balfan23

I don't know - even before Jimmy got hurt, our safeties never seemed to get it when a CB would release their receiver and we'd get burned deep. Stewart was our primary FS and actually did seem to play a little better at the end of the year, but boy did we have issues with the safeties early on. I had always thought that when Hill came off of suspension, he'd be the FS, but it never seemed like he was the one over the top. I'm not sure what our plans are for where to put these guys. Elam was all over the place. I know some will say the concept of FS vs. SS is out-dated, but whatever you want to call these positions - there is a need for a ball-hawking guy to read the situation and cover deep. I not sure we have that guy on the roster at present.

Forsett has the potential to become one of this franchises best pick-ups. Out of nowhere, he saved our season last year and now we have him for a few more years at an incredible price. He can both carry a load and mentor the young Taliafero and the RB we will likely draft.

Well, if that small minority includes Ozzie Newsome, then that is all that really matters. He definitely seemed to indicate that he was not as concerned as others seemed to be in the State of the Ravens presser. However, he is assuming a healthy Smith and Webb ... but the other thing he pounded on was the need for depth. I think we'll be looking at a CB in FA, but not a notable name. He'll be looking for better depth options that what we had last year. I'm looking for one FA pickup that's an upgrade over the likes of Jackson and the rest of the crew and another in the draft I agree - safety is a better place to spend and I do think Moore would be an upgrade over anyone of our existing safeties.

I'm having a hard time knowing what kind of costs will exist for the players on the market, but CBs are getting paid. Look at what Cary Williams got. I think we're going to be addressing multiple positions in FA and while the money made available via the Ngata trade looks like a lot, it will get eaten quickly if we sign players with significant financial impact. Don't know for sure, but Browner might still be more than we want to spend on a single player. it is nice to be in a position, though, where you can at least consider such moves.

Part of the way the FO is not going to leave any stone unturned in seeking to free cap space. Glad Sizzle was agreeable to work something out.

For those who have been dreading the return of Cary Williams, you can rest easy now http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/ravens-insider/bal-ravens-jets-seahawks-titans-make-offers-for-cary-williams-decision-coming-soon-sources-say-20150309-story.html He's a Seahawk

Apparently, the FO doesn't agree. If they felt that way, he'd have gotten a 2nd round tender to keep teams away from him.

I agree. The FO has said that they can't give everyone market, but they have to pick and chose who to give market to and retain. The way they talk about Jimmy, I feel like they view him as a guy we can't lose and will be willing to pay market to him. Of course - a lot will depend on how he plays this year and whether he stays healthy.

Before that happened, it was speculated that he'd get a 2nd rounder. After - it was being said that he'd get a low tender. I just am not sure that transgression rises to the level of changing other teams view of trying to get him. Now that we gave him that low tender, I guess we'll see. He may stay, but we definitely left him at risk.

That's true ... but the flip side is baseball where lower level teams can't form an identity because they can't keep ANY of their notable players. They are nothing more than AAAA franchises. The only teams that have an identity are ones that gobble up talent and can afford to keep anyone they want. Also, in football, teams stealing away other team's talent are often overpaying and they will ultimately pay the price for that and their teams performance will suffer. In baseball, big money teams can make colossal contract mistakes and weather the storm, usually with only minimal short term impact. At least in the NFL, we can designate a few franchise players that will be Ravens for their entire career (or in cases like Heap and Reed, darn close to it). Given the choice between the 2, I'll take the salary cap model over the big market dominance model.

Man - seeing what some of the new contracts are looking like ... anyone that thought we'd be playing in the deep end of the FA pool perhaps now has their eyes opened. It is pretty clear we will not even be operating in the middle tier. It is bottom feeder FA for us. Given the players we seem likely to lose, we'll need to pull off several hidden gems moves and hit a home run in the draft in order to maintain our position at or near the top of the AFC ... which of course seems like is the case every year.

I will not claim to be one of these guys that are going to tell you who I want to see us get in the 6th round of the draft ...I'll be the first to admit I don't have that depth of knowledge. So, I have no choice but to listen to what the "experts" are saying - and they claim this is a weak TE class. As you say, another variable aside from Dennis is to see how Trestman runs the offense and how much he wants to go 2 TE. Along with that we need to see how Crockett develops. If Trestman is not married to 2 TE sets and Crockett steps up and starts looking like a real TE1 option, that will also make it less likely that we'll want to make a significant draft investment in the TE position. Given the variables, I see the most likely approach for us is to look for help from a vet short term until we get a clearer picture.

How we approach the TE market (either FA or draft) will largely depend on how the FO assesses Pitta's situation. At this point, I don't know that they are going to be looking for his permanent replacement, so I do doubt that they go 1st or 2nd round TE. If they do, that will be the sign that they've written Dennis off. If they still hold out hope, a cheap, underrated vet will be the direction they go. I'd love to see that vet just be Daniels returning, but I don't think the underrated part applies and I don't really have a sense of how "cheap" he will be. We may need to look for a guy like Miller, who we may be able to get on a deal similar to what we got Daniels for ... not only a low cost option, but a 1 year deal. That will give us the ability to give Dennis 1 more year to see where he is. If he can come back, great, if not, then we'll need to look for a more long-term solution.

This is a concept that seems to escape many in Ravens nation. The read something like this, say, "that kinda sucks" ... then go on to wishing for the impossible, as far as retaining and bringing in Free Agents.

I will be shocked if we don't retain Hill. Given he's an RFA and isn't a world-class, we should be able to provide a tender (2nd round, at the highest) and retain his services without too big of an expenditure.

It would be nice to see him play ANYWHERE. We invested a 2nd rounder - a pick we even traded up for, to get a guy who has contributed a great big zero over the course of 2 solid years. The dream scenario has been that he'd be ready to fill the slot taken by D. Smith .. but when? Certainly not this year - perhaps in 2016? It is hard to envision that happening if we roll with him in 2015 like we did in 2014. How can you be in line for a starting role when you don't see live football for even a single snap? I really am hoping he isn't the 2013 draft's version of Jah Reid (only worse, given he was taken a full-round earlier).

I think both are reliable, but I think Over the Cap does a better job of presenting the information.

I agree. I think ball security issues related to trying to reach for the extra yard is more easily fixed than losing the ball because people believe you don't have the arm strength and rip at you at every opportunity. He just needs to understand it is never OK to reach out with the ball unless you are at the goal and KNOW you can get it in.

We pretty much have no choice but to keep him on the squad this coming year, as he costs us money to be rid of. Either way, I do think he deserves a last chance and it would be nice to see that last chance be given playing at the SS position, instead of all over the place. I think the team bears some responsibility for the relatively miserable start to his career.

I agree. Aside from all of the money issues Webb carries - given our weakness at the CB position, what he has showed us in the past and his relative improvement through this season, I just don't know that the team is as ready to give up on Webb as many in the fan base are. But make no mistake, he's on the serious hot-seat this season. He's going to have to be a lot better than "pretty good", for us to not part ways with him after the 2015 season.

Absolutely, our cap situation is tough and we'll indeed be over the cap right out of the gate. However, saving 2M on Webb pre-June 1 isn't worth it and saving 8M after June 1 is way more money than we can effectively use after that date. Yes, we'll need to sign rookies and grab a couple of late pick ups, but that doesn't require anything close to that kind of money. Actually, I was thinking the difference between pre and post June 1 money for Jacoby was such that they'd be looking at making him a post June 1 cut and his saving difference would be enough to sign rookies and a couple of late pick ups If we cut him, who's taking his place? As you say, we are tight on the cap, so we can't bring in any CBs of note off of the FA. If we save the money post-June 1, anyone who is worth anything is already on a roster. I agree, I think the team will love to have him take a pay-cut, but I just don't know that they have leverage to do that.

You know, the more I look at our roster and our cap situation, the higher I feel the probability is for that scenario to be true. I'd actually put the probability of losing both and extending Ngata/losing McPhee about equal. I'm increasingly of the mind that retaining McPhee is a long-shot. We are just too tight to the cap and have too few options for reducing that number. Also, the more I think about it, the more I feel that losing both is a pretty sizable risk. We would lose 2 top performers from the front 7. I think you can add that Canty is also likely to be gone (either by retirement or cut). Sure, he's not a top performer, but that's a lot of turnover. As it was last year with Suggs, dealing with Ngata's contact is priority #1 and nothing can really go forward until that is resolved. Yes, we can make some minor moves, like cutting Canty, Gino, McClellan ... but that's all window dressing. For us to make moves of any kind of significance ... that will have to wait until Ngata's situation is settled.

If this were any other team, it would not even be on the national media's radar. Why? Is it because everyone is jealous of the Patriot glory boys? No .. it is the "pattern of behavior over time", as stated in this article. That's why I'm not interested in listening to their attempts to explain anything away. They have over the years lost credibility and I'm not inclined to buy anything that comes out of that organization.

In my previous post, I made is sound like it is an either/or proposition, but certainly loosing both is a possible scenario. I think it is a scenario we attempt to avoid, but circumstances could force our hand and cause them to both depart. I'm going to assume the team wants to at least explore extending Ngata. They will have a ceiling in mind as to what they are willing to commit in future $ to make that happen. If Ngata's expectations are way out of line with the team's, we will cut him without question. We will likewise have a ceiling in mind as to what we're willing to give McPhee, given his role here. If McPhee can get much more on the open market, we'll feel that we have no choice but to let him walk. Up side is we'll have some free cash to address other areas of the team. Downside is - unless everyone stays healthy on the D line, we could be set up for issues up front. Losing both is a big chunk of our front 7 disappearing overnight. Counting on Urban and especially KLM is risky.

What would Bill do?