Backup QB Tyler Huntley among six Ravens players tendered

The Baltimore Ravens were busy on the transaction wire on Wednesday afternoon as they extended tenders to six of their exclusive rights free agents, opted not to tender two others, and re-signed another young player.

The six players that received tenders include quarterback Tyler Huntley, center Tystan Colon, long snapper Nick Moore, running back Ty’Son Williams, safety Geno Stone, and inside linebacker Kristian Welch.

Huntley is the most notable of the bunch given that he started four games for the Ravens in 2021 including the last three of the season while Lamar Jackson nursed an injured ankle. He finished with 1081 passing yards, 294 rushing yards, and five total touchdowns as he established himself as one of the better backup quarterbacks in the league.

Colon could be competing for a starting spot in training camp depending on what the team does in free agency and the draft. Moore seamlessly replaced Morgan Cox as the third member of the ‘Wolf Pack’ specialist unit and four physical tackles on punt coverage.

Williams had a strong first two games of the season before falling out of favor with the coaching staff. Still, he has talent and the team’s top three players at the position are recovering from season-ending injures. Stone and Welch were core special teams players and earned more rotational snaps in the second half of the season.

The two players the team opted not to extend tenders to are former undrafted cornerbacks Khalil Dorsey and Chris Westry. While Dorsey spent the entire 2021 season on injured reserve, Westry appeared in six games and made a pair of starts.

With the decision not to retain either player, while taking into account that Jimmy Smith and fourth-year pro Anthony Averett are slated to become unrestricted free agents, the Ravens secondary is looking extremely thin heading into the new league year. Their All-Pro tandem of Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters are both coming off season-ending injuries.

The one non-tender-related retention that the Ravens made was re-signing defensive tackle Aaron Crawford. who originally signed with the team as an undrafted rookie out of North Carolina in 2020. He spent most of his rookie year on the practice squad outside of one game and was on injured reserve for all of 2021.