balfan23

I've asked before and I haven't seen anyone provide an answer, but I'm concerned about the O line. Oz states we want to get bigger up front on offense. Harbs says we're going to build the best O line in the league. Oz yesterday says we're not done in FA and we'll be looking at WR and "maybe" O line. Maybe? We lose Wagner and DuCasse (ok DuCasse wasn't a huge hit, but he was starting at the end of the season). Subpar at C, lost our RT, little or no depth and MAYBE we'll be looking at O line in FA? By all accounts, the draft is very weak for O line and according to DeCosta is a "defensive draft". IMO it doesn't look like we can count on the draft to fill these holes - so, where are we going to get help up front? Who is in FA or who is likely to be a cap casualty who we can bring in?

No - we're still here. Just a little less active than normal, I suppose. I've never been the most active mod anyway, but yeah, the thread went into the weeds there for a bit (in the wee hours, based on the post times). Looks like it is getting back on track ...

I'm not sure if the young TEs have issues with catching the ball really or not. Williams has seemed to lack the physical maturity to be on the field, Boyle has spent so much time on the shelf with suspensions it is hard to tell what he can and can't do. I don't know what to make of Gilmore ... so may health issues, but last year when he was on the field he was invisible. One of the biggest disappointments of the season, IMO.

If we draft a TE I'm going to stroke out.

I have to believe this move is going to necessitate the release of Watson. I just can't see us keeping them both, unless we have zero faith in the young guys. That would be a shame, since we expended quite a bit of draft capital in this position.

Where is the O line help going to come from? Who is there in FA or who is likely to come available via cuts that can help us? The draft class for O line is reportedly weak. Something is going to have because this O line is not strong by any stretch of the imagination. Many talk about upgrading the center position, but at present, we don't have a starting guard RT. Even if we are considering moving Lewis to RT, we then need a starting LG. While that may be easier to fill than RT, it is still a starting spot that is open. Never mind depth. I'm just not sure how we're going about creating this "bigger and stronger offensive line" that Newsome talked about.

I don't think adding Claiborne would change the teams approach on how they use their #1 pick. If the top graded player on the board is a CB when their number is called, then that's what I think they will take. What I'm curious about is how we'd view the 2 safeties projected as top 16 picks, now that we've put significant resources into Weddle last year and Jefferson this year (AND with Webb still on the roster). I have to think the Ravens will be just fine with the 15 teams ahead of them picking those 2 guys.

While that certainly appears to have been the case, I have to say I'm glad it worked out that way. Perhaps I'm just another Ravens fan who is blindly overvaluing him, but I think he's as good a stop-gap fill in if Flacco goes out for a few games as we could hope for.

As I thought about both Williams and Wagner and which of the two should be retained, I couldn't help but think that Wagner might have the upper hand based on the fact that there seems to be few options for O line help in FA and by all accounts this is a relatively weak draft for that position. Clearly, the Ravens felt that Williams is the more "special" player and that they really wanted to make the long term commitment to him, rather than to Wagner. I'm certainly glad the Ravens got their guy, but I'm left wondering how we're going to address the O line, which was just so-so last year with Wagner. So far, the offense has lost SSS, Wagner, Juice and lost Dixon for the first 4 games and we've gained Woodhead. Decosta has stated this is a defensive draft, so addressing the offenses needs through the draft may be tough. I'm anxious to see how we make moves to improve that unit.

Mallett is an interesting case. He must have really soured the teams in the league because when you see some of the cash that is being thrown at some pretty marginal QB talent, I am surprised that a QB needy team didn't at least bring him in to compete.

We talk about how to replace Juice, but I'm wondering - do we have to? Depending on what Marty wants to do with the offense, but more 2 TEs sets are an option and I'd like to see more of Boyle this year. As long as he doesn't commit a career killing 3rd offense, he'll be with Marty from the start of the season and we can work out how to use him.

Smith to replace Wallace only made sense if it saved us a lot of money ... which it ultimately would not have. Wallace only costs a bit more on the cap this year and we're not beholden to him for 3 years as we would have been with Smith. Sticking with Wallace here makes sense.

So I get my little Ravens news alert on my phone ... all excited like ... we're we able to sign Williams? Finalized the deal for Jefferson? Found some help for a mediocre o line that's been further depleted? Nope - this is what we get instead.

Doubt this news will change draft strategy - especially not 1st round draft strategy.

Yeah - I definitely think these events are linked.

Who cares what it is that he took. The results are the same. C'mon man! You miss a significant part of your rookie season with injury and now this? Let's take one of the few bright spots on the team at the end of last year and turn them into something negative. Just crap.

Oh - I was just responding to a post that was saying Torrey was still in play. Personally, I'm not heart broken that he isn't going to be our prodigal son. Unless he could have been a low cost option to replace Wallace and we still go out and get a possession receiver/red zone target, adding him made no sense. In the end, he wasn't a low-cost option. He'd have hardly saved us any cap space by swapping him out with Wallace, so there didn't seem to be any point to bringing him in.

On the WR front ... we didn't get (perhaps didn't even try to get) Marshall. Now it sounds like Garcon is all but signed with the 49rs. So, where is this possession receiver going to come from? We already had a shaky o line and lost (apparently, by price) the best RT in the league. How we filling that? Not to worry about the pass rush. I keep hearing we have a stable of young pass rush talent that is just ready to explode next year. Still have many, many holes to fill.

And normally I only have senior moments ...

Torrey is an Eagle.

As far as Williams and Wagner are concerned, I've felt like we'd keep one but not both. However, I have to remind myself that the best approach is to just assume we're going to lose every mid to high profile FA and then be pleasantly surprised if we get to keep anyone.

I'd qualify that with - your season is over when your franchise QB gets injured and misses a significant number of games or is out for the post season. IMO the purpose of the quality back up QB is to be able to weather a handful of games that your franchise QB is out. If he's out for 4 games, for example, lets say a quality back up gets you 2-2 over that stretch and a bad one is a guaranteed 0-4. That 2 game difference can be the difference between making and not making the playoffs. As long as the franchise QB is back at the end of the season and going into the playoffs, that quality backup can save your season. We're spoiled, because the only time Flacco has been out, he was out for the season. That may not be the way he finishes his career though. I think the best example of this in action has been the Steelers. Ben is routinely out for a few weeks and they've had guys who have allowed them to fill the gap. I don't know how many of them we would qualify as "quality" but they've all seemed to be a good fit with the team and allowed them to avoid a crater in the middle of their season.

Well - I've said that I thought Marshall would be a nice addition, but I forgot about our stance of laying off of anyone with domestic violence in their history. From a skill standpoint, I think he's the best fit of the available, affordable WRs.

I really don't think we're going to be in salary dump mode. Perhaps you think we should be, but I don't think our FO will see it that way. We need to bring in a WR that can make an impact. Yes, he's 33 and yes, he'd have been a more valuable addition 2 years ago. But if he were younger, we'd not be able to afford him. At his age, he'll potentially be able to be brought in at a right price and could still contribute. To me - that's the right fit. Many are talking about Garcon, but I think what Marshall would bring beyond Garcon - and what we DESPERATELY need - is a red zone target. We're abysmal in that category and I think he'd give us a boost in that area.

They are saying that Mayock is going against conventional wisdom and what many of the mainstream draft analysts (like Kiper) think. That might be why the referenced what Kiper thinks.