Ravens May Not Be Able to Afford Both Ray Rice and Ben Grubbs

by Mike Fightmaster on Feb 21, 2012 8:00 PM EST

In one of the most anticipated off-seasons in a very long time due to a record number of free agents in 2012, and many of those being high profile players looking for big money contracts, the anticipation leading up to March 13 is becoming palpable with rumors swirling about players and teams showing their cards by who they decide, or don't decide, to franchise. One of the sought after free agents in the 2012 off-season is Baltimore's Ray Rice. Rice is one of the best all-around backs in the league and is a threat every time he touches the ball. Rice finished last year with 1,364 yards (career high), 12 touchdowns (career high), 704 receiving yards (career high), and 3 receiving touchdowns (career high).

Rice had career numbers this past season along with leading his team to the AFC championship and missing out on the Superbowl because of a missed kick by Billy Cundiff. After Rice's season, as expected by many commentators, Rice wants to get paid. No one could blame Rice for wanting a nine figure contract (yes, you read that right), and the Ravens would be silly to not pay him what he wants. Knowing Joe Flacco's inconsistency behind the line, the first thing John Harbaugh should do is make sure his workhorse is happy and in a Ravens uniform. As a Bengals fan, I would love to see him playing for a team that is not in the AFC North, but I could see being just as happy if he is re-signed. "Why," you ask?

If the Ravens re-sign Rice to a contract comparable to Peterson, they will not have any cap room to re-sign OG Ben Grubbs.

The Ravens are only 8.5 million under the cap and after signing Rice to an Adrian Peterson-like contract (7yr/100+mil.) that would put them over the cap and, likely, leaving them with little-to-no choice but to not re-sign Grubbs to a new contract. If Grubbs is one of the better guards in the NFL, then he could sign for anywhere from $3-4.5 million per year because that is the average salary range for the middle-to-upper class of NFL guards. If Grubbs asked Baltimore for anything near that, they would have no choice but to let him go to sign with another team.

It is well documented that the Bengals are in need of an offensive guard because of the (likely) departures of back-ups Mike McGlynn and Nate Livings, and Bobbie Williams coming off of an injury and being 35 years old. Adding Grubbs and drafting an OG would give the Bengals a nice outlook for the future of their offensive line and would, possibly, solidify their offensive line for quite a few years to come.

There is no question that the Bengals have the cap space and the ability to sign Grubbs to what he wants. The only thing stopping them would be their own frugality. This is an obvious issue that has plagued the Bengals from keeping/signing free agents in the past, but $60 million in cap space might persuade the Bengals' front office to be a bit more liberal with their finances and set their talented, young offense, led by Andy Dalton, up to lead the Bengals deep into the postseason next year.

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Comments

Like I said in a previous post,

I am very interested in what the bengals do this offseason because of the new cba. The best thing for Cincy fans is the cap floor. I honestly can’t believe people aren’t screaming it from their windows every night, it’s so amazing. I understand it doesn’t go into full effect until 2013, but not even the bengals front office will be that stupid to wait and gamble on using all their free money next year. Their are glaring needs and tremendous free agents that they can grab this year to make their play off team immediately better. Why not grab a couple huge free agents and front load most of their money this year?! There are endless possibilities. BUT…. Will they pull the trigger and pull it early? This is not a year to sit and wait.

by thenailer33 on Feb 21, 2012 8:12 PM EST via mobile reply actions

The money has to go somewhere :)

by thenailer33 on Feb 21, 2012 8:13 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

ravens will franchise rice

the contract negotiations with rice aren’t progressing. ravens will draft a guard replacement in the 1st – 3rd round if they can’t rework some contracts to make more cap space for grubbs. good chance grubbs will be a free agent in 2012. is he worth 7-9 million a year? hmm. maybe. i’d rather have carl nicks for that type of money.

"the bengals are not a west of the 104 longitude team."

by palewook on Feb 21, 2012 8:20 PM EST reply actions

They could afford Ray and Ben

if they dropped Rey and Ed, ya dig?

AMAS

by AMAS85 on Feb 21, 2012 8:35 PM EST reply actions

ray and ed are old enough

the ravens could turn to both of them for a cut or contract restructuring to help with the current raven cap situation.

"the bengals are not a west of the 104 longitude team."

by palewook on Feb 21, 2012 8:47 PM EST up reply actions

How old is Grubbs?

by Makebelieve on Feb 21, 2012 8:46 PM EST via mobile reply actions

27

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/4212/ben-grubbs

"the bengals are not a west of the 104 longitude team."

by palewook on Feb 21, 2012 8:47 PM EST up reply actions

Thanks bro!

by Makebelieve on Feb 21, 2012 8:49 PM EST via mobile reply actions

Any thing is possible

but I don’t see how Rice doesn’t end up with the Ravens. He is the bread and the butter of that offense. As far as Lewis being done, he certainly wants to come back as he said in the post game interview. For him it’s a done deal. Should be interesting to see if the brass feels the same way. Could maybe be a H Ward kinda thing. He still seems to bring it but he is getting long in the tooth. He’d better not expect too much coin to make it happen. I have a feeling the fans probably don’t see him as a liability yet though and he’ll probably be back one more year

by frickja on Feb 21, 2012 10:07 PM EST reply actions

I really like

How competitive we have been with room undr the salary cap while our rivals are maxed out. Watch out AFCN

by quickslant on Feb 22, 2012 7:48 AM EST via mobile reply actions

Could be two ways of looking at that, I choose the same side as you...as in poised to make a splash.

Flip side is, we’ve been so cheap and haven’t added when we could have.

"The next person you see that throws something, point em out! You don’t live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati!"
- Sam Wyche

by The Van Buren Boys on Feb 22, 2012 8:31 AM EST up reply actions

THIS is the year to start making noise

I’ve been a Bengals fan about all my life (there was a period in high school I like Largent and Zorn in Seattle too). I’m talking I had Horst Muellman and Isaac Curtis autographs as a kid (I’m dating myself). I can’t remember being this excited about the future of the team ever. Mike Brown needs to look at this year and say, “this is the year”. You know when guys like Hue Jackson are jumping back with the team, he sees the potential. So does Gruden staying here. Mike Brown has shown a little learning in his older years. Don’t stop now. This year should be the breakout year for the Bengals and the beginning of a core that could win for a long, long time.

by MikePF on Feb 22, 2012 9:03 AM EST reply actions