rmcjacket23

Just to summarize for you... With Castillo = zone blocking Without Castillo = zone blocking Understand?

Yes, we very well likely need an upgrade. What we don't need, however, is to pay a large amount of money for the best possible upgrade. Centers just aren't that important. You don't need the best one. I've never once recalled any SB winning team who specifically won the SB because they had the absolute best center in the league. In fact, I know several who won a SB with a pretty bad center on their team.

I think, in a draft that appears to be so deep with pass catching talent, that its hard to justify the Ravens taking a WR/TE in round 1. I mean I suppose if like a Mike Evans falls there, they would do it, but given that just gave good money to Pitta and signed Smith as a short-term player, I don't think they take a rookie early there. I think 2nd or 3rd round is a reasonable spot for them to target a receiver. If they hadn't re-signed Pitta, I would have guaranteed an Ebron-type would have been their first pick, but given how they are designed now (Kubiak offense, more intent on running the ball), it just doesn't benefit them in the immediate future to have 3 or 4 quality pass catchers on the team. I mean if they drafted Ebron that early, you'd assume he was going to be basically a starter in week 1. If so, then what role does a Steve Smith or Marlon Brown really have? Assuming Pitta and Ebron line up as slot WRs or even out wide, Smith and Brown would only be on the field on like 4 wide sets, which is virtually never if a Kubiak offense is working properly.

I actually think they may be more inclined to kick Osemele out to RT, but I think they wait until the second round to take a tackle and let him compete with Wagner for the starting RT gig in camp. I suspect, at least if I were drafting, that we are going to target either Pryor or Clinton-Dix at FS in the first round. I think they will take BA offensive lineman if both safeties are gone.

One thing is for sure... I'd expect to see a whole lot less of Jacoby and Marlon Brown on offense this season. And I don't see Mellette being more than a gameday inactive and/or practice squad guy for most of the season.

Better than hoping and praying that a guy who isn't even a FA somehow decides to take less money to come play for your team. I'd rather take my chances with another rookie. At least that's realistic. If there's anybody who is hoping and praying here, its the Alex Mack huggers.

If you think so, then you believe that. It doesn't seem like Ozzie does though. Have you noticed you haven't heard a word about our interest in him since we signed Monroe? Why do you think that is. For the last time... if you want to keep praying, keep praying. If you want to keep pretending like "its possible", then do that. I'm more of a realistic guy myself. And I'm not the one who will be disappointed when Mack is a Brown in September. That's a YOU problem, not a Ravens problem.

Agreed. We don't need an Alex Mack, because the difference between him and the 10th or 12th best center in the league isn't worth the $5m a year or more price difference between them. Matt Birk wasn't a top tier center when he played for us, and we don't need one that is either. We just need somebody who is better. I don't understand why so many fans think that the only way to replace somebody who is poor at their position is by spending a bunch of money on the absolute best guy. This logic makes no sense to me.

It doesn't matter how much effort he puts in. He's not going to be a Raven. You can accept this, or continue spending your summer in prayer. Either way you are wasting your time.

If... stop living your life revolving around ifs. Try thinking more realistic. This isn't Madden.

Danario very likely may never play in the NFL again. He's had two major surgeries on the same knee in the last year, and due to an infection, is highly unlikely to be able to play in 2014. His career itself is in serious doubt. We also have no need for Brandon Lloyd. He's the 4th or 5th WR on this team at best. He offers no upside to what we are trying to do.

Yes, he would. He or somebody that works for him likely contacts the agent of every single FA on the market. Doesn't mean anything.

As has every other GM of every other team. I have no doubt we were in contact with Revis' agent too, but that doesn't mean we had a realistic shot of acquiring him. We very well may get somebody else to play center, but its not going to be Alex Mack. We don't need him.

They already spent $10m on him... the $30m in cap space they have already includes his $10m guaranteed salary for 2014. So even if the Ravens offered him $15m for this season (which nobody will), then it only costs the Browns $5m more to keep him, and they would STILL have $25m in cap space. I don't know how many more ways I have to spell out that he's not going to be a Raven. If you want to continue living the fantasy, be my guest. But reality will set in eventually.

Except he's not a franchise player... he's a transition player. There is a difference.

Are you familiar with the concept of guaranteed money? Do you understand what that means? It means that every dime of a contract that is non-guaranteed is written in pencil. Therefore, at any given time that a team chooses, they can simply erase it. The REAL number of money that Flacco is guaranteed is $52m. That would be less than half of the phantom $120m that people pretend like is real. He won't be saying anywhere near $100m on his current contract. And the REAL cap number for Joe Flacco in 2015 is $14.55m... a far cry from the $25m phantom number that you literally just made up.

1. The Browns get no draft pick competition by not matching any offer, so that logic doesn't work. 2. The Browns have already acknowledged that they are willing to pay Mack over $10m this season to be a member of their team. How do we know this? Because its the cost of the transition tag that they applied to him. Therefore, realistically, the minimum amount of guaranteed compensation that the Ravens would have to give Mack to get him to even discuss an agreement would be $10m. That alone is a gigantic amount of guaranteed compensation to give to any center, regardless of how good they are. 3. The Browns have over $35m in cap space currently. The Ravens have about $15m at most. So again, and again, just provide example. Stop saying "well there are ways", when you've yet to provide a way. I'm simply baffled by how many people are obsessed with this. The picture has been painted pretty clear for you. I don't understand what you guys don't understand.

And by the way... we didn't sign Flacco to a $100m deal, and we had more than $5m in a cap space. The $120m figure that a lot of the kid fans like to throw around is a myth.

OK, and? We were competing against nobody to sign Flacco. But be detailed... how do you explain creating a contract that a team with less cap space would be able to afford than a team with a much larger amount of cap space? If there are many ways... then surely you wouldn't have an issue providing an example of one way. And be sure to provide a way that the Ravens can afford it but the Browns can't.

What kind of linebacker do we need exactly?

Ask yourself this... what kind of contract could we sign Mack to that would make it difficult for the Browns to match? The next person that comes up with one is the first person to come up with one. We don't need Mack. We just need an upgrade on Gino. Stop shooting for the moon. Its time to shift your fan focus to something reasonable. I'd consider Peyton Manning and Alex Mack about equally as likely to be Ravens at this time.

Sure... if you're running a franchise with monopoly money and have no concept of what it costs to bring somebody here. Just more typical fan overreaction. Got a bad center? Throw a ton of money at the best one and hope it sticks. That's why Ozzie is Ozzie and fans are fans.

I think the draft is and should be the plan for both of those spots.

Never bought into the "we are going to go after Alex Mack" hype train. Its a classic fan overreaction. We had a pretty bad center last season. So what do fans want? Us to go after the best center. While its a classic thought concept, its also an irrational one. We don't need the best center in the league, and we don't need to pay top dollar for him. We just need a better center. If we had the 15th best center in the league (which is about what we had when we had Birk), I guarantee no Ravens fan would even be discussing Alex Mack or any other center for that matter.

Gets far more credit for the name on his jersey and the movie made about him than his on-field production deserves. He will find a very soft market in FA.