Where Is Ravens Salary Cap Money Going?
Now that all the draft picks, undrafted rookies, restricted and exclusive rights free agents and Kyle Arrington are on the books, it's time to get an update on the Ravens' salary-cap status.
Baltimore has $7.384 million left to spend under the NFL limit of $143.28 million, per The Baltimore Sun's Aaron Wilson. It's enough for another modest signing or two, plus a slush fund for during the season in case injuries or other needs arise.
That means Baltimore has already spent $135 million in cap space, and inquiring minds want to know where it went. Which players and positions are the Ravens investing in most?
First off, General Manager Ozzie Newsome has been somewhat fighting with one hand behind his back when putting together this year's roster because of the massive amount of dead money. Dead money is the amount of the salary cap consumed by players no longer on the roster, and the Ravens have $20.925 million of it.
That's nearly a whopping 15 percent of the overall cap and it ranks as the third most dead space out of all 32 teams behind the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, per OverTheCap.com. Most of that dead money is going to Ray Rice ($9.5 million) and Haloti Ngata ($7.5 million).
In terms of which positions the Ravens have invested in most, quarterback, cornerback and outside linebacker lead the pack. That makes sense because those figures correlate with the highest-paid players in 2015, including Joe Flacco ($14.55 cap hit), Lardarius Webb ($9.25 million), Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil ($11.325 combined) and Marshal Yanda ($5.5 million).
Newsome doesn't rank in top 5 spending at any single position. For the most part, he has the money evenly distributed with the guard position being the highest-ranked at No. 6.
Below is a breakdown of the Ravens' positional spending and the top 20 individual player cap hits, per Spotrac.com and Wilson:
| POSITION | PLAYERS | 2015 CAP DOLLARS | % OF 2015 CAP | NFL RANK |
| Quarterback | 4 | $16,551,666 | 11.40% | 11 |
| Cornerback | 8 | $16,270,104 | 11.21% | 12 |
| Outside Linebacker | 3 | $13,010,313 | 8.96% | 8 |
| Guard | 9 | $10,343,298 | 7.13% | 6 |
| Tight End | 6 | $8,859,928 | 6.10% | 10 |
| Inside Linebacker | 5 | $8,042,608 | 5.54% | 13 |
| Left Tackle | 2 | $7,703,000 | 5.31% | 12 |
| Wide Receiver | 11 | $7,630,433 | 5.26% | 29 |
| Safety | 8 | $6,917,472 | 4.77% | 19 |
| Defensive End | 9 | $4,261,890 | 2.94% | 31 |
| Center | 1 | $3,770,000 | 2.55% | 14 |
| Punter | 1 | $3,100,000 | 2.14% | 8 |
| Defensive Tackle | 5 | $3,001,135 | 2.07% | 29 |
| Kicker | 2 | $2,356,000 | 1.62% | 14 |
| Running Back | 5 | $2,304,764 | 1.59% | 30 |
| Long Snapper | 2 | $665,000 | 0.46% | 25 |
| Fullback | 2 | $660,146 | 0.45% | 16 |
| Right Tackle | 3 | $621,140 | 0.43% | 30 |
- QB Joe Flacco ($14.55 million)
- Former RB Ray Rice ($9.5 million)
- CB Lardarius Webb ($9.25 million)
- G Marshal Yanda ($8.45 million)
- T Eugene Monroe ($7.7 million)
- Former DT Haloti Ngata ($7.5 million)
- OLB Elvis Dumervil ($7.375 million)
- TE Dennis Pitta ($6.2 million)
- WR Steve Smith ($4.166 million)
- OLB Terrell Suggs ($3.95 million)
- LB Daryl Smith ($3.875 million)
- C Jeremy Zuttah ($3.7 million)
- CB Jimmy Smith ($3.6 million)
- P Sam Koch ($3.1 million)
- WR/KR Jacoby Jones ($2.625 million)
- K Justin Tucker ($2.356 million)
- QB Matt Schaub ($2 million)
- LB C.J. Mosley ($1.997 million)
- S Matt Elam ($1.845 million)
- DE Chris Canty ($1.75 million)
Yanda ONLY Guard To Make Top 100 Players List
If you have a weak stomach, you might want to skip the first 15 seconds of the video below.
It opens up with Yanda's foot uncontrollably shaking in pain with a massive chunk of skin dangling off the bottom of his big toe. The Ravens trainer comes over, cuts it off, and Yanda looks ready to jump back into the game.
It's one example of why Yanda has been branded one of the NFL's toughest and grittiest players. He fights through pain* *and still dominates on a weekly basis.
His opponents have taken notice, which is why they voted him the 79th-best player in the league and the ONLY guard to make the list of 100. Still, it was a drop from the No. 55 ranking he had last year, following a trend of several Ravens dropping in the rankings.
Urschel Uses Mathematical Equations To Predict No Increase In Two-Point Conversions
Ravens resident genius and backup offensive lineman John Urschel says all it takes is "simple math" to figure out that the NFL's decision to move extra-point attempts back will not result in more exciting two-point conversion attempts.
Clearly his definition of "simple math" is different from mine.
Here are the mathematical equations he used to formulate his conclusion:
P(field goal success) = 1 / 1+ e^- (5.953-.106xdistance)
E(two-point conversion) = 2x.479 + 0x(1-.479) = .958 points
E(extra point) = 1x.928 + 0x(1-.928) = .928 points
Basically Urschel, who has a Master's degree in mathematics, used the formulas to discover the success rate for the new kicking distance versus the two-point conversion. The success rate of the new 33-yard extra-point attempts is still very high (92.8 percent) compared to the two-point conversion success rates (47.9 percent).
Thus, Urschel doesn't see coaches having enough incentive to go for two when the extra point still remains essentially a sure thing.
"Won't field goals be significantly harder now, being so much further back?" Urschel wrote on theplayerstribune.com. "Won't this incentivize coaches to go for two? No, and no."
Will Hill Looking Forward To Hitting People
Safety Will Hill is chomping at the bit.
He signed his restricted free-agent tender, he's been a fixture at the Ravens facility all offseason, and now that the Ravens added veteran Kendrick Lewis, Hill is expected to move from free safety to strong safety.
And while he doesn't care where he lines up, strong safety should provide more chances for Hill to punish his opponents.
"I just get to hit people," Hill told Wilson. "That's what I like to do."
But as OTAs start up next week – another non-contact portion of the offseason program – he'll have to be patient before he tries to clobber somebody.
"This is the bad part right now, just waiting," Hill said.
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