rmcjacket23

The Browns tagged him because hes a good player, they could afford to tag him, and probably wanted more time to negotiate a deal. We didn't tag Kruger because Kruger wasn't worth the price to tag him, and we really couldn't afford to pay a player that much anyway.

To me, the idea that a division rival would allow a player that they clearly consider to be top quality to walk away to another division team while having plenty of money to be able to afford to keep him never made any sense to me. I think too many fans thought that Mack was a FA and we could just simply get him anytime we wanted to. I would have said at the absolute peak of the discussions (which was prior to signing Monroe), we had maybe a 10% realistic chance of landing him. I just don't think fans ever really understood the business side of such a move, and how incredibly difficult it is to make something like that happen.

5th rounder, and we have no idea what position he will play, although LG or Center seem like the only logical two options it could be.

Contenders for what? Also... what month is it again? Is this March or August?

1. Versatility 2. Likely the better fit of the line scheme we will be using 3. I have no idea what De La Puente's price is, nor does anybody else. It could be high enough that it simply doesn't interest us.

Depth is good. It promotes competition. The days of us just handing people jobs on the O-line should be over, considering how many question marks we have. Maybe you were fine with Jensen as our LG last season, but I wasn't. Depth makes that less likely this offseason. Plus, keep in mind, I believe Birk was about the 16th best center in the league when he retired from our team. Not exactly the cream of the crop either, yet people around here would tell you differently.

He appears to be an upgrade on what we have currently. Other than that, we don't really know anything about him. He could struggle, and we have no idea. Heck, he could get beat out for the job in training camp by Gino. The point is... you shouldn't be sitting here saying that he was the reason Rainey exploded, because he wasn't. As is the case with every offensive line, there's pretty much no one player who will make or break it. We had a pretty good LT and RG on this team last season, and nobody noticed, because the O-line was bad. He simply appears to be an upgrade at this time, but we really don't know anything else beyond that.

No, not really. He also went 18 carries for 35 yards in his second week as the lead back, which was the week after the big week you were talking about. He played seven weeks as the lead back in that offense, where he got the majority of the carries. He had two weeks where he was very good, and five weeks where he was very pedestrian or worse. Essentially, anytime he played a above average run defense, he and the Buccaneers themselves struggled heavily to run the ball. Its not a coincidence that he crushed Atlanta and Buffalo, but struggled heavily against Detroit, SF, STL, NO and Carolina

And he had less than 100 yards combined in his last 3 games... running behind the same center. Not a good example.

Read the article.

1. We clearly can't afford him. 2. He's not really "out there". We couldn't sign him without Cleveland allowing us to sign him, which would seem like a slim-to-none proposition. 3. Any even vague interest we had in acquiring Mack is completely gone with this trade in my opinion.

5th round pick in 2015 is the reported compensation.

The question is... at what position?

I think it makes training camp and the preseason very interesting. We know we've got KO and Wagner who can compete for the RT job right now, and we've got at least two guys capable of playing LG (KO and Zuttah). Its entirely possible that the Ravens take an offensive lineman in the first 3 rounds, and just basically put 4-5 guys out there to compete for various positions. If nothing else, by selecting even just one offensive lineman in the draft, we now appear to have some pretty solid depth. It would also seem to perhaps maybe remove an offensive lineman from our 1st round pick status, but that might not be likely just yet.

Thats correct. But you fans asked for someone better than Gino, and he was. I'm sure until 20 minutes ago, nobody had ever heard of this guy, or even cared one bit about what he had accomplished as a Buccaneer. Remember, it was Matt Birk (who according to many fans on here was the second coming of Jesus Christ as a center) was in the mid-teens in PFF rankings for his final two seasons as a Raven. Not exactly the dominant player that so many people falsely perceive. We don't need the best center, we just need a better one. And it appears we may have one right now.

Obviously this is great news. Keep in mind though... what Ozzie seems to be doing is trying to acquire some versatile offensive lineman. By doing so, he's going to allow for great competition in the preseason and training camp. Zuttah can play multiple positions, and given that we only appear to have two players set on our offensive line (Monroe and Yanda), this will allow competition for all other positions.

And I'd also point out one more thing... the role of a FS in the NFL has changed. No longer are the days of Ed Reed standing 20 yards off the ball and people throwing deep on him and him making plays... thats not what FS's in the NFL do any longer. All these people talking about INTs and all this nonsense... do you realize that Earl Thomas only had 5 INTs last season, while Reed had 3? Does anybody realistically think that Reed is even on the same planet in terms of talent as Earl Thomas in the present day NFL? What FS's are required to do is play closer to the ball (because very few teams throw deep anymore anyway), cover TEs and slot receivers in coverage, and make tackles. Does anybody trust Ed Reed's ability to tackle anybody currently? Does anybody trust Ed Reed's ability to cover an athletic TE in coverage (which almost every team has nowadays)? I sure don't.

1. There is absolutely no evidence that hes willing to accept the vet minimum, nor is there any evidence he is willing to play for anybody in a reserve role. He didn't accept it last season, and he played like a guy who should be making the vet minimum. 2. If were are using a first or even second round pick on a safety, he should be starting from day 1. So why are we brining in Ed anyway? For the "veteran leadership"? To "lead the young guys"? Thats what coaches are for... so why would we pay Ed to play in a jersey? Based on what almost everybody who has posted anything about Ed becoming a Raven again, all of your desires for him are more directed in his ability to coach more than it is to play. So why are we even discussing him on the field? I think too many people are making judgments based on feelings over making judgment based on brains. You like Ed Reed, and you want to see him as a Raven again. But the on-field production just doesn't benefit the Baltimore Ravens any longer. This is a team looking to get younger and more athletic in many areas, and FS is one them. I think we are all overreacting to this. I think the FO intention is to use an early pick on a FS and start him from the beginning. Perhaps Clark will be nothing more than a depth signing, and perhaps he is more likely to accept that role than Reed is.

Is that why he was benched late in the season with the Jets and they have thus far given no interest to re-signing him? Also, why didn't you reference the number of missed tackles he had and how he was burned deep in coverage routinely in a Jets defense that was notorious for that? Or do we only care about him because he gets INTs? I thought we wanted well-rounded defensive players? The Ed Reed you KNEW isn't the Ed Reed we currently see.

There's a reason he is sitting out there with no job. I swear some fans think Ed Reed will still be a great player 10 years from now. SMH.

Pryor will almost certainly be playing FS in the NFL.

I don't know... what does the fact that Ed Reed is still a UFA with pretty much no interest from anybody tell you? If the Pats wanted him so bad... why isn't he a Patriot right now?

1. DeCoud would undoubtedly come at a significantly higher priced tag than Clark. 2. If we are using a first round pick on a FS, I'd expect him to be the starter right out of the gate. I'd rather put in Clinton Dix and let him struggle then spend money on a veteran FS, with no logical reason to keep them around for longer than a season.

I would say the FO is content with Williams, Canty and Ngata as its starting D-line, with guys like Tyson and McPhee being used as depth. If we add a DT, it would be mid-to-late round draft pick for depth, or a cheap veteran for depth.

There is no news about Mack because he's not going to be a Raven. We don't have the money to sign him, and he was never a realistic option anyway. The only reason he was ever even brought up as a pipedream was IF we didn't re-sign Monroe, which we did.