The Ravens let go of a lot of big names on Monday in part so they could spend big money to keep one of their up and coming players.
G.M. Ozzie Newsome confirmed Tuesday evening that the team agreed to terms with guard/tackle Marshall Yanda. We previously heard that the Ravens believed bringing back Yanda was the key to their running game this year.
“We got Marshall Yanda! That’s great news,” coach John Harbaugh said. “He told us he wanted to be a Raven and he understood the business part that he had to go through. I’m beaming, you see Ozzie smile and is there anyone more excited than [offensive line coach] Andy Moeller right now? We’re a better team than we were one hour ago.”
Yanda is likely to move back to guard, but he can play right tackle when asked.
There was a report that the Redskins were interested in Yanda, which surely drove up his pricetag. He may wind up getting more money than any guard in free agency this year, including Robert Gallery and Davin Joseph.
UPDATE: Mixmaster Schefter has the numbers: $32 million over five years with a $10 million bonus. He’ll make $21 million in the first three years. That’s basically the McContract for solid free agent guards.