Top Ravens free agent Tyler Linderbaum got the mega contract elsewhere, as the Pro Bowl center will reportedly sign a record-setting three-year deal with the Las Vegas Raiders, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
General Manager Eric DeCosta said at the Combine that the Ravens made a “market-setting” offer to Linderbaum. The Raiders didn’t just reset the center market. They shattered it.
Linderbaum’s three-year deal is worth a reported $81 million, a whopping average of $27 million per year. The previous highest-paid center, the Chiefs’ Creed Humphrey, has an $18 million average salary. Linderbaum’s reported $60 million in guaranteed money also blows out Humphrey’s $50.3 million.
Reports indicated that Linderbaum’s camp was aiming for a contract averaging $25 million per year. They exceeded that, with reportedly a large number of teams interested in Linderbaum’s services.
A first-round pick in 2022, the Ravens opted not to pick up Linderbaum’s fifth-year option, which would have carried a 2026 salary of $23.4 million. Linderbaum’s reported average also tops what a 2026 franchise tag would have cost at $25.7 million.
Linderbaum’s new reported $27 million average exceeds Kyle Hamilton’s $25.1 million on the four-year deal he inked in Baltimore last summer.
The Raiders, who reportedly traded star defensive end Maxx Crosby to the Ravens for two first-round picks, were looking to invest in a front-line blocker in front of their next quarterback, presumably first-overall pick and Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza. The mobile Linderbaum is also an excellent fit in new Head Coach Klint Kubiak’s stretch zone run scheme.
