balfan23

... and as soon as I say something, the hook is out. Let's go, O'Day!

Will be interesting to see how long Buck lets Tillman go. We don't see too many complete games on opening day. The #1 thing I'm anxious about with this team is the set up situation. Also want to see that Zach will comeback strong. I think we'll get to see those guys before the day is done.

LaPlace was a mathematician. He devised a method for transforming functions of time to frequency domains ... OK I'll stop there. I got my degree in Mathematics, but what this dude is doing is on another planet from anything I dealt with.

Absolutely agree. Even if Pitta can return (a big IF indeed) the risk of him going down again is far higher than for any other starting position on the team. If we make no additions, we have to assume that Gilmore and Supernaw would be our TE pairing - which would be a clear team weakness. Given the draft provides little options, I feel like we have to make a move to bring someone in for help. Because of available draft talent, a TE addition through FA is IMO more important than addressing WR.

Best of luck to you, given what is going on in your country. Stay safe and may your nation be autonomous and free.

Huh ... I am pretty sure the fan base is expecting at least 2 (WR and TE).

I'm not sure about Schaub having an issue with what is left in the tank. His issue seems to be what he has between his ears. I don't think that he's physically spent, but his confidence got shot all to hell over the past couple years. Partly a product of being on bad teams, maybe being asked to do too much. Perhaps we think that we can work with him and get his mind right. That's all well and good and I do think that going forward with Wenning would be a scary proposition. But I agree that's a lot of money for a shaky insurance policy.

I think you have to assume that they have no confidence in Wenning in any capacity. I felt like it was a good move in that Schaub would give us a much better shot than Wenning at keeping us afloat if we Joe went down for a few games. But I said all of that before I saw the price tag. For a team that needs all available $$ to sign some significant needs for starting players, 3M for a backup seems pretty pricey.

We have to realize that improving the 2nd string QB position is not about getting a guy that will allow us to win a Super Bowl if Flacco goes down for the season. It is about giving us a chance to win if we have a stretch where Flacco goes out for a handful of games. With a guy like Schaub, if Flacco is out for a few games, we can still get a couple wins and not fall out of the division/WC race. If we have Wenning, any game Flacco is out is virtually a guaranteed loss and all it would take is Joe being out for 3 or 4 games and we'll drop out of post-season contention.

Really good point. Backup quality/experience helps in many ways that we don't usually think of. He'll help us more on Weds than on Sunday.

Current activity on players at positions the Ravens are interested in addressing: Bowe (WR) currently in Cleveland. Stevie Johnson (WR) completed visit in SD and is heading to NE, Clay (TE) visiting with Browns, Gresham (TE) visiting the Raiders, Patrick Robinson (CB) visiting with Steelers, Boykin (WR) visiting with Carolina. Not that we have specific interest in any one of these players, but it feels like we're going to let other teams take the pick of the group and wait to see who is left and have reduced competition for their services and get our guy at the best possible price. Pretty much the way we do this.

Hopefully we're on an upward trajectory from Huff to Stewart to Lewis on low-level FA pickups to play the FS position. We need this one to stick.

No one is thrilled with Elam's play at this point, but I don't see any sense in giving up on his now. Give him one more year to prove himself. He'll cost money to cut, so throwing him out for a spare part doesn't really make sense. I'm just hoping he can get some consistency in where he is expected to play and contribute, rather than moving him all over the place. I've not given up on him, but he's definitely on his last chance.

Perhaps you are referring to Rahim Moore? Details of Kendrick Lewis' contract have not been reported.

Wallace is likely to get his walking papers any minute now. How many of our fans will be clamoring for him? Another guy who was likely a victim of inexperienced QB, but it would be a struggle to get past my dislike for him. However, we can't disregard any player who ever wore black and yellow. Even after his down play in MIA, he'll likely carry a pretty hefty price. Browns have a lot of cash as do the Raiders. It will be interesting to see what becomes of him.

The only person I saw really losing it was shizzlebshu and it seemed to mostly be related to his lamenting our not going after Rahim Moore. By and large, the fan base is pretty thrilled with Justin coming back.

Thanks - I didn't go back far enough into the conversation and assumed he was referring to Chandler (as he is a big boy too). My concerns about the Pats having 2 massive TEs still stands.

Yes he is a big boy. So it is a disappointment, not only that we don't have him, but that NE does. 2 TEs at 6'6"+? That's a matchup problem for any team.

Ugh ... not NE ... C'mon Scott ... don't go to the dark side!

Yanda is one of the league's premier guards and will get paid as an FA. That makes it hard to provide an extension. It is hard to say whether we've not worked anything out because we preparing to let him go, or if he just has no interest in negotiating a deal at this point, because he wants to wait and see what he can get next off-season. The concern is that he follows Ngata's pattern... refuses to consider an extension at a point when he knows the team won't cut him and then refuses to take less than market to stay. Jimmy and Marshall are next year's priority FAs ... it would be nice to have one of them under contract and therefore only have one to deal with, but that may not be possible.

I'd prefer we Darryl Smith or Justin Forsett it. After all, exactly when have we been active in the opening days of FA?

Yep - ~$8M doesn't sound too bad. Partly to thank is that Forsett's hit is only 1.6 this year. This number will drop slightly (by about .5M) once we know what Levine and Bilukidi's contracts look like (they'll most definitely be a little higher than the $510K currently taken by the guys at the bottom of the Rule 51 group). We still have a few moves that could be made to free up a bit more as needed. Places we can still realize some savings is: 1) Koch extension, 2) Tucker extension, 3) Yanda extension (although, this will be harder to accomplish than the first 2 extensions I mention) 4) Release of Gino 5) Release of McClellan

I'm seeing almost exclusively comments that range from happy to euphoric. The move is getting nothing but praise by the analysts, as well. Of course, there's always a couple people who will find fault with anything

It could be that our competition will be too great. I wouldn't advocate putting up too much for him (and we won't) .. but it will be interesting to see what his approach will be. Could he be more willing to forego a 2-3 contract for moderate money with a bad team without a viable QB (ala Cleveland) and be willing to bet on himself with a 1 year contract at a good destination with a solid QB (ala Ravens) and then go on to get a payday after that? I could see him being someone who, for one year, go out and regain motivation with something to prove and give us a good year. I just wouldn't want to be the team that signs him after that

Dwayne Bowe is an intriguing option to help fill the void left by Torrey. I know he had only 1 amazing year, but it really felt like he declined because Cassel fell off a cliff and once Smith arrived, he decided he didn't want to ever throw the ball more than 15 yards down field and Bowe disappeared. He seems like the kind of guy who could be revitalized by a new environment and with having a QB who has absolutely no problem with airing it out. Of course, we'll have competition and among our competitors are the Browns, who have a lot more available cash. I'm afraid we're going to have to wait for a while for the market to cool before we start pursuing other options.