Eric Weddle's Big Free-Agent Deal a Necessary Gamble for Leaky Ravens Secondary

There's a certain risk inherent to free agency in the National Football League. Many times, players are paid for what they've done, not what they will do. It's doubly so of aging players who receive millions based on their resumes and not what's left in the tank.

However, in the case of the Baltimore Ravens and veteran safety Eric Weddle, general manager Ozzie Newsome took a risk he had to take, shelling out big money in the hopes of bolstering the back end of a Baltimore defense that badly needs a boost.

As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported, Weddle, who has spent the entirety of his nine-year career with the San Diego Chargers, agreed to terms on a four-year, $26 million contract with $13 million in guarantees.

The 31-year-old reportedly (per Eric Edholm of Yahoo Sports) had offers from or was in talks with three other teams. But the bearded one himself confirmed via Twitter he is Baltimore-bound:

That, in turn, met with the approval of another Ravens veteran who joined the team via free agency a couple of years back:

And just like with Smith, the Ravens are hopeful Weddle will be able to turn back the clock in 2016.

The 2015 campaign is one Weddle would probably just as soon forget. Hampered by a groin injury, Weddle missed three games—after missing only four in his first eight seasons combined. Weddle's 78 tackles were his lowest total since his rookie year. For the first time in his career Weddle failed to intercept a single pass, and he finished outside of the top 10 players at his position in the rankings at Pro Football Focus.

There was also a highly public falling out with the Chargers, a split so acrimonious that at season's end Weddle told reporters (h/t Mighty 1090 AM), "I probably won't speak to [the Chargers] again."

It was a much different story Monday. As Weddle told Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, "I couldn't be more excited and pumped to be a part of a championship organization who wanted me from Day One."

If that improvement in attitude translates to a return to form for Weddle, then that $13 million in guarantees is going to start looking reasonable really quickly.

As recently as 2014 Weddle was both a Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro, topping 100 tackles and finishing the year as PFF's top safety. The season before that Weddle posted 115 stops, made the Pro Bowl and finished the year fifth at his position at PFF. Weddle was PFF's top safety in 2012. He was a Pro Bowler and All-Pro after picking off seven passes in 2011.

Three Pro Bowl trips. Two All-Pro nods. And four straight top-five finishes at Pro Football Focus. Simply put, Eric Weddle was one of the NFL's best free safeties over that four-year stretch. Maybe the best, at least in the AFC. Even during last year's "struggles," Weddle still checked in seventh among all safeties in pass coverage according to PFF.

And boy oh boy, could the Ravens use that help at the back of their defense.

In 2015, neither of the Ravens starters at safety (Will Hill and Kendrick Lewis) ranked inside PFF's top 20 at their position. Lewis ranked 70th. Both allowed a passer rating against of over 100 to opposing quarterbacks.

Yes, the Ravens rose from 23rd in pass defense in 2014 to 10 a year ago, but big plays were in precariously short supply. No team in the NFL had fewer interceptions last season than the Ravens' six.

Yes, the injuries that ravaged the Ravens on both sides of the ball helped contribute to their seven losses by six points or less. But when your pass defense is incapable of making a stop or forcing a turnover late in close games, guess what's going to happen?

As Acee wrote, it isn't just Weddle's ability to make plays on his own that will improve Baltimore's defense. The Ravens acquired a quarterback of sorts for the secondary—a savvy vet who will put teammates in position to make plays:

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It is well within the Chargers' rights to determine that a 31-year-old safety is no longer a necessity. They would have had to move on at some point. But you have to wonder who they think they'll get to fill his role, that of someone with nine years' experience, who knew enough and cared enough to spend hours each week watching film alone and with teammates so that they trusted him when he audibled pre-snap.

The plays are everywhere. Just go back through any number of games and watch him flailing his arms, yelling, even pushing his teammates into position.

It is an impressive thing to see what he sees. You can do it with the benefit of slow motion and rewind. He did it on the fly, innumerable times.

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Is there risk involved with handing a player the wrong side of 30 coming off a lingering injury over $10 million in guarantees? You bet, especially for a Ravens team that isn't exactly swimming in cap space.

But for Newsome and the Ravens, it was a risk worth taking. Even a hobbled Weddle in 2015 was a better player than either of Baltimore's starting safeties. A healthy Weddle, at anything resembling 100 percent, is light-years better, both in terms of playmaking ability as an individual and the leadership he brings to the unit.

It's classic Newsome. Classic Ravens. A risk—but a calculated one, with big potential for reward.

And while Weddle may not have been the first signing of free agency, and he certainly wasn't the biggest, if the Ravens get anything close to the Eric Weddle they're hoping for...

The signing will go down as one of 2016's best.

Gary Davenport is an NFL analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter @IDPSharks.