ExtremeRavens Posted Monday at 10:45 PM Posted Monday at 10:45 PM Locker room clean-out day can feel like a haze. Players – some, not all – bustle through a luxurious room filled with trash bags. They exchange jerseys and autographs alongside heartfelt goodbyes because when a season ends, there’s no telling how different that room might look in six months. Particularly for this Ravens team, which cobbled together what was once believed to be a Super Bowl contending roster and instead missed the playoffs altogether. Nearly every player who spoke was asked some form of the same question: Do you plan to be back in Baltimore next year? All-Pro center Tyler Linderbaum, the team’s top pending free agent, said he “absolutely” wants to return. He’ll take a bit of time off first, then worry about his contract situation “at a later time.” Over four years in Baltimore, Linderbaum blossomed into one of the NFL’s top centers. The Ravens did not pick up his fifth-year option last offseason, putting Linderbaum in a contract year. Monday was the first locker room clean-out where he was a centerpiece of impending offseason discourse. “To see a guy like that walk would really hurt,” right tackle Roger Rosengarten said. “This offensive line runs through him and he’s the tip of the spear.” Rosengarten said he has every intention of hounding Linderbaum in the coming months the same way he did (successfully) with All-Pro left tackle Ronnie Stanley this time last year. Truth is, this team is destined for turnover. Although, no player who showed up Monday and spoke with reporters specifically voiced any interest in leaving. Fullback Patrick Ricard, an undrafted rookie in 2017, said he’d love to come back and eventually retire as a Raven. Pass rusher Dre’Mont Jones loved his short time as a Raven. He was acquired before the trade deadline and said “it would be great if that continued” if the money’s right and the situation is beneficial to both parties. Kyle Van Noy was a bit more direct. Asked what he hopes to accomplish this offseason, the veteran pass rusher was quick to respond, “come back to the Ravens.” Van Noy is 34 years old having just finished his third season in Baltimore. He’s not ready to contemplate retirement, despite sinking from 12 1/2 sacks in 2024 to two in 2025. Monday afternoon’s clean-out session included plenty of reflection about a season gone wrong. Having finished 8-9, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2021, there will be plenty done this spring to address the disappointment that lingered like a foul stench in Owings Mills. “It just hurts,” Ricard said. “I feel for the fans of the city, just the heartaches after years after years, and it always seems like to start the year, we always have a great group that I feel like we underperform just with the talent that we have. I feel like the fans deserve better, and it’s just hard.” General manager Eric DeCosta’s job will be to again assemble a roster that keeps the Ravens’ Super Bowl window cracked open. That task starts with addressing Lamar Jackson’s contract situation in some fashion. His cap number rises to $74.5 million each of the next two seasons. Dedicating that kind of cheddar to one player makes it nearly impossible to build out a playoff contender. So there’s Jackson, who spoke Sunday night but was not available the following afternoon (which is common), then everybody else. Those who requested signed footballs or an extra minute to tug on a veteran’s ear know change is afoot. Tight end Charlie Kolar did some quick calculations. He estimated about 40% of a roster looks different year over year. In Baltimore, that number was closer to 30% between 2024 and 2025. It was roughly the same the year prior, according to OverTheCap.com. Kolar’s rookie contract concluded Sunday night in Pittsburgh but if Baltimore will have him, after already extending Mark Andrews, Kolar said he’d “love to be back as a Raven.” That process could come closer to March, shortly before his April wedding. “Personally, I’ll take some time off, get healthy and get back to training,” Kolar said. “I’m unemployed now. Gotta go get a job.” The other pending free agent tight end who did not sign a mid-season extension, Isaiah Likely, said he’ll leave the negotiating to his agent. “I feel like everybody says a vanilla answer like that,” Likely said, “but it’s honestly my first time ever not knowing [where I’ll be].” Over the summer, Likely was the odds-on favorite to be Baltimore’s tight end of the future. He toiled through a brutal season, low-lighted by a goal-line fumble in a loss to the Bengals and a disallowed game-winning touchdown versus Pittsburgh a week later. The Ravens extended Andrews in early December, part of a slew of extensions that included defensive linemen Travis Jones and John Jenkins as well as long snapper Nick Moore. There were plenty of prognosticating questions left about Likely and Kolar. “You just never know,” Ricard said. “Especially Isaiah and Charlie, I feel like they played really well. I feel like they’ve had great careers here. Hopefully they sign back, but I think they’re all going to have a good market when they hit free agency, and I’m excited for them.” These conversations kickstarted far sooner than any Raven might have imagined six months ago. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn.x.com. View the full article Quote
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