The first domino of NFL Free Agency week has fallen, and he’s headed to the Baltimore Ravens. Kevin Zeitler has agreed to terms with the club on a 3 year/ $22.5 million deal, $16 million of which is guaranteed according to reports,
Amongst the top offensive line names available on the market, Zeitler brings not only a dominant presence to the interior but a plethora of veteran leadership at a more than tolerable cap hit.
While nobody can fully step into the hole that Marshal Yanda left upon his retirement, Zeitler is as good of a candidate to make that attempt as anybody available not named Joe Thuney. Zeitler also comes in with a bit of a chip on his shoulder.
After being unceremoniously dispensed by the Browns in 2019 during the Olivier Vernon/Odell Beckham Jr trade (despite playing the best football of his career), and then spent two seasons under the radar in New York, he’s got a lot to prove in his quest of attending his first Pro Bowl. Now, he gets that chance with the league’s most dynamic rushing attack behind him.
For anyone wondering how the Ravens were able to make this move happen before the 12 noon opening of the legal tampering period, the Giants releasing Zeitler last week made him immediately available to sign where he chose (similar to the J.J. Watt pick up in Arizona).
Eric Decosta saw an opportunity to strike before the other bigger names started going off the board, and had Thuney and some of the other free agent offensive linemen already signed before this move, the contract figure would likely look a lot different.
The Ravens were able to sidestep that bidding war by acting quickly, and now they bring in Zeitler on a deal that both sides should be more than pleased with.
Signing Zeitler is likely not the only move the Ravens will make in the coming days, especially after restructuring Marcus Peters’ contract and adding more money to play with this offseason.
With the often talked about holes still at wide receiver, this contract allows the Ravens a little more flexibility in that market while also filling a major position of need.
The Ravens are a team that’s so often taken the “right player, right price” approach to free agency, and they’ve done so yet again with this move. The lineage of dominant offensive linemen in Baltimore is a storied one, starting with the day they selected Jonathan Ogden with the team’s first-ever draft pick.
Now, Kevin Zeitler gets the chance to etch his name into that history book along with some of the all-time Baltimore greats. The process of building the 2021 Baltimore Ravens has officially started, and needless to say, they’ve started on the right foot.