TheConquerorWorm

I know why you said to cut Wallace is strictly a financial reason - but you would really cut the second leading TD receiver on the team. Wallace had over 1000 yards and 4 TD's. Who do you replace him with? You cut him and roster goes to Perriman and Aiken - how competitive do you expect to be with just them? There is no way to cut Wallace without severely decimating the offense more than it currently is. Feel like his second year with Flacco will be even more productive. If anything I foresee his contract getting extended for a year and reducing his cap hit for 2017. People need to recall and understand that in 2015 we had $20 Million in dead cap money for players who were either out of the NFL (Rice $9.5 mill to play xbox) or playing for another team (Ngata $7.5 mill to Lions) (Jones $2.6 mill to Chargers). That's $20 million in 2015 that I have not seen a single person on here other than myself comment on. Who did we miss out on in FA because this money was dead? http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/baltimore-ravens/joe-flacco-4000/ Flacco's contract....was extremely TEAM friendly his first 3 years AFTER WINNING A SUPERBOWL!!!! Original Contract Base Signing Bonus Option Bonus Cap Hit 2013 $1,000,000 $5,800,000 - $6,800,000 2014 $6,000,000 $5,800,000 $3,000,000 $14,800,000 2015 $4,000,000 $5,800,000 $4,750,000 $14,550,000 2016 $18,000,000 $5,800,000 $4,750,000 $28,550,000 2017 $20,600,000 $5,800,000 $4,750,000 $31,150,000 2018 $20,000,000 - $4,750,000 $24,750,000 Restructured Contract 2016 $4,000,000 $13,800,000 $4,750,000 $22,550,000 2017 $6,000,000 $13,800,000 $4,750,000 $24,550,000 2018 $12,000,000 $8,000,000 $4,750,000 $24,750,000 2019 $18,500,000 $8,000,000 $26,500,000 2020 $20,250,000 $8,000,000 $28,250,000 His restructured contract reduced his cap hit in 2016 by $6 Million and by $7 Million in 2017 WHICH HE DID NOT HAVE TO DO BUT HE DID BECAUSE HE WAS TRYING TO HELP THE TEAM!!!! No, you cut Wallace not just because of financial reasons but because of his on-field performance and locker room antics. He consistently disappears during games (after the long TD against the Squealers in the 1st game, he took himself out of the 1st half to "get his head right"). He consistently drops passes. And rumor has it that he sulks and pouts in the locker room and film room. He's a soft, one trick pony. Aiken is a free agent and is all but gone. I go into the season with Perriman, FA signing like Garcon/Britt, Chris Moore, Campanaro & draft pick like Corey Davis/JuJu.

1. Sure, but NT is exclusively a 3-4 position. Damon Harrison got more because he became a 4-3 DT, of which $7M is a much, much, much lower number. I'm not saying he will get that, but there's a big difference there. 2. Wagner is looking at Schraeder's deal from the Falcons that was signed in November. That's in that $7M a year range. I think he can easily get that from somebody. He can ask for top 5-10 type money, because he's a top 5-10 RT. 3. The rising salary cap is already factored in there. At the current time they have $152M in contracts (with only 45 players, so they need 6 more just to make the rule of 51). Most project the cap to be right around $165M, so that puts us right around $13M at this point. Your tenders and rookie contracts will likely eat up a good chunk of that, probably at least $10M. So the amount you have remaining to spend will likely be solely coming from the cuts you make. So even if we cut $23M, you're advocating spending about $13-15M of that on two of our own guys, which is fine. That leaves us with probably $8-10M to spend on actual FAs. That's not enough to get a receiver and a good corner. It may be enough to get one or the other, but most likely it would be enough to sign 2-3 other cheaper veterans, since we did cut a lot of players for whom we don't have replacements for. I agree with many of the cuts, though I don't see us cutting Wallace in order to spend more on a possession receiver. I don't think you'll be able to restructure Pitta, nor do I think you'll be able to convince Webb to take a paycut. The only way Webb gets restructured as I see it is if you extend him, which would seem to be an odd choice, given we are already quite old and slow at that position. I would also point out that while $20-30M SEEMS like a lot for us, that would probably put us at below average in terms of cap space compared to other teams in the league. There will be probably at least 10-12 teams that will have over $50M in cap space if they choose to do so, and thus you will be competing with those teams for players. Ryan Schraeder got $6.6 million per year and was consistently graded out as the best RT in the NFL in 2015 (by PFF for what that's worth) and built upon that this year. I don't think Wagner is quite on that level. That's old projections you're reading. In the last meetings with owners a few weeks ago, the NFL told the owners that the cap was projected to be between $166-$170 million. So that $8-10 million left over can become $13-15 million to spend on FA. Given how you can structure contracts and spread out guarantees to massage the cap, that can easily get you a WR & CB. The Ravens currently have 152 players under contract for 2017 at a salary of $155 Million (Most sites don't list the guys the Ravens just signed to reserve/future contracts - Stephen Houston, Matt Skura, etc.) Again, my post was just an off-season guideline. Maybe Bwill gets a $100 million deal. Maybe the interest is not really there for Garcon and you get him on a Mike Wallace deal for $5.5 million instead of $8 million. My point is that you can cut most of those unfriendly cap deals and replace most of those players fairly easy. Free Agency and the Draft Class are set up perfectly for our needs - mainly WR, CB, Pass Rushers.

Your math is a bit off. You wouldn't be able to sign all those players AND still have money left over to sign your draft picks. Also not very easy to restructure Pitta's deal, given we just did that and his number will be even higher with more guarantees next season, since he achieved the incentives we asked him to take a paycut for. Not to mention that you likely wouldn't be able to retain Williams or Wagner at those prices. Would need to be higher. Wagner's range is close to that, but I don't think you'll sign Williams for $6-7M a year. I find this sort of ironic, since I believe you were the guy saying that he was going to sign for like Malik Jackson money at one point, which of course is way off also. I said if he wants Malik Jackson money, then let him walk. $7 million would make him the highest paid NT in the NFL. $6 million would put Wagner into the Top 10 of RT and $5 million puts him into the Top 15. That's where I think he slots. Now any team can throw a bunch of money at BWill. Nobody thought KO would get Top 10 LT money either. My math is right. The Ravens still will have salary cap space not counting the $23 million they save from those cuts. The rookie cap (the total amount the rookies count towards the cap) for the 16th pick is about $6.6 million for all draft picks. They also get to carry over the $2.5 million left over from this year. Those signings plus the rookies = $35 million. Minus the $23 million from the cuts and minus the $2.5 carryover, that means the Ravens need roughly $9.5 million in space not including the restructures of Pitta & Webb. I agree the restructure of Pitta could be dicey but Webb should knock off another $ 2-3 million. The cap is also expected to rise $13-15 million next year which should be more than enough to cover any RFA tenders and paybacks.

The lack of separation by the WRs is what leads to INTs. Joe is constantly having to throw into tight coverage (which leads to INTs) or he has to throw the "checkdowns". Watch any other game and there are at least 4-5 passes where the WR is wide open down the field. I can't think of 1 play where a WR was wide open for the Ravens.

If you watch his college tape, he runs good routes. With most speed WRs, they use their speed to separate from DBs in college and that's usually enough. He has to learn the deception and nuances of the position at the NFL level. Antonio Brown had the same problem and it wasn't until his 4th year that he became an elite WR

He did 1,000 times better than the 7th Overall pick (WR Kevin White) and the 20th overall pick (Nelson Agholor) and much better than pretty much all of the WRs drafted that year. And scored as many TDs as Wonderboy Stefan Diggs.

No wonder it's snowing, me a Crusader actually agree on something...lol Solomon Thomas is a beast but I have to think the hype train will push him into the Top 10...

This is Frazier's 1st year and he developed a undersized 4th Round Pick in Tavon Young into a legit starting CB. Think what he could do with a King/Tabor/Jackson....

Surprised that Mike Wallace ($5.75 million savings), Ben Watson ($3 million) & Shareece Wright ($ 2.6 million) were not mentioned. Left up to me, I cut Wallace Watson Wright Zuttah Arrington Dumerville Lewis Take that $23 million in cap space and resign BWill ($6-7 million) & Wagner ($5-6 million) and then sign a quality FA WR that can run routes and catch the ball like Garcon or Britt ($7-$8 million). Restructure Pitta & Webb and sign CB Prince Akumara ($8 million) Use your 1st Round pick on one of the top CB or DE Solomon Davis or WR Corey Davis. Use your 2nd Round Pick on whichever top CB falls in the 2nd Round - King/Lewis/White or WR JuJu. Use your 3rd Round on S Budda Baker or S Marcus Williams. Rest of the picks use to upgrade C, RB, G, future QB.

While those do play a big part, the other part of the equation is what kinda depth do you have at the position. It's easy to look at Doom and say we will save $6 million. And yes, we have Judon/Z'Darius that can take his place (even though the jury is still out on if they will ever be on Doom's level). But the real question is, what do you do when Judon and/or Suggs gets hurt? $6 million is not enough to bring on a quality pass rusher in FA. That means you're drafting someone. So, with Doom gone, Judon or Suggs hurt, you're relying on a rookie to save your season (no pass rush = no play-offs). Suddenly, that $6 million doesn't look so good. Look at Boldin. At the time, we had an emerging #1 in Torrey, a stud pass catching TE in Pitta, so paying Boldin a bloated contract was not cap friendly, ergo the pay cut refusal and the trade. That one backfired. We all know that quality pass rushers are one of the hardest things to get in the NFL. Doom, while not exactly young and not exactly free from injury is still a pretty darn good pass rusher in spurts. That's useful.

glad to hear im not the only one who thinks Engram has been inadequate as WR coach. the development of our young WRs over the years have been dreadful I've been saying that for years. You know why the Squealers & Pats always have great WRs. It's not from "drafting" them as many on here think. It's because they have a top notch WR coach with a great coaching resume. Engram was a good player but rarely do those guys succeed as coaches. Look at Ed Reed - Buffalo's defense (especially their secondary and safety play) was horrible.

Flacco has won a Super Bowl more recent than Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers has pretty much choked in every play-off game since his Super Bowl.

How many times have we seen it? I mean if its 3rd and 6 our CB's are playing off at least 8-10 yards Zone coverage calls for CB to be 8-10 yards off the line - Cover 2, Cover 3, Cover 4, Cover 6. It's standard with every team in the NFL and college. Unless you're playing press coverage, that's exactly where they should be. And we don't have the corners to play press. That's like saying why does the RB line up behind the QB, 5 yards from the LOS on 3rd & 1. Line up under center would be way better that way, he only has to gain 2 yards instead of 6.

I wish the Ravens would fire all their coaches, dump Flacco and his bloated salary, and replace Ozzie. Hire up & coming coaches with new schemes like Chip Kelly, Spend multiple 1st Round picks the next few years until you get a Tom Brady QB Draft only Alpha Dawgs like the Jaguars have - Jalen Ramsey, Myles Jack, Dante Fowler or the Bengals - Burfict, Pacman, Dre, Green because they are the best teams in the league. Every year, ONLY draft big play-making WRs, Shutdown Corners, Safeties that will Shut down Gronk & Edelman at the same time, Pass Rushers that make Von Miller look like Kelly Gregg. After 3-4 years of picking high in the draft and going through at least 3-4 head coaches, we might be able to make the play-offs. But who cares, we will have a "Smashmouth football, alpha dawgs" led team with a Tom Brady QB who takes the vet minimum so the team can sign all the best FA every year....

Yup... I've been to a couple of them down here. I was just asking, "Why do we play the dolphins every year"? Because they finish 2nd or 3rd in their division just like we do.....

“I’m a starter in this league. I feel like I make a lot of plays and I make plays when they come my way.” Like dropping a perfectly thrown pass that hit you in square in the numbers against Oakland that would have won the game for us. Or do you mean making plays by watching a returner blow by you for a touchdown on special teams? Any WR that can't beat out a soft, one trick pony like Wallace is not NFL quality.

I should say that first and foremost we ARE NOT in the bottom tier of the league. Sitting at 8-8 with a few games we SHOULD have won. Now granted I'll agree with you that Coaching infuriated me in the games, but cutting Harbaugh at this junction in time is not the answer. With that being said I'm all for putting our current OC on the chopping block. Give Joe control of the 2-minute drill, that's why he's so slow getting to the line, he's waiting for the play call. Keep Pees for shore, Defense played well this year, maybe not down the stretch but overall they played well. Finally we have Ozzie, I'm so conflicted here because a large part of me loves him too much to call for him being relieved of duty. He's failed on quite a few early picks recently, I love, love, love, Ronnie Stanley but when I heard the names of our 2nd and 3rd rounder's I was scratching my head. CJ and Stanley seem to be our only reliable 1st rounder's since drafting Joe back almost a decade ago. I think Ozzie is still finding talent in the later rounds the only problem being is that we can never retain these players once they start shining. So overall I think the positives on keeping Ozzie far outweigh the negatives. Could be worst....we could be Cleveland (A true "bottom tier" team) For everyone that is panning Ozzie, I really think you need to look at turnover in the scouting staff. It has been plundered of all the most valuable talent, so much so that it may have compromised the ability of Ozzie to get it right. I think that this would be an awesome research article for Hensley or Zerbiac to tackle. Most valuable talent? They lost Joe Douglas to the Bears last year, who went to the Eagles this year and took Andy Weidl with him. The Bears draft pick when Douglas was there - WR Kevin White who's seen the field less than Perriman despite being drafted 7th OVERALL. What did he do in Philly this year? Traded 2 x 1st Round picks, 2nd Round pick, 3rd Round pick to move up 6 spots to draft Wentz. Wentz looked lost at the end of the season against good teams and threw 16 TDs vs 14 INTS. Not exactly the guy I trade away my two entire drafts for. In fact, you can make a case based of the quality of this draft, that maybe those guys were the problem and letting them walk was the best move.

Best way to help Joe (or ANY quarterback) is to improve the line, find receivers who can get open and will ATTACK the ball. Kenny Britt and/or Pierre Garcon - WRs that are not soft, one trick ponies (Wallace), can actually get open and more importantly will actually hang onto the ball. You could probably get both guys for the price of an overrated, injury prone Alshon Jeffery.

Hindsight is 20/20. At the time, the Ravens had Torrey Smith who looked like he was emerging into a legit #1. They had Pitta who was easily morphing into a 80 catch TE. We had a ton of free agents that year - Joe Flacco, Paul Kruger, Danny Ellerbe, Cary Williams, Morgan Cox, James Ihedigbo, Ed Reed, Art Jones, etc. and the following year - Dennis Pitta, Michael Oher, Eugene Monroe, Daryl Smith, Corey Graham. We knew that some of those would have to go, but almost all would have to go if we kept Boldin. Boldin was one of highest paid WR in the league. Given that he was, at best, the 3rd or 4th option on offense, the Ravens asked him to take a pay cut from his $8 million per year, he declined, so they traded him. Had they not traded him, they couldn't have signed Dumerville or more importantly, SSS who's averaged 70 catches at half the price. Mike Wallace caught 70 balls this year - is he worth $12 million per year (as one of the highest paid WR)? That's the question the Ravens faced at the time with Boldin.

So, in other words, you just want to complain. Okay, got it. Not a complain. I just find that there are certain element who always want to minimize how badly Flacco has played since 2012 while tying up so much money. I know I only speak for myself; I don't care if the Browns, the Rams, Texans, 49ers etc have had 100 QBs. I only care about the play of our QBs. I don't look to those teams for solace, rather I look at Pittsburgh, New England, Seattle, Greenbay etc. why can't our QB play like those QBs. We aspire for the best WRs, CBs, Oline men, pass rushers, RBs. Why can't we aspire for the best QBs? We know the position is the hardest position in football, but our QB has had the keys since his rookie year. He has had all the support of the organization. They've never tried to undermine him. Why can't he reciprocate? Why can't Terence West play like Walton Payton or Barry Sanders? Same comparison you're trying to make with Flacco. Ben & Brady are HOF QB's - Flacco is not nor will he ever be - yet you condemn him for not being one. He is what he has always been - a strong armed QB that sometimes makes great throws but also makes bonehead throws. But just like in the games this year against JAX, OAK, NYG, WAS, PIT, when the game is on the line, Joe can drive down the field in the final minutes of the 4th quarter for the game winning score. That's who he has always been and who he will always be. For the record, Aaron Rodgers & Big Ben have not won anything since getting their big contracts either and Flacco has a more recent SB win. Also, Flacco stat line this year - 4,317/20TD/14 INT. Russell Wilson stat line this year - 4,219/21TD/11INT...not as much difference as you claim.

Right because winning that superbowl with flacco totally sucked for us Trent Dilfer has a super bowl ring and he was terrible also ! He broke records today by throwing 14 ints, 20 tds. and average 1 td a game ! What loser. One less TD than Russell Wilson MORE TDs than Cam Newton, Ryan Tannehill, Andy Dalton, Carson Wentz, Alex Smith Less INTs than Drew Bress, Philip Rivers, Jameis Winston, Eli Manning

Mallet did play. He attempted two passes, one of which was intercepted. Don't feed the trolls.....

Weddle = bargain basement cast-off? Smoke your dinner?

Romo is under contract and will make more $$ than Flacco next year to ride the bench. Cowboys would lose cap space cutting him.

Whatever you're smoking you need to blow it out 'cus it's destroying your judgement. Flacco needs to go? Who are you going to put at QB? Tell me, who? We live in a world where Kirk Cousins is a keeper! We need to fire our entire defense except for maybe for 6-8 players. THAT would be a start. I honestly want you to tell me who you would pick up to be QB if you got rid of Flacco. I can't wait to hear this answer... Here's my 2cents- Flacco was rated 25th in league before the game- probably drops to 27th after and there are only 32 teams. Almost anyone would be better than Flacco at this point. Don't get me wrong I like Joe, he's a nice guy ect but he has Sucked since signing the contract. Has forgotten basic mechanics and can't read defenses. We can't unload yet but as soon as we can we should. Cam Newton is 5 spots lower than Flacco. Using your logic, Cam is one of the worst QBs ever and the Panthers should dump him immediately....smh. According to ESPN (Idk where you get your rankings), Flacco is 18th in QBR - ahead of Newton, Wentz, Dalton, Manning, etc. You say get rid of Flacco but you offer no REAL solution. If finding an above average QB was easy, the Browns, Jets, Rams, Eagles, Texans, Bills would have had one by now. All of these teams have drafted at least 1 or 2 QBs in the 1st Round and still haven't found one.