Ravens News 3/19: Free Agency Reset and more

In Uncertain Market, Derek Wolfe Is Happy to Be Back in Baltimore - Ryan Mink

“I wasn’t sure if I was even going to get the chance to play football again with the cap being the way it was,” Wolfe said Thursday.

“I was like, ‘Well, maybe they’re going to just bet on these young players and count on the draft.’ So, I really wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but I’m really excited to be back.”

“I feel at home there, you know?” Wolfe said. “You enjoy waking up in the morning and going into that building. The coaches treat you like a grown man. … They’re all about winning. That’s all that really matters.”

“The money is great and everything, but at the end of the day, it’s not worth putting your body through it if you’re not competing for something,” Wolfe said. “Competing for a championship year-in and year-out for the next three years is going to be great.”

Ravens free agency reset: Which potential targets remain after the first wave of signings? - Jonas Shaffer

It’s a new league year in the NFL, and the Ravens still haven’t added a wide receiver or edge rusher.

With the league’s legal tampering window closed, the top free agents in Baltimore and elsewhere have been mostly snapped up. The Ravens have invested most of their salary cap space in their own talent, re-signing outside linebackers Tyus Bowser and Pernell McPhee, inside linebacker Chris Board and defensive end Derek Wolfe, among others.

But other than a three-year, $22.5 million deal for guard Kevin Zeitler, the Ravens have been reluctant to add new faces to the mix. Even with the NFL’s wide receiver and edge rusher markets slowly drying up, slashing their potential options at positions of need, general manager Eric DeCosta has kept his distance.

Best Landing Spots For Top Remaining Free Agent WRs - Trevor Sikkema

T.Y. HILTON

Hilton will be 32 years old this upcoming season and has missed some time over the last two years, which has affected his availability and his impact. But, he is still a good veteran receiver who has some speed left in the tank.

The Ravens make sense if Baltimore wants more of the same of what they already have (they might).

2021 Ravens Draft Watch: Teven Jenkins - Ken Zalis

Tale of the Tape

Height: 6-foot-6

Weight: 320 pounds

Strengths: Experienced player who has played both tackle positions and guard in his 35 starts at Oklahoma State; has strong quick hands and packs an initial punch; has excellent technique and plays hard until the whistle blows; solid in pass protection and run blocking; solid athletic profile overall; plays with a mean streak.

Areas For Improvement: Jenkins has shorter arms (under 33 inches) than some teams like at tackle, so he may have guard grades. He is a solid athlete but does have balance issues at times going side to side.

NFL Player Comparison: Marshal Yanda. Yes, that’s bold, but Jenkins has some of the same traits as Yanda, a tackle in college.

Draft Projection: Jenkins should hear his name called in the first round and could go as early as Pick 20. I like Jenkins. He will be a solid part of an NFL line for a decade.

Amazon Gets Thursday Night Games, NFL Nearly Doubles TV Deal - Joe Reedy

The NFL will nearly double its media revenue to more than $10 billion a season with new rights agreements announced Thursday, including a deal with Amazon Prime Video that gives the streaming service exclusive rights to “Thursday Night Football” beginning in 2022.

The league took in $5.9 billion a year in its current contracts. It will get $113 billion over the 11 seasons of the new deals that begin in 2023, an increase of 80% over the previous such period, a person with direct knowledge of the contracts told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the money figures were not made public.

Amazon has partnered with the league to stream Thursday night games since 2017, but it will take over the entire package from Fox, which has had it since 2018 after CBS and NBC shared the package for two seasons. Amazon streamed a Week 16 Saturday game between the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals last year that was seen by an estimated 11.2 total viewers and had an average minute audience of 4.8 million. That was a record for the largest audience to stream an NFL game.

Games will continue to air on CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN, while ABC will have a limited schedule of games as well as returning to the Super Bowl rotation (two games) for the first time since the 2005 season. ESPN’s deal was scheduled to end after 2021, while the others expired a year later, but ESPN will have a bridge deal for 2022.