Ravens Announce Fifth-Year Option Decision on 2 Stars

The Baltimore Ravens emerged from the 2025 NFL Draft as winners, despite their limited draft capital. Adding top talents like Georgia safety Malaki Starks and Marshall edge rusher Mike Green (who, albeit, comes with major off-field concerns) is a boost to the Ravens’ roster on paper.

The player-acquisition phases of the offseason are essentially over, and Baltimore is a better team than it entered the offseason, keeping expectations high amid a Super Bowl window. Now, the more administrative parts of the offseason have arrived.

Among them is the looming deadline to accept or decline fifth-year options from the 2022 NFL Draft.

On Wednesday, the Ravens announced their fifth-year option decisions on safety Kyle Hamilton and center Tyler Linderbaum.

Baltimore accepted Hamilton’s option, locking him into an $18.6 million deal for the 2026 season. Meanwhile, general manager Eric DeCosta declined Linderbaum’s option.

This isn’t inherently surprising, and it isn’t an indictment of Linderbaum’s performance. He’s looked the part of a long-term piece for the Ravens, and this decision doesn’t change that. The issue, rather, is linked to the league’s positional designations.

Centers are generally paid less than guards, who are making over $20 million per year at the top of the market. No center currently makes more than Kansas City Chiefs star Creed Humphrey, at $18 million per year. However, centers and guards are counted as interior offensive linemen for option purposes, and Linderbaum’s option would have cost Baltimore $23.4 million, according to Over the Cap.

That would make Linderbaum the most expensive center in the league, by far, and that’s not beneficial to the Ravens. Instead, they’ll try to extend him – perhaps past that $20 million mark – for a price less than the inflated fifth-year option.

“We are exercising the fifth-year option for Kyle Hamilton, with the goal of working toward a multi-year contract extension,” DeCosta said in a statement. “While we will not apply the fifth-year option to Tyler Linderbaum, it is our intention for him to remain a Baltimore Raven long term.”

The Baltimore faithful don’t need to be overly anxious about Linderbaum’s long-term status. The Ravens are in the business of keeping good football players, and declining the center’s option doesn’t make retaining him any less likely.

Barring something unforeseen, both are positioned to receive big extensions from the team that took them in Round 1 three seasons ago.