With the exception of acquiring Derrick Henry, the Baltimore Ravens have not added many players this summer. Even for the most sought-after trade target in the offseason, it appears that they won’t be changing that mindset anytime soon.
Star wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk of the San Francisco 49ers made an official trade request on Tuesday, and the Ravens have been connected to the 1,300-yard wide receiver on occasion. But in a recent mailbag piece, Ryan Mink, editorial director of the Ravens website, ruled out Aiyuk ever visiting Baltimore.
“Hate to burst your bubble, but the Ravens are not trading for Brandon Aiyuk,” says Mink. It doesn’t work for Baltimore, even if it would undoubtedly improve the offensive (he would improve any offense). Eric DeCosta would never give up the trade compensation needed to get the elite receiver, in my opinion. We’re not talking about a fifth-round pick who performs like Marcus Peters.
The Ravens would probably need to give up a second-round pick in addition to a sweetener either another draft pick or a roster player just to get Aiyuk.
The cost of keeping Aiyuk, who will probably demand about $30 million year on his next contract, is an even greater obstacle. Not only do the Ravens have just $6.4 million in cap space left, but Spotrac projects that they will already be over the cap by about $2 million in 2019. It simply isn’t worth it to forgo a significant portion of their compensation in order to make Aiyuk’s extension work.
“Mostly, the Ravens aren’t in a position to pay Aiyuk what it would take,” writes Mink. “It’s evident that he is not happy with his expected $14 million salary this season.A contract extension would probably be necessary for any trade, and Aiyuk is looking for a deal worth an average of about $30 million. The Ravens have roughly $5.5 million in remaining salary cap space, per Russell Street Report. In the league, that ranks as the second-least.
“In other words, the Ravens do not have much room to make any significant addition, and taking on Aiyuk’s contract would require major cap shuffling.”
Aiyuk would become the Ravens’ top wide receiver right away and the greatest they’ve had in a very long time if they could somehow pull off a deal for him. Even while it would be fantastic, it doesn’t seem to be feasible at this time.
Ravens supporters should, at the absolute least, pray that Aiyuk doesn’t wind up donning black and gold this season.
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