Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley agreed to a couple of major contract changes this offseason.
Stanley agreed to cut his base salary from $11 million to $3 million with incentives in place that could allow him to earn back some of that compensation. He also turned the 2025 season into a void year, which puts him on track for free agency a year earlier than expected.
Stanley told Jeff Zrebiec of TheAthletic.com that he agreed to the revisions because he “just wouldn’t have personally felt good about leaving Baltimore” after a run of injury-plagued seasons that have limited both his availability and effectiveness. Stanley said he doesn’t “like not playing to my capability,” so it’s good news that he’s feeling a lot healthier as the 2024 season draws closer.
“I would just say I’ve been feeling more like myself than I have in previous years,” Stanley said. “For the most part, just to be able to feel like myself physically has made me a lot happier. I guess being in that state when I was younger, it wasn’t as savory as a moment or savory as a time, just knowing that, “OK, your career could have been over after one play,” and not knowing if I was ever going to feel like that again physically or athletically. To truly feel like that and be out there and just notice myself getting better every day and feeling more like my old self every day, it definitely makes me happy.”
Stanley turned 30 in March, but a return to good health and good form would set him up well for another big deal after the 2024 season along with providing a boost to an overhauled offensive line in Baltimore. That makes his status something to watch on multiple fronts in the coming months.