Agreeing fresh terms with veterans: Baltimore Ravens face tough road ahead of training camp – NFL News
The Baltimore Ravens are hitting training camp later this month but have got too much on their plate to clear off before then - they have to agree fresh deal terms with not one, two but three players and all three are veterans and matter
the most to the team’s performance and win chances.
Ray Rice, the running back, is the most important and urgent case to be handled by the managers. The player who has been assigned a franchise tender is yet to sign the tag and the team has July 16 deadline to give him a long-term deal
or let him be on the tag.
Apparently, the management has very little or no choice to make the player sign his tender, and he has already shown resentment to it by skipping the mandatory three-day minicamp and staying away some other offseason activities.
He has sounded to be very clear in his message to the managers that he will not sign the tender and the only way for him to reconsider returning to the squad is getting a long-term and well-paid contract.
Ravens have shown willingness to work out a new deal for the player but the problem is that both sides are yet to start negotiations and with the deadline looming large, the process appears set to face some difficulty in reaching an amicable
solution.
Away from Rice’s deal, the team has another equally compelling matter and that is to land a new deal to their star quarterback, Joe Flacco. His current deal runs out at the end of the 2012 season and he has already demanded a new contract.
Even though he had earlier sounded to be threatening, issuing warnings of skipping the team’s workout, he has resigned to development of the situation itself, admitting his inability to control certain matters.
Obviously, the player is expecting a payout raise under fresh terms, but it is not clear if the team is going commit the veteran any such thing in the longer run. Nonetheless, he is most likely to stay as a Raven in the shorter run.
Ravens also face a similar situation at the end of veteran safety, Ed Reed. Reed missed the team’s mandatory minicamp in mysterious circumstances. He did not inform the team of his choice while some independent reports claimed the player
was using the miss as bait to get the managers heed to his fresh deal demand.
Interestingly, there were some reports that the safety might call it quits from the professional league. Reed himself has remained silent towards this matter as well.
While there is uncertainty about his joining the team, head coach, John Harbaugh, earlier claimed that the player is most likely to show up at the training camp.
Reed’s current contract has one year left on it, which the team anticipates him to honour before mulling about his future with them. He is going to enter 11th year of his pro career and it is a matter for Ravens
to decide if they are willing to make commitment of another year or two with him at this stage.
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