OTL: Countdown to Legal Tampering

Can you believe it? The legal tampering period is just six days away and with every minute fans get more and more anxious about losing some of their team’s key players.

As for Ravens fans, there’s been plenty of chatter surrounding Tyler Linderbaum and Isaiah Likely, but the team has a handful of guys who have made their mark in Baltimore slated to hit free agency this season. While these two are obviously priorities, let’s not forget some of the other guys.

Raiders expected to “make a very strong run” at C Tyler Linderbaum, per @MatthewBerryTMR. pic.twitter.com/qb1P58FNpK

— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) March 2, 2026

The biggest question will be how the Ravens choose to address their third safety spot. Since Kyle Hamilton entered the league, Baltimore has deployed a ton of three-safety sets, allowing Hamilton to utilize his skillset closer to the line of scrimmage. In 2022 it was Chuck Clark, Marcus Williams, and Geno Stone all in rotation. In ‘23 it was Stone and Williams once again. In 2024 Williams and free-agent signing Eddie Jackson struggled, which led to a bit more traditional safety play from Hamilton. He was paired with Ar’Darius Washington who was one of the most important contributors that season. This past year it was Alohi Gilman and Malaki Starks allowing Hamilton free reign.

Washington returned late in the season, but both he and Gilman are now free agents. I’d personally like to see Ar’Darius back in a Ravens uniform. His price tag isn’t likely to be very high after playing just four games off a torn Achilles, and his 2024 campaign proved him to be a high-caliber player when healthy. Gilman made an immediate impact after coming over in the Odafe Oweh trade, but tapered off as the season continued, and had tackling problems down the stretch.

Ravens List of Potential Free Agents in 2026

Two fan favorites on the offensive side are also set to hit the open market, the first being nine-year vet Patrick Ricard. Ricard was given a one-year deal before last season, and the soon-to-be 32-year-old probably won’t sign any more multi-year deals the rest of his career. This decision boils down to whether Declan Doyle wants to use a fullback in his offense. The Bears didn’t use one last year, but did roll out plenty of three-tight end personnel sets, which Ricard could fit into.

The other is Tyler Huntley. If Lamar Jackson goes out, Snoop comes in and has the ability to keep you in games. He takes care of the football, and gets it out quickly. His legs allow the run game to thrive as it would under Jackson, as we saw week 17 in Green Bay. He’s now a free agent, and has likely played himself into a pretty healthy backup QB contract of around $4-5 million per year. It’s always rough having to dish out precious dollars to a backup, but is it worth it considering how well Huntley operates within this offense?

Outside of Linderbaum and Likely, the next biggest contract will likely go to Dre’Mont Jones (or maybe Daniel Faalele, but there’s no way he’s coming back). Jones filled a much needed midseason gap for Baltimore, but it seems like he may have just been a rental. The edge position will certainly need to be addressed at some point during this offseason.

Brent Urban is also an unrestricted free agent, but we all know he’ll sign to the practice squad after roster cuts next season then find his way on the 53-man roster by October.

So who are you most worried about losing? And if the Ravens break their usual modus operandi and go after some guys in the first wave of free agency, who should EDC target?

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