Today, the Baltimore Ravens extended an offer sheet to wide receiver Willie Snead IV. Snead, a restricted free agent from the New Orleans Saints, joined the NFL in 2014 as an undrafted free agent. He saw his first NFL action in 2015 with the Saints, when he caught 69 passes for 984 yards, and three touchdowns. His defacto rookie season was very impressive, and his production carried into 2016, when Snead caught 72 passes, for 895 yards, and four touchdowns. In 2017, however, Snead saw his production drastically drop. He caught only eight passes for 92 yards, playing in just 11 games. Snead dealt with a lingering hamstring injury in 2017, which was one of the factors in his poor performance.

The Baltimore Ravens are offering Willie Snead a two-year, $10.4 million deal. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Snead’s deal has a base salary of $7 million, with $3.4 million in incentives, and a $2 million signing bonus. Brian McFarland, the salary cap expert at Russell Street Report, speculated about the deal. He believes that Snead’s cap hit in 2018 will be around $2 or $3 million. The structure of the deal, aside from the duration and overall monetary value, has yet to be released.

The New Orleans Saints have 5 days to match the offer sheet given to Snead if the team wants to retain him. This is unlikely to happen, though, as New Orleans is already breaking the bank for other receivers. The Saints recently added Cameron Meredith to the roster on a 2 year, $9.6 million deal. New Orleans also re-signed receiver Brandon Coleman. The value of Coleman’s deal is currently unknown. By making the move to potentially sign Snead, the Ravens are now out of the running for Dez Bryant. The Ravens were reportedly very aggressive in pursuing Bryant, but it seems that he has little to no interest in playing for the Ravens. Bryant has said that he wants to continue playing in the NFC East.

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