making their calls in advance of March 17. We’ll keep tabs on the latest here:
Tendered:
Non-tendered:
Tendered:
Ahead of a key AFC matchup against the Colts, the Ravens will have a handful of defenders back. They activated six players off their reserve/COVID-19 list Saturday.
Patrick Queen, DeShon Elliott and L.J. Fort are poised to return to Baltimore’s starting lineup after the team activated the defenders from the COVID list. Each was deemed a high-risk close contact to All-Pro cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who tested positive for the coronavirus and remains on the COVID list.
Linebacker Tyus Bowser, cornerback Terrell Bonds and linebacker Malik Harrison also came off the Ravens’ COVID list Saturday. Matt Judon came off the list earlier this week.
Humphrey will miss Week 9’s Baltimore-Indianapolis game, but the Ravens having several of their starters back will put them in better position to bounce back after their loss to the Steelers. Baltimore’s defense ranks fifth in DVOA, sitting first against the run.
The Ravens promoted Bonds, a second-year player out of Tennessee State, and linebacker Kristian Welch to their active roster. They also promoted safety Geno Stone as Humphrey’s COVID replacement. They placed wide receiver Chris Moore on IR due to a thigh injury.
Here is the league’s avalanche of Halloween minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Denver Broncos
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Jacksonville Jaguars
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Rams
Miami Dolphins
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans
Here are Saturday’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Denver Broncos
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Jacksonville Jaguars
Indianapolis Colts
Miami Dolphins
New York Giants
New York Jets
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Francisco 49ers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans
Washington Football Team
The Ravens became the latest team to get down to 53, cutting a slew of players on Saturday via a team announcement. With the moves, Baltimore ended a 16-year streak of keeping at least one undrafted rookie on the roster, another sign of the impact COVID-19 and the reduced offseason had on roster decisions.
Here are the 23 guys who were let go:
Barner played a somewhat prominent role on a couple of Eagles teams and won Super Bowl LII with the team. Since leaving Philly he’s bounced between New England, Carolina, and Atlanta. Ehinger started a game at guard for Baltimore last year, but couldn’t crack the roster this time around.
Richards was a full-time starter with the Falcons in 2018, and appeared in nine games with Baltimore last year, scoring a touchdown on a fumble recovery. Townsend was the Raiders’ punter in 2018, and just signed with the Ravens a couple of weeks ago. He probably never had too good a chance of beating out Sam Koch, who has been with the Ravens since 2006. Huntley had a very solid college career at Utah, but wasn’t viewed by too many as a legitimate pro passer.
The Ravens’ class of undrafted rookies keeps getting bigger and bigger. This week, the Ravens announced the signings of six more UDFAs, bringing their official grand total to eleven, though they’ve actually agreed to take on 19 in total. Here’s the full rundown:
Huntley, a 6’1″ quarterback out of Utah, played against Lamar Jackson as a high schooler in Florida. With the Utes, Huntley started 33 games in total and finished 2019 with a 19/4 TD/INT ratio.
Rechsteiner, a hard-nosed fullback, is a natural bruiser – he’s the son of former WCW/WWF wrestler Rick Steiner and the nephew of Scott Steiner, a.k.a. Big Poppa Pump. At Division III Kennesaw State, he averaged 8.1 yards per carry. With the Ravens, he’ll face an uphill battle in making the roster with Patrick Ricard already occupying the position.
There are also a few notable guarantees in this UDFA class, including Wolf, who received $65K between his $50K base salary and $15K signing bonus (Twitter link via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle).