The opening of the NFL’s so-called “legal tampering window” on March 11 quickly brought some clarity to the running back market in which the Ravens figured to be shoppers.
But as is their usual custom, the Ravens sat on the sidelines during free agency’s opening frenzy, and their options to upgrade via free agency are fading fast.
Beginning March 11, representatives of pending free agents were free to begin negotiating with teams, though no deals can become official until the league’s new year begins on Wednesday, March 13. Within hours of the opening of the tampering window, several top free agent running backs had reportedly agreed to new deals, including Ravens back Gus Edwards.
Edwards is headed to the Los Angeles Chargers on a two-year deal, according to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta had said at the NFL Scouting Combine last month that he was “hopeful” to get a deal done with Edwards. Instead, Edwards reunites with former Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who was recently hired in that role by new Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh.
The running back position has been considered devalued the past few years, with older, free-agent backs seemingly hampered by the perception that cumulative wear and tear of the position will affect their productivity. But in the first few hours the tampering window was open, top backs Saquon Barkley (Philadelphia), Josh Jacobs (Green Bay), D’Andre Swift (Chicago), Tony Pollard (Tennessee) and Austin Ekeler (Washington) all found new homes.
Barkley seemingly set the market with a three-year deal worth $37.75 million, according to NFL Network. Jacobs reportedly signed for four years and $48 million.
Tennessee had an opening for Pollard because Derrick Henry is a pending free agent, and the All-Pro has been linked to the Ravens as a possible premium free agent signing. Henry, a four-time Pro Bowl workhorse who turned 30 in January, is viewed by many as the ideal anchor of a running game that already features the most prolific running quarterback in NFL history in Lamar Jackson.
In addition, former Packers Pro Bowl back Aaron Jones is about to hit the market now that Jacobs is heading to Green Bay.
Jones is reportedly set to be released by the Packers, which means his signing would not factor into the NFL’s formula for awarding compensatory draft picks. Only unrestricted free agents count in that calculus, and the Ravens have favorably viewed released players for precisely that reason.
Ravens running back J.K. Dobbins, coming off a torn Achilles in Week 1 last season, is on the market as well and is apparently in wait-and-see mode as the market settles. DeCosta had not ruled out bringing back Dobbins, whose time in Baltimore has been marred by two major injuries in four seasons.
Dobbins recently released a video on social media documenting his latest rehab, with the former second-round pick running sprints and going hard on a treadmill 5 and a half months after surgery.
The Ravens have just two running backs on the roster in Justice Hill and Keaton Mitchell, who is coming off a torn ACL that cut short his promising rookie season. Edwards has been signed away, and Dobbins and veterans Dalvin Cook and Melvin Gordon, both with the team late in the season, all are pending free agents.
Whether through free agency or the draft, the Ravens need to fortify the position.
“I think it’s probably safe to say that we’ll have more than two running backs on our roster at some point,” DeCosta said at the Combine. “We will definitely have a plan for that position.”
Henry and Dobbins could still be in that plan, but after a busy first day of tampering-window shopping around the league, most other top backs are headed elsewhere.
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