 So big update here with the Baltimore Ravens and Justin Matabique. So of course, as we know today, well, when you see in this video, it will be yesterday the Baltimore Ravens officially placed the franchise tag on Justin Matabique. That franchise tag is worth $22.1 million. And that goes all the way on the salary cap right here, right now, unless they end up working out a long-term deal. But there were some things when we first reported on the Baltimore Ravens placing a franchise tag on Justin Matabique, there was some more intricate details that ended up coming out afterwards. And they make a big difference in how the Baltimore Ravens and Justin Matabique can both move forward before we get into that. Make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel, turn your notifications on and leave a like on the video so you can stay updated with everything. I love y'all. And let's get into this new. So, you know, with the franchise tag, there are different types of franchise tags that can be used that can be placed on players when they're getting ready to hit free agency, so they don't hit free agency. And the type of tag that was used on Justin Matabique is the non-exclusive franchise tag. Now, I know Baltimore Ravens fans are very familiar with the non-exclusive franchise tag because that's what got used on Lamar Jackson last year. But we don't want to talk about that whole ugly scenario. We're just glad that we made it past that. And we can look at that and smile about it now because Lamar Jackson got his bread, got his contract, got his deal, and that is a thing of the past. Anyway, with Justin Matabique, they use the non-exclusive franchise tag on Justin Matabique and what that means is a couple of things. It allows Justin Matabique to negotiate with other teams if he chooses to. So because, again, he's not exclusively tagged to the Ravens, it's a non-exclusive. So he can go communicate with other teams, he can go negotiate with other teams, talk to them about a contract, and if the team decides to sign him to an offer sheet, so they try to sign him to a contract, the Ravens have two options. One, they can match it. They can match the offer, they can be like, all right, OK, that's a good offer, thanks for doing the work for us, but we'll take it from here. We will sign Justin Matabique to that same contract. Or if the Baltimore Ravens decide not to match the offer presented from the other team, then Justin Matabique will go to that set team, but the Baltimore Ravens will receive two first round draft picks. And that is a heavy price to pay for Matabique. Now, the Baltimore Ravens, but that would mean both sides would kind of win, kind of sort of Ravens with two first round draft picks. And Eric Dacosta in the first round, he's he's been money in the first round. He done pretty much hit on his first round draft picks for sure. So him having two of them would be a beautiful thing. But you will lose Justin Matabique. But at the same time, you wouldn't have to pay all that money to Matabique. But at the same time, you will be letting your best interior past Russia go when it's been a struggle to find somebody who can be disruptive as an interior defensive lineman. It's been a struggle for the Baltimore Ravens with that for a long time. So, yeah, that's where it gets a little tricky. Now, Eric Dacosta and Justin Matabique, this non-exclusive franchise tag, it could be a very smart move because obviously the two sides are not close at all when it comes to the contract, two sides are far apart. And we could determine that because the Baltimore Ravens, they placed the franchise tag on Justin Matabique about three hours before the deadline. And we know how Ravens, they love pushing deadlines. They love taking stuff all the way to the deadline and even past the deadline. Sometimes remember when they tried to draft, but didn't draft Jimmy Smith. Remember, they turned in the pick too late. They missed the deadline on that. But anyway, with the Baltimore Ravens, they are far apart in talks with Justin Matabique. Now, something that they could possibly, and it would make sense that whether they're waiting on it or Justin Matabique, he's waiting on it because it benefits him more than anything. He may be waiting for a couple of big time pending free agents to get their bread. Then he can see what kind of bread he can get after that. Because remember, the market is all about timing, timing is everything. Christian Wilkins from the Miami Dolphins, he is getting ready to be a free agent. But then Chris Jones from the Kansas City Chiefs, he is set to be a free agent. Now, it has been said that the Chiefs and Chris Jones, they're working on a deal. And there were rumors going around that they may have to pay him around like 25 to 27 mil per year. We'll see what happens with that. And with Christian Wilkins, a lot of people thought the Dolphins may franchise tag him, but they are letting him test the market. It's also been said that they interested in possibly bringing him back, but they're going to let him test the market, see how that goes. So with Justin Matabique and Eric Dacosta and the Ravens, they are most likely going to have to wait on either one or both of those deals to get done. But now at the same time, Christian Wilkins, he could be waiting on Justin Matabique and he could be waiting on Chris Jones. Chris Jones is the only one, in my opinion, who I do not think is waiting because he is the most established guy out of those two. He is the most accomplished guy out, excuse me, not out of those two, out of the three. So I don't think Chris Jones is waiting on anybody. He already got paid before, so he's just looking to get paid again. This will not be his second contract. I believe this will be his third. But so he already done got money, but he's getting ready to get a lot more money very, very soon, most likely from the Chiefs. But we'll see where it ends up coming from. But so I think more so, Justin Matabique and Christian Wilkins, those are the guys that are waiting. Now, a lot of people, I've seen a lot of Ravens fans ever since the franchise tag was officially applied to Justin Matabique. I've seen a lot of Ravens fans having some interesting discourse. And I get it because it is something that is worth talking about because a lot of Ravens fans have been like, hmm, well, Justin Matabique, should we really pay Justin Matabique? Because his first three years, they were all right. But then he broke out this this last year. Should Ravens really give him the money? Is he really worth all that bread? And I get it because, yeah, you look at the first three years and they were nothing in comparison to this year, but something that's important to keep in mind, something that we've talked about literally all season or all last season with Justin Matabique. His first year, he was a rookie, was he a starter? No. His second year, he was not a starter. His third year, he was not a starter. All three of those years, his first three years in the league, he was a part-time player. He was not a starter. So his opportunities were minimal. What happened his fourth fourth year? I haven't with Kalaeus Campbell. Kalaeus Campbell was cut. They did not bring him back. Boom, enter Justin Matabique. He gets the most opportunity that he's got in throughout his entire career. And guess what happens? He got more opportunities. He got more production and that more production is going to equal a lot more money. Is it a coincidence? I think not. I think not. It only makes sense. He was out there more. He was out on the field more. So he got more opportunities to produce and he did just that. So he struck while it was hot. Now he's just trying to see if the Ravens, if they're going to strike a deal. Wow. Why he's hot. Let's look at these numbers. They were brought to us by Ryan Mink in 2020, his rookie year. He got one sack, Justin Matabique, not Ryan Mink. Well, Justin Matabique got one sack and two QB hits. Then in 2021, the following year, he got two sacks and five QB hits. Then in 2022, the following year, he got five and a half sacks and nine QB hits. Then this past year, he got 13 sacks and 33 QB hits. So literally every single year, he at least doubled his sack production. Now, next year, we cannot. I don't think it's realistic to expect him to get 26 sacks. I don't think we should. And I was talking to my guy yesterday, my guy, Jason, and he was saying it's a good point because if he does remain with the Baltimore Ravens, Justin Matabique, that is, then it is a possibility that his sack production could go down because he's going to be garnering more attention now. Now people know who Justin Matabique is. So he may not get all the sacks in the world like he got this year, but we should still expect him to be a good player. But that was those are some good numbers from him when it comes to just the increased production, again, with the increased opportunity. Now, I initially, when they first placed the franchise tag on Justin Matabique, I thought that they had until May to get a deal done. Oh, no, they got a lot longer because the Ravens, they have until July 15 to work out a long term contract extension with Justin Matabique. So now we're not even at March 15. So they got March, April, May, June, July. They got a little over four months to come to a contract agreement with Justin Matabique, something that Ryan Mink also had highlighted. I got to make sure I get the numbers right for this. I believe he said the Ravens have used the franchise tag nine times and out of those nine times, they have come to contract agreements with seven of those players. Let me see if I can find it real quick. Yes, yes, he said they've now used the franchise tag on nine players. They've reached deals with seven of them. The most recent I can that I remember them not reaching to deal with is Matt Judon, then he went off to New England and he'd been doing this thing over there for sure. Who was the other one? Oh, I this it's not ringing a bell right now. So my apologies, but y'all put in the comment section, whoever that person was that they didn't strike a deal with. But they got time. Bottom line is they got time. Now, again, we're waiting, waiting on those other players, mainly Chris Jones, because Chris Jones, he's going to be the one that resets the market for Justin Matabique, for these interior defensive linemen. So he's going to be the one that just breaks everything. And then Christian Wilkins, he'll be able to help out as well. But again, it all depends on who goes first. Who strikes a deal first? Because the Ravens, well, yeah, they have no choice now since they don't have Justin Matabique signed. They have no choice but to look around and wait and watch to see what happens with those other guys. And we'll be doing the same exact thing. We'll be waiting, watching and wondering what's going to happen. With those other players, specifically Chris Jones and Christian Wilkins, but it's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. Eric DeCosta, he has a whole lot of work to do, whole lot of work to do because right now the Ravens are over the cap. They got some different ways that they could get under the cap. But it's going to be a lot more. It's not just going to be about getting under the cap, but it's going to be about getting under the cap and having enough money and enough salary cap space to also make some moves because you got some guys out there that not going to come cheap. Whether it's free agents that you will be signing, whether it's pending free agents of your own that you may want to bring back. So Eric DeCosta got a lot of decisions to make. And this just it brings me back again. And I know we hate rehashing this and having to live it over again. But it is exactly what it is. This is why the Baltimore Ravens, they should have capitalized last year, but they didn't. They should have won it all last year, but they didn't because we knew all this stuff was coming. We knew all these big decisions were on the way. We knew the salary cap was going to be crazy. We knew this team was not going to be able to stay together with everybody and keep some core pieces, of course. They got some core guys, but a lot of people could possibly be leaving. A lot of people trying to get paid. They trying to get their money and we get it. That's why last year should have been the year. Should have been the year because you would have had to deal with all this stuff either way. But if you deal with all this stuff coming off a Super Bowl, then it puts you in a much happier place.