10 Pending Free Agents Ravens Should Re-Sign

Like Jones, the 2022 fourth-rounder saved his best for last, excelling in his final rookie-contract year. After three seasons of promising flashes, Stout broke out in his make-or-break campaign, earning his first Pro Bowl and First Team All Pro honors. He proved a reliable field-flipping weapon for the Ravens, pinning opponents inside their 20-yard line 24 times — 45.3% of his punts. Stout averaged a career-high 50.1 yards per punt and 44.9 net yards per punt. He deserves to be paid top dollar for his position, which is around $4 million per year.

QB Tyler Huntley

One of the biggest mistakes that DeCosta made last offseason wasn't making a significant investment in the backup quarterback spot, but rather who he chose to allocate those resources into. Instead of signing veteran Cooper Rush, who was never a stylistic fit in Baltimore behind Lamar Jackson, he should've just brought back Huntley, who went unsigned throughout the spring and summer and spent the preseason with the Cleveland Browns. The former undrafted free agent began his career in Baltimore and even made a Pro Bowl during his first stint with the team.

Huntley picked up where he left off and led the Ravens to their only two victories against teams with winning records with the season on the line. He showed tremendous strides in his maturation as an in-rhythm passer and was even more effective as a scrambler and on designed runs. Meanwhile, Rush didn't just go 0-2 in his two-week stint as a stopgap starter, but the offense looked woefully inept against eventual playoff teams, totaling just 13 points and averaging just 251.5 yards of total offense. The cap space the Ravens can save by parting ways with Rush this offseason, which seems inevitable, can be put towards keeping Huntley in Baltimore for the foreseeable future.

DB Alohi Gilman

The trade that brought the sixth-year veteran safety to Baltimore and sent former first-rounder Odafe Oweh to the Los Angeles Chargers helped unlock the Ravens' defense. His presence as the third safety helped free up his former college teammate, three-time All Pro Kyle Hamilton, to be deployed and maximized in a diverse role. He also made several impactful plays in his own right, including two fumble recoveries, a force fumble, a tackle for loss that resulted in a turnover on downs, six pass breakups, and taking a pitched interception 84 yards for his first career touchdown.

The Ravens will likely only look to bring back one of their veteran free agent safeties, and while Ar'Darius Washington played exceptionally well when healthy in 2024, Gilman has been the more durable of the two and has great chemistry with both Hamilton and 2025 first-rounder Malaki Starks. Bringing him back makes the most sense and offers the lowest amount of risk, as Washington has only played a full season just once in his five-year career.

TE Charlie Kolar

While the extension of Andrews all but guarantees that fourth-year pro Isaiah Likely will be departing in free agency if he isn't franchise tagged, there's still a strong chance the Ravens can bring back Kolar. He was the first tight end they selected in the fourth round in 2022 and has carved out an unheralded yet vital role in Baltimore as a stout blocker, overlooked pass catcher, and core special team contributor.

There's also a chance that Kolar could follow in the footsteps of Josh Oliver, who had a similar career arc and ended up signing a three-year deal worth $21 million in the 2023 offseason. If his market isn't as robust as Oliver's surprisingly was, the Ravens should have him high on their priority list to ensure that their 12 personnel packages remain a potent and dynamic threat.

EDGE Dre'Mont Jones

Much like Gilman, when the Ravens acquired the seventh-year veteran hybrid pass rusher ahead of the midseason deadline, he made an immediate impact. The team's pass rush had been much-maligned through the first half of the year. He brought a lot of juice, physicality, and intensity to the front seven as a whole. He recorded 2.5 sacks and a team-leading 15 quarterback hits in nine games. Jones wound up playing 18 games, starting the season with the Tennessee Titans before their bye and joining the Ravens after theirs. He finished with 7.5 sacks and 24 quarterback hits in total. Bringing back the 29-year-old, who has recorded at least four sacks in each of his first six seasons and fits the team from an attitude and playstyle standpoint, should take priority. This is more important than prioritizing aging Pro Bowl 12-year veteran Kyle Van Noy, who is coming off a down year and is soon to be 35 years old.

WR DeAndre Hopkins

The five-time Pro Bowler didn't post prolific numbers with the Ravens in 2025. However, his impact on the team was still profound, particularly from the standpoints of veteran leadership and timely playmaking. He averaged less than a catch per game and finished with just 22, but over 70% of them resulted in first downs (15), many of which came in crucial situations. Hopkin's 330 receiving yards were the second-most among wideouts on the team by more than 100, and his 15 yards per catch average was his highest mark in over a decade since his second year in the league. The soon-to-be 34-year-old shared that he plans to play at least one more season, and it should be in Baltimore because with a healthier and highly motivated Jackson under center in 2026, it shouldn't be cost-prohibitive after they got him on a one-year deal worth $5 million last offseason.

CB Chidobe Awuzie

While many Ravens fans' last memory of the nine-year veteran is him slipping and allowing what ultimately wound up being the game-winning touchdown in the team's season-ending loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, his body of work over the course of the year was very strong. In his return to the AFC North and first season in Baltimore, Awuzie was the Ravens' most consistent corner in coverage and made two-time Pro Bowler Jaire Alexander expendable to the point that he went from being demoted to a regular healthy scratch to getting traded to Philadelphia Eagles after Week 9. He was signed as a cap casualty in the early stages of free agency and proved to be one of the best bargains in the league.

If the Ravens wind up moving on from two-time All Pro veteran Marlon Humphrey at some point this offseason via trade or release, bringing back Awuzie would ensure they still have a stud tandem on the outside with 2024 first-rounder Nate Wiggins manning the opposite half of the field.

FB Patrick Ricard

No matter who ends up getting hired as the Ravens' next head coach and/or offensive coordinator, bringing back the six-time Pro Bowler needs to be a part of their plans moving forward. It's not a coincidence that the rushing attack was finally able to consistently gain traction and get back to producing at a league-leading level after he returned to the lineup following a lengthy recovery from a calf injury he suffered towards the end of training camp.

Ricard is an integral cog to the success of both Jackson and, especially, five-time Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry when it comes to setting a tone and putting away games, and he deserves to finish his career in Baltimore, where it began.

ILB Jake Hummel

Deciding between putting him and fellow special teams ace, wide receiver Tylan Wallace, for the final spot on this list was tough, but it came down to the fact that all of the Ravens receivers under contract are entering the offseason healthy, but the same can't be said for their inside linebackers. The only healthy players at the position who are slated to return in 2026 are four-time Pro Bowl veteran Roquan Smith, third-year pro Trenton Simpson, and 2025 undrafted free agent Jay Higgins. Bringing back Hummel would give them some much-needed depth during OTAs and mini-camp while 2025 fourth-rounder Teddye Buchanan and undrafted free agent Chandler Martin recover from torn ACL injuries, with their projected return dates being the start of training camp.