I wonder if a deal with Stanley can get done before the start of the season. I think we got a good parameter of what we are looking at for a deal. Dion Dawkins got $15M annually(4 year $60M), while Tunsil got $22M annually(3 Year $66M). Stanley should fall in line around $18M-$20M annually when it's all set & done.
1. As others have asked, what has Tunsil done to get paid more than Stanley? If Stanley decides to take less, it will be purely from generosity, not through being less of a valued player.
2. To me, there really just isn't the cap space to sign Stanley to an extension at this point.
He counts $12.9M now, and the Ravens have less than $7M in cap space, with some of that being erased when the rule of 51 drops and they have to pay a full roster (which is now a bigger roster). Realistically, they're probably sitting on $4-5M in cap space when they enter the season, and you need a couple million to be able to sign players as injuries occur.
That means an extension at, say, $20M per year is going to have to include a 2020 cap hit of probably less than $15M, which is quite low for an average that high, AND, you need to factor in the idea that 2021's salary cap is almost certainly going to decline, which means if Stanley's going to carry a $20M+ cap hit in 2021, it's going to make it that much tougher to retain or extend players.
You either need to backload the crap out of the deal, which you could do, but then you're staring at like $25-30M cap hits in like 2022-2023, which are largely uncertain cap years at this point.
Given the uncertainty of the 2021 salary cap, wouldn't surprise me if he's franchise tagged next season in lieu of a long term contract in 2022. Franchise tag will likely be in the $17-18M range, or less.
