Ravens safety Ar’Darius Washington has signed a restricted-free-agent tender that will keep in Baltimore for at least another season, the team announced Monday.

Washington’s return seemed all but guaranteed after he did not sign an offer sheet by Friday’s deadline, clearing the way for him to sign a one-year, $3.3 million deal with the Ravens. Washington received the right-of-first-refusal tender from the Ravens last month, which allowed him to negotiate with other teams. The lower-value tender was a gamble for general manager Eric DeCosta, who risked losing a potential starting safety to a team with more salary cap space.

A second-round tender would have been worth $5.3 million and likely would have deterred all outside interest in Washington, because the Ravens would’ve received a second-round pick from his new team as compensation.

But, after over a month in restricted free agency, Washington did not sign an offer sheet with another team. Under NFL rules, the Ravens would’ve had until Wednesday, the day before the first round of the NFL draft, to match any offer sheet he signed.

After playing just eight games over his first three years in Baltimore, Washington had a breakout 2024. The former undrafted free agent stepped in as a starter after Marcus Williams’ midseason benching and helped secure a shaky Ravens pass defense.

In 17 games (10 starts), Washington had two interceptions, a forced fumble, a sack and 64 tackles, working with fellow safety Kyle Hamilton to bolster the back end of one of the NFL’s best defenses over the season’s second half.

“Ar’Darius is a great example of a guy who got a chance and ran with it,” DeCosta said in January. “This year, he stayed healthy and he became that guy that we saw in college. He’s tough, physical, a playmaker, instinctive, smart, a leader. He’s a great story. Just another one of these undrafted guys over the years that we’ve had that has developed into being a really good football player.”

DeCosta said Tuesday that, although he was “fairly confident” Washington would return to Baltimore, he expected the Ravens to take at least one safety in the upcoming draft.

“I think it’s a pretty deep safety crew, and there are obviously the top guys [in the draft], but then there’s maybe four or five or six guys that will probably be third-, fourth-, fifth-round guys that are good players,” he said. “This is a really nice pool of players to pick from. I think we definitely will look at that.”