Mark Ingram has barely played for several weeks now, but the Ravens benching him for salary cap reasons in the playoffs is something different.
The Baltimore Ravens will play the Buffalo Bills on Saturday night with a trip to the AFC Championship Game on the line. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, running back Mark Ingram will be a healthy scratch again.
Ingram was a healthy scratch for the Wild Card Round as well. He played in Week 17, with nine carries for 39 yards in game that meant nothing to the Ravens, But he was also a healthy scratch in Week 15 and Week 16, which was preceded by playing just one snap in Week 14. An ankle injury in Week 6 cost him two games, then Baltimore’s COVID-19 issue sidelined him for Week 12.
To Baltimore’s credit, they have made their backfield a two-man show centered on J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards. Ingram has no place in that picture.
Mark Ingram is being benched for salary cap reasons?
The most interesting part of Schefter’s report is the bit about Ingram understanding the decision to bench him is a business decision for the Ravens, due to “salary-cap considerations.” Since the salary cap is not a thing in the playoffs, that makes little sense on the surface. So a deeper dive is in order.
Ingram is due a base salary $5 million in 2021. The Ravens can clear that entire amount, with a $1.3 million dead money hit, by cutting him before June 1. He’ll surely be cut by the time the new league year starts March 17.
But Pro Football Talk has laid out some further implications. Under the 2020 CBA, if Ingram were to suffer an injury that prevented him from playing for the Ravens (or anyone else) next season he’d be entitled to $2 million. The first $1.2 million of that would count against the salary cap, with the remaining $800,000 treated as player benefit costs.
Even with the reality of a lower salary in 2021, it’s only $1.2 million for the Ravens to risk playing Ingram if they felt he brought value to their Super Bowl pursuit. The greater risk is taking work away from Dobbins and Edwards, who have been getting it done. So benching Ingram is truly based on merit, which itself is a “business decision” in terms of putting the best players on the field.