law215

My only concerns on the list are Ross. He look tiny and in the NFL, he may get beat up in the middle. Lawson reminds me of Upshaw.

Zuttah was going to be a cap casualty anyway. His performance declined and he was working through injuries last season. Saving money and moving up in the draft is a win.

IMO here are the benefits of having B Williams.

1. Ravens keep a strength. There is no guarantee Pierce or any other wide body the Ravens have there can do the job B. Williams has. Run defense will be top 5.
As bad as the Ravens have been over the last couple of years, they play in close games because of the dominance of the front 7. When you control the line of scrimmage, the other teams struggle.

2. If you don't have top corners, the best way to stop the pass is to make the team one dimensional and keep in 3rd and long.

3. Mosley, McClellan, Smith, Orr all looked like tackling machines cause Williams eat up blockers.

4. The best defenses historically are strong down the middle. Williams, Mosley, and Jefferson give them that for the next few years.

I agree the Ravens need to add CB , Wr, pass rusher, and o-line. Those positions are in the draft, FA, and there will be cuts. The roster is not complete, but its a good start.

Pees play calling is weak, but considering the corners and lack of pass rush he has to work with , what do you expect? If he press Wr, they get beat deep. If they play off, they are too slow to come up and make the tackle. If he blitzes, the other teams make big plays.

Best of luck to Guy. It's time for Urban and Kafusi to step up.

I hope he works out but I am not crazy about the signing. I think it sends the wrong message to the young guys on the team. The coaches and front office giving up on Buck Allen, and taking snaps away from Dixon and West. All of them are still very young players for a 32 yr old that has been injured more often than playing in the last 3 years.

Are those young guys so bad that you reach out. What does that say about their own confidence to draft and develop ?

B. Williams sign 5-year to stay. Hopefully they can still add CB or C

Why?! This is what kills me about the front office. They always talk difference makers but always go cheap on old men. I hoped they would save every loose penny they could find to add a Wr, CB, C. Instead they sign a old man at a position that is not a primary need and will frustrate younger players on the team that will loose snaps because of it.

This move was a longtime coming. It shows that maybe giving a younger player a shot is worth the risk. I would have like to see Webb added to that list.

There is a deep class of CB and safeties so no need to keep overpaid, unproductive vets.

There are at least 26 players (no QB's) in the draft that i would be happy with in round one. So we can trade back 10 positions, still get a top talent, plus pick up another second round pick

I think that's the type of thinking that gets the Ravens into trouble and results in their bad drafting as of late. Take the known BPA at #16. Quality over quantity. Ravens need difference makers. They are more likely to find one at #16 than later.

What if we traded up for Garrett? It would cost 2 more 1st Round picks. The guy is going to be a nightmare and I do not want to face him twice a year.

Garrett is going number one. hue is not trading that away. Ravens were a team that at times struggled to beat Cleveland. Garrett will be a game wrecker especially with Shelton on the inside.

My takeaway from the combine so far is that there is no way the Ravens should trade back in the first round. A lot of talent on both sides of ball. There will be a game changer at pick 16. Now if they can trade back in the 3-4th may not be a bad idea to take advantage of a deep class.

I would only consider Marshall and Jefferrson. Revis and Mangold are shells of their former selves. I heard Pryor is a locker room cancer.

I'm more interested in seeing who the Ravens off load or restructure/extend to make cap room. If they completely bargain shop with the lack of players they have and few drafts picks, they may be a worst football team in 2017.

Joe has not looked like a championship QB in about 3 years. Sure the receivers could be better, the line could be better, play-calling etc...

However, Joe had those things before he got paid the $120M contract. The expectation was for him to become a guy to make others better. He has not. The Ravens can not afford his contract and a top 5 defense, and pro bowl talent around him at the same time.

If NE can draft QBs then the Ravens should take one if they are available in the middle rounds to develop.

  22 hours ago, law215 said:

Why do the Ravens wait until the contract is up to offer a very good competitive contract? Why do all our players rather hit free agency?

It just trips me out how teams like the Steelers can keep Brown, Bell, and Big Ben and we struggle to keep guys that are not even pro bowlers.

Well it is a straight forward process. If you know you have a foundational player about to hit FA you pull out all the stops to retain them. If they are a solid player but not a foundational type player, you try to negotiate and they try to negotiate. Testing the market only makes sense to at least get a clear idea of what actual value is going to be.

With the salary cap era, teams cannot simply go out and offer huge contracts to every FA. This is also why comp picks exist. They serve to offset the inevitability of parting ways with some of the "homegrown" talent. Basically a small reward for bolstering the talent in the league and to help cover the loss; if you draft well.

It just trips me out how teams like the Steelers can keep Brown, Bell, and Big Ben and we struggle to keep guys that are not even pro bowlers.

It is much harder to replace Pro Bowl caliber talent. Not sure why you would be upset with not being foolish. Steelers fan trolling?!

My point is we don't have any stars the caliber of the Steelers big 3, so why can we not afford to pay good young talent. Other teams with high priced QBs are doing that. There are 2 reason I think the Ravens are not able to. First, poor drafts forced them to sign free agents which are more expensive then guys playing on the field for 4-5 years on a rookie deal. Second, I think the Ravens have a lot of money tied to average to below average players J Smith, Webb , Lewis etc.

The compensatory picks mean nothing it they don't use them to move around in the draft to get playmakers which the Ravens lack.

Why do the Ravens wait until the contract is up to offer a very good competitive contract? Why do all our players rather hit free agency?

It just trips me out how teams like the Steelers can keep Brown, Bell, and Big Ben and we struggle to keep guys that are not even pro bowlers.

Okkk... I know it is really early but here is a really early draft projection.

1. Jabrill Peppers- S- MIch (ball hawking athlete who changes our defense)

2. TreDavious White- CB- LSU (insert and play)

3. Isaiah Ford- WR- VTech (as much raw talent as anyone in draft. needs some work with his ball skills but he is a great playmaker - what we need in our offense)

3. Joe Mixon-RB- Okla- He a Ray Rice type of player... explosive all purpose type of play maker

4. Devonte Fields- OLB- Louisville- A steal in round 4 and can get after the QB

5. Marques White- CB- FSU- more speed and athleticism in our DBackfield. with Peppers, TreDavious and Marques... our defense gets younger, faster, more athletic and more versatile right now.

6. Zach Banner-OG- USC. the guys is huge and can move fluidly for his size. 6'7 335 pounds and is a mauler. perfect for Greg Romans system... he is the type of OL we are looking to re-vamp our OL. BIg, fast and nasty. He played T in college but the move to G will protect his slower 1st step and not allow people around his outside. With Alex Lewis, Yanda, Mangold and Banner (along with Ronnie Stanley) we will have big and nasty OL!

Good selections. My picks would

1. Sidney Jones, Derek Barnett, Teez Tabor

Beyond round one some other players that could help the ravens if available are:
Safety Obi Melifonwu, ,Bubba Baker, Desmond King,
CB White, Adoree Jackson,Tankersley
Wr Travis Dural, JuJu Smith-Schuster
OL - Banner, Ethan Pocic

.

I think the big problems the Ravens face are the lack of coaching to develop young players and poor drafts. It is hard to get excited about prospects when for the last few years the Ravens missed in early rounds, move back to get lesser talent, and never have money to retain or bring in free agent talent.

If Correa, Z Smith were at least average pass rushers
Perriman, Moore were more than just question marks
Carl Davis, Urban were solid run stuffers
Urshel, Jensen could be a little physical on the line
Wright, Elam were solid in the secondary, then
some of the positions would not be holes, but guys that would already be in place.

Two players that showed promise were West and Dixon who they barely utilizied. Now, they say what if they had a star RB, with almost everyone in the world knowing the secondary is what failed them in NE 2 years ago and why the Steelers bumped them from playoff contention last year.


I just feel like there needs to new voices in coaching and drafting.

I think Elam's time in Baltimore was done anyway, but it shows what a wasted 1st round pick it was if the charges hold up.

Biggest myth going. These "junk" round picks we seem to be obsessed with are totally useless to our team. Start hitting on 1st and 2nd rounders like we did for 20 years and screw the 4th 5th and 6th junk round picks who amount to nothing.

I get your point. 4-6th rounders are rarely the difference makers that get you to the playoff. Ravens have been kept afloat by free agents and long time vets. OZ needs to hit on early rounds for Ravens to have consistent success.

We have so many holes on this team, and due to poor cap management/ failed drafts, this team is doomed every year- Flacco taking up elite money is also hurting us as well. Oz was successful when he didn't have to spend a lot on a qb- ever since he's had to allocate a lot of $$ to Flacco, the team has just gotten worse and worse (not even mentioning the bad drafts over the past five years). So Brandon Williams is going to pull a KO on us, and I think we also lose Wagner. I don't think people like to play for Harbs, and he's a dead coach walking because he's been losing more than he's winning- the team may appear to be stable, but we will have another down year this year as well- we don't make the playoffs two years from now - maybe not even then.

I agree with your points. Until the Ravens have a head coach and position coaches to DEVELOP young talent, Ravens will always be up against the salary cap and rely on older players that don't need to be taught. Harbs been throwing coordinators in front of the bus for years and now he's offering up Flacco. A good coach would have seen Flacco can not carry an offense and DEMAND running the ball more. Instead Harbs waits after the game to say coulda, shoulda.

The poor drafting has compounded the problem. However, though not great, Ravens should have utilize Perriman, Dixon, Williams, Gilmore, Waller more. That's a coaching issue.

The Ravens need talent of both sides of the ball. Without B Williams and Orr, the run defense will suffer. Mike Wallace, Webb, Dumervil are not worth losing B. Williams. Ravens need to keep their young good players instead of overpaid players.

When are these OCs are going to learn to run the ball in the 4th quarter. Every mistake the Falcons made was due to passing the football.  The fumble, The sack, the holding call. With Mike leaving, they may never make it back. SMH

  On ‎2‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 1:34 PM, 6-11-Maine said:

This is where the miss on Elam and Terence Brooks (my guy! Go Noles!) really come back to bite The Ravens. Two highly touted college Safeties drafted in the 1st 3 rounds and neither will make it to a second contract. I thought pairing Elam's (college) toughness with Brooks' speed and ball skills would've set Baltimore up for years. Too bad it didn't.

You got he right. Compare Matt Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ue7wlWAhgg to compared that to Jamal Adams https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ue7wlWAhgg

That bring into question : Is it the drafting or the coaches failure to develop? How about Trawick who sees playing time with the Raider. Yet they bring in Huff off the street.

Williams, Wagner and Zuttah should go. We can draft a C/G, and pick up another in FA, and move Lewis to RT. Keep Hurst, Urschel and Jensen as backups. Ducasse was OK in run blocking, but a real liability against the pass.

I was feeling your comments until I read keep Hurst. Dude is a revolving door for D-linemen.

I think a new O-line coach is going to be the best thing the Ravens do this offseason. Ravens need a more physical offensive line. That will open up the run game and give Joe time. I think Roman will help with that.