Costs For Ravens' Fifth-Year Options Revealed

The Ravens must decide whether or not to pick up Hamilton and Linderbaum's fifth-year options for 2026, which would carry significantly higher cap hits than they've had previously. It wasn't clear how much each player's option would be worth, but now it is thanks to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.

Hamilton's fifth-year option will come in at around $18.6 million, while Linderbaum's will come in at around $23.4 million. Both players have made two Pro Bowl appearances in their first three seasons, which increases the value of their fifth-year options.

Hamilton's fifth-year option seems like a no-brainer to pick up. A cap hit of that number would put him around $2.5 million below the league's highest-paid safety, Antoine Winfield Jr. of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, at just over $21 million per year. With Hamilton being arguably the best safety in the game, that number would be a bargain.

Linderbaum's is a bit more interesting, however. His cap hit would be around $5.5 million more than the league's highest-paid center in Creed Humphrey of the Kansas City Chiefs at $18 million per year.

Moreover, it would cost Baltimore around the same amount to decline the fifth-year option and instead use the franchise tag on him next offseason, and that option would give them even greater flexibility.

The Ravens could also extend both players long-term, and therefore the cap numbers presented here wouldn't matter much. That would be the ideal scenario, but of course, the financial side of the game is always tricky.

No matter how they get it done, the Ravens would obviously love to have these two stars around for the long haul.