Adding pass rushers:
At this point in the OTC salary cap calculator, I’m left with $32.17 million to work with. OTC is estimating the Ravens’ draft picks will cost just shy of $8 million to sign, though that doesn’t factor in another early-round draft pick for the trade of Judon. Still, it gives us a good base of around $24 million to work with here.
With Roberts and Bynes re-signed as well as Yanda returning for the 2020 season, the biggest hole that needs to be addressed is pass rusher. While it would be tempting to go after the top option on the market, that would eat up nearly all the available cap space and wouldn’t give Baltimore very much depth or two solid starters.
Instead, I think going after two second-tier pass rushers might be the way to go. Grabbing two lesser pass rushers would likely be greater than the sum of its parts while costing around the same amount as just one top pass rusher. That would also give young players like Jaylon Ferguson and Tyus Bowser a chance to step up into bigger roles without having to force a high-priced free-agent acquisition into a ton of snaps.
In this example, I’m looking at guys like Jordan Jenkins (eight sacks and 13 QB hits in 2019) and Jamie Collins (seven sacks and 10 QB hits in 2019). Combined, they’d come in at around $18 million APY.
Baltimore would be left with roughly $7 million remaining after the 2020 NFL draft at this rate. That would be enough to pick up some lesser free agents as needed and to potentially be in the running for a big-name player that becomes available after the draft.