NFL Trade Deadline: Ravens’ Needs Still the Same After Loss to Steelers

You want to replace Marshal Yanda? Here’s how you replace Marshal Yanda.

After falling to the Eagles on Sunday Night Football, the Cowboys now sit at 2-6 and would pick sixth overall in the draft if the season ended today. With Dak Prescott coming off a major injury, and needing a new contract, there’s no telling if the team sticks with its franchise quarterback or select one in April. If they’re leaning towards the latter option, one has to wonder if they’d be willing to tear the whole thing down and do a full-scale rebuild. With the NFC East being what it is, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think they could do so while still being very much in the think of contending for the division, and with the cap likely to drop slightly for next season, it wouldn’t hurt to create more financial flexibility while doing so.

If Dallas is open to a true rebuild, one of their most enticing pieces is right guard Zack Martin. The Notre Dame product inked a major extension before the 2018 season, and it will run through 2024 when he will be 34-years old. The future financials are not cheap, as his cap number is pegged to be at least $15-million in each season from 2021 and beyond according to OverTheCap, but if the Ravens are serious about going after a Super Bowl this year, Martin may be as impactful a piece as they can acquire before Tuesday afternoon. His 2020 cap hit is ~$7-million, which the Ravens could make work by either reworking another contract or cutting someone like Derek Wolfe.

While Martin would help the Ravens for years to come, his contract does create some future financial cash-strapping that would in some ways push Baltimore’s chips towards the center of the table in 2020. But if Eric DeCosta thinks they’re that close, Martin’s the man. And after watching Lamar Jackson get chased around by the Steelers and Chiefs, you have to think DeCosta has at least flirted with the idea.