The Baltimore Ravens will be looking to improve their team in many different ways during the 2022 offseason. They need to keep up with the rest of the NFL, and although they already have many talented players in place, there are key areas that need to be addressed in free agency, the draft, and even through trades.
When listing out cut candidates for all 32 NFL teams, Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus chose offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva for Baltimore. When explaining his reasoning, Spielberger talked about Villanueva’s poor play in 2021 as well as another veteran player on the roster who could take his spot.
“Even while spending the majority of his time at left tackle, Villanueva’s 58.5 pass-blocking grade was the first of his career below 70.0. The Ravens also took a flier on former Broncos right tackle Ja’Wuan James following an unfortunate Achilles injury suffered before the 2021 season. Perhaps the Ravens look to shed some salary and turn to James for 2022.”
Villanueva is slated to have a $9.25 million cap hit in 2022, and if the Ravens were to cut him they would save $6 million of that while only carrying a $3.25 million dead cap hit. That seems like a worthwhile amount of savings for a player who was consistently inconsistent on Baltimore’s offensive line in 2021.