The Baltimore Ravens’ front office has a big offseason ahead. They’re working on getting the biggest item checked off their list, as they’re in the midst of conducting their second round of interviews to replace recently fired head coach John Harbaugh.
The team’s upcoming free agency class is just as big a priority, though. They have one of the top players in football set to become a free agent in center Tyler Linderbaum, and plenty more starters and contributors need extensions, as well.
Baltimore’s front office will have many tough decisions to make. While they’ll retain some players, others will ultimately depart for more lucrative deals elsewhere. They have just over $20 million in cap space, but with Linderbaum demanding a top-of-the-line contract, that money may dry up quickly. General manager Eric DeCosta and company will have to cut some costs in a couple of different positions. One of those is at safety.
Safeties Alohi Gilman and Ar’Darius Washington are both due new deals this offseason. The Ravens simply cannot afford to extend both. With free agency looming in less than two months, DeCosta will have to choose one or the other.
Ravens have a critical safety decision to make
The Ravens are already uber-talented at the safety spot. Kyle Hamilton is a versatile chess piece that can play anywhere the future coaching staff will need him, and 2025 first-round pick Malaki Starks showed a ton of promise in his rookie season. While that is usually enough to satisfy a defense, a player like Gilman or Washington could be viewed as a necessity to effectively use Hamilton’s versatility and bring out the best in the unit.
Washington arrived in Charm City in 2021. After three years of honing his craft, he broke out in 2024. He started in 10 games, and it was those 10 games when the Ravens’ defense turned around their early-season struggles.
During the 2025 offseason, Washington tore his Achilles. He returned in Week 15, though, going on to play in four games. He struggled for the most part, but showed signs of the player he was before the injury.
For Gilman, the story of his 2025 season was much like Washington’s 2024 campaign. He was acquired by Baltimore ahead of Week 6, after their unit had a historically bad first five weeks. He helped construct a midseason turnaround to get the team back into playoff contention.
Gilman had his fair share of issues, especially with making tackles. His missed tackle percentage with the Ravens was an abysmal 16.7%. However, the trio of him, Hamilton, and Starks proved to be highly effective for most of the year. The problems were with the rest of the defense, but the versatility of Gilman and Hamilton helped make an effort to mask that.
If the Ravens sign Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, as reports suggest, then that would make Gilman the front-runner to return to Baltimore, due to his ties with Minter and the Chargers.