With the NFL’s franchise tag officially an option starting on Wednesday, it kicks off the frenzied part of the offseason. But will the Baltimore Ravens partake in the franchise tag fun this time around?

Teams are able to designate one player under a franchise tag that guarantees them a large one-year contract to continue negotiations. With the Ravens having defensive tackle Brandon Williams as their top pending free agent, the thought has to cross their minds.

The discussion has to weigh the team’s available cap space, how much they want to retain Williams and the franchise tag cost. With the tag expected to cost $13.5 million for defensive tackles and the Ravens’ limited cap, it might not be a matter of if Baltimore wants to keep him, but if they can afford to.

Being the team’s primary defender on the line, Williams offers up a lot not seen on the stat sheet and helps keep the entire front seven running smoothly. That makes him very valuable to not only the Ravens, but to other teams in need of a boost to their run defense.

Related Brandon Williams gets a fun start to his offseason workouts

With only $15.387 million available in cap space, according to Over The Cap, Baltimore isn’t in a great place to spend a majority of it on one player for one season. The ultimate goal is to come to an agreement with Williams on a long-term contract that would work within their salary cap numbers and still give him the money and security players are often looking for. It is a win-win scenario that requires both sides to agree on how much the player is worth, a difficult proposition in any circumstance.

If the Ravens can’t do that by March 1, when the franchise tag period ends, they might have to watch Williams enter free agency, where they’ll likely not be able to compete monetarily.