Ray Rice Reportedly Doesn't Plan On Attending Ravens Offseason Workouts Without A New Contract

At the unveiling of Nike's new NFL uniforms, Ray Rice told reporters that he looks forward to attending offseason workouts for the Baltimore Ravens. But a report from Aaron Wilson of Scout.com says otherwise. Wilson reports that, despite what Rice said on Tuesday, he does not plan on attending the Ravens offseason workouts until he has a new contract.

The Ravens can start their offseason program on April 16. Most of the workouts are voluntary so he technically wouldn't be doing anything wrong but most players end up attending. As Wilson notes, the Ravens have a history of getting longterm deals done with franchise players including Haloti Ngata and Terrell Suggs.

Rice is currently under the franchise tag, which will pay him approximately $7.7 million. The Ravens have until July 15 to get a longterm deal done with him or else he will play the 2012 season under the franchise tag.

For more on the Ravens, visit SB Nation's Baltimore Beatdown.

Unsurprisingly, Ray Rice was handed the Baltimore Ravens' franchise tag on Friday. He will be among the highest paid running backs in the league, earning $7.7 million next season. More importantly, the Ravens bought time to negotiate a long term contract with arguably their most important offensive player. Rice was set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

"As we have in the past, placing the franchise designation on a player allows us to keep negotiating on a long-term contract," Ravens General Manager Ozzie Newsome said. "Our goal is to keep Ray Rice a Raven. We've done this with other outstanding players through our history, including Haloti Ngata a year ago."

The Ravens could remove Rice's franchise tag if they can get a new contract in place by July 15. Whether it comes before, during, or after the season, expect a deal to get done at some point. Rice has stated several times that he would like to remain a Raven.

For more analysis of Rice's situation, be sure to check out Ravens blog Baltimore Beatdown.

The Baltimore Ravens are widely expected to use the franchise tag on running back Ray Rice, who is an impending free agent. There's no way the Ravens allow him to hit the market so they'll tag him and, according to ESPN, that tag is coming on Friday, which was expected.

Rice will play under the $7.7 million franchise tag tender, which is basically a one-year guaranteed contract. Rice, of course, wants to be paid on a long-term deal. Rumors say he's eyeing a similar deal as the one Adrian Peterson got, which paid him a reported $36 million in guaranteed money.

Another team could step in and try to pry Rice away from the Ravens but signing a franchise tag player requires two first round picks and no one's going to do that.

After the tag is applied, the two sides will have until July 15 to reach a long-term deal. It's something both sides want so I expect it to happen, eventually. It's a good match. Rice is young and deserves to be paid. And the Ravens run a lot of their offense through Rice.

For more on the Ravens and Ray Rice's situation, check out SB Nation's Ravens blog, Baltimore Beatdown.

Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice is coming off another Pro Bowl season and is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent on March 13, but the Ravens plan to apply the franchise tag to their star running back on Friday, a report by the Carroll County Times states.

The Baltimore Ravens are expected to designate Pro Bowl running back Ray Rice as their franchise player on Friday. The NFL deadline to use the tag is March 5. Rice has been expecting to receive a $7.7 million franchise tag, and now the Times has learned it's about to happen.

Even though Rice will be tagged, the Ravens still have until July 15 to work out a longterm deal to remove the franchise tag from the running back. Luckily for Rice, the Ravens had a good history of working out longterm deals after franchising a player prior to the start of the season.

For more analysis of Rice's situation, be sure to check out Ravens blog Baltimore Beatdown.

The Baltimore Ravens may be forced to place the franchise tag on free agent running back Ray Rice, which could pay the Pro Bowler close to $7.7 million guaranteed for the season. It might be tough for the two sides to come to a long term deal however, according to a report by Peter King of Sports Illustrated.

I'm hearing Rice wants an Adrian Peterson-type of contract; Peterson signed a seven-year deal worth up to $100 million last September, with the major provision that he'll make $40 million in the first three years. I don't see the Ravens doing that for Rice.

Rice has been playing on his rookie contract, making him a bargain for the Ravens the past three seasons. It's unlikely the Ravens will pay Rice that kind of money, so it's looking even more likely that Rice will be hit with the franchise tag. Another contract that could be used as a basis for Rice's deal could be that of Tennessee Titans RB Chris Johnson. Johnson signed a six-year $55 million contract with $30 million guaranteed with a $20 million signing bonus last season.

For more analysis of Rice's situation, be sure to check out Ravens blog Baltimore Beatdown.

Baltimore Ravens star running back Ray Rice is scheduled to hit free agency as an unrestricted free agent in the 2012 offseason, but it's likely the Pro Bowl running back is hit with the franchise tag, according to a report by The Baltimore Sun.

If an agreement isn't reached by the March 5 deadline for teams to apply the franchise tag -- and it would be somewhat surprising if there was a deal in place by then given the expected amount of money involved -- the Ravens have indicated that they will use the tag to keep Rice under contract for 2012.

If the Ravens decide to apply the franchise tag to Rice, he'll be paid roughly $7.7 million guaranteed for 2012 under the franchise tender. Rice is coming off his best season in the NFL and his third consecutive season rushing for more than 1,000 yards. Rice finished up 2011 with 1,364 rushing yards with 12 rushing touchdowns and 704 receiving yards with three receiving touchdowns, all career bests. The running back out of Rutgers has been a vital piece of the Ravens' success the past three seasons and is a priority for the Ravens to keep.

For more analysis of Rice's situation, be sure to check out Ravens blog Baltimore Beatdown.

The biggest offseason item on the Baltimore Ravens' to-do list is getting running back Ray Rice re-signed. From the sound of it, they've still got a bit of work to do on that front. The two sides have made no progress on agreeing to a deal for the now out-of-contract Rice, according to a report in Pro Football Talk.

That news seems to mean Rice could be heading toward the dreaded Franchise Tag. That would mean that a team signing Rice would have to send a first-round pick to the Ravens if they signed him.

For a player of Rice's pedigree, that hardly seems like a high price. Rice, 25, is coming off a career year in which he rushed for 1,364 yards and scored 15 touchdowns. He also had a career high 704 yards receiving and made 76 catches. He's now rushed for at least 1,200 yards, scored at least six touchdowns, made at least 60 catches and racked up 500 yards receiving for three straight seasons.

For more analysis of Rice's situation, be sure to check out Ravens blog Baltimore Beatdown.