Trystan Colon-Castillo, Kristian Welch sign exclusive rights tenders

The Baltimore Ravens will enter 2021 training camp with plenty of young players ready to compete for a roster spot and prove that they can make an impact at the NFL level. Two of those players signed their exclusive rights tenders on Saturday, the team announced.

Colon-Castillo, 23, signed with the Ravens as an undrafted free agent after playing at the University of Missouri. While he didn’t make the final 53-man roster out of training camp, he was added to Baltimore’s practice squad shortly after he was let go.

After spending the first few weeks of the season on the practice squad, the center was signed to the active roster on October 12th. The promotion came after rumblings began that other teams were looking to poach him from the Ravens’ practice squad and sign him to their own active rosters. He appeared in two games for Baltimore during his rookie campaign, including making his first career start in the Ravens’ December 2nd game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a contest where the Baltimore was missing a plethora of contributors due to the Coronavirus.

Welch, 22, played primarily on special teams for the Ravens in 2020, and filled in nicely after fellow linebacker and special teams contributor Otaro Alaka was lost for the season with a knee injury.

The former University of Iowa Hawkeye was let go by Baltimore during final cut down day, but was back with the team the next day, signing to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on November 7th after being a game-day call up for multiple weeks. He totalled three tackles on the season.

Both players showed potential last year, and are viewed highly by the Ravens. They could be looking at increased responsibilities, especially after having a year with the team to learn the NFL game and figure out Baltimore does things.

Signing the tenders that they were assigned on March 10th means that both Colon-Castillo and Welch are under contract for another year with the Ravens and will make the league minimum, which is $780,000 for players with one accrued season.