Ravens to release Danny Woodhead

The Baltimore Ravens have cleared a little cap space, and a bit of playing time in their backfield, by releasing Danny Woodhead.

As it stands right now, the Baltimore Ravens are toward the bottom of the NFL in salary cap space. They also have a lot of running back depth, and on Tuesday they loosened things up a little on both fronts by releasing Danny Woodhead.

Coming off a torn ACL with the Chargers in 2016, Woodhead signed a three-year deal with the Ravens last offseason. But a hamstring injury limited him to just eight games, with minimal production (14 carries for 56 yards, 33 receptions for 200 yards). He has now played eight or fewer games in three of the last four seasons.

The Ravens had Alex Collins emerge as a lead back last season, with 973 rushing yards (4.6 yards per carry) and six touchdowns in 15 games. Kenneth Dixon is set to return from a knee injury that cost him the entire 2017 season, as he also served a six-game suspension while on IR. Javorius “Buck” Allen (at least 45 receptions in two of the last three seasons) remains in the mix as well.

Woodhead was only set to make a little over $2.5 million this year, and the Ravens will only clear $1.8 million in salary cap space by cutting him. But every bit counts, and at 33 years old with a significant recent injury history Baltimore sees it can’t really count on Woodhead going forward.

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In the last two seasons he has played all 16 games Woodhead had 76 (2013) and 81 receptions (2015), with six receiving touchdowns in each, and he averaged over four catches per game last year. So in a pass-catching role he still has value, provided he can stay on the field, and he should not lack for suitors. But Woodhead joins a growing list of 30-plus year-old running backs on the market.