The Baltimore Ravens placed a second-round tender on restricted free agent Kamar Aiken on Tuesday, which should keep one of the league's most improved wide receivers in Baltimore in 2016.
Aiken will make $2.553 million this season unless another team signs him to an offer sheet and Baltimore refuses to match it. The Ravens would get a second-round pick as compensation.
Baltimore didn't really have a choice other than using the second-round tender. The low tender would've been cheaper at $1.671 million, but another team would've been more inclined to sign him to an offer sheet because there would be no compensation. That was a distinct possibility considering how weak of a free-agent class it is for wide receivers.
Aiken, 26, set career highs last season with 75 catches for 944 yards and five touchdowns. This came after he had only 24 catches in his first four seasons when he played for four teams.
Aiken really stepped up after the Ravens lost Steve Smith to a season-ending injury. In the final eight games, he ranked seventh in the NFL with 50 catches and 12th with 611 yards receiving.
The Ravens needed to keep Aiken because Smith is coming off Achilles surgery and Breshad Perriman didn't play a down last season because of a sprained knee.
Baltimore's other restricted free agents are wide receiver Marlon Brown, safety Brynden Trawick and tight end Chase Ford, and the Ravens have until Wednesday to decide whether they will tender them.
