Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti characterized five-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Haloti Ngata as a cornerstone player in franchise history.
For Ngata to extend his career and eventually retire with the Ravens, though, a financial compromise will need to be reached. Two weeks before free agency, the clock is ticking for Ngata and the Ravens to work something out.
The Ravens are trying to restructure Ngata's deal heading into the final season of a five-year, $61 million contract. He's carries a team-high $16 million salary cap figure and has an $8.5 million base salary. Last year, the Ravens were able to negotiate a salary-cap friendly deal with outside linebacker Terrell Suggs.
"You go back to Suggs, we were able to successfully do that, which doesn't guarantee that he retires as a Raven, but it certainly guaranteed that we would play him well into his 30s," Bisciotti said. "We were successful with Ray [Lewis]; we were unsuccessful with Ed [Reed]. I put Haloti [Ngata] in that group of iconic players that helped us to get where we are as a franchise.
"That's [general manager] Ozzie [Newsome's] job to negotiate the nuances of those contracts that allow us to get some cap relief and give Haloti a chance to stay here. Twenty-eight teams don't have Royal Farms stores in their area, so there is some incentive for him to want to stay here to close things out."
Ngata, who had 32 tackles, two sacks and a pair of interceptions in a dozen games and was suspended for the final four games of the regular season for violating the NFL performance-enhancing drug policy, appears in commercials for local convenience store chain Royal Farms.
Meanwhile, the Ravens are also working on a restructured contract for cornerback Lardarius Webb. Webb has a $12 million salary cap figure and an $8 million base salary. Cutting Webb would create $10 million in dead money and save just $2 million.
"We will exhaust every avenue that we have to retain our players," Newsome said. "We like to retain our football players, and we also like to be able to create some cap room."