The Ravens have agreed to a deal with a receiver and it isn’t Dez Bryant.
Continuing their makeover at the position, the Ravens have signed New Orleans Saints restricted free agent Willie Snead to an offer sheet, a team source confirmed. According to ESPN, Snead and the Ravens agreed to a two-year, $10.4 million deal. Today is the final day teams can sign restricted free agents to offer sheets.
The New Orleans Saints now have five days to match the deal or they’ll lose Snead to the Ravens without compensation.
The Saints only have about $6 million in salary cap space and they recently signed restricted free agent and one-time Ravens target Cameron Meredith away from the Chicago Bears. He joins a receiving group that also includes Michael Thomas, Ted Ginn Jr. and Brandon Coleman, and the Ravens are optimistic that they won’t match the deal.
Snead, 25, would give the Ravens a young slot receiver. They’ve already signed veterans Michael Crabtree and John Brown this offseason, but both are more suited to play outside. The Snead addition, though, would almost certainly take the Ravens out of the running for Bryant, the former Dallas Cowboys star who was released last week.
The Ravens maintained interest in Bryant, but it was never clear whether there was any momentum toward a deal. Bryant reportedly wants to stay in the NFC East and his top choice is the New York Giants.
Snead has 149 catches for 1,971 yards and seven touchdown receptions over the past three seasons for the New Orleans Saints. The former undrafted free agent burst on the scene in 2015, catching 69 passes for 984 yards and three touchdowns 15 games for the Saints.
He followed that up with another solid season, catching 72 balls for 895 yards and four touchdowns in 15 games in 2016. However, he took a significant step back last year. He was suspended for the first three games of the season after violating the league’s personal conduct policy. The suspension stemmed from an offseason arrest on charges of driving while intoxicated and failing to maintain proper control of a vehicle.
When Snead returned to the field, he made little impact. He caught just eight passes for 92 yards in 11 games, including seven starts.