The Ravens made Marcus Williams the highest-paid safety in the league. And three seasons later they cut him.

On Wednesday, three months after Williams played his final game for the Ravens (a single snap in Week 12 vs. the Los Angeles Chargers), the Ravens announced they released the 28-year-old defensive back.

The Ravens are expected to designate Williams as a post-June 1 release, an accounting mechanism that allows teams to spread out dead money (money paid to the player that a team hasn’t accounted for against its salary cap) across two seasons. A normal release would mean all the dead money accelerates onto the current year’s cap.

If a player is designated as a post-June 1 release now, the team has to account for his salary until June but can then spread out the dead money hit. It also doesn’t have to pay roster or option bonuses in the meantime.

The designation also, in a way, benefits the player because he can negotiate with other teams instead of waiting until June.

Williams signed a five-year, $70 million contract in 2022 after joining the Ravens as a free agent following a career in New Orleans.

In his first season with the Ravens, he played only 10 games but made 61 tackles, eight pass defenses and four interceptions.

The next season, he was hampered by a pectoral injury but played 11 games. However, it was clear he was in pain long after he returned. His tackling did not look natural, and he seemed to avoid inviting contact on his left side. Even so, Williams would not admit to being limited. He finished with 55 tackles, eight pass defenses and one interception.

When Williams returned for the 2024 season, he evaded questions about his health, saying he did not remember his injury. He earned the starting safety job alongside Kyle Hamilton despite competition from Ar’Darius Washington.

The Ravens’ pass defense, as a whole, struggled to start the season. The Ravens rotated safeties in and out to find the right combination. Hamilton moved into the slot, leaving Williams to play next to Eddie Jackson, but things only got worse.

Williams was benched in Week 8. Washington took over the starting job and kept it for the rest of the season.

However, the Ravens still struggled with Jackson at safety, so Williams returned to play beside Washington for two games in Weeks 9 and 10.

Then the Ravens hit on the Washington-Hamilton duo. The two younger safeties worked well together, and the Ravens’ passing yards allowed dropped from around 300 yards per game to 200. Overall, the defense operated more smoothly, and the Ravens led the league in fewest total yards allowed over the final seven games.

Williams played just one snap against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 11 and one against the Chargers in Week 12 before being a healthy scratch for the rest of the season.

The Ravens were paying Williams $12 million for the season, and he carried a cap hit of $18,027,918.

After the season, the Ravens and Williams reworked his contract so they would have to pay only $2.1 million in salary until June 1, and his $15,245,216 in dead money would be split, with $6,027,918 on 2025’s cap and $9,217,298 on 2026’s.

If the Ravens indeed designate him as a post-June 1 release, they would save $2.1 million in 2025.

Teams can designate only two players as post-June 1 releases. Once June arrives, they can release other players with the same benefit of spreading the cap hit across two seasons, but they would have to pay any bonuses (and the players wouldn’t have the chance to negotiate with other teams for as long).

The post-June 1 release is an option for kicker Justin Tucker, should the Ravens move on from him after 16 massage therapists alleged he behaved inappropriately during sessions with them. Tucker denies the allegations.

After releasing Williams, the Ravens have four safeties left on their roster: Hamilton, Washington, seventh-round pick Sanoussi Kane and undrafted rookie Beau Brade. They have little cap space to add through free agency but could build depth through the draft.