The Ravens released cornerback Tavon Young and announced the retirement of offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva on Wednesday, a pair of roster moves that will clear nearly $12 million in salary cap space as their front office prepares for the start of free agency next week.
Neither departure was a surprise. After an injury-plagued six years in Baltimore, Young entered the offseason as a potential salary cap casualty. He would’ve had a $9.3 million cap hit next season, and his release saves $6 million in cap space.
Villanueva was also unlikely to be retained after a disappointing first season in Baltimore. He would’ve been owed $6 million next season, the second year of the two-year, $14 million deal he signed last season.
“Thank you Baltimore,” Young tweeted Wednesday. “Love from my side forever.”
The moves creates important savings for the Ravens ahead of the start of free agency. The legal-tampering period begins Monday, and deals can be finalized beginning Wednesday. The team now has about $16 million in salary cap space, some of which will be reserved for its draft class and in-season spending. By restructuring the contracts of cornerback Marlon Humphrey and Kevin Zeitler — salary cap mechanisms that convert salary into prorated bonuses — the Ravens could save roughly $9.5 million more.
The two departures Wednesday, though, highlighted the Ravens’ limited depth at once-vaunted positions. The team entered last season with one of the NFL’s deepest cornerbacks rooms, led by All-Pros Humphrey and Marcus Peters and bolstered by Young, Jimmy Smith and Anthony Averett. But Peters suffered a season-ending ACL injury before the season, Humphrey missed the Ravens’ final five games with a pectoral injury, Smith played in only 10 games and Young’s snap count was limited.
With restricted free agent Chris Westry and exclusive-rights free agent Khalil Dorsey not expected to be tendered one-year offers, the Ravens have just two cornerbacks under contract through 2022, Humphrey and Peters, with significant starting experience. Averett and Smith are pending free agents, and the team’s most experienced returning reserve, Kevon Seymour (seven career starts), was primarily a special teams contributor until injuries pressed him into significant action last season.
The Ravens are expected to address the position early in the draft, possibly with the No. 14 overall pick. With the 29-year-old Peters entering the last year of his contract, general manager Eric DeCosta could target a starting corner to pair with Humphrey for the long term. He said last week at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis that with a “pretty deep” cornerback draft class, “it looks like you can get a corner pretty much at any point throughout the draft process.”
“One of the things that we learned this year … is that if you don’t have the offensive linemen and defensive back depth, it’s hard to win consistently,” said DeCosta, who watched the Ravens finish last in the NFL in pass defense in 2021. “It really wasn’t something that we didn’t know. It’s just we absolutely got besieged with injuries. Toward the end of the year, it was really hard to compete consistently the way we wanted to compete. … You need at least probably seven or eight really good defensive backs on the team that can play.”
Young, an Oxon Hill native, was one of the biggest bets early in DeCosta’s tenure as GM. In February 2019, less than two years after Young tore the ACL in his left knee and missed the 2017 season, the Ravens signed him to a three-year, $25.8 million extension that briefly made him the NFL’s highest-paid slot cornerback. That August, Young had an impressive training camp derailed by a season-ending neck injury. A year later, Young suffered another torn left ACL in a Week 2 game against the Houston Texans.
Young, 27, appeared in all 17 games last season, starting seven, but he played just over half of the Ravens’ defensive snaps. He was mostly solid in coverage, allowing a passer rating of 85.1, and had two sacks. Still, injuries kept him from recapturing the form that he flashed early in his career. A beloved teammate, he leaves Baltimore having played in 50 career games and missed 47.
“What I’ll say about Tavon is the guy is … he’s a flat-out ‘dog,’ ” Ravens pass game coordinator and secondary coach Chris Hewitt said in October. “And when I say ‘dog,’ meaning that he’s got a mentality like a pitbull. Once he locks in, he’s not letting go. That’s his mentality from the time that he got here as a rookie, [and] he’s always been that way. He’s cut from that kind of cloth. He’s not backing down from any kind of challenge.”
Villanueva’s stint in Baltimore ended with similar disappointment. Signed after the 2021 NFL draft to replace two-time Pro Bowl selection Orlando Brown Jr., the hulking Villanueva struggled in the preseason with his move to right tackle, where he’d seldom played during a standout career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After a disappointing season-opening loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, in what became another setback for Ronnie Stanley’s surgically repaired left ankle, Villanueva returned to left tackle. An erratic 2021 followed; the 33-year-old would follow dominant showings one week with poor performances the next. According to Pro Football Focus, Villanueva allowed nine sacks and was called for 11 penalties, grading out as the NFL’s No. 54 offensive tackle. He remained a solid run blocker, finishing the year with the eighth-best run-blocking rate among tackles, according to ESPN.
“The plan was, if that [a move back to left tackle] ever happened, we were ready for it, because that’s where he’s had his most success in his career, at being the left tackle,” offensive line coach Joe D’Alessandris said in October. “Since then, he’s back in this normal position, and he’s doing a very nice job for us, week in and week out. [He’s] continuing to grow with what we do here offensively.”
Villanueva, a former U.S. Army Ranger who served three tours of duty in Afghanistan and was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for rescuing wounded soldiers while under enemy fire, was considering retirement near the end of last season. Smith said before the Ravens’ season finale against the Steelers that, after talking with Villanueva, “you can sense that he kind of cherishes” what would prove to be his final days in an NFL locker room.
Now the Ravens, who entered 2020 with two Pro Bowl-level tackles, must find or develop at least one Week 1-ready starter for the second straight offseason. DeCosta said last week that he’s optimistic about Stanley’s recovery from another season-ending ankle operation, and Patrick Mekari proved his worth at right tackle last season. But the team’s other top options are risky. Ja’Wuan James has played just three games since 2019, and the injury-prone Tyre Phillips could be better off inside.
“You probably need a strong eight offensive linemen,” DeCosta said last week in Indianapolis, where Ravens officials were evaluating offensive line prospects. “You know those guys are going to get hurt at some point. So the idea of having deep depth is critical, and that’s just going to be a point of emphasis for us moving forward.”
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Source: Berkshire mont
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