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Tyler Linderbaum rumors are terrible news for Ravens' odds of keeping Pro Bowl center originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Baltimore Ravens have one of the most coveted pending free agents this offseason in center Tyler Linderbaum.
The Ravens are hoping to keep Linderbaum and avoid having him hit free agency, and their attempt to do included making him a "market-setting offer," per general manager Eric DeCosta.
"We've been having conversations, we've had conversations since the end of the season," DeCosta said. "At this point in time, we've made him a market-setting deal proposal offer. Hopefully, we can get something done with him between now and the start of the new league year."
While we don't have the exact numbers of that offer, we know Kansas City Chiefs center Creed Humphrey's four-year, $72 million deal ($18 million annual average) reigns supreme among centers, so the Ravens are north of that.
However, Linderbaum obviously has not taken that offer and that lends to the idea that, barring something even more substantial from Baltimore, the three-time Pro Bowler is going to hit the open market.
According to ESPN's Dan Graziano, people in league circles believe Linderbaum will get offers that exceed $20 million annually, but Baltimore isn't believed to be willing to spend that much.
"Meanwhile, the Ravens hope they can keep free agent center Tyler Linderbaum. But plenty of people in Indy believe he will get offers that exceed $20 million per year, and that Baltimore won't want to go that high," Graziano reported.
How high north of $20 million will Linderbaum get?
Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer didn't provide an answer to that, but he did say Linderbaum is looking for a whopping $25 million annually, although he doesn't think the veteran will ultimately come away with that much.
"Word is Ravens C Tyler Linderbaum is shooting for $25 million per year in free agency. I don’t think he quite gets there," Breer said.
All of this is obviously terrible news for the Ravens.
It's pretty clear that Linderbaum isn't going to settle for a contract that just surpasses Humphrey's and he's aiming a lot higher.
And that "a lot higher" appears to be too rich for Baltimore's blood.
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