Getty Former Baltimore Ravens 2nd rounder Tyus Bowser has filed a grievance against the team.
The Baltimore Ravens made some notable moves this offseason to clear up cap space.
They traded away Morgan Moses. They terminated Odell Beckham Jr.’s contract.
The Ravens also released Tyus Bowser.
It turns out that they won’t be saving as much cap space as they expected on one of those players.
According to Russell Street Report’s Brian McDonald, Bowser has filed a grievance against the Ravens because he wasn’t paid for the 2023 season after being placed on the reserve/non-football injury list.
What it Means for Baltimore
According to McDonald, the grievance will result in a reduction from their cap space of $1.8 million for 2024. He doesn’t expect the grievance to be settled until 2025.
That would mean the reduction will remain in place for all of next season.
If they end up winning the ruling, they would receive a credit for their salary cap in 2025. If they lose, they would be charged another $2.7 million.
The $1.8 million isn’t a huge hit, but it’s also far from ideal for a Ravens organization that still has some holes to fill on their roster.
Last offseason, the Ravens were at their busiest starting in April.
They agreed to their deal with Beckham early in April.
They picked up Rock Ya-Sin in early May.
The Ravens brought in Laquon Treadwell in June and added Melvin Gordon in July.
Losing cap space now will make it more difficult for them to repeat last year’s strategy.
They are currently just more than $9 million under the cap for the 2024 season according to Spotrac.
They should still be active after the draft once they see what positions they still need to address, but they’d certainly prefer to have all of their expected cap space available to make the last moves they need to round out their roster.
Bowser’s Run With the Ravens
The Ravens are the only team that Bowser has played for since they selected him in the second round of the 2017 draft.
It took a little while for that pick to look like it was going to pay off.
While he quickly became a part of the rotation for the Ravens’ defense, appearing in every game except one over his first three season, but he didn’t make a start until year four.
Over the four years of his rookie contract, Bowser totaled just 80 tackles and 10.5 sacks.
The Ravens still decided to bring him back on another deal. They signed him to a four-year extension worth $22 million.
That decision looked great at first. Bowser had the best season of his career in the first year of the deal.
He started all 17 games for the Ravens in 2021, making 59 total tackles with 7 sacks and also forced a pair of fumbles.
Then injuries struck in 2022. He started the season on the PUP list because of a torn Achilles and was limited to just nine games. In those nine games, he was only able to make 13 tackles with two sacks.
Then he suffered the knee injury that kept him out for the entirety of the 2023.
His time with the Ravens ended with him being cut to open up $5.5 million in cap space.
Now it looks like that release isn’t the end of the story for Bowser and the Ravens.