The Baltimore Ravens will be faced with significant personnel decisions that are fueled by the NFL salary cap. According to a recent story in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Ravens are projected to have as much as $12.5 million of cap space once their about-to-be free agent's salaries come off the books. This is a bit more than the $5-8 million that many had been reporting, but nowhere near the amounts of space their AFC North rivals Cincinnati Bengals ($59M) have.
However, they are looking just fine compared to what their biggest nemesis, the Pittsburgh Steelers, are facing. Pittsburgh sits in salary cap purgatory, at an NFL-worst $27 million over the $122 million 2012 salary cap. The Steelers are in the midst of having to make drastic changes to their roster, decisions that surely will affect them in 2012 and beyond. They will be re-structuring current player's contract to free up some space, but that in itself will not stop them from cutting players that they otherwise would prefer to retain.
That could cause a bit of a feeding frenzy if some of the players mentioned are released. Wide receiver Mike Wallace will be coveted on the open market, and other aging veterans will find themselves looking for a new team as the Steelers hope their younger back-ups can step in on a full-time basis and keep this team competitive, which could be tough in arguably the league's toughest devision.