Ravens surprisingly cut veteran safety Eric Weddle after third straight Pro Bowl
The Baltimore Ravens decided to not give the franchise tag to linebacker C.J. Mosley, which was a bit of a surprise.
After the deadline had passed for franchise tags, the Ravens had a bigger surprise. They cut veteran safety Eric Weddle, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Weddle made a Pro Bowl in each of his three Ravens seasons, after spending his first nine seasons with the San Diego Chargers. He did just turn 34, but his release was still unexpected.
Cutting Eric Weddle saves the Ravens a lot on the salary cap
Weddle wasn’t just a good safety for the Ravens, he was seemingly well liked in the locker room as well.
Baltimore won the AFC North last season on the strength of their run-first offense and one of the best defenses in the NFL. Weddle and Mosley were big parts of that. The Ravens will attempt to re-sign Mosley, and perhaps the money saved from cutting Weddle will help.
Weddle was in the final year of a four-year, $26 million deal. Cutting him saves $7.5 million on the salary cap, according to OverTheCap.com, which is significant. It’s just a big loss to the Ravens defense.
Will Weddle decide to retire?
Assuming Weddle wants to keep playing, there will be a market for him. He’s unlikely to sign another long deal, but can be a quick fix for a team that needs safety help. He might look good with a Chiefs defense that needs secondary help to get over the hump in the AFC, for example.
However, Weddle told ESPN late last season that if the Ravens cut him, “I'm not going to go play for another team.”
“It's either play my last year here and that will be it and enjoy it, or this has been it,” Weddle told ESPN. “It's pretty simple. I'm a simple kind of guy."
At the Pro Bowl he changed that tune, saying he wanted to play in 2019 no matter what. Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, citing a source, said Weddle doesn’t want to retire.
Assuming Weddle wants to keep playing, he’ll presumably have plenty of opportunities.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
