Ronnie Stanley re-signing with the Baltimore Ravens is huge for a number of reasons.
On the surface, the Ravens accomplished their main mission of the offseason by keeping Stanley home just before he could hit the open market. They also got him on a very good deal, as they'll be paying him just $20 million per year when he could've earned around $25 million per year in free agency.
Looking deeper, this move will have a major impact on Stanley's legacy in Baltimore.
The 2025 season will now be Stanley's 10th in a Ravens uniform, making him just the 16th player in franchise history to spend a decade with the team, per StatMuse. He'll also become just the fourth offensive lineman to achieve such a feat, following Marshal Yanda, Jonathan Ogden and Mike Flynn.
While Stanley wasn't thinking about it early on, the chance to spend a decade with the team that drafted him definitely played a role in his decision.
"That definitely gets brought up to me a lot, especially going into my 10th year, and all of them are going to be in Baltimore, and that's something that growing up, I've never even, that wasn't even a goal of mine really," Stanley told reporters Monday. "That wasn't something I ever thought about. But that being said, [with] it actually happening – I am realizing how rare of a thing it is, and I think it's just a really cool thing to be able to spend 10 years of my career-plus with the same team that I got drafted with.
"I don't know the percentages of things like that happening, but I think that's a really cool thing. I'm very happy and appreciative that I could be one of those players that could experience that."
Stanley, who turns 31 on Tuesday, has definitely had his ups and downs over his decade in Baltimore, but his 2024 season was one of the best in his career. He overcame years of injuries and returned to Pro Bowl form, becoming a tremendous asset up front once again.
Stanley may not be able to see the future, but he feels he has more great football ahead of him.
"You have to get a little lucky to not have something bad happen in this game, but the other side of it is taking care of your body, and I feel like that's something I always try to put an emphasis on throughout my whole career," Stanley said. "I always try to look to get different advantages or the flexibility, hydration, whatever it is. I was very happy to play all the games this [past] year, but I don't think, for me, it was something that I was thinking about too much. Before injuries, I want to play. So it's like, if I can play, I'm going to play."
