Ravens ink Rice to five-year, $40 mil deal

I'll go with the cliched "40 million reasons to smile" for this one (Photo courtesy of Baltimoreravens.com)

A couple of months after the Orioles locked up their young, face-of-the-franchise player in Adam Jones, the Baltimore Ravens follow suit in typical, down to the wire fashion.

With about a half hour left until the 4:00 p.m. deadline, Vonta Leach took to Twitter in response to Adam Schefter's report seconds earlier that it would be an "upset" if the two sides reached a deal in time. Leach suggested that Ravens fans would have "good news" before the allowed signing period expired.

He was right on the money (This pun is dedicated to Max Bollinger).

Fans may be experiencing a bit of deja vu as this time last year, Baltimore celebrated signing Haloti Ngata for five years and $61 million just minutes before the league deadline. The Ravens and Rice's representation came to terms on a five-year, $40 million contract, which, according to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, is significantly front-loaded; Rice will earn $25 million over the first two years. In 2011, Ray Rice tallied a franchise-record 15 touchdowns, a personal best 1,364 yards rushing and 704 yards receiving on 76 catches (a respectable 10 yards/ reception).

The structure of the deal hasn't been released in detail, but, NBC Sports' Pro Football Talk is reporting that the Ravens have added approximately $2.7 million in cap space (Thank you to Jordan Jankowski for alerting me about this). With around $3.25 million in salary cap available, Ozzie Newsome now has the flexibility to bring in a contributing player late in the offseason once other teams start to make their roster cuts.

More importantly, fans can take comfort in knowing that Ray Rice will be a Raven for many years. He will now (presumably) report to training camp next week and participate fully in all practices, meetings and preseason games, which should pay dividends when the team kicks off in week one of the 2012 season.

Had the Ravens been unable to reach an agreement with Rice, speculation among analysts was that the 25-year old running back would receive the tag again next year. Now, the team is free to use the franchise tag on fifth-year quarterback Joe Flacco after the 2012 season if the two sides are unable to agree on an extension during the season (Thank you again to Jordan Jankowski for bringing this to my attention).