Safety:
This is another position that looks full right now but could just as easily be a major hole in 2021. The Ravens ask a lot of their safeties. They use free safety to help protect the center of the secondary while strong safeties end up getting used more as cover linebackers and offer up support in the run game too. While they have Chuck Clark signed to a three-year extension and Earl Thomas signed through 2022, there isn’t much depth behind them.
Currently, only DeShon Elliott is under contract with Baltimore. Considering he went on injured reserve his rookie season and missed 10 games last year with a knee injury, counting on him as a long-term replacement seems iffy right now. Anthony Levine would make sense to bring back on an affordable deal but he’ll be 33 years old in a few days which makes him a short-term option at best.
Even if the Ravens add some depth, they need to address the future. Thomas will turn 31 years old in just a few months and has already played 10 years in the NFL. As we’ve seen far too often in football, guys can suddenly drop off physically and be a shadow of their former selves, meaning a clock is constantly ticking here for the Ravens. Adding to those concerns is the cap savings by cutting him as early as next offseason. If Baltimore were to move on from Thomas next offseason, they’d save $6 million on the salary cap. That means finding an heir for Thomas makes plenty of sense right now.