Mark Ingram’s time in Baltimore is ending in a disappointing fashion.

For Saturday night’s Ravens playoff game against the Buffalo Bills, the former Alabama running back will be a healthy scratch.

The news came from ESPN’s Adam Schefter this morning. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk elaborated that it is likely a financial decision for the Ravens:

Under the 2020 CBA, if Ingram were to suffer a serious injury that would prevent him from playing for the Ravens or anyone else in 2021, he’d be entitled to $2 million. Also under the CBA, the first $1.2 million of that payment would count against the salary cap. (The other $800,000 would be treated as player benefit costs.)

Thus, the Ravens are trying to avoid an unnecessary cap charge in 2021 of $1.2 million by putting Ingram on the field again.

A couple of million dollars of course isn’t a huge deal to a pro football front office, but the decision is made easier for Baltimore by the fact that J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards have taken over as the top two running backs for the Ravens with Lamar Jackson also accounting for a notable amount of carries.

Ingram’s 72 carries this season are a career-low. Just last season, he made the Pro Bowl for the third time in his career. We’ll see if the 31-year-old still has enough left in the tank to find another opportunity elsewhere next season with a better fit.