designermaryland

They should definitely expand rosters a bit. With the amount of injuries that occur in every game, 46 is too few to have on gameday, and 53 is too few to have protected on your roster. Something like 52 active on gameday would allow you roughly 1 more by position group. 60 roster would allow some of those guys on the practice squad to be protected so they could not be signed.

How do you select the best game day players if they are not tested in an actual game? I think you need at least 2-3 preseason games to see what you've got and whether plays are translating on to the field from practice. These injuries could occur at any time in training camp, practice or games and it is a total crapshoot.

There are a couple of guys that I think deserve to be included.
Alex Lewis. A fourth round draft pick that makes the loss of KO inconsequential.

With the loss of Watson, I think Waller's stock rises. As a bonus, he is solid on special teams.

Just when I have been very critical of OZ recents drafts, he finds a 5th round diamond in Judon and 4th round steals like Moore, Lewis, and Dixon.

well, let's not crown anyone pro bowler yet, but the 4 you mention look like they have potential. the frustrating thing about that is, they seem to be finding mediocre players in the early rounds, and solid contributors in the later rounds. (outside of staley) i guess its a crapshoot no matter where you select them.

On the replay, to me it just looked like he hyperextended his left knee a little. I dont think it helped that his helmet slammed into the turf either, but he should be ok in a few weeks. Since we have depth at RB, I dont think it is a huge problem to let him heal up for a few weeks. Changes are one of the other guys will get dinged in the meantime, and Dixon can be fresh for a mid season gradual introduction to get some snaps as he is healthy.

That was one of the most pathetic examples of a career in a ravens uniform i have ever seen. he basically lines up for the first offensive snap of his ravens career, trips over his own feet before even taking one stride, and tears an achilles and is out for the year. He didnt even complete an offensive move. He lifted his foot off the ground, and his career is done. There is no way they are not releasing him after the season given the other players in development. wow.

I would sit Perriman just for precaution. He is not going to get squat accomplished in 4 series in a preseason game anyway. Just rest up until the games count and see if he can stay away from the injury bug.

Dixon looks good during games, which we can judge from. It's nice to hear more about his work in practice from QB Joe.
Any chance Dixon makes the 53-man cut with Lorenzo Taliaferro still on PUP ? Special teams maybe ? he seems to be open to the idea and there aren't that many spots left on the roster.

are you nuts? i have a feeling forsett is out based on the talent of the other 2. forsett is not going to break a game open and he does not have the power to be explosive in short yardage. imo, why keep him? he had a great year a few years ago with kubiak, but trestman is going to pass more and we should have explosive open field runners like dixon, allen and west.

We did well during a deep playoff run with Urschel and Hurst on the left side in 2014, both rookies at the time. There is no reason Stanley and Lewis cannot do well and develop great chemistry from day 1 as rookies. Rick Wagner is mediocre to average, and is not going to demand top dollar. I can't imagine there would be a big market for a ok RT. If Urschel or Jensen can develop as a center, we would have a decent OL for several years. I can't see them keeping Zuttah beyond this year.

Since Campanaro is always getting injured at WR, maybe reserve his role to ONLY returner and very limited offensive snaps until he can improve durability. There has to be someone among the other remaining receivers and DBs who can field a punt and run a few yards and fall down if he goes down.

I have been disappointed for several years by the draft selections in the early rounds. I guess it proves you probably only hit on 1 out of 3 guys you draft at a position, if you are lucky. If Judon pans out, they basically wasted Correa and Kaufusi picks to me. But who knows, maybe they will improve as time goes on. Judon looks like a formidable pass rusher, and should be lining up on the outside to utilize his edge rush ability. I would not hesitate to play him equal snaps to Suggs to keep both guys fresher and allow Suggs to stay healthy as the season wears on.

i am sure the coaching staff will downplay the results, but this looks like exactly the same team we put out there last year. Defense with no pass rush or pressure, secondary looks clueless and cant tackle. The only reason we stiffen in the red zone, is because the pass coverage is so much easier with no deep threat. Otherwise they would just keep passing and ripping the d to shreds. Offense hardly effective running and 3 and out on the first few possessions if not for a gift penalty. no speed or different pace routes. i guess you can't give your entire playbook away in the preseason, but the execution does not look all that good.

What the first 2 preseasons games has shown is that the Ravens secondary should have been more of a priority in the draft and free agency. All camp we heard about KC. How he can play everywhere, but where are the splash plays? Ravens, again, used a second round pick on a guy that will see limited time on the field. Orr looks better at ILB and Judon looks better as a pass rusher
Also, Powers looks lost in the slot as CB. Can Pees come up with a scheme to cover crossing routes cause that's open all night against the Ravens. The PR machine must be at work mentioning Elam who still looks like he can't tackle or cover. Brooks, Price and Levine have played better.

agree with all you said. i strongly dislike the ravens draft philosophy and think they waste their early round picks on guys who sit on the pine until it's too late to develop them. if you clearly have mosley, orr, suggs, dumerville, mclellan, why are you even looking at a LB when you have glaring needs elsewhere. i guess if you whiff, it wont matter either way, but I feel like they employ a whimpy conservative draft strategy. you cannot be hiding your first and second rounders on injured reserve or ST every year and expect to win.

No big surprise here. He lasted all of a week. Please cut him loose to another club who has the patience to deal with his 2 healthy weeks of the season and IR him. 3 years is too long to wait for a guy to come around to even be able to be active. Smitty, Butler or a TE can fill the slot routes fine.

Its deja vu all over again. he has an injury, he doesn't have an injury. he's fine, he's out. he'll be back in a week or two. he was supposed to be fine for the start of the season last year, and never played. i would suspect the exact same thing is going to happen again. the "worlds slowest ligament healer" according to harbaugh. i think they may as well put him on IR now.

The fact that we even have 13 WR's in the first place is evidence they are completely clueless about evaluating talent at this position. They seem to be lured by the flavor of the month. First, they were sure they needed possession receivers, then big bodies who would win jump balls, now they keep picking up straight speed guys. They cannot make up their mind, and none of them have panned out. Beyond the trio of Perriman, Aiken and SSS, you need guys who are going to also play special teams. For me, Wallace is not worth keeping unless Perriman can not get healthy. I think they should keep D Brown, Keenan Reynolds as a slot option and returner (if he looks good) and 1 other with quickness and elusiveness possibly - or just keep Waller as a hybrid TE/WR.

  2 hours ago, pcwag33 said:

Bengals have drafted better than Ravens over recent years, and this year looks that as well.

Billings for one.

i agree. if you look at the past 5-6 years, they are crushing the ravens on draft productivity.

Look what they said in 2013
BALTIMORE RAVENS: Credit general manager Ozzie Newsome for his thorough understanding of his team and the draft board. He simply lets the board work in his favor and selects the right players to fill the team's biggest needs at the right value. Safety Matt Elam replaces Bernard Pollard as the designated tough guy in the back end, bringing better ball skills and awareness. Brown, a plug-and-play starter at inside linebacker, has the athleticism to rack up gaudy production as a sideline-to-sideline playmaker. Tackle Brandon Williams and end John Simon add depth to an already imposing defensive front. GRADE: B

love this. i think the press gives the ravens high grades each year simply on past production and give them way too much credit. i dont think any team got lower than a C grade on some articles. all 32 teams cannot possibly all hit. the praise ends up just being a bunch of hot air in the end. since flacco, we have hit on about 1 to 1.5 average to above average talent starters per draft and the rest are out of the league in a year or two. that cannot be an A quality grade.

  1 hour ago, designermaryland said:

as a little exploration, i have outlined below 2-4 players within 5-10 picks after our round by round selection we could have taken at "position of need", which we ignore year after year, while instead drafting a 6th defensive tackle to back up Jernigan and B Williams for 8 plays per game. Maybe Bronson Kaufusi will be a nice situational player, but it just does not make sense to take him when you need a starting player at CB, where the draft seemed extremely solid and deep. I hope some of these names below light it up as rookies this year to expose how flawed the ozzie drafting philosophy is, and highlight how much it holds the team back from success.

R2: Myles Jack LB, Noah Spence DE, Sterling Shepard WR, Mackensie Alexander CB.
R3: Russel KeiVarae CB, Shilique Calhoun DE, Kendall Fuller CB
R4: Eric Murray CB, Antonio Morrison LB, Dean Lowry DE
R5: Kentrell Brothers LB, Trevor Davis WR

Interesting comment; however your comment is a little bit contemptuous. Ozzie and his crew are experts. That's what they do. They live and breathe player evaluation. When's the last time you told your surgeon how to operate?
Believe me, they know a lot more than most expert in the NFL, much less you or I.
You can certainly say that they are conservative and try to take as least a risk as any front office, especially when it comes to positions like WR, and CB. The reason is that those are the 2 most unpredictable positions when trying to project a college standout to an NFL pro bowler.
Those CBs you thought they should have picked probably didn't rank high on their draft board. The one they thought had a significant chance of being a pro- bowler Jalen Ramsey, they went after him but couldn't get him at a reasonable price.

As far as Myles Jack; the injury concern cannot be underestimated. Noah Spence has a serious drug history. Ecstasy!!!!


I disagree with the front office on the back end. Which is their willingness to let these players walk after they have developed them. For instance KO. Wouldn't it be nice to have KO on our team now?

I would love for them to develop as good a formula for keeping talent as they have for drafting them.

i am not claiming any of these guys listed for certain are better, but just putting it out there as food for thought based on the fact that we continue to ignore our position of highest need. potentially they could have had a much more highly touted CB, or ILB. by the results of the past 6-8 draft classes, i dont put all that much stock in their evaluation process, as we have almost no all-pro players and even very few pure starters. they continue to need to pick up FA's like Lewis, Monroe, Hill, Weddle and others to fill in where the draft choices are not panning out.

yes, our pass rush seems to stink, but we do have at least 2 veterans at DE/OLB on the roster who will play significant time and draw large salaries. it does not make sense to me to draft high there, when you know barring injury they are not going to sit Suggs so Correa can play.

so basically, you are sitting your 2nd round draft pick correa, while you are stuck with no good CB and Anthony Levine playing corner. i think the philosophy they use is backwards, and it is resulting in growing roster issues.

finally, no i would not tell my surgeon how to operate on me. but this is not a proven science. it is a guessing game based on interchangeable pieces of a team that plays a game. while i do not know how to perform a ligament surgery or tooth extraction, i can genrally gauge whether it makes sense to add a 9th interior lineman to my team when i have maybe 0-1 good players at another position.

personally, i think their drafting philosophy is highly flawed and i wanted to post some actual names of guys to come back and look at in the fall to compare to what we drafted. just my opinion.

as a little exploration, i have outlined below 2-4 players within 5-10 picks after our round by round selection we could have taken at "position of need", which we ignore year after year, while instead drafting a 6th defensive tackle to back up Jernigan and B Williams for 8 plays per game. Maybe Bronson Kaufusi will be a nice situational player, but it just does not make sense to take him when you need a starting player at CB, where the draft seemed extremely solid and deep. I hope some of these names below light it up as rookies this year to expose how flawed the ozzie drafting philosophy is, and highlight how much it holds the team back from success.

R2: Myles Jack LB, Noah Spence DE, Sterling Shepard WR, Mackensie Alexander CB.
R3: Russel KeiVarae CB, Shilique Calhoun DE, Kendall Fuller CB
R4: Eric Murray CB, Antonio Morrison LB, Dean Lowry DE
R5: Kentrell Brothers LB, Trevor Davis WR

Anytime you have to explain your moves on draft day, one thing is obvious. The lack of apparent wisdom in said choice is obvious to everyone.

“We think we really helped the defense,” General Manager Ozzie Newsome said.

Does not sound like GM that won on draft day. There is little to no confidence in such a statement.

“An interesting night,” Newsome said.

Yup they got the short end of the stick and all that after an awfully long and painful season.

“Sometimes things just work out and the guys you want are there,” Assistant General Manager Eric DeCosta said.

Hmm that's funny, I thought I heard the Ravens trying to trade up in the first round to get Ramsey. Then they traded down to get the second rounder, like reaching for lower hanging fruit.

IHMO it sure looked like the Ravens lost out big time on their players of choice. What really erks me though is that the last few season seem to be going the wrong direction in general and they hold to the same tactics thinking things will magically change. Maybe its the strategy in general that needs to be fixed.

Prove me wrong though, make the playoffs and I'll admit just how little I know. When that does not happen then seriously change things up, instead of repeating history heading in the wrong direction.

I agree. They are continually drafting bench players who mostly sit or play ST, rather than position of need where they can start year 1. I think the reason is 2 fold. They either can't develop the talent, or they are too conservative to put the faith in their own scouting system to let them play and prove themselves on the field. Both result in guys like Carl Davis, John Simon and Arthur Brown who sit around, are healthy scratches every week because there are veterans in front of them, while glaring holes remain at other positions where they are forced to pick up waiver wire trash to fill in. That is not a winning formula. They are essentially wasting the draft picks in early rounds because those players play so little they make almost no impact. If i hear about 1 more guy who has "upside and potential" with a "motor" i may throw up.

To me, I think this entire draft was botched again by the FO. Staley is fine, since you know Monroe will be out after 2 series even if they keep him. But they continue to draft in the early rounds in positions where the rookies will sit or be limited snaps, while the positions of weakness are drafted in later rounds. Makes no sense to me to be drafting a DE, DL an OL which will be rotational players or backups when you need a quality starting ILB or CB. They also continue to draft WR's when we have 10 of them on the roster. They selected the 20 & 23rd best ranked CB on the board and allowed 14 CB's to be drafted before they selected one. For me, that is valuing that position WAY too low.

this is ozzie trying to outsmart everyone and failing again. wow, does this pick suck. he was projected as a day 3 pick, and he is undersized for a pas rusher. What the heck? are they smoking in the front office?

If the Titans will give us pick 33 to move back to 15, I would take that. It would be nice not to fall quite that far down, but they have a high pick as compensation. 3 picks in the first 36 would be incredible. You could almost target anyone you wanted between 20-33 by packaging a later round pick with 33 or 36 to move back up in the late first round. Should be interesting if it happens.

Please let the Bosa hype be a smoke screen. Dude has Courtney Upshaw written all over him. Unproductive at best against any formidable competition. Hoping we trade back a few positions and pick a solid CB.

Not surprising. I called this as soon as Weddle was signed. Weddle is going to play SS for us, with Webb or Lewis at FS unless they find someone else. If you watch his game highlights, he is on the line of scrimmage a lot, or covering the slot or supporting the run. He is not deep in center field. With the suspension, thankfully they released him before the announcement, as there would probably be some policy about restrictions releasing a player on suspension. Hill was solid, but never great and committed a lot of illegal hits and IMO has a low football IQ. They need more guys who are smart on the field.

2 TD's last year. was he really worth almost $6 mil a year? i guess i didnt realize how overpaid WR's are for little to no impact.