huntrgathrr

Upshaw is a rock setting the edge. If he turns into a sack machine then we probably won't be able to afford him next year. So for that reason I hope he doesn't rack up too many sacks. Let Sizzle and Doom handle the sacks. Plus we get a pretty good push up the middle with Jernigan and Williams. The high quality depth in the defensive front seven continues this year. There are so many players rotating (at least 11-12) that the individual stats are usually watered down. That's fine with me.

This is a case where Flacco should get involved. He could make some concessions verbally to allow Ozzie to re-sign Yanda and Osemele right now. It would be in his and the team's best interest to do so. Tucker shouldn't be too much of a problem. The fiasco of 2013 was due to the loss of Osemele and the poor performance of the offensive line....clearly Flaccco's worst season as a pro and the only time he has missed the playoffs. I think all 3 will get their extensions and allow some unprecedented continuity in the Ravens offense which has improved and looks to excel this season.

Upshaw is a rock. He won't be too high priced and we should be able to get him back. Tucker, Osemele and Yanda are just too good to let go. We may need a BIG restructure from Joe but I bet he does it especially if we go deep in the playoffs this year. He loves his offensive line and field goal kicker!!! I hope that Will Hill would give us a user friendly deal but he would be the one that gets overvalued by the league. having Lewis will help but Brooks or Elam will have to step up. The Patriots disgrace themselves even further with childish lies like "losing weight". Has anyone in America ever used that term for weight loss?? ever?? NO. They are a real embarrassment to the league. Haven't they ever heard of man up?? This reminds me of the time we were squashing them in the AFC Ch game 2012 and Brady was on his back kicking at Ed Reed as flew by. I am SO GLAD that Goodell will be hearing the appeal....a quick and short NO will be forthcoming. For their failure to admit guilt and dragging this out even further, can they be punished even further?? That would be great.\ I'm not as pumped up about Arrington as the rest of you guys. He's a nickel corner. Way more important will be the play of Webb, Melvin and/or Jackson. One of these guys needs to be able to handle the other outside corner for this secondary to work. None of these guys are a #1 corner so Jimmy better stay healthy. he is the key to the whole secondary. Should be another great year for the Ravens. Their future is very bright

If Pitta can play without getting injured that's great. But why take the chance. Pay him for this year and let him retire. He would be a great coach. What Ozzie did through the draft was excellent. We have 3 (4 if you include Juice) very good tight ends that are young and full of potential. Also cap friendly!! Ozzie has left no stone unturned this year. This is as deep and talented team as we have ever put on the field. Looking at other good teams around the league, we are as good a shape as any. We have a solid chance to beat every team we play.

Hurst and Urschel played a lot last year....I know Hurst started at least 3-4 games while Monroe was out. Urschel played mainly at guard for at least 1-2 games when Yanda went to tackle. They both did really well and should be bigger.stronger and more experienced. Having seven good offensive lineman is the strength of the team.

This is the fastest, biggest and most talented group of receivers the Ravens have ever had. They will keep six including Aiken and they will also keep 4 TE's including Pitta. This a great time to have a very good offensive line and a very good running game. This will be a real tough offense to stop. STAY HEALTHY. I don't know what they are going to do about "Juice". He may be the odd man out. Boyle won't clear waivers but Juice might.

Carter may make it because of special teams but not as a receiver. Waller is a lock. Brown probably as well. That means Aiken and Butler are out. Campanaro gets the nod as well due to special teams. This will change however as at least one or two of these guys will go to IR.

Why Arrington makes no sense......he's no better than Webb,Melvin or Jackson. We have all the second tier corners we need.

Why even accommodate JJ.? Yea he played here for a few years but left to make a couple extra bucks right when he could have stayed and showed his dedication to the organization. We made him then he left. Once he left he was never noticed again. He owes us, not the other way around. Rather than be a Raven for life he left for a few extra bucks and competed against us.. I feel nothing for him.

Campanaro, Jackson or Carter. Probably one of them. This will not be an area of great strength this year, probably the only area where we are average or below. Remains to be seen.

Jackson, Webb, Melvin and the rest of that bunch are 2nd tier corners. As long as Smith is healthy any of them will do. If he's not, none of them will suffice. There is no point in adding another 2nd tier corner, we have a handful. Arrington is probably at that level. The only thing that will improve the team is adding a top level corner like Jones from Texas if he comes available. Other than that we are deep at 2nd rate corners.

Boyle just replaced Supernaw. Didn't help that Pitta looks healthy.

The Ravens hired Kendrick Lewis because they needed an NFL safety. Unfortunately everyone pretty much agrees that Elam is not an NFL caliber safety. To expect him to "blossom" this year is far fetched. It's doubtful he'll see the field that much and be cut either this year or next year. Ozzie doesn't get them all right.

We are going to have a VERY good practice squad this year!!

I've said in at least 4 different posts here in the last week...Waller will be the steal of the draft. Flacco will make him a superstar, this year. The pre-draft skinny on him included..."has the potential to be a TD machine in the NFL" and " back shoulder throws to him were nearly indefensible". Give the front office a lot of credit for getting this kid. The rest of the NFL was sound asleep. Trestman now has the ability to put a really big and fast lineup on the field. Waller (6'6"/4.4), Brown (6'5"/4.4), Perriman (6'2"/4.2) to go along with Steve Smith and either Pitta or Williams (both 6'5") as a group would create mismatch nightmares all over the field. This just might be Flacco's best year as a pro. With Trestman running the show look for Flacco to bypass 4000 yards and go directly to 5000!! The only thing that could stop him is a very good running game!! This is clearly the biggest, fastest and most talented group of receivers the Ravens have ever had. I'm not sure if Aiken or Butler make the team.

Ozzie should be looking hard to trade for an upper tier CB to pair with Jimmy Smith. We have all the second tier players we need. We could afford to trade Arthur Brown or Marlon Brown as well as a draft pick if we get the right guy. Having the season hinge on Jimmy Smith staying healthy just is too big a risk to take considering the high quality of the rest of the team and the considerable effort it took to assemble it.

Our secondary boils down to this: Hill and Lewis are locked in at safety. Elam and Levine will back them up. The key piece at corner is Jimmy Smith. He is a shutdown corner that takes out the offenses best player. After that you have Webb,Jackson,Melvin,Gorrer,and Brooks when he gets back from the PUP all competing for the final corner and nickel spots. Actually, any of these guys can handle that role. But without Smith the secondary has no shutdown corner and the weaknesses of all the other guys get magnified. With Smith this is a very good secondary. Without Smith it is below average. If we had another shutdown corner like Smith it would be one of the best secondaries in the NFL. Too bad Webb deteriorated because he was headed in that direction before the last of his injuries. He looked pretty helpless out there last year. Can he regain his old form? No idea. So this year we'll be keeping our fingers crossed hoping Smith stays healthy. IMO his injury last year cost us a trip to the Super Bowl.

To EllicottCityRaven....Smith has been described as Pernell McPhee 2.0 by Harbaugh. Every time they looked at a clip of Dupree, "Smith was in the frame". Davis was a potential first round pick who stated he was the best defensive tackle in the draft. Reports on Davis included "grows roots against the run" and "has dominant defensive traits, will be a rotational player in Balt". If Davis plays that will be because he beats out Canty, Urban, Tyson, Means and KLM....no easy task. The winners of this competition will be among the best in the NFL. Baltimore's front seven will be one of the tops in the NFL, as they were last year.

This draft was a really big thing. Does everyone remember how close the Ravens were to going to the Super Bowl last year? Well I do and IMO putting 18 players on IR is what stopped us, particularly Jimmy Smith. He is the heart and soul of our secondary. His presence makes every other player more effective. It was a darn shame. Particularly watching that bunch of cheaters sneak through. Well it's a new year. After this draft I am going to make a bold (and probably unwise) statement. This is the biggest, the fastest, the deepest and the most talented team the Ravens have ever put on the field. There is absolutely no point of weakness to be exploited. When the final cuts come other teams will be coming to pick up starters from the players we cut. Especially the Steelers who have little talent and no depth. That beat down in the playoffs was no accident. And it had nothing to do with their RB Bell, who gained less than 100 yards in both games we played them combined! Nobody could run on the Ravens last year and they won't again this year. The difference is that,barring injuries to 10 of our secondary players, no one will throw on us either. The other BIG difference is that Joe Flacco finally has a #1 receiver to whom he can throw. The presence of Perriman and his "sub 4.3" speed will put every defense on their best behavior. If they put 8 in the box to stop our potent run game, there isn't a corner in the league that can run with Perriman. And Joe has the cannon to cash in that mismatch. Call me crazy but Waller from GT could be the next coming of Anquan Boldin....6'6, 240, and runs a 4.40???? You have to be kidding. The reports on him stated "back shoulder throws were indefensible" and "has the potential to be a TD machine". I watched him when GT almost beat Fla. St. and he was unstoppable. Putting Waller at 6'6", Williams at 6'7", Brown at 6'5", Perriman, and Steve Smith (stats not relevant) on the field at once would be more than any secondary in the NFL could handle...even if they had 3 Richard Shermans. Flacco and Trestman must be overwhelmed, asking "is this for real?", "am I in Baltimore?". These are the kinds of players that gave Trestman his rep. But he NEVER had a QB like Flacco. I can't even imagine the damage they are going to do. The only thing that keeps Flacco from 5,000 yards is a top 10 running game. And we know the RAVENS LOVE BALANCE. YEA...this is their year alright. Teams will have to play a perfect game to beat them. Flacco has to many weapons not to have the ability to win every time he steps on the field. And the defense might consider winning a personal matter as well.

Not addressing cornerback in the draft causes me no concern whatsoever. The Steelers overdrafted to take 3 cornerbacks (Golson, Hollman, Grant) and maybe 1 of them will make it in the NFl. That's Golson who at 5'8/ 175 is so little he is limited to playing slot corner in the NFL. He had a lot of interceptions but also allowed a lot of TDs. Grant isn't athletic enough to hold up in the NFL at corner and Hollman is a "contact adverse matador that won't last his rookie contract". We are actually very deep in the secondary now that the IR players have returned. Adding Lewis was a HUGE move. He is an NFL proven safety. He and Will Hill are locked in at safety. Elam and Levine are backups at safety. Smith is a shut down corner on one side. That leaves Melvin, Webb, Brooks, Gorrer and Jackson to compete for the other corner spot and the nickel. Walker looks like a project headed for special teams. Even if Marcus Peters or Johnson were available to us and we had selected them I'm not sure they would have ended up starting for us without injuries happening. But they weren't available so we drafted the BPA. A solid draft was the result. Great job Ozzie

I read the Pittsburgh Post Gazette today and they quoted GM Colbert as saying "we were trying to move up to draft Golson" and "we were committed to taking a corner in the second round even if Maxx Williams was still available". LOL LOL LOL......what a load of BS. Golson was projected to go in the 3rd or 4th round. At 5'8" he might not even make it in the NFL. They were absolutely stunned when Ozzie outsmarted them, with the help of Bruce Arians! Payback is a b@#$%^!! Thats why it took them seven minutes to overdraft a 5'8" corner when there were better corners still left on the board. This is why we own the Steelers....our front office gives us better players. The Raven F.O. is a great judge of talent which the Steeler F.O. is not. That's why they passed over Mosley last year and gave us a probowl linebacker, no trade required!!! Not only are they bad at their jobs (compared to the ravens) but they are bad liars as well. Talk about trying to save face. I guess getting punished by your rivals 2 years in a row in the draft and in the playoffs is too much for them to bear.

LOL.....gotta love it. Both the Steelers and the Ravens tried to get the pick from Az. Now I wonder if Bruce Arians had a say in the matter. I guess "forced retirement" isn't soon forgotten. THANKS BA

I hope the Raven's remaining board looks like this: Williams, Collins, Funchess, Walford. If we could get 2 tight ends that would be excellent.

I remember Steve Bisciotti from our days at Severn School. I think he transferred to Severna Park H.S. after 10th or 11th grade. But from the time we spent in the same circle, I remember him as a quiet person that was hard to get a read on. He was very personable and pleasant to be around. But he really flew under the radar. His sister Cathy was more popular and as an attractive girl, was more prominent. Most importantly both he and his sister had good moral values and their behavior was above reproach. I never would have guessed that he was so savvy and business smart that he would achieve the success that he has achieved. Makes me remember that still waters run deep.