Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said at the NFL scouting combine that the team would not make a lot of splashes in free agency.

Two days into the negotiating period, the Ravens may not have made a lot of splashes, but they certainly made one big one when they agreed to a deal with five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.

Sure, at almost 33-years-old, Hopkins might not be the superstar he was in the 2010s. He hasn’t been named a Pro Bowler in the last four seasons. But he had a 1,000-yard season as recently as 2023, and his 610 yards last season would have made him the third-best wide receiver on the Ravens.

Baltimore reportedly agreed to a one-year deal worth up to $6 million, which isn’t a blockbuster deal that would break the bank for many teams.

But the Ravens are a team that’s counting every penny. That’s why more players have parted ways with Baltimore than have signed.

So far, the Ravens have extended left tackle Ronnie Stanley before the NFL’s legal tampering period, re-signed fullback Patrick Ricard, agreed to a deal with Hopkins and cut cornerback Arthur Maulet.

With mere hours to go before the new league year begins Wednesday at 4 p.m., the Ravens are currently cap compliant — but they need to make much more space to be able to fill out their roster through the offseason.

Here’s a look at where they are, where they need to be and why they’re here:

The salary cap

The salary cap for every team in 2025 is $279,200,000. The Ravens were able to carry over $2,136,843 from 2024, making their adjusted team salary cap $281,336,843 for the year.

After the additions of Ricard and Hopkins and the subtraction of Maulet, the Ravens currently have 54 players under contract. Though we don’t yet know exact numbers for Hopkins, an estimate shows they are currently scheduled to spend a total of $278,284,941 on those contracts this year.

That leaves them just $3,051,902 to spend on free agents and draft picks.

The Ravens are picking low again this season, although they have a whopping 11 picks across seven rounds thanks to four compensatory picks. Draft picks are the cheapest way to fill out a roster, though, and the Ravens will functionally need about $4 million to sign their picks.

Brian McFarland of Russell Street Report estimated the cost of incidentals (like replacing injured players) and more depth free agent signings would require another $2-$5 million in cap space last year.

While the Ravens are looking pretty good across the board for almost every starting position, they will need to build out the reserve spots further down the depth chart.

They currently only have four wide receivers under contract. Three of them (Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Devontez Walker) have already dealt with injuries in their young careers.

The Ravens also need a starting cornerback as well as depth in every part of the secondary. They need to replace Patrick Mekari at left guard, as well as two backups on the line. The list goes on.

DeCosta will have to decide where he wants to bring in proven players for more money or take a chance on the draft at a cheaper cost. But no matter what, he and his team have a lot of work to do to clear space for any of these moves.

However, despite the league year beginning on March 12, they have some time to finagle contracts.

When to be compliant

Teams have to be salary-cap compliant by the start of the league year at 4 p.m., but something called the Rule of 51 gives them some room to work with through the offseason.

The Rule of 51 means only the top 51 contracts count against the salary cap until the NFL’s regular season starts.

That means teams can add small contracts through the offseason and carry players through training camp.

With the Rule of 51 in place, the Ravens should have $2,502,000 to work with — which still isn’t much, meaning DeCosta has some financial levers to pull.

“We call it ‘couch cushion coins.’ We’re trying to find 50 grand here, 75 grand there in a couch cushion,” DeCosta said.

Blame big contracts

The Ravens believe that quarterback Lamar Jackson is the one who will lead them to a Super Bowl. And, while they won’t admit to the existence of a “window” for success, they have been trying to surround Jackson with talent in recent years while he’s in his prime.

To do that, they’ve had to pay.

Sure, they still like their underrated free agents and undrafted rookies, but they’ve added splashier names as well. And they’ve handed out big contracts — including some that were the biggest for that position at the time of signing.

Roquan Smith, whom they traded for in 2022, became the highest-paid off-ball linebacker after signing his deal in 2023. Marcus Williams was given the largest contract of any safety in 2022. Justin Tucker became the league’s best-paid kicker in 2022. And Jackson agreed to what was then the most lucrative quarterback deal ahead of the 2023 season.

And those are just the ones that made history. The Ravens have also given large contracts to players like cornerback Marlon Humphrey, running back Derrick Henry and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in recent years. While Beckham is no longer on the team, they’re still accounting for his contract because they built in void years that allowed them to spread the hit across multiple seasons.

The Ravens were able to make room for other players despite these contracts by prorating bonuses and building in annual salary increases so they pay the bulk of the total money toward the end of each contract.

But those increases are kicking in. Last season, the top 10 contracts took up 55.15% of the salary cap. This year, the top-10 contracts of active players take up 62.18% of the salary cap. They also have Beckham’s contract and Stanley’s previous contract taking up a combined 5.9% of their cap space, according to Spotrac.

What can they do?

They can let their free agents walk — and they have — and get compensatory picks if they spend less in free agency than they lose.

The Ravens have to be confident in their drafting ability to rely on this, and they are. They have taken the chance enough times that they lead the league in compensatory picks while still being competitive year after year.

The Ravens can also extend players they think will be part of the future, and craft those contracts to have a lower cap hit in the early years of the deal.

Once the league year hits, the Ravens can cut players or designate them as post-June 1 releases. The post-June 1 release is a mechanism that allows teams to spread a cut player’s dead money across two years as long as they keep his current cap hit on their books until June 1. Otherwise, if a team cuts a player, his dead money accelerates onto the current year.

The Ravens will most likely designate Williams as a post-June 1 release after he was benched midway through the season. Even after a contract restructure, Williams has the eighth-highest cap hit.

Finally, the Ravens will probably restructure some existing contracts. They can convert some of a player’s salary into a restructure bonus, which allows them to prorate it, easing up the cap hit now and pushing the heavier hit into the future. They can also extend a contract and restructure it to push the money further down the line. Jackson, whose cap hit jumps to more than $43 million this year and $73 million the next, is a prime candidate for that maneuver.

However, once money is paid in the form of a bonus upon the signing of a contract or contract restructure, that money cannot be returned. That means the Ravens will have to account for the dead money at some point. They will probably continue to push some of it into the future as they seek to win a Super Bowl with Jackson. But their cap situation will only get tighter as cap hits — stars such as safety Kyle Hamilton and center Tyler Linderbaum will need new deals soon — continue to increase.