rmcjacket23

Look at it this way. Give me reasons why you personally would trade for Zuttah instead of signing De La Puente.

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.

PFF Ranked him the 24th center. ESPN.com says this guy has only played 9 games at center. Can any find anything that says different? As a center replacement this move makes 0 sense. From a pure depth perspective this move kinda makes sense.

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.

I agree with your assessment, but I hope your not implying that Zuttah is not very good. I think he is one of the pieces we were missing last year.

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.

Rainey started splitting carries. That could be and is the reason why.

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

Bobby Rainey Exploded Running behind Zuttah, 3 TD'S in 1 game and almost 200 yards on the ground. Lol

And he had less than 100 yards combined in his last 3 games... running behind the same center.

Not a good example.

Hmm... never heard of him either, but again I haven't heard of too many non probowl caliber non-Ravens players either. I wonder what he graded out at Center last year? Hopefully somebody can post it for our benefit.

Read the article.

great trade. but are we all forgeting that alex mack is out there. we should try to get him to then #Best-O-Line

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.

"Zuttah will also challenge incumbent center Gino Gradkowski for a starting role."

 

LOL - who are wi trying to kid here? Ozzie will never trade away draft picks for mere "challenge". The sheer fact of the trade means he's meant to start.

The question is... at what position?

a starting center, wonderful. now if we can convince someone that shipley or gino are worth a pick or two things would be perfect. anyway, looks like we're looking for a guard somewhere in the draft now. Gotta assume Kelechi's the de facto RT unless something really crazy happens and somebody falls hard in the draft.

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.

ranked 22nd among 35 qualifying centers pff 2013 btw

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.

What's with all the hate towards Ed Reed?

He's gona get paid the minimum and is willing to sit whenever whoever we draft is ready to take over at FS.

It's just so rude hearing u guys hate on a guy that gave this team his heart without real reasons other than he's 35 or he's not as good as he was. Really? And Clark is as good as he was? Is he 28? The simple right solution is right there but unfortunately harbs is too proud to even consider bringing back ed. Simple as that

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.

Well, Ed Reed really is still a great player. The Texans didn't utilized him properly. When he went to the Jets, where Rex used him properly, he had three interceptions in just five games starting. He would have been back in Baltimore at the right price.

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.

Yeah sign a 34 year old ex steeler when ed reed is sitting out there with no job!!! So disrespectful!!!!

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.

@Ravens07 Pryor = Strong Safety | Clinton-Dix = Free Safety

Ravens = Needs Free Safety

Pryor will almost certainly be playing FS in the NFL.

I really don't know about this team anymore. Patriots were trying to get Ed Reed before he resign with the Jets. What does that really tell ya? Ravens secondary sure could use someone experienced back there. These guys are going to get torched. How many sacks did Ravens have in the second half of the season?

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?

Sign DeCoud short Term, Then draft HA HA for the long term. Why or How we havent reached out to DeCoud, but are considering the fossils of FS is beyond me

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.

could it be because we lost arthur jones and the return of terrence cody is possibly unlikely plus brandon williams is untested over a 16 game season.  hope we get this guy and im sure we draft one as well

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.

No! Not Guion! Melton! Lol He's going to be so much better! I don't know that, I'm not the GM of the Baltimore Ravens. I just like Melton. But where's all the news about Alex Mack? That's who I'm most worried about right now. If we sign him then I don't really care who gets signed after that cause what's left for now is depth, not much starter material.

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.

As long as Juan Castillo's fineses,zone ballet dream is alive it doesn't matter who plays defense because "they" will be on the field too much. Joe is on his back too much and we can't run the ball to keep Peyton,Ben and Tommy Terrific,Drew Brees,Ryan off the field. CB? No! O-line coach that will use the talents of the 9 o-linemen Ozzie has signed on the present roster.

Just to summarize for you...

With Castillo = zone blocking

Without Castillo = zone blocking

Understand?

I wasn't the one suggesting we bring Mack here, I was just pointing out that if he is here, he'd be a major upgrade.  I'm aware of salary cap issues, but no-one knows it better than Oz so I safely assume each year that the moves the Ravens make are the best Oz can do.  But the whole pointing of building a football team is to improve the play at every position, seeing as centre was our worst position last year, it's the position that would make a lot of sense to improve if FA or draft.

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'd prefer Pryor over Clinton-Dix, personally. It would be nice if Ebron fell, but I doubt it.

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 see us getting our right tackle at #17 with either Taylor Lewan or Zack Martin. There's always the possibility of kicking one of them inside and kicking Yanda outside for a year.

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.