Ravens Release LB Brendon Ayanbadejo

Last night, the Ravens made their first roster move in a few days.  They decided to part ways with soon to 37-year old LB Brendon Ayanbadejo.

The Ravens have released backup LB Brendon Ayanbadejo.

With this move, the Ravens will save $807,000 in salary cap room.  Just last offseason, the Ravens signed Ayanbadejo to a 3-year contract worth $3.22 million.

Ayanbadejo played backup linebacker and was a key special teamer during the Ravens Super Bowl run this year.  He has been with the Ravens for the last five seasons after playing in Miami and then Chicago.

In 16 regular season games, last season, Ayanbadejo had 43 tackles and 1 sack.  In the postseason, he only had 2 tackles.  More importantly though, he had a key block on Jacoby Jones’s 108-yard kickoff return touchdown in Super Bowl XLVII.

It seems like Ayanbadejo was cut for his age and declining age, not for his cap hit of $1.073 million this season.  It is tough to play football at the age of 37, it is even tougher when you only play defense as a pass defending linebacker and play special teams.  You have to be athletic and fast to be a good pass defending linebacker and teams can always find young players who can play special teams for cheap.

As of right now, it is unknown if Ayanbadejo will try and continue his football career, or if he will retire.