The Ravens and Shareece Wright are nearing a deal to keep the cornerback in Baltimore, Jeff Zreibec of the Baltimore Sun reports (via Twitter).
Wright bounced back from being inactive during the first four games of last season, doing so in San Francisco despite the 49ers signing him in free agency last year. The soon-to-be 29-year-old corner played in 11 games for the Ravens, starting six, and ranked as the team’s best corner, according to Pro Football Focus.
The Ravens keeping Wright may be a matter of Wright arriving in Baltimore to take a physical and sign the deal, according to Zreibec (on Twitter).
Baltimore has Jimmy Smith and Lardarius Webb on its 2016 cap sheet for $9.6MM and $9.5MM, respectively, so a deal for Wright probably won’t be too costly for the Ravens, who have $11.08MM in cap space entering Monday’s legal tampering period.
Here’s more from around the league on the night before said tempering period begins.
- Russell Okung will not be permitted to speak with teams during the tampering period even though he acts as his own agent, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports. In a memo circulated to teams earlier this week includes language that prohibits teams from discussing contracts with self-represented players during the two-day tampering period. The seventh-year tackle acts as his own agent. This could cloud the left tackle market, one that Okung is possibly atop entering his age-29 season. Although Okung’s hired a consultant, Florio notes his market may be slow to develop since the bulk of this free agent class’ linemen have agents who are well-connected in league circles and can establish asking prices for their clients. Florio anticipates Okung not hiring an agent will cost him as he enters free agency for the first time.
- The NFL will loosen constraints on the tampering period this year, Florio reports. Despite it being slashed from three days to two, this year’s soft free agency can feature teams discussing specific contract frameworks with agents as opposed to mere negotiating. Although several deals leaked early last season, most notable Ndamukong Suh‘s record Dolphins pact, teams are prohibited from executing or announcing an agreement in principle until 3 p.m. CT Wednesday. Violations of these rules can be construed as a violation of the league’s anti-tampering procedure or conduct detrimental to the league, Florio writes. The PFT reporter, though, adds deals will indeed be negotiated to their completion during the two-day window.
- Vernon Davis told ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson (Twitter link) he wants to play for four or five more seasons. Davis did not factor in much to the Broncos’ Super Bowl championship pursuit after being benched due to drops and a failure to grasp the offense upon midseason arrival. The 32-year-old Davis struggled the past two seasons after scoring 13 touchdowns in a Pro Bowl campaign in 2013. Davis caught 20 passes with the Broncos but none came in the team’s final five games, including its three postseason conquests. He joins Antonio Gates, Coby Fleener and Ben Watson among free agent tight ends.
- Already expressing interest in retaining Brandon Brooks and Ben Jones, the Texans are also interested in keeping swing tackle Chris Clark, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports. Houston traded a seventh-round pick to Denver for the 30-year-old Clark, and the team’s insurance policy to a potential injury to Derek Newton or Duane Brown ended up starting four games after Brown was lost for the season.