Baltimore Ravens: What’s a fair deal for Ronnie Stanley?

The Baltimore Ravens have a handful of players due for new contracts and at the top of that list is Ronnie Stanley. What’s a fair deal for the All-Pro?

What’s a left tackle worth in today’s pass-happy NFL? It’s arguably the second-most important position in football only behind the quarterback. You need to do everything possible to ensure that your franchise quarterback stays upright and it all starts at the tackle spot. The Baltimore Ravens have known this for quite some time, as the team has had Jonathan Ogden and now Ronnie Stanley manning the spot.

The latter of the two is up for a new contract after the 2020 season, but the Ravens might want to get a deal done sooner rather than later. The question is, what’s a fair deal for the 26-year old?

Currently, the highest paid tackle on the market is Laremy Tunsil of the Houston Texans. Tunsil recently reset the market after signing a three-year $66 million deal in April. Tunsil is the runaway highest-paid tackle in football with a whopping $22 million per year average salary. Each of the top-five players on either side of the line is paid upwards of at least $15.5 million.

With all that in mind, you can toss all that information to the side. Ronnie Stanley is going to reset the market value for top-end tackles.

Stanley is coming off his first Pro Bowl nod and earned First-Team All-Pro honors for his masterful 2019 season. Stanley was ProFootballFocus’s top-graded pass-blocking tackle last year and had perhaps the best pass blocking season in quite some time.

While Ronnie Stanley is undoubtedly an elite pass blocker, he’s improved as a road grader in the run game each season. It’s not a coincidence that Stanley played the best football of his career in a year that saw Baltimore set the single-season record for team rushing yards.

With all this in mind, Stanley has clearly set the bar high for tackles and therefore deserves the biggest deal ever for an offensive tackle.

And when I say big, I mean BIG.

Honestly, if Laremy Tunsil is making $22 million a year then Ronnie Stanley is worth every bit of that and more. That’s no slight at Tunsil either, who is without question top-five at his position. Stanley is simply as good as Tunsil is at a minimum.

Naturally, the conversation starts at $22 million. Stanley will command at least that over (hopefully) four-to-five years. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him sniff close to $25 million per season, netting him close to $100 million tackle. It’s an insane number, but if any tackle was worth that kind of money it would be Ronnie Stanley.

The report is that Ronnie Stanley is in no rush to get a new contract, but the Baltimore Ravens should have his new deal towards the top of their offseason to-do list. Stanley is already going to continue to increase his market value and as of now, he should become the highest-paid tackle in NFL history. The bright side is no matter what he signs for, he’ll be worth every penny.