Baltimore Ravens must give extension to C.J. Mosley now
C.J. Mosley is one of the most important building blocks the Baltimore Ravens have. The Ravens must extend his contract sooner rather than later:
The Baltimore Ravens hit on their first round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, when they selected C.J. Mosley. Mosley has made the Pro Bowl in three of his four seasons in the league, making him one of the few big name stars the Ravens have. While Mosley is a bit inconsistent, he is indelibly one of the most important players Baltimore has. The Baltimore Ravens are trying to build a future of playoffs and championships and they’re going to need Mosley on board to do it.
This season Mosley recorded 132 tackles, forced three fumbles, picked off two passes and added a sack to his resume. He has 474 tackles, eight sacks, eight interceptions and six forced fumbles so far in his career. Mosley may not be on a pace to be an all-time great the way that Ray Lewis was, but nobody should be compared to number 52. Mosley is one of the better inside linebackers in football and he is a leader for the defense.
Next offseason Mosley will become an unrestricted free agent. The talent in Baltimore has always been poached by the rest of the league. Make no mistake about it, the market for Mosley will be astronomically high in 2019. Ozzie Newsome and Eric DeCosta have to work something out this offseason. This is one of those things that you have to be proactive about.
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Make cap room now:
The Baltimore Ravens don’t have a lot of cap room and extending Mosley’s contract would be a good way to make some. The Ravens could give Mosley a new contract where the cap numbers in the first two years would help Newsome and company make some moves now. I expect the Ravens to make a flurry of moves, but no move makes more financial sense than retaining Mosley for another five to six years.
The Ravens are going to fork over the money to Mosley one way or another. They’re not blind to his contract situation. There is no way that the Ravens haven’t thought all of this through already; they knew this was coming. For all we know the Ravens have this all worked out and they just have to get Mosley and his agent on board with it.
The Ravens want to be aggressive in free agency. They want to be able to sign a big fish wide receiver. There are a lot of ways to get to the financial situation they need to be in. The best place to start is a well structured contract for Mosley.
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There is no doubt about it. The Ravens have to get a deal done for Mosley. This should be priority A. This would not only take a worry away from the Ravens future, it would create cap space for other moves. The Ravens are going to have to give Mosley a lot of money and a contract extension is the best and most responsible way to do that.