Ravens4Real

Wallace is a more complete WR than Torrey. It would need to be a $2-3 million saving to make me feel comfortable about that move.

+100 Still need to factor in draft picks also. We could honestly only be around $5 million or less in actual space. (Assuming the current number being floated around is without draft $$ factored in) So we would still need to release guys just to sign a couple serviceable vets. Like I have said multiple times now, we are in a very bad spot cap wise.

Just because he signed for $9 million a year annually does not mean that that will be his cap hit. Many teams know how to maneuver their cap numbers. Heck he could cost around $4-5 million only this year. The Ravens would have done the same thing if they had the money and were able to keep him. We aren't finding capable starting C's or LG's with that low of money.

Many people have stated in the media and also here that Alex Lewis is not going to be playing RT. So currently, on this roster, we do not have a RT. So we either have to draft one or sign one. Which will cost cap space and we are near the bottom of the league in terms of that.

I'm not sure there are any gains to be had. A massive hit to the Oline. You can't do anything on O if the line doesn't block well. We have no one to put there. So we either need to draft an RT or sign one off the market and they are all below average. So either way it's a massive step backwards. Also, just because we MAY get a 3rd does not mean it would amount to anything at all. The pick wouldn't be until next years draft and 3rd round picks usually don't come in right away and see the field. So we won't even know what we got for 2-3 years. There cant even be much gains to have because we have put ourselves into such a crappy spot with our salary cap.

Once again I will say it, the cap is sky rocketing. It is foolish to think that we could have gotten Wagner to sign for $7 million when the cap is expected to go up even more 10's of millions of dollars in the next couple years to come. Every position is going to start making a good percentage more than previously. We can sit here and say Wagner isn't worth that. But really, he is. He's one of the best RT's in the league and once again we let him go in his prime. Now our OL is a major weak link. But what can you do? The Ravens did this to themselves with all of these horrible contracts that have been given out the past couple years. And it has shown on the field. I'll await to hear Williams has signed with someone else also because we didn't have the cap space.

While it is 2017 and the league is becoming a fast paced and a passing oriented one, a shut down nose tackle is still a huge luxury to have. Many people here don't understand how big of an affect 3rd and 7-10 vs. 3rd and 3-5 has on an offense. When your running defense suffers, it's puts a ton of pressure on your backend to stop these short 3rd down plays which are basically impossible to do in today's NFL. If we lose both Guy and Williams in this free agency, our run D is going to suffer greatly unless we bring in more pieces.

I completely agree with this. It's amazing to see the teams that throw these absurd amount of money around in free agency and what their record is that year. They almost always seem to be right back in the same spot next year because their team isn't very good. Spending a ton during free agency either means that you are a horrible drafting team or can not retain your own talent.

Well you listed 7 positions. I listed 9 positions. And there's possibly room for more. We all knew safety was going to be filled by Webb, last year. There is talk he may get cut this year. We still have problems on the interior of the line, outside of Yanda. I'll agree that TE was a problem last year but Pitta came back and did admirably. There's talk he may get cut. We would then be hoping that the young guys step up when none of them have. Our hopes were in Williams but he has been a major disappointment. I'd say we are in a much poorer spot than last year, this year.

We did not have as many as, last year. Although we did have a lot and it showed on the field, we have even more this year.

When is the last time that a Ravens team has had potentially this many holes going into the draft/free agency period? Off the top of my head, WR, FB, TE, RT, C, NT, OLB, MLB, CB and potentially S, where guys are either unproven, replacement level players or just lack players at the position. This could honestly be the worst I ever remember.

Williams is better than Poe.Poe is vastly overrated.

Umm I'm sure when a lot of Steeler fans were born the Ravens didn't exist. About 95% of Steelers fans I know now hate the Ravens. Don't be foolish and think that these guys don't want to some day play for their hometown team. We have lost a couple guys in FA to these same type of situations. Not saying it won't happen or that he does have a hatred for the Ravens because of his fanfare for the Steelers. But there is def. a good possibility. Edit: He also just stated no more than a couple days ago that he still is a massive Steelers fan, outside of when the Jets play them.

Don't know how much weight it holds, but Marshall came out and said he was born and raised a big Steeler fans and still is. Mang people may not want to believe it but I'm sure he has grown a hatred toward this franchise if he is a true fan. Obviouslh if we were the only team to give him a competitive offer, he would accept it, but there's about a 0% that we are the only team going after him.

Yes their defense and other parts suffered. But if suffering for a couple years and your worst record in all those years were 8-8, there's probably 31 other NFL teams that would gladly take that as "suffering" for a year. Hell, we just went 5-11.

I don't agree with this assessment at all. Patriots of course are still at the top of the AFC. Raiders and Steelers are nipping at their heels though. I'd put the Raiders over the Steelers because the Steelers just don't match up well at all with the Patriots. Raiders are still very young and if Carr can be injury free and continue to progress, he has all of the necessary components around him to push the Patriots. Steelers, I know the hatred for them is massively strong in some of you, but I just don't see how they won't be better than this year. I mean I guess drama king Ben could go down with a serious injury and ruin their season. But as someone stated above, their offense still has Brown, Bell, Ben and Coates/James, but they also get to add Bryant and Green full time (depending on health) Along with one of the best O lines in the league. On defense they are very young and will just continue to get better also. Maybe they can regress on the defensive side of the ball. But with their offense, they can compete with anyone. Then the next tier would be us with a handful of other teams. We would be grouped with the Dolphins, Texans, Colts, Broncos, Chiefs. But with the holes we are creating for ourselves and no real proven guys to fill those, we are seriously looking at dropping down a tier. Side note: Sorry for the three posts in a row. Took most of the winter off from the forum and just catching up now. It feels great to finally have some meaning football news to talk about!!

The Steelers actually managed that situation pretty well, if you ask me. Even with all those years of restructuring and such, they were still very competitive. What was their worst season? I believe it was 8-8? Now they are in a good situation over there and are able to sign all of their big name guys. I honestly feel that we should do what they did a couple years back and say goodbye to their marque older players and just start fresh.

This organization puts way too much of an importance on these 3rd round comp picks and it is becoming infuriating. (Although you can now trade them so it adds a new wrinkle) Just because we get the comp picks doesn't mean they will produce or even amount to anything. It is sickening to see other teams/our rivals, able to lock up their young core of players while we continuously let ours walk. It is starting to catch up in a big way. We basically have no major guys on our team that are middle aged, comparatively in NFL terms. Our whole team is either really old or really young. But let's be clear, we are more than likely going to lose both of these guys. The game of football starts in the trenches and we are about to lose two of our best on each side. That's a major problem and it just opens up even more holes across this team.

I understand cutting all of these guys because of bloated contracts, but some of them need to be signed back for a reduced cut or not cut at all. Injuries are a given every single year. By the end, every team is missing a bunch of starters. We cut all those guys then that means we are pushing backups into a prominent role and guys off the street for backups. When injuries hit, we'd be right back to 5-11.

I'm alright with Orr wanting to retire. So much more in life that's important than football. Quality of life and your family being right at the top. Im more upset that there are reports that the Ravens tried to talk him out of it. That is just pure selfishness and it makes me sick that the Ravens organization would try to do that, if true.

I know it's not the end all be all of determining factors, but I was very surprised to see how poorly PFF graded Orr out in run support and in pass coverage. There wasn't too much talk about that around here. He made a couple nice flash plays every game. Was he really that big of a problem in those plays that he wasn't noticeable?

I don't see how the Packers have a chance if Nelson and Adams can't go in their game. Packers D can be scored upon in bunches and will need to keep up. That game either ends up 42-41 or the Packers will get blown out if their stars can't make it back.

Now I know the majority of this board despises the Steelers, but watching that game, the Chiefs were lucky they were even in the darn thing. They were getting embarassed at the point of attack. The Steelers O line is probably the MVP of that entire team. I'm not sure if Ben was even sacked either. To my next point, Steelers coaching almost lost them the game again. Why in gods name are they constantly passing down inside the 5 when your RB has 6-7 yards a carry? It makes no sense.

First time I have ever heard one of the higher ups come to terms that Flacco, in the regular season, is just not cutting t for what he's paid. Too many times Harbaugh has come to Flaccos defense and used an excuse. The real question is, what if Flacco performs like this next year? Could they possibly make him take a pay cut? Or even more than that? We will see. Because if he has many more regular seasons like he has, this team won't make it to the playoffs again.

The #1 issue with this team is inconsistency at the QB position and having injury prone guys in positions of major importance (whether due to age or just truly being injury prone). Flacco needs to simply play better in the regular season. There are a handful of games a season where Flacco looks lost and basically hands the other team the game on a platter. He makes too much money to be doing that. In regards to the injuries: In the NFL today two of the most important positions on a defense are CB and OLB. We have Jimmy who is an annual injury prone player. Has never played 16 games. Solution; draft or stack free agent signings here. The FO always leaves this group thinking they are fine and the inevitable happens with Jimmy and we find ourselves getting torched. OLB; This needs to be our first round pick and I don't think I will get much argument there. We NEED an every down OLB. Suggs and Doom can not be relied on. Suggs is hurt annually due to his age and Doom is in the same category. We have too many backups that can do one thing or the other (rush the passer and poor in run D or vice versa).