Baltimore Ravens sign cornerback Brandon Carr

The Baltimore Ravens have signed cornerback Brandon Carr to a four-year deal. Carr played for the Dallas Cowboys during the 2016 season.

The Baltimore Ravens have signed cornerback Brandon Carr to a four-year deal, per Adam Schefter on Twitter.

The deal is structured in a somewhat complex way. Per Schefter, it’s not truly a four-year deal, rather it’s a one-year deal with a series of options that make it a four-year deal worth $24M.

According to Schefter, when it’s all said and done, the deal will likely turn out to be a two-year, $12M deal instead of the four-year $24M deal.

The Ravens have been connected to various different cornerbacks over this offseason, but most notably was their connection to Carr’s former teammate, Morris Claiborne, who they were expected to sign.

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Claiborne, however, signed with the New York Jets shortly after Carr’s signing with the Baltimore Ravens was announced.

Carr played with the Dallas Cowboys last season and came to them on a five-year, $50.1M in 2012. Carr, however, never quite lived up to the large contract he signed in Dallas and ended up taking a large pay cut.

Carr was listed by Pro Football Rumors as the seventh-best free agent cornerback this offseason, and the second-best currently available cornerback, behind Claiborne.

The big difference between Claiborne and Carr, and the reason I personally believe that Carr was the better choice, is the fact that Claiborne has dealt with injury after injury during his career, while Carr started in every regular season game for the Cowboys since he joined them in 2012.

While Carr is older (he’s 31) and perhaps not quite as talented as Claiborne (Carr was ranked by Pro Football Focus as the 52nd best overall cornerback in the NFL in 2016, whereas Claiborne was ranked 12th), Carr is a safer bet.

The Ravens already have a talented, and oft-injured, cornerback in Jimmy Smith, acquiring Claiborne would’ve likely been getting more of the same. Carr gives them a talented corner who will stay on the field.

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The addition of Carr will sure up a Ravens secondary that is growing increasingly stronger and should be able to keep up with their excellent run defense that they had last season.