The Baltimore Ravens finally secured another core player through a money-making longstanding contract extension.
ESPN reporter Adam Scheffer revealed Friday morning that the Ravens signed offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley to a $98.75 million five-year contract extension. Based on the report of Ian Rapoport from NFL Network, the deal includes a guaranteed $70.866 million. It also has a maximum value of $112.86 million.
The $98.74 million contract deal is the highest for a professional offensive lineman in NFL, based on a report from Spotrac. It narrowly surpassed the eight-year contract deal between the Dallas Cowboys and the team’s offensive tackle Tyron Smith signed in 2014.
After Stanley and Smith, another Cowboy Zack Martin, is the third richest offensive lineman currently playing in the league, with an $84 million contract deal. But among all the offensive tackle in NFL, Houston Texan offensive left Laremy Tunsil had a bigger average yearly value at $22 million since Stanley will only have $19.75 million annually.
Eric DeCosta, the Baltimore Ravens general manager, also provided All-Pro cornerback Marlon Humphrey his five-year contract extension worth $97.5 million in early November. This development happened one year after he signed up in the 2019 trade deadline acquisition. The team also provided All-Pro cornerback Marcus Peters with a $42 million contract for a three-year period.
Stanley, a former football player for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, was drafted sixth overall by the Ravens during the first round of the NFL Draft in 2016. He was the team’s first offensive tackle drafted during that year after Tunsil’s surprising draft slide.
During that year, the Ravens signed him to a guaranteed, four-year rooking contract worth $20.48 million. It came with a signing bonus worth $13.9 million.
He made his first professional debut, and his initial career start during the team’s 13-7 victory opposite the Buffalo Bills. However, he suffered from a foot injury and needed to be sidelined for four games. He was assigned to start in 12 games as a rooking and produced three sacks, and 22 full quarterback hurries during that time. Because of his performance, Stanley got an 81.1 overall grade from the Pro Football Focus website in 2016. He also ranked as the top 17 best left tackle in the league. He ranked third in the list of all rookie offensive lineman during that time, next to Tennessee Titans’ Jack Conklin and Detroit Lions’ Taylor Decker.
After head coach John Harbaugh opted to retain Stanley as the team’s starting left lineman in 2018, his career soared tremendously. He was awarded his first Pro Bowl as well as his First-Team All-Pro in 2019. It allowed him to help sophomore quarterback Lamar Jackson earn the MVP award.
The Ravens has a reputation for having the best draft picks in the league, and it seems like Stanley is on his way to become a future NFL Hall of Famer in the future. With him on board, the team could be a force to beckon with for Super Bowl in the following years to come.
