The Baltimore Ravens aren’t usually a team that makes a ton of moves during the free agent period. They are very particular with the players they target and go after, with the 2023 offseason being no different.
This particular offseason has been a struggle due to the uncertainty with quarterback Lamar Jackson. So far, the team has only signed wide receiver Nelson Agholor, while retaining some free agent that were already part of the organization. General manager Eric DeCosta was asked during the Pre-Draft Press Conference how tough it’s been to navigate the roster before the draft, and talked a bit about his offseason roster building.
“We had a lot of guys we wanted back, is what it amounts to.”
EDC on free agency: pic.twitter.com/8TMtyAAFoT
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) April 5, 2023
“Not too much, not too bad, I would say. We’ve signed a lot of free agents; they just had played for us in the past. We had a lot of guys who we wanted back, is what it amounts to, and guys that have played winning football for us. We’ve never been a big free agency team prior to this year. We very much pick and choose, [and] it’s based on a lot of different factors, so it’s a bigger-picture team-building strategy that I believe in and that goes back to [executive vice president] Ozzie [Newsome] that [head coach] John [Harbaugh] and Ozzie have developed over the years, and Coach [Brian] Billick and Ozzie … Everything … It’s just the way that we operate. And so, for us, the Draft will always be paramount. It will always be our biggest and best way of improving our team for the long term. So, that’s what we believe in. We’re not done. As Ozzie has said a million times, the roster is not set until September, and we’ll have a lot of different opportunities pre-Draft [and] post-Draft to build a strong football team. We’ll take advantage of every single mechanism that we can – free agency, undrafted free agency, trades, waiver wire pickups – whatever that might be, to build the best team we can. So, this is just really the beginning, not the end.”
With the Ravens needing to keep money for Lamar Jackson available if and when he signs his non-exclusive tag, it makes it hard for the team to build a roster. The team likely wants to be more active, but they are strapped for space and cash right now.