We heard Monday that the Ravens would either trade or cut fullback Vonta Leach after talks on a restructured contract failed to lead to an agreement.
Tuesday brought the answer to which of those routes Baltimore would be taking. The team announced that they have released Leach, who spent the last two seasons helping clear holes for Ray Rice on the Ravens offense.
Leach had a $3 million base salary for the 2013 season, the final year of a three-year deal he signed with the Ravens before the 2011 season. He said last week that he hoped to remain with the Ravens and suggested he’d be open to revisiting his contract, but whatever the Ravens were offering clearly wasn’t amenable to the fullback. Leach was still productive last season and shouldn’t have too much trouble finding other interested teams even though the role of fullbacks has generally declined around the league in recent years.
The Ravens drafted Kyle Juszczyk in the fourth round in April and he’ll be the first man up to replace Leach in the lineup.