Salary Cap

Don't hold your breath Peter Schmuck Baltimore Sun In a perfect world, every major league team would have the same ability to sign free agents and there would be enough economic balance to force more quality players into markets that are less attractive than New York and Los Angeles. In that same perfect world, every team would then sink or swim on the quality of its management and the smaller-market teams would live happily ever after. In the real world, the Major League Baseball Players Association already won this battle.

The reality of the Ravens' salary cap situation and post Super Bowl XLVII world hit coach John Harbaugh early last week. With the Ravens failing to convince wide receiver Anquan Boldin to take a pay cut and not willing to carry his $6 million salary cap hit, Harbaugh knew exactly who to call. “Heck yes,” his brother, Jim, the coach of San Francisco 49ers, said when asked if he was interested in acquiring Boldin, a player that they struggled to stop a month earlier in the Super Bowl.

Ravens veteran wide receiver Anquan Boldin bullied defensive backs during the NFL playoffs, emerging as a Super Bowl XLVII hero. Now, he's in danger of losing his job. The Ravens are attempting to lower the $6 million salary of the three-time Pro Bowl selection, and it could lead to his release by the start of the free agent signing period Tuesday if talks continue to be unsuccessful, according to league sources with knowledge of the situation....

This business about the Ravens' salary cap is way beyond my comprehension ("Raven's tight salary cap could squeeze out playoff star Anquan Boldin if he doesn't accept less pay," March 10). But I know one thing: The more money one player receives, the less there is for the others. So I have a suggestion for Joe Flacco and his agent: Now that their record salary deal assures Mr. Flacco of the "respect I deserve," perhaps he can see fit to donate some of his millions to the team salary pool in order to help retain the many players who were absolutely key to the Ravens' victories in the playoffs and the Super Bowl . To ask players like Anquan Boldin to take a cut in pay after what he and others did for the team defies all logic and fairness.

A year ago, the New England Patriots, facing a salary-cap squeeze, decided not to give running back Curtis Martin a long-term contract.They let him play his third season for $247,900 and he became a restricted free agent at the end of the year.The New York Jets then enticed him with a six-year, $36 million deal that the Patriots decided not to match.The Patriots received first- and third-round draft picks for Martin, but scrambled to find a running game during this preseason.Facing a similar situation this year with linebacker Ted Johnson, they took the opposite tack.

Quarterback Joe Flacco climbed to a new financial stratosphere when the Ravens made him the highest paid player in NFL history with a $120.6 million contract. Flacco received a $29 million signing bonus and is due option bonuses of $15 million in 2014 and $7 million in 2015 in the deal he signed Monday. He also emerged as a partner of sorts with the Super Bowl champions, joining a small fraternity of quarterbacks whose performance and salary-cap figures are pivotal to the health of their respective franchises.

The Ravens created some breathing room under the NFL salary cap limit when they signed Pro Bowl running back Ray Rice to a five-year, $40 million maximum value deal that included a $15 million signing bonus. Instead of carrying a $7.742 million franchise tender for Rice, he now counts for just $5 million against the salary cap for this fiscal year. Including the accounting for the Rice deal, the Ravens have $3.123 million in cap space available. Yes, that's enough to fit in a deal for quarterback Joe Flacco, which is actively being haggled over between agent Joe Linta and Ravens vice president of football administration Pat Moriarty, with no deal imminent at this time.

In late July, the Ravens released four veterans who had played critical roles for the team in years past. To clear salary cap space, the Ravens said sayonara to Todd Heap, Derrick Mason, Kelly Gregg and Willis McGahee. Heap returns to Baltimore on Sunday as a member of the Arizona Cardinals, but he might be sporting street clothes at M&T Bank Stadium. After catches 13 passes in the team's first four games, he has been sidelined with a hamstring injury. Meanwhile, Heap's primary heir apparent, Ed Dickson, has 22 receptions in six games.

Team owner Steve Bisciotti was strikingly candid, general manager Ozzie Newsome subtly expansive and coach John Harbaugh predictably consistent at the "State of the Ravens" news conference Wednesday. Here are the bullet points: • Time to shine: Bisciotti isn't daunted by the uncapped season the NFL is about to enter. In fact, he's almost ebullient about the prospect. "I don't see it hampering us in our ability to do things," he said, indicating that he expects the roster to stay pretty much intact.

The owners want sweeping changes. The players want nothing to change.The owners say they want to save baseball from financial ruin and preserve the delicate competitive balance that allows Milwaukee to beat New York and Pittsburgh to clobber Los Angeles.The players say baseball has never been more balanced, and the owners know it.The owners say they don't want a fight, but will defend their interests if they have to.The players say much the same.Welcome to baseball's labor squabble for 1994.

Redskins Corner Hall released; Carriker's deal redone     Forced to make moves to get below the NFL-mandated salary cap of $123 million, the Washington Redskins released cornerback DeAngelo Hall , restructured defensive end Adam Carriker 's deal and were in the process of negotiating several other contract revisions Monday. The team had to be under the cap by 4 p.m. today, which marks the start of the new league year and free agency. Washington entered this past weekend roughly $3 million over the cap but still re-signed starting left guard Kory Lichtensteiger (an impending unrestricted free agent)

As soon as the Super Bowl ended and quarterback Joe Flacco signed a long term contract, the real business was going to begin as far as reshaping the Ravens. Several of the team's big name free agents were going to ask for more money, and there wasn't going to be a lot to give. The latest is Dannell Ellerbe, the best inside linebacker in free agency. There is no doubt that the Ravens want him back, but at what price? Ellerbe wants a $25 to $30 million contract worth about $6 million per season, and the Ravens want to pay about $5 million a year.

Ravens veteran wide receiver Anquan Boldin bullied defensive backs during the NFL playoffs, emerging as a Super Bowl XLVII hero. Now, he's in danger of losing his job. The Ravens are attempting to lower the $6 million salary of the three-time Pro Bowl selection, and it could lead to his release by the start of the free agent signing period Tuesday if talks continue to be unsuccessful, according to league sources with knowledge of the situation....

The NFL offseason heats up on Tuesday when the free agency period begins and the NFL draft will take place next month. In anticipation of those events, blogger and reporter Matt Vensel will look at six key positions the Ravens might address in free agency and the NFL draft in the days leading up to the start of free agency. The Ravens won their second Lombardi Trophy this winter thanks in large part due to the play of quarterback Joe Flacco, but let's not forget about the speedy guys who were on the receiving end of all those tight spirals.

Quarterback Joe Flacco climbed to a new financial stratosphere when the Ravens made him the highest paid player in NFL history with a $120.6 million contract. Flacco received a $29 million signing bonus and is due option bonuses of $15 million in 2014 and $7 million in 2015 in the deal he signed Monday. He also emerged as a partner of sorts with the Super Bowl champions, joining a small fraternity of quarterbacks whose performance and salary-cap figures are pivotal to the health of their respective franchises.

Now that quarterback Joe Flacco is poised to become the highest paid player in the NFL by virtue of a $120.6 million contract, the Ravens aren't expected to use the franchise tag on any of their other unrestricted free agents. Although Monday afternoon marks the league deadline to use the designation, general manager Ozzie Newsome has already stated that Flacco was the Ravens' lone candidate to be named a franchise player. The Flacco contract, which includes a record $62 million payout during the first three years, won't become official until the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player takes and passes a physical and signs his contract Monday.

Washington -- BE CAREFUL what you wish for, goes the adage. You may get it.The owners of major-league baseball want a salary cap -- on the ballplayers. The players refused, so for the first time in nearly a century there was no World Series.But this issue could spark America's rediscovery of an idea that once stirred the souls of millions: an income cap on everyone.Today, of course, it's hard to imagine red-blooded Americans clamoring to limit the income of the extremely wealthy. But clamor they did.In fact, the movement to cap income started about the same time as the National League.

The city of Baltimore received a sobering reminder about the business side of professional football Monday when veterans Derrick Mason, Todd Heap, Willis McGahee and Kelly Gregg were informed by the Ravens that the team has decided to release them from their contracts. The official announcement that NFL owners and the NFL players association had come to an agreement to end the lockout had barely sunk in when Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome issued a statement that outlined the team's plans to move quickly to create room to maneuver financially.

INDIANAPOLIS - The Ravens' quest for a franchise quarterback finally ended when Joe Flacco capped a stellar postseason by engineering a Super Bowl victory. Now, a championship and Flacco's unresolved contract as a pending unrestricted free agent have created a complex reality. Flacco is poised to either be paid as much as a $20.46 million franchise tender next season or be retained through a potential blockbuster deal that could rival New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees' $100 million contract.

- Besides trying to hammer out a long-term contract with quarterback Joe Flacco, the Ravens have made starting inside linebacker Dannell Ellerbe another one of their top priorities. With Ray Lewis retiring, the Ravens have a void in the middle of their defense. As a pending unrestricted free agent, though, Ellerbe is expected to draw heavy interest following a breakout season capped with a team-high nine tackles during a Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Ellerbe's agent, Hadley Engelhard, said he's set to meet with Ravens team officials this weekend at the NFL scouting combine.