JoeyFlex5

The Dolphins getting Cameron and Stills lessens the certainty that they'd take a receiver in the draft. Any receiver needy team ahead of us that acquires a wide out before the draft is fine by me haha.

thats how i feel, i didnt want stills anyway to be honest, not for the price they were asking. 

 

if this pushes devante parker down the boards, it means the teams looking for a WR have one more guy to pick before jaelen strong. i see the chiefs, browns, and niners still in the conversation, unless the niners expect torrey to be a #1. 

 

with miami giving all that up for stills(a stupid move for a team that cant even throw deeper than 20 yards) that takes the biggest threat off the board for us getting a wr. theres a solid chance the browns take parker with their top pick if the vikings dont take him first, but i dont think they take strong with their next pick, i think this ultimately pushes him to us, that just leaves us with 1 concern, does ozzie take strong?

For a team trying to clear cap, taking on Ellerbe's contract is quite odd. Also Stills is only 23, you think they would have gotten a second for him.

If they gave Stills away for a third, I wonder what they would want for Cameron Jordan.

thats a 7mil cap hit though, i dont think we have that luxury. i guess we could attempt to extend but we dont know the guy so its hard to guage what he wants/what he would agree to. 

I haven't really watched him play much. Is he a good blocker?

im not sure about his blocking ability but he is a big boy, tough as nails, and extremely athletic, with great hands. 

 

he has probably the highest ceiling of the FA TE's but i feel some teams are scared off by his lack of production, but he was in arizona so i wouldnt pay any mind to that. 

 

i think he would become a premier receiving TE under flacco and trestman, i think he would make martellus bennett pale in comparison.

Something that's been eating away at me since Torrey's new contract details came out is the  fact that he essentially left Baltimore for less money.When you subtract fed tax and Maryland state tax from the guaranteed $19 million we gave him it comes out to $13.3 give or take an additional $237500-$608000 depending on which county you live in.When you subtract fed tax and California state tax from the guaranteed $22 million SF gave him you get $11.6 million give or take an additional $220k-$2.2 million depending on what district you live in.So that means he definitely left guaranteed money on the table to go play with the niners.If you can't call his decision to leave a business decision then whats the real reason he left?Any bonuses or additional money he's getting in his contract can't be that much better than what he would've gotten with us because of that huge tax difference.It just doesn't make sense.

ever thought that just maybe, the ravens didnt want him back? if im interpreting the reports correctly, then the deal torrey left on the table was after last season and before th 2014 season. i could be wrong but if thats the case, its possible we offered him that money, he bet on himself and lost, and had a relatively inferior season to the one prior, and we found the contract we offered him to be too high, and out of respect, the front office just couldnt offer him what they really thought he was worth, which at this point was less than the 35mil we offered him a year prior.

Michael Crabtree, Percy Harvin and Hakeem Nicks are still out there. So would anyone be ok with adding any of them??

 

I wouldnt mind Nicks. I Remember we wanted Nicks when he was a rookie, but Giants took him. I seem to remember a lot of people mocking us to draft him.

actually, shockingly enough, we passed on nicks, he was available at our pick and we went with michael oher instead, nicks isnt the greatest wr out there but boy whatta mistake.

Somehow, I don't think letting Brees go would be high on their list.

 

In other news, Peyton took $4 mil pay cut. Cue "Flacco should do it too" calls.

"thanks to flacco we have to cut the whole team, why cant he be a good sport and play for free?"

I think the Ravens will likely sign two or three d-lineman due to it being unclear how Urban will turn out, negotiating with Ngata, and releasing Canty. Lawrence Guy can probably be resigned, and he played well enough when put into games. Pat Sims seems like a good choice to take Canty's spot.

lawrence guy earned himself a contract i believe, and serious consideration for the starting job if/when ngata is released, he was around the ball everytime he stepped on the field, i could see him being the next ravens gem on the DL

jordan cameron doesnt seem to be looking for some huge blockbuster deal, he seems to just want out of cleveland, cant say i blame him, but i think we can outbid some folks for his services and keep it reasonable, ill bet he would love to beat up on the team that he has squandered his younger years with, and join the elite team in the division he has spent his whole career in, not to mention id be willing to bet flacco is a qb that alot of TE's are a fan of. 

 

we wont be getting some stud TE in the draft this year, lets face it, and if OD isnt back then suddenly we have a gaping hole at a position that we have leaned on for as long as we can remember. this is the draft to hit on WR and RB and the perfect year to find a FA TE, we dont have to be pressed on finding a big bodied WR if we get a guy like cameron, and we would have one of the best young TE's in the game playing with a qb who works very well with his tight ends. 

I'm still a little salty about that. I think the Horns would have fared well against Tebow that year. 

 

Finneagan has been one of the worst corners in the league as of recent and just this:

everybody knows about this, obviously its gonna be the first thing that comes to mind whenever you mention his name lol. there is no shame in getting beaten up by andre johnson, dude is built like johnny bones jones lol. 

 

but yea i know when he was with the titans he was one of the better cb's out there although his play never quite backed up his mouth, didnt know whether he fell off or not.

McCourty would really bring this Secondary together and pair nicely w/ Hill. In comparison, Earl Thomas got 4y/40m so Devin won't be getting more. If we could get the cap space it would be interesting ...

a ngata release would make this possible, I wouldn't mind, but I wouldn't call it an ideal signing. Especially considering future contracts well need to sign our current players to

I still have a grudge against Crabtree for this:

 

But obviously, if he is the right price, he is talented enough when on the field. 

one of the best college games i have ever seen. so epic. 

 

anyways, the first guy that suggested finnegan got negged and it was pretty much disregarded, i dont know about his production recently but at one point he was one of the top corners in the game, very scrappy of course, but he usually backed it up with good play. is he as good as he was in his time with the titans?

if they represent an upgrade and fill a hole, and do so without bringing any baggage or a hefty cap number, than it really doesnt hurt. i havent seen any other names worth mentioning on the free agent market at RB, and the ravens have been known to give guys 1-2 year deals after long and productive careers, ricky williams, housh, steve smith, owen daniels, vonta leach, just to name a few, im not campaigning to sign one of these guys at all costs, im just putting their names in the mix because there arent many other options at the moment, and i think deangelo williams SEEMS like the type of move ozzie would make, granted he doesnt normally make that kind of move until after the draft, but i wouldnt write it off and i also dont see the harm in at least exploring the option, he still has some legs under him and can be productive, and like i said earlier, ozzie likes bringing in veterans on short deals hoping he can temporarily fill a gap for cheap, giving him more freedom in the draft.

Neither brings anything to this team that we don't already have (with or without Forsett).

 

I'd be more comfortable rolling with Taliaferro and Pierce...

i was pierces biggest supporter for the longest time but im pretty much off that wagon now, not writing him off but he hasnt shown much since his rookie year, also im not sold on talliaferro, he just looks like a big and fast pair of pads and he hasnt shown that he can carry the load, idk if he has it all between the ears. 

 

im not saying just start throwing offers at these guys, but if they would come cheap i wouldnt see a problem with it.

i dont know what these guys will be asking for in the FA market, and im not very familiar with how they play and what system they would fit in, and i know they both have injury concerns(but so did forsett) but the ability is there, without a doubt.

 

what are your thoughts on a 1 year deal as a stopgap option if we cant address RB properly in the draft?

did jason campbell retire? he always has been and always will be my favorite backup qb, his time with all of his teams were bad thanks to horrible OL play, something we dont have a problem with, campbell can make all the throws and he is a tough cookie. 

 

if i were to worry about a backup qb, thats my guy.

Agreed, but you know a lot if ppl on this board think this is madden lol like ppl are saying lets get Marshawn revis and Marshall???? Really???

lets not forget those who were clamoring for peyton manning 3 years ago. 

 

my father being one of them. 

I like Randall Cobb no doubt he benefited alot with having Jordy Nelson  on the field  with himbut I have no idea if he's a number one receiver. The Packers have a great quarterback in Rodgers and they really have great offensive system as well  but Cobb always strike me as a slot receiver.

agreed, i think if cobb goes elsewhere he gets #1 money and a #1 role and regresses, he will still be good because he is just a damn good player, but i think the workload he will see and demanding #1 attention from defenses will affect his production. he is definitely an elite and versatile slot weapon for teams who run 3 wide and is about as good of a #2 as you will find, but i wouldnt give him the money he is gonna be demanding so he can come here in a #1 role, its a role i just dont fully trust him in.

Mcphee is the priority over ngata. 

wont happen. ngata restructures and mcphee walks.

Torrey is not suited for it that's true but can't really say he won't be back next season. Who do you see as the receiving threat at RB though?

tj yeldon in the 2nd round 

Possibly. Not sure though, because the Ravens, Patriots, Broncos, etc have all remained competitive after giving out deals to QBs.

youre talking joe flacco, tom brady, and peyton manning, compared to jay cutler, the qb who cares less about his job than anyone else in the nfl.

I was hoping Gase w/ a package deal of D. Thomas. 

 

Oh well, welcome aboard Trestman!!

brandon marshall possibly? isnt it floating around the rumor mill that he could potentially be cut?

He was also a huge lobbyist in bringing Sanders to Denver... Last two years felt he would fit their offense perfectly. Of course there's other factors to account for his success, but Sanders looked great all season.

Not enough to call Gase a nice talent evaluator or a "football visionary" but since we know so little about him, I figured it was worth bringing up.

I trust our guys in this process. If Harbs and friends feel he's right for the job, there's a great chance he is. If they have no problem with his lack of interviews or the "manning factor," neither do I.

all of his reviews and the small sample size of evidence points to him being a smart young football mind. 

 

ive really warmed up to gase, and might i even say, i think joe flaccos ceiling is higher playing with gase than kubiak, and i dont care what anyone says, our offense goes where joe takes it, not the run game, if gase has joe playing at his max potential, then the rest of the offense will work itself out, as long as the o-line performs well enough and we stay healthy. 

 

i think if we bring gase to baltimore, we are discovering footballs next great offensive mind, the guy is only 36, his ideas are fresh, and he is a rumored "qb whisperer" type of guy.

Wonder why this guy didn't get hired as a head coach? Why denver fired him? Why he hasn't seemed to have many interviews for other o cord positions?

Wonder if too many teams were scared of the manning factor?

likely. alot of teams searching for an OC dont have experienced qb's or just lackluster qb play, his system may be viewed as unfriendly to inexperienced qb's. the ravens would be the type of team to overlook factors such as this, because we know we have a smart veteran qb. 

 

this sounds like a classic ravens move, teams overlooking potential because of some odd factors, and that potential lands right in our lap.

I don't disagree.

But I also don't think that with our culture and history - the DNA of the players we have - that any coach could come in and turn them soft. Yanda and Steve smith aren't gonna all the sudden start tip toeing around and playing patty cake.

Were a smashmouth team and we have to the leadership and culture in place for the players to demand that of themselves. It's the way things are run from the bottom of the top of the organization.

I just don't see any validity to the argument that Trestman shouldn't be considered. Even if he is soft or coaches in a soft manner that it would have any effect on our players.

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Off topic but something I just thought of. It's a regularly spoken concern that Joe having had 4 coordinators in as many years may stunt his growth and development especially being in his prime.

Playing devils advocate - could it possibly have a benefit that not many qbs get. He's learning many different schemes from some of the brightest offensive minds in the world. That diversity, these different perspectives, and philosophies joe is soaking up and applying to his game.

He's had success and shown growth across the board. I'd like some continuity and to see him settle in with someone, but there's got to be some benefit to knowing so many offenses and having that adaptability. He can take the positives from all of them and how each of them plays well against certain defenses in specific situations.

Once Joe hits the peak of his mental development which I don't think happens for most until 32 or so - he's gonna have such a wealth of offensive knowledge that not even many veteran coaches can boast to have.

He's overcome the detriment. Soon I think we start seeing serious dividends to the coaching carousel.

ive never looked at it like this, this is a very good point. he has been exposed to so much that if we were to hire a guy like gase who would give joe a lot of input on the offense and let him call all the pre-snap reads that he wants, he has such a wide variety of playstyles that he has experienced first hand, it could help keep the playbook fresh and new so that we dont become predictable.

I probably wasn't clear in the way I phrased it at first, but I'm in two minds about his system. I agree it sounds like he's great at reading the game and I think he'd give Joe the reigns in the kind of way even Gary Kubiak didn't, but the flip-side is that you have to wonder how much of his success in Denver came as the result of Peyton thriving in the system and having an insane group of receivers to throw to.

 

Which is probably the first question John Harbaugh will have, so I'd be comfortable deferring to the FO on this.

any OC that gives joe more creative control over the offense is fine with me, joe knows what works for him better than any OC knows, and he has shown time and time again that he performs better when given the freedom to call more shots. 

 

one thing that worries me about that style of offense though, is the tendency to let the play clock run out when we start calling audibles.. why does that happen to us so often? 

 

anyway though, like i said, let joe take that extra step, theres no reason he should be held back in any way, he is a very aggressive but still very smart qb and he can manage the game or completely take it over based on what he sees from the defense, no situation is ever too big for him, so if you think youre putting too much on his plate by telling him to go out there and run the show, you would be wrong. at least thats how i feel about it, i think joe is more than ready to take on that peyton role and step on the field and be a shot caller