The Baltimore Ravens will certainly have some difficult decisions to make when it comes to who they will keep and who they will release for salary cap purposes. One of the names that has been discussed as a possible cap cut is safety Lardarius Webb. While the Ravens would benefit from the $5.5 million in cap space his release would free up, it would create another problem.

If the Ravens were to part with Webb, they would create a hole at safety because they don’t have a player who can serve as a quality replacement for Webb. Eric Weddle and Kendrick Lewis are the only safeties on the Ravens roster who aren’t hitting free agency next month, and the latter was one of the worst safeties in the league when he was a starter last year. While it would be easy for Baltimore to bring back Matt Elam or Anthony Levine, neither of them has shown anything that would give the Ravens reason to believe he can play at the same level Webb did.

In Webb’s first season as a safety, he accounted for 73 tackles, a sack, five passes defended and an interception. While Lewis had similar stats when he was the starter, he was known for being out of position and giving up long receptions with regularity. Elam has been rather substandard after his rookie campaign, with back-to-back seasons ending on injured reserve.

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While the Ravens could choose to address the safety position in the draft, the team hasn’t had the best of luck drafting at that position lately and probably wouldn’t solve that problem by drafting a safety and then throwing him into the fire as a rookie. Even then, it would take someone falling to Baltimore at the No. 16 pick, which is relying too much on luck.

The cap money that would be created from releasing Webb is appealing, but it might not be worth the roster headache. Unless the Ravens can bring in a veteran who can play at the same level for less pay, the team should stick with Webb.