bioLarzen

The Chiefs have all the fun with a guy the likes of Tyreek Hill with all the sea of character concerns - and I don't see the public image of the Chiefs fall a notch - and we're still at the "don't expext the Ravens to draft this or that guy because he did something wrong ONCE." Maybe that's part of the explanation why we have become a regular feature of the "look who's missed the playoff" game while teams like the Chiefs are in...

As for Mixon, there were multiple reports that he's well liked by staff members, players, coaches - and basically everybody, and did what he did ONCE. That doesn't make it OK of course - but I do think the public image ramifications of selecting players with such cases have been way overblown in Baltimore. I can understand that the Rice case caused some shellshock - but it would be high time to leave it behind... You won't win many games in the NFL with a team of gentlemen.

  26 minutes ago, ByTheBay said:

Man I hope Wagner gets signed. If he leaves and Flacco has another bad year this will be the excuse we hear all season. Of course if he stays and flacco has a bad year it will be Marty's fault so pick your poison. 

Is there any scenario where Flacco and the Ravens have a good year? Just wondering.

In 2012 there pretty much was...

"Should Victor Cruz’s injury history be a concern?"

If pundits deeply familiar with the Giants say in more or less unison that Cruz's athleticism is basically gone, I guess we should believe them...

  55 minutes ago, ellicottraven said:

Wagner is more irreplaceable than Brandon right now.

I'd have to agree, but what is he looking to command? Rumors are that he could get 9-10 per year. While RT is just as important as LT these days, that is steep for a guy that really is only good in pass protection and a mediocre run blocker. 

Look at it from this POV: is saving a couple of millions wiorth risking our QB harrassed on a regular basis if Wagner's replacement fails?

We have lost players in free agency much more important and irreplaceable than Brandon Williams. I'm not saying he isn't a key cog - but IMHO losing him can't be compared to losing KO, for example...

Guys, this is the cap system. It's easy to see the cap as a bad thing when your team is near the limit and it feels like a chokehold - but if the cap system wasn't in place, and the only limit on roster salary was how much money the owner is willing to spend on the team, it would be hell. Believe me: I'm European, and thus can see it every day in our soccer - so I can safely predict at least half of the NFL (and this is a VERY conservative estimation, believe me) would be in the hands of oil sheiks, Chinese and Russian and Thai oligarchs - most of whom could easily buy the entire NFL if they really wanted...

Believe me: you wouldn't want that.

2 hours ago, hen826957 said:

The word "pay cut" seems harsh. It's like working and getting paid but due to other employees getting jobs, you boss have to cut your money in half.

Totally irrelevant, but I cannot help thinking about this Dilbert strip:

I still say that, given the current roster and the depth of the rookie crop, Ozzie cannot really pick a bad position at #16. He could pick the wrong guy - but not the wrong position (excluding ones he obviously won't go for - QB, P, K...). At #16 there will almost surely be prime talent for every position.

"Easiest Offseason Decision For Ravens? Picking Up Mosley’s Contract Option"
C'mon, that's not even a decision :D

And just to think that we could probably have Kyle Shanahan as our OC two seasons ago - but we went with Trestman...

Dunno, but I cannot help feeling that releasing Wallace - thus depriving Flacco of his prime target after Smith's gone, and replace him with an unproven guy would be just the way the Ravens seem to think an NFL offense should be built... Anything but consistency...
And these guys will be genuinely shocked when Flacco comes up with another face reddening season...

We can only hope Ozzie won't do something he never seemed to be willing to do - and offer Williams the kind of money hes gonna be offered by some other organizations with a huge free cap portion to spend. It would esseintially devastate our cap situation and cripple us for the coming years. I'm more than sure some teams will offer him the kind of salary he simply isn't worth.

I can understand why we play this will-we-retain-a-free-agent-everyone-knows-we-cannot game before each free agency period - but stil: nothing indicates it's gonna be any different with Williams than it was with Grubbs, Ellerbe, Art Brown, Kruger, McPhee, Torrey Smith and Osemele.

The only way I think it's possible to keep him is if he is willing to accept an offer he knows is less than what he would be offered elswhere. In NFL lingo that's called the "hometown discount".

A "very comeptitive offer" will be worth sweet little as soon as there's an organization willing to overpay him - and there will be. I'm quite sure Williams will receive offers Ozzie wouldn't match - let alone overbid - even if we had the cap space - which we don't...

To quote someone who knew a thing or two about how to play fottball well: "Talk is cheap. Let's play ball."

If a tenth of whatever Harbaugh and the FO said the past couple of years, came true, we'd have a perennial playoff team. We don't.

Do the math - and decide how much we should care about the things that are being said or promised - until it actually happens.

Is Alabama TE O.J. Howard worth a 1st round QB? Aww HELL naw! He is raw. So Maxx should just be considered a bust? Gilmore?

I've seen him coming to Baltimore in several mocks.
But we all know how much mocks are worth... especially this early.

  4 hours ago, ellicottraven said:

I don't know what this does to improve our team, but hey at least they're signing free agents from the CFL!

Lokombo is a speedy LB with good coverage skills. Will use on special teams & nickel coverage just like Albert McClellan (who may take Orr's spot or be waived). Basically, trying out to be McClellan's replacement.

Foster is a former Marine that played next to Malcolm Butler in college. Good tackling S, good on special teams. Replacement for Elam or Kendrick Lewis.

Looks to me that the Ravens are building their special teams roster right now to replace Elam, Lewis, McClellan, etc.

I can only hope that they won't try to replace Orr with McLellan... Don't get me wrong, I love McLellan in purple and gold - but as the ST captain. He had 7 years to prove he's a good enough LB to play there for the Ravens - and could not do it. Let's face it: as useful and great as he is at ST, he's simply not good enough to be more than depth at LB. Trying to move him to LB permanently would IMHO weaken both the ST and the LB corps.

I don't know what this does to improve our team, but hey at least they're signing free agents from the CFL!

Well, as they're signed for future contracts, we'll hardly see them on the field for some time... Probably PS for both.

Hah, when I heard we signed Foster, I thought it was Arian - but now I see it's not him, it's the Otha Foster

Anyway, welcome both of you.

I still think we cannot pick a wrong position in the draft's first round this time... It can be the wriong guy - but not the wrong position. (Well, maybe QB... but Ozzie won't pick a QB in the first round for sure...)

I think that it would be very difficult for an all world superstar hall of fame player like Ray to be a coach. There is no doubt that he can teach anybody the game, however it would be torture for him to stand there and watch players under perform while he is helplessly standing on the sideline.

Players underperform knowing Ray Lewis would be waiting for them at the sideline after a poor play?

Cannot see that happen :)

There's no way of knowing how good a coach Ray would turn out to be - but at least you could be sure that no man on the Ravens roster would even dream of daring to give less than 150% in any game, even meaningless ones - so insulting performancels like the one Week #17 would never occur :)

As for Roethlisberger... we, Ravens fans, know exactly how it goes when a key cog of your team is contemplating retirement every single off season - just to come back every single time... Right... Ed? :D

Don't get me wrong - I'm absolutely happy about Urschel's mathematical prowess being so widely recognized in the NFL scene - but somehow I can't help feeling I'd be much happier if he was renowned for his on-field production... But the reality is that he's been outplayed by a fourth-round rookie...

Is there anybody who really, genuinely believes that failing to be able to do so for 7 stragiht seasons, Albert McLellan will suddenly become a starting caliber LB? It seems so weird to me that when discussing the potential replacements for Orr, everybody mentions McLellan... Don't get me wrong, I love his contribution and there's no doubnt he's the top dog of ther ST - but he's been in Baltimore for 7 years and has never became more than depth in the LB corpse. It's just insane to expect him to become the real deal now... And also, moving him primarily to the D corpse would strip the AT from its leader... I'm afraid it would be a lose-lose scenario...

Julio Jones... Can't help remembering the YUUUUGE pack of picks the Falcons gave up to trade up and snatch Julio Jones. And the chances Ozzie will ever even consider such a trade... Never.

I'm not saying he's wrong - it was a huge risk of the Falcons that could have crippled their development for years if Jones doesn't turn out to be the star he is now. I'm just trying to gauge the chances of the Ravens getting an elite WR through the draft. Our "luck" is that the year we had a top-10 pick was the year where there was no elite WR in the draft...

And even if we got a WR like Jones... with the dismal offensive play calling we saw this season, he would hardly be anything close to what he is in Atlanta...

And talking about Atlanta... another thing I can't help remembering is how we could have had Shanahan as the new OC replacing Kubiak, but went with Trestman instead...

  1 hour ago, RaRaRavens said:

Damn, our roster is seriously starting to look like Swiss cheese - holes every which way. Just to name the positions where we need (improved) starters at: LB, CB 2 (considering Young should play the slot), WR 1&2, C, OLB, most likely DT and RT as well. Gonna be a looong offseason...

We've got the WR 1&2, we also have the OLB and RT as of right now. Quit being so pessimistic.

We've gpot WR 1&2? Who do you consider starting caliber WR beside Wallace? Because I don't think at all that Perriman has proven himself last sesaon... The way things looked at the end of the season, I'd much rather go with Aiken than Perriman - but Kamar's all but gone.