Spring can be cruel to football fans, as the NFL's draconian salary cap occasionally forces them to prematurely say goodbye to players they've come to know and love.
Such is apparently the case with Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith, who penned an elegant farewell to Baltimore in his blog Sunday. Smith, in his fourth year with the Ravens, is a free agent and is about to, as the kids say, get paid.
The 2014 season was the least productive of Smith’s career, yet he hauled in a career-high 11 touchdown passes. At 26 years old, Smith is bound to command at least 8-million per year in a new contract. The Ravens, however, have only a little over $4.5 million in salary cap room. Unlike basketball, where teams can exceed their cap to sign their own players, NFL teams can only spend up to the limit set by the league. On other teams, players who are under contract agree to restructure their deals to give the team more money to keep other players.
In Denver, for instance, quarterback Peyton Manning has reportedly decided to take 4 million fewer dollars now to keep other Broncos in the corral. And New England’s Tom Brady has reworked his contract before to keep teammates, some of whom just helped him win a fourth Super Bowl. By the way, if you think those references are a shot across the bow at Joe Flacco, who signed a ridiculously large 120-million contract two years ago and has now allowed two of his targets to leave without a word, you would be right.
But Flacco’s not the only culprit. Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti indicated at a press conference two weeks ago that Smith was pricing himself out of town, essentially drawing a line in the sand, and then letting Smith step over it.
Look, athletes come and go, and for all we know, general manager Ozzie Newsome may be on the verge of drafting or signing Smith’s replacement. He has done this kind of thing before. But while someone might wear Torrey Smith’s number 82, his value is incalculable off the field. Smith, who starred at Maryland before coming to Baltimore, grabbed the city’s heart when he caught two touchdown passes in a win over the Patriots hours after the death of his kid brother. He has been a fixture at charitable events around town and is genuinely regarded as a good guy. On a team that has welcomed in players with questionable, if not, totally absent character, Torrey Smith stood out as the kind of player, the kind of man, you’d want your kid to emulate.
But he’s apparently gone, and because of that, this Baltimore sports spring is really going to stink.