State of The Ravens 2025: Salary Cap

While putting together our State of The Ravens (“SOTR”) series, it was suggested by a fan that we expand the Front Office portion of the SOTR to include a deeper dive into the team’s salary cap. So, with that in mind, I reached out to the best in the business, Brian McFarland, to gather his thoughts on a few cap questions. ~ Tony Lombardi

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Ask The Capman!

Q:  Where are the Ravens Cap-wise as of today?

A:  With 2nd Round pick Mike Green finally under contract, the Ravens are presently $14,591,262 under the Cap.  This includes all transactions to date.  This number should increase slightly over the next week or so if/when the NFLPA posts the amount of workout bonuses earned this offseason.  During the offseason, the CBA mandates that a workout bonus “hold” is placed on each team’s Cap ($907,200 in 2025) until after all OTAs are completed and the actual amount of earned workout bonuses is determined.  Once this number is posted, the Ravens are likely to receive an additional $300-400K in Cap space (the difference between the $907,200 hold and the amount of workout bonuses earned).

Q:  When all is accounted for, such as the practice squad and rainy-day fund for in-season needs, how much does EDC have to work with to add another veteran player or two?

A:  The team’s “Effective” Cap space is presently only about $1.5M.  The difference between the present ~$14.6M in Cap space and the team’s Effective Cap space is the team’s future expenses – the end of Rule of 51 ($1.68M), Practice Squad costs ($4.2M), weekly PS elevations ($1.2M) and injury replacement fund ($6M).  These numbers are all just estimates – some years will be less, some will be more – but show just how much Cap space those expenses can take up and why teams must always be mindful of those future expenses.

Q:  What moves could the team make to free up additional cap space so that they might have the cap wherewithal to make a trade in-season?  Of these moves, which do you think is most likely?

A:  The Ravens do have plenty of Cap flexibility this year, having only restructured one player so far this offseason (Marlon Humphrey).  The Ravens have 3 main restructured candidates – Lamar Jackson (~16M in Cap space created), Roquan Smith (~$9M) and Nnamdi Madubuike (~$5M).  If a restructure is needed to create Cap space, Madubuike is the most likely of the 3 given that it is a decent amount of Cap space created but also small enough that it wouldn’t have a major impact on Madubuike’s future Cap numbers.  Barring an extension before then, the Ravens would still have Jackson and Smith in their back pocket for additional Cap space at the trade deadline if needed.  The Cap space created by a restructure at the deadline would be around one-half of the above numbers – since the season would be halfway over – but the impact on future Cap numbers would also be lessened.

They also have multiple extension candidates that would create Cap space.

Q:  It has been said by others like you who study the salary cap, that Lamar Jackson will have more leverage in extension negotiations if he waits another year. Can you explain why and then if you were a betting man like some Cleveland Guardian baseball players, do you think Lamar will wait?

A:  Barring an extension before then, Jackson will have a Cap number of $74.5M in 2026 (closer to $80M if they were to restructure him at some point this season).  That’s an increase of $31M over his 2025 Cap number.  For context, the Salary Cap itself only increased by $23.8M from 2024 to 2025 and isn’t likely to increase by much more than that from 2025 to 2026.  Needless to say, that $74.5M is untenable.  As such, if an extension isn’t reached before then – and with the same Cap number in 2027 and a no franchise tag provision applying in 2028 when Jackson would become a free agent – Jackson will have all the leverage in the world.  And, if he were to win the Super Bowl in February, a legitimate argument could be made for demanding a fully guaranteed extension.

So, not just to avoid that, but to also address those $74.5M Cap numbers in 2026 and 2027 and create additional Cap space this year, it would be best for the team to get something done now, while it would likely behoove Jackson – who hasn’t been averse to waiting in the past – to wait until 2026.

As far as what will happen, who knows.  Other than fully guaranteed, the parameters are more set this time around, so in theory, it should be easier, but as we’ve seen in the past, Jackson will not be pressured into doing anything until he’s ready, and that’s certainly his prerogative.

Q:  If Isaiah Likely inks an extension, how might that affect his cap number in 2025? Same question for Tyler Linderbaum.

A:  When considering how an extension will impact a player’s Cap number, always look at the player’s base salary – that is the only malleable part of his Cap number.  For Likely or Travis Jones (both with $3.406M base salaries), an extension will likely save a little Cap space or just break even.  For players like Kyle Hamilton and/or Linderbaum, given their relatively low base salaries ($2.9M and $2.5M respectively) and the size of the deals they will be getting, their deals will likely require additional Cap space over and above their present Cap numbers.

Q:  Do you think that it makes sense to get a Kyle Hamilton deal done now or are the Ravens better off waiting until 2026?

A:  With the 5th Year Option in place for Hamilton for 2026, there’s no real rush to get it done in 2025 and given that Linderbaum, Likely, Andrews, Jones, Oweh, etc. are all going to be free agents in 2026, there likely is some priority there.  That said, I’m sure they’ve made some approaches and will be happy to get as many of those guys re-signed as possible.  Hopefully, we’ll see an extension or two (or three) done over the next month or so.

Also, as if there already aren’t enough reasons to try and reach an extension with Jackson, an extension for Lamar would create a decent amount of 2025 Cap space, making it easier to fit in extensions for multiple players this year.

Q:  Are there any veterans who might be on the bubble to make the squad and if so, what kind of cap savings might they represent if released?

A:  Not really.  It sounds like everyone reported to training camp in good shape and ready to go, so, at least from that perspective, no one put themselves on thin ice.  The only veteran I had thought may be one to watch was DT Broderick Washington but given that they did not use a high draft pick (or multiple draft picks) on the interior DL, I’d think he’s a safe bet to stay at this point.

Q:  If Tyler Loop of John Hoyland end up being liabilities and therefore untrustworthy when the regular season arrives, how much would a reliable veteran kicker cost, assuming one is available?

A:  Any PK that is signed off the street at this point (or in September) isn’t going to be very costly.  They’d probably be able to sign one for the veteran minimum ($1.17M to $1.255M), so even if a small bonus or incentives were included, it wouldn’t make much of an impact on the Cap at all.

The post State of The Ravens 2025: Salary Cap appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2025/07/28/baltimore-ravens-salary-cap/salary-cap-questions-2025/