Twice this offseason, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta has been asked whether he could state definitively that tight end Mark Andrews would be on the roster in 2025. And twice DeCosta has tap-danced around the question, leaving the status of one of the Ravens’ top playmakers still uncertain entering next week’s NFL Draft.
Speculation has swirled throughout the offseason that the Ravens might be open to trading Andrews, who is entering the final year of a four-year, $56 million extension signed in 2021. Andrews has a $16.9 million cap hit this season — the third-highest on the team — and the team would free $7 million in cap space if he were traded. (He was already due a $4 million bonus for being on the roster in March.)
Andrews’ future in Baltimore is complicated by the fact that the Ravens have an ascending tight end in Isaiah Likely, who is also set to hit free agency next spring. If the Ravens opt to extend Likely, who turns 25 this week, they might not have the cap space to sign Andrews to another deal. And conversely, extending Andrews, who turns 30 in September, might preclude the team from doing the same with Likely.
The simplest solution for the Ravens would be to play out the 2025 season and then if Andrews leaves as a free agent, the team would probably receive a fourth- or fifth-round compensatory pick in the 2026 draft.
But might DeCosta deal Andrews during the draft? Might a tight-end-needy team that misses out on a preferred target early in the draft place a call to the Ravens war room about Andrews?
The draft begins Thursday, April 24, and the Ravens are set to make their first pick at No. 27 in the first round. As of now, they have 11 picks overall.
Asked at the Ravens predraft news conference April 15 about Andrews’ future in Baltimore, DeCosta said, “I never know what’s going to happen, and I would never want to say this or that. But I can tell you this: Mark Andrews is a warrior, and he’s played his butt off for us, and his competitiveness, his talent, his attitude, his leadership is so valued here.
“He’s a great player, and we’re in the business of keeping as many great players as we can,” DeCosta added. “So there’s always a lot of unpredictability with the draft. You just never know.”
DeCosta rarely deals current players on the roster in draft-day trades, but in 2022 the team shipped wide receiver Marquise Brown and a third-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for the No. 23 pick in the first round. (The deal was agreed to days earlier, DeCosta confirmed, but it was not announced until the opening night of the draft.)
The Ravens then traded back from No. 23 to No. 25 in that draft, picking up an extra fourth-rounder in the deal. They then selected center Tyler Linderbaum at No. 25 and punter Jordan Stout with the added fourth-round pick.
For DeCosta, any evaluation of a potential Andrews trade would have to weigh long-term gain vs. short-term pain. The team would presumably add higher draft capital than what Andrews would bring via the compensatory formula next year, giving the Ravens younger talent signed to a longer term.
But they would be giving up one of their most reliable offensive weapons leading into what they believe can be a Super Bowl-contending season. And Andrews has been the favorite target of quarterback Lamar Jackson since the two arrived in Baltimore as rookies in 2018. It’s fair to wonder how a trade of Andrews might play with Jackson and in the locker room, where Andrews is admired for his competitiveness and professionalism.
Andrews already holds franchise records for touchdown catches overall (51) and receiving yards by a tight end (5,330). He needs 248 yards to break Derrick Mason’s franchise record for receiving yards.
He is a three-time Pro Bowl selection and was named First-Team All-Pro in 2021.
After a slow start in 2024, Andrews finished the season with 55 catches for 673 yards and 11 touchdowns, and he set a team record by catching a touchdown pass in six straight games.
Andrews, though, had a disastrous day in the AFC divisional round playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills. He fumbled early in the fourth quarter with the Ravens driving for a potential go-ahead score, and then he dropped a two-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game with 1:33 left. The Ravens lost, 27-25.
Andrews hasn’t met with the media since that game, though a few days later he posted a social media message noting that he was “absolutely gutted by what happened” against the Bills.
“Even though the shock and disappointment are unlike anything I’ve felt before, I refuse to let the situation define me. I promise that this adversity will only make me stronger and fuel us as we move forward.”
Yet the question lingers: Will that be in Baltimore?
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