Baltimore Ravens Free Agency: Recapping the Weekend's Moves

The Baltimore Ravens made major strides in retaining some of their more-important free-agent players over the weekend.

Linebacker Jameel McClain was re-signed to a three-year deal after testing the open market and drawing interest only from the Denver Broncos. McClain was a priority re-sign for the team—he's started 31 of his last 32 games and had 84 tackles, one interception and one sack in 2011.

Another linebacker, Brandon Ayanbadejo, also received a new deal from the Ravens. Though Ayanbadejo isn't a regular starter, he's the Ravens' No. 2 tackler on special teams.

Baltimore lost safeties Haruki Nakamura and Tom Zbikowski to free agency, dealing a blow to a unit that struggled in 2011.

The addition of Corey Graham, another top kick- and punt-coverage player, does make up for some of their special teams losses, but failing to retain Ayanbadejo would have harmed the Ravens immensely.

Luckily, they were able to come to terms with him before another team could make a move.

The Ravens also brought in another outside free agent to help bolster their special teams—former Carolina Panthers safety Sean Considine.

Considine won't likely be a starter at his position, but will assist with kick coverage alongside Ayanbadejo and Graham. He started 11 games for the Panthers last season, racking up 52 tackles, one sack and an interception.

This weekend's moves show that the Ravens are working hard to improve their kick- and punt-coverage units. Last season, they gave up three return touchdowns and allowed an average of 29.2 yards on kick returns and 11.9 yards per punt return.

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