balfan23

Absence of hard evidence combined with the commish having no appetite to suspend the league's #1 golden boy combined with Kraft being a premiere member of the owners club ... nothing will happen to the Pats. The fans for every team outside of New England will just consider it yet another tick mark in the shady tactics column for the team. That will be as much a part of their legacy as their championships.

Let's not leave Javorius Allen off this list. By all accounts this guy is a decisive north/south runner who also is very good at catching the ball. Not that I want to call him the next Matt Forte, but that is the kind of back that Trestman can really work with. I'm excited to see him complement Forsett in the near term and gradually become our lead back.

Favorite Raven of all time. First jersey I ever bought. The guy was simply amazing. So glad that he got a ring before he hung them up.

I'm going to step in and defend the lowly Browns. This article states, "The Browns were still the Browns, failing to come out of the draft with a quarterback or a top-tier wide receiver." The reason the Browns have failed in years past is because they tried against odds to come out of the draft with a QB when none existed. There wasn't one this year either, so why repeat the mistakes of Weeden and Manziel? While there were good WRs available to them, why pick one who will struggle because of the QB issue? They spent their 1st 2 picks right where they needed - in the trenches. They sure could have done worse.

There is no difference in a retirement vs. a cut in terms of cap impact. His contract would be voided and we'd have all of his contract bonus money accelerate against the cap. At present, that's 8.8M left in bonus money on his contract. I believe I have heard that teams can file an exemption with the league to get some cap relief for a player who suffers a career ending injury, but I've not been able to determine that with any certainty. I think if Pitta retires, we can expect to get hit pretty hard with cap consequences.

I bought Wieters and Markakis, so I'm not doing much better.

We pretty much shut him down that year in the playoffs, but unfortunately, our offense was non-existent in that game.

I really am excited about what this draft will mean for this team. I am trying though to temper expectation on their instant impact. It is really hard for rookies to come in and take the league by storm ... especially 21 year old guys with only a couple years college experience like Williams. The evaluation on these guys need to take time. I'm ready for everyone's head to explode the first time Perriman drops a pass or when Williams misses a block and Joe gets hit. Sure, I'd love for Perriman to come in and show us a Randy Moss rookie season, but let's be careful not to put too much faith in them being world beaters on day 1.

This ^^^ both from why many fans rank Joe where they do and on the fact that we all couldn't care less. P.S. do yourself a favor and don't exhaust yourself arguing with fools :-)

Yes, he has gotten some measure of respect (finally). I think a big part of it is, not only his SB win, but the fact that he's been a post-season stud. Still, there will always be an element of fan that rates a QBs value based on where he would draft the guy on his fantasy team. I still don't think Flacco is really going to be a fantasy/stats star, even with the infusion of young talent at the receiving positions. Big passing yds just isn't our game.

I am very excited about this draft, no doubt. However, I am trying to temper expectations a little bit. I think some people are envisioning what some of these players could become, but are expecting that level of play on day 1 - especially with Perriman and Williams. With the roster we currently have, we're going to need those guys to have an impact on day 1 and I think we have to remember that is not easy for rookies - especially one as young as Williams.

We don't have many homers in the media ... but Kiper would be one of them.

Absolutely ... Gilmore did not disappoint. He did what was asked of him and started to contribute more at the end of the season. What scares me on the item I highlighted. Since Williams was the best TE in the draft, some people seem to think he's going to instantly be Dennis Pitta in his prime. The kid is 21 ... it is going to take a little working in before he gets comfortable enough to be really effective.

Tell me Pitta's production in his rookie year. As little as you may think Crocket did, Pitta did less. Good thing we didn't decide to cut him in his 2nd year because of it. Boyle will be in a camp battle with Supernaw. I fully expect Crockett to be the clear #2 and may actually be considered the #1, since I expect he'll be on the field as the lone TE in early downs, given he's a better blocker.

Ask me in 2018 and I'll give you mine.

Which gives us somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 slots that we can fill with UDFAs

And I'm not seeing anywhere that a team has gotten him to sign as a UDFA

On one hand, a guy might be a little disappointed when they fall a little farther than they were projected, but on the other hand, a guy has to love when they see a team trade up to get them. What a compliment. I'm sure he plans on coming in and working hard to prove he's worth the team's effort to get him, as he said in his interview.

Given that Pittsburgh drafted a TE later in this draft is a pretty decent indicator that there was a real risk that they were all set to turn in a draft card on their 2nd round pick with Williams' name on it.

Play like a Raven, Breshad!

We lost to the Pats because our secondary was decimated with injuries. I think there is no doubt we need to address that area, but address it with depth and not necessarily with a 1st rounder. What we did lose since that Pats game, however, was 2 WRs that were our only deep threats. You can't have a franchise QB with a cannon of an arm and have his weapons be a 5'9" 36 year old and 3 or 4 serviceable WRs. Leading into the draft, I do not think there was a narrative more tiresome than the notion that we can't draft a WR. Saying it for the last time, but when you're only top 2 round selections were Torrey (did not exceed, but certainly met expectations as a late 2nd rounder) and 2 other guys selected over 10 years ago, that isn't a significant enough sample size to give such a harsh evaluation. To think a franchise should just ignore a given position based on that "awful" history is just silly. You say he is a "huge" risk. Well, I'm not sure about "huge", but definitely a higher risk pick than we've made in a long time. But it is a calculated risk and the payoff could be enormous.

I don't think proclaiming him to be boom or bust is an indication of a bad pick. Those were the exact words I used to describe our selection the moment we took him. If calling it a high risk/high reward pick is more appealing, then go with that. No matter how we characterize it, we are looking at a guy that's got massive potential, but the concerns are justified. I think the fact that Prisco stated he was to be drafted at 14 (which is where a lot of people including myself anticipated him going as well) shows he was a value and, if he pans out, a steal.

We said we'd have traded out of our pick if Perriman were not available. That implies Gregory was not in our sights at 26. I think it is possible that his baggage may have prevented us from considering him a 1st round guy. ... but if he's there at 26 in the 2nd round, his baggage will not be enough to prevent us from taking him. However, we won't find out, because I cannot fathom that he won't be gone within the first 10 picks tonight.

I understand concerns around the risks that come with drafting Perriman ... but the bottom line is, you are not going to see a 6'2" big bodied guy that can run a 4.2 - 40 without some flaw. If that guy exists, you will need to have gone 3-13 last year to get a whiff of him.

The following quote was made in an article here yesterday before the draft " ... there's a lot of talented pass catchers that should be available later in the first round." I commented... if that is the case, please take one instead of trading out of the 1st round. Funny to hear that we were poised to trade back - if not for this kid being available. Glad to see we showed the courage to take a little risk with the hopes of getting an eventual true #1 receiver for Flacco to use as a killer weapon.