The Baltimore Ravens have been one of the best teams in the NFL largely because of their ability to scout and draft good prospects. They continued that legacy by selecting cornerback Marlon Humphrey in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Having finished up his third season in the league, Baltimore has to make a decision on whether they’ll pick up his fifth-year option this offseason.
Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said it was just a formality at this point and that the team will exercise the option, according to Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic.
All players selected in the first round have fifth-year options available to their respective teams. Given the weight of first-round selections in the draft, the fifth-year option allows teams to keep those valuable players around for another year. The downside is that fifth-year options end up being a really expensive single year, meaning that teams have to carefully figure out if a player is worth the extra cap hit.
Baltimore was expected to exercise Humphrey’s fifth-year option, making DeCosta’s proclamation not that shocking. Considering he became one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks last season, using the fifth-year option will give DeCosta and the Ravens a little more time to work on a contract extension before he’s set to hit free agency.
Humphrey earned his first Pro Bowl and All-Pro nominations for the 2019 season. While Humphrey didn’t have a ton of interceptions, he was the most consistent defensive player on the field for Baltimore and helped carry the Ravens’ defense for the first few weeks. Humphrey came up with several key plays at the right time, including a forced fumble and recovery on Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in Week 5 that propelled Baltimore to an overtime win.
It’s unclear how much Humphrey’s fifth-year option will cost for the 2021 season but it’s expected to be a steep discount from what top cornerbacks make.
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