These are the 4 biggest dead-money hits for the Ravens in 2023
The Baltimore Ravens, like all 31 other NFL franchises, are continuously operating at a loss when it comes to their money allocation and always carrying some dead money belonging to deals signed in the past.
That's because all franchises always have some players on the budget who are no longer a part of the organization but are still getting paid by the team because of different reasons.
It is definitely not an ideal situation to find your team in, and in fact, the franchises with the largest amounts of dead money in their books are usually those with the worst salary cap situations and the biggest hurdles to clear when it comes to building a winning roster.
Good for the Ravens, they only have four players with amounts exceeding one-million dollars in dead money on their books entering the 2023 season. Here is a breakdown of who those are and how much money they're owed by Baltimore.
4. Derek Wolfe - $1.8 million
Wolfe is only 33 years old and although he's an active free agent his playing days seem to be over after he wasn't signed to a contract by an NFL franchise in 2022 nor this summer either.
A defense end and former Cincinnati Bearcats standout, Wolfe entered the league all the way back in 2012 when the Denver Broncos spent the 36th-overall pick of that year's draft on him after he played college ball in Cincy from 2008 through 2011.
Wolfe only had to wait four seasons to lift the Super Bowl, which he did following the 2015 regular season for the 50th edition of the SB.
After that and spending five more years in Denver, he left Colorado and signed with Baltimore in 2020 having suffered a lot of injuries in his last few years with the Broncos.
Wolfe appeared in 14 games, starting all of them, as a member of Flock Nation. The problem, of course, is that he signed a one-year, prove-it deal with Baltimore and his great outings made the Ravens think about extending him for a further three seasons with a $12 million deal.
After he signed that contract in March 2021, Wolfe never again played for the Ravens. He suffered an injury on Oct. 2021, entered IR, then was officially considered out for the full 2021 season, and in June 2022 he was finally released by the team after reaching an injury settlement.