The Baltimore Ravens and outside linebacker Matthew Judon are locked into a franchise tag amount of $16.808 million for the 2020 season, after failing to agree to a long-term contract extension in time.
The Ravens initially applied the franchise tag to Judon back in March, compromising on a salary that will pay him between a linebacker and defensive end. Judon signed his tender in May but Baltimore had until today at 4:00 p.m. ET to get him locked up to a long-term contract in order to alter his 2020 salary cap cost. After failing to get a deal done in time, Judon and the Ravens have locked in his 2020 cap hit.
Now, that’s not to say a contract extension still couldn’t happen before next offseason when Judon will become an unrestricted free agent again. We’ve seen the Ravens hand out contract extensions early, especially under new general manager Eric DeCosta, who has made it a priority to create a maintainable salary cap since taking over for Ozzie Newsome last offseason. However, any deal won’t impact his salary for 2020 or free up cap space for Baltimore to use this season. Then again, with the top free agents already signed this offseason, the Ravens haven’t been under any immense pressure to get Judon signed.
Still, Baltimore has been able to turn the franchise tag into contract extensions nearly every time they’ve used it previously, giving plenty of hope to Judon eventually getting a long-term deal done too. The Ravens have used the franchise tag eight times (six different players) prior to Judon, coming to terms on a long-term extension with all but Wally Williams following his franchise tag in 1998.
There are plenty of good reasons for Baltimore and Judon not being able to get a contract ironed out yet, even if one eventually happens.
It’s been a tumultuous offseason given the coronavirus pandemic. It’s had huge ramifications on free agency, the 2020 NFL Draft, and now in the preparation for the regular season. It seems plausible that both the Ravens’ front office and Judon’s agent have been stretched thinner than they normally would have been, making negotiations take longer than usual.
Of course, the lack of qualifying deals this offseason likely also further complicated negotiations and meant it has been harder to accurately set Judon’s value. It was expected Judon’s deal would mirror that of top free agent Jadeveon Clowney. But Clowney is currently unsigned with just a few weeks before training camps kick off around the league. Many of the other top pass rushers also received the franchise tag instead of contract extensions, again failing to create an accurate bar for a potential deal for Judon.
There’s also some concern about how the coronavirus pandemic will impact the salary cap next season. As teams have already announced significantly reduced capacity for home games this season, there will be less revenue this season and subsequently less growth in the 2021 salary cap. Teams are likely hesitant to hand out massive contracts in light of that uncertainty while agents don’t want to leave money on the table simply to get a deal done right now.
It would have been nice for the Ravens to free up some cap space this offseason or to at least know where they stand with one of their top players. But Baltimore has plenty of time to get Judon under contract, even if it didn’t happen by the deadline.
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