Baltimore Ravens lose C.J. Mosley and Za’Darius Smith to free agency

The Baltimore Ravens have seen their number one defense take a substantial hit. Add C.J. Mosley and Za’Darius Smith to their list of departures:

According to reports, Baltimore Ravens’ linebacker C.J. Mosley, is going to sing a five year $85 million deal with the New York Jets. The first thing to react to is the massive number. Mosley is going to average $16 million per season, which was well out of the Ravens price range. Mosley was the top free agent this offseason for Baltimore, but they never had a realistic chance of re-signing him.

Per reports, Za’Darius Smith is set to be a member of the Green Bay Packers. The Ravens went into the offseason basically knowing that Smith was out the door. The Ravens were focused on keeping Mosley, and the pass rushing market did not play out in the Ravens favor. Smith became one of the few up and coming stars available to set the edge for a defense.

The Ravens will go into the 2019 season without Eric Weddle, Terrell Suggs, C.J. Mosley and Za’Darius Smith. The first thing you notice is that the Ravens just lost a ton of veteran leadership. The second thing is that the Ravens lost out on players who for the most part got over paid. The Ravens haven’t made any moves in the first wave of “Legal tampering” because they haven’t wanted to reach on a massive contract.

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The Ravens may or may not make a splash in free agency, but the Ravens clearly weren’t going to be forced into bad decisions. They lost an inside linebacker, they knew they could lose. They have Patrick Onwuasor and Kenny Young and they can still add to the position group. They lost a pass rusher that was going to leave one way or another in Smith. If Suggs hadn’t left this wouldn’t have been all that plan altering, because it was expected.

There is still a lot we don’t know about the 2019 Baltimore Ravens. What we do know is that the defense is going to look dramatically different. The Ravens may have a ton of work to do via free agency and the draft, but it is too early to panic. Baltimore took a hit in free agency thus far but we’re less than a full 24 hours into this. The Ravens could have re-signed Mosley or Smith but the first reaction from most pundits would have been that they got themselves into bad contracts.

The Ravens have a lot of work to do here. Keep it locked into Ebony Bird. We have you covered. We may not be first to the story, but you can always count on us to have a take that offers perspective on the purple and black.