Guard Kevin Zeitler marked a three-year, $22 million deal with the Baltimore Ravens, a source disclosed to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The deal includes $16 million in ensures, the source added.
Zeitler, 31, was signed hours before the beginning of the NFL’s legal tampering period for free agents since he was cut a week ago by the New York Giants.
Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said one of the significant needs this offseason was to improve the pass security for quarterback Lamar Jackson, and he upheld that up with Baltimore’s sans first specialist marking. Last season, Baltimore permitted Jackson to get forced on 22.7% of his passes (seventeenth in the NFL).
The addition of Zeitler helps makes up for the shortfall at right gatekeeper left when Marshal Yanda resigned a year ago. Baltimore never supplanted the eight-time Pro Bowl lineman in free office a year prior and began three players (Tire Phillips, Patrick Mekari and Ben Powers) at right watchman in 2020.
Zeitler gets back to the AFC North subsequent to spending the previous two seasons with the Giants. A first-round pick by the Bengals in 2012, he played five seasons in Cincinnati (2012-16) and afterward joined the Cleveland Browns (2017-18) for two seasons. In 2019, Zeitler was important for the exchange that sent Odell Beckham Jr. to the Browns.
The marking of Zeitler doesn’t influence Baltimore’s capacity to build compensatory picks this offseason in light of the fact that he was a cap cut. With pass-rushers Matthew Judon and Yannick Ngakoue expected to sign somewhere else, the Ravens are in line for possibly two third-round comp picks.