It doesn't sound like Marcus Peters is going anywhere this offseason.
The Ravens cornerback is currently slated to eat the third-largest slice of the team's salary-cap pie in 2022 with a cap hit of $15.5 million. He trails only Lamar Jackson and Ronnie Stanley.
Baltimore could save $10 million in salary cap space by parting ways with Peters, who is coming off a season-ending ACL injury and is 29 years old.
However, that would mean subtracting a Pro Bowl player and the Ravens' premier defensive playmaker from a team that places a high value on cornerback depth and interceptions. Baltimore is looking to do neither after a season that lacked both.
"I love Marcus," General Manager Eric DeCosta said Friday. "I talk to Marcus quite a bit. Marcus is one of these guys that, when he comes to the organization, he provides such an authentic perspective on what this game's all about. And he's a Raven."
"So I would expect Marcus to be here. I think he's doing his rehab. I think he's doing extremely well and I can't wait to see him."
DeCosta put Peters in the same group as other former Ravens veteran additions such as Michael McCrary, Anquan Boldin, Matt Birk and Steve Smith Sr. who came to Baltimore and made a huge impact on the team.
Nobody has more interceptions than Peters' 31 since he entered the league in 2015. He had nine interceptions in his first two seasons in Baltimore and closed out the team's 2020 playoff victory in Tennessee by picking off Ryan Tannehill.
The Ravens are coming off a season in which just four teams had fewer interceptions than Baltimore's nine. Peters' return would certainly help boost that number and DeCosta indicated that the team would like to add more playmakers on the back end of the defense.
"Our inability to create turnovers was ... an issue for us," DeCosta said.
