Maryland

Damn, that was going to be my pick. I see him coming in on 3rd and long and just playing a game of "meet you at the quarterback" Maybe Jernigan can have a big game if he's matched-up on John Miller, who is probably the weakest-link on their very talented OL.

I'd still like for them to give Chris Moore some practice at kick returner for the future. Moore has the speed to excel there; he's probably going to be inactive quite often as the 5th or 6th WR, so adding return skills to his game could help him make the game-day active roster; he could be insurance for if Hester gets hurt or simply underperforms; and frankly, we need to look to the future at P/K returner anyway--there's no telling who will be returning punts and kicks for this team next year.

Plus he didn't help out the Eagles much, picking them to win it all.

Really like the solid black and solid white looks. I'd like to see a purple on purple color-rush uniform on TNF, just to bask in how ugly it looks.

Trestman is pretty innovate/creative at designing passing plays--that's always been his thing. Only problem seems to be that his running games are intrinsically weak for whatever reason (at least in terms of YPA). Considering this is a pass-driven league, I'm actually pretty excited that we have an OC who fits the times. Arguing that he's on the hot seat after losing starters at WR, LT, RB, TE, and QB is pretty absurd. Click-bait I assume. Now Pees on the other hand...

I feel like the Steelers are overrated, probably due to fantasy football and the allure of Ben, Brown, and Bell. I recognize that they will have one of the best offenses in the game once Bell returns in week 4, but they still have a very bad situation at LT, an injury-prone QB, no proven WRs beyond Brown, no proven TE until Green returns, a weak pass rush, and a secondary that has somehow been worse than ours over the past couple years. Add all that with Tomlin's penchant for losing to terrible teams and I think you've got an overrated team, at least when prognosticators pick them to steamroll the AFC and easily win the #1 seed. That said, I think I would still pick the Steelers as the favorite, and I can't blame others for doing so either, since I'm just not sure about their competition for the division. The Bengals are taking a step back from last year (losing their OC, two WRs, TE is injured, lost some CBs, running game a question mark after last year). The Ravens are coming off a 5 win season with a lot to prove--I still have a lot of questions about our defense, and I have to see Joe play well in some real games to truly believe he's back to form. So I guess if I'm going to rank them based on wins Steelers 11-5 Ravens 10-6 Bengals 9-7 Browns 0-16

Perhaps he will be the next in a long line of kickers we couldn't keep who goes on to go on to have success elsewhere. Graham Gano, Steve Hauschka, Shayne Graham, and Robbie Gould all got their starts here I believe, in addition to Tucker, of course (Stover and Cundiff started elsewhere).

I think my only superstition is to never extend the DVR recording during a tie game when the other team has possession/is at bat.

I think Pitta will be used more like a possession receiver in the slot, whereas Gillmore will probably play more downs as a traditional TE since he can block and catch.

I mean, Stanley and Lewis (assuming he gets the start over Urschel) looked good in preseason, but it remains to be seen how they'll look playing a regular season game where they're not just picking-up vanilla blitz patterns. Rex is one of the best at being creative, and we've got an all-rookie left side of the OL, which could easily lead to mistakes and missed assignments. It's premature to call them stout just yet imo.

I think Flacco had the second-longest streak until last year, so make of that what you will.

Actually, as @Filmstudy has pointed out in some of his recent posts, the age of this team is at somewhat of a barbell distribution, with a lot of very young and a lot of very old players. Ravens players currently have an average age of 26.43 years, 27th in the league in average age (with #1 being the youngest). The age of this team is actually old rather than young at a number of positions. I think the lack of middle-aged players might be the fallout from missing on too many draft picks from 3-4 years ago. Ideally you'd have a roster loaded with good starting talent on rookie deals, but missing on draft picks hurts this distribution. For example, if guys like Terrance Brooks, Matt Elam, Bernard Pierce, Taliaferro, Campanaro, our TEs, and/or our P/K returners had been successful, we would be younger at those positions and have a more even distribution of experience on our roster, creating a younger roster. However, to fill out the roster, the Ravens brought in veterans like Weddle (31), Forsett (30), Benjamin Watson (35), Devin Hester (33), and Steve Smith (37) to help patch holes in the roster that exist due to certain prospects not living up to expectations.

4 million? Must be huge incentives in that deal... Seemed like he could have gotten the vet min. with how few teams were interested This team needs to draft Will Likely next year

I would have liked this move more if he was signed after week 1, since then his salary wouldn't be guaranteed--an important factor when signing someone with a risky injury.

Noteworthy players not cut: Matt Elam: (see previous post) Jerraud Powers: I can only assume the coaching staff really likes Jerraud Powers based on his experience in the league and performance in practice, since he looked bad in preseason. James Hurst: I guess they value Hurst's versatility, even though he looked bad at guard and we already know he's bad at T. Chris Carter: Typical Harbaugh special teams move. Michael Pierce: Just happy he made the roster. He could be our starting NT next year after B.Williams leaves if he continues to outplay C.Davis. Noteworthy cut/waived/IR'd players: Justin Forsett: I actually picked him as a dark-horse cut entering TC simply based on age, salary, declining performance, and competition at the position. However, it's still surprising given that only West and Allen are healthy right now. Terrance Brooks: Solid tackler, but always seems just a second late from making a bigger play. There's probably better safeties on waivers right now, or maybe they start training one of our many corners to play safety like they did with Canady in game 4. Jeremy Butler: Like many others, I thought he earned a roster spot for sure, and I'm sad to see him go. Victor Ochi: Not surprised to see him cut, just disappointed. I would much rather have him on the team instead of Chris Carter, since Ochi has a lot more upside as an edge rusher, but I guess Harbaugh's love of special teams contributors gave Carter the edge. Our ST did look very pedestrian in preseason though, so maybe this move will make a difference. Michael Campanaro: Not really surprised. He was on the bubble entering TC, and he really didn't show anything to deserve a roster spot. The only reason it was a question is because the P/K returner position is very weak, and he had received a lot of hype based on his athleticism over the years. However, I don't see why they didn't just waive him.

Even with keeping in mind that more roster moves will be made over the next few days, I find it curious that Elam is still on the roster. If they were going to IR him, they would have done it already. Perhaps they are going to waive due to injury, but it seems like they would have done that already too. It makes me wonder if they plan to keep him on the roster despite being injured; perhaps his prognosis for recovery is not as long as initially thought.

I'm thinking they find a way to keep Ochi. They made him a priority as a UDFA, he performed well in training camp and preseason, and they know he's not making the PS. I think they see something in him and find a way to keep him. -That's probably more of a bold-prediction based on wanting to validate what I thought of him pre-draft and not a logical decision based on roster need, however I think if you look at some of these players through an objective lens and set-aside draft status, contract status, training camp hype, and just look at what they've done in preseason, then you can justifiably find reason to cut Campanaro, Buck Allen, Jerraud Powers, and put Carl Davis on IR. Campanaro reminds me of the Asa Jackson situation last year: the only reason it's really a question is due to the situation at kick returner. Similar situation with Buck Allen: we only have 2 healthy RBs to start the year, and he was a medium-high draft pick last year. Jerraud Powers has experience, a decent-sized guaranteed contract, and good reviews out of TC despite coming in out of shape to support keeping him on the roster. Carl Davis has draft status and a hot preseason from last year on his side. However, none of these players have been particularly impressive on the field, or quite unimpressive in Allen and Powers' cases. I'll be eager to check-in at 4pm tomorrow to see what Oz and Harbs have decided to do, at least initially (before signing someone else's cuts).

If I do a more fun "keep my favorite players" prediction, it's more like QB (2) : Flacco, Johnson (trade Mallett, hate his personality) RB (4): Dixon, West, Forsett, Allen,* Juszczyk WR (6): Smith, Perriman, Wallace, Butler, Aiken, Moore (cut Camp) TE (3): Pitta, Gillmore, Williams OL (8): Stanley, Lewis, Zuttah, Yanda, Wagner, Urschel, Jensen, Wesley** (cut Hurst, Ducasse) DL (6): B.Williams, Pierce, Henry, Jernigan, Urban, Guy (IR C.Davis, cut KLM) LB (9): Suggs, Dumervil, Z.Smith, Judon, Correa, McClellan, Mosley, Orr, Ochi CB (6): Jimmy, Wright, Young, Davis, Price, Canady (cut Powers) S (5): Webb, Weddle, Levine, Brooks (cut K.Lewis, cut Elam,* let Canady play more safety in practice) Special (4): Koch, Tucker, Cox, (acquire a full-time P/K returner from somewhere) *I would keep Buck Allen for ~4 weeks and then cut him once Dixon is healthy, and then sign Elam to the vacant roster spot. **And Ducasse would still get Bajema'd with non-guaranteed base salary after week 1, so even though he's not technically on the opening-day roster, he would be the 8th OL most of the season (we'd only keep Wesley for week 1)

@Filmstudy I just wanted to say your insightful, in-depth analyses on this forum have made me a regular reader at RSR. I really enjoy your articles.

If they decide to go with Moore, they had better give him a ton of reps at KR over the next few days to give him some experience. He looked good returning 1 kick--that's all we've seen. He didn't even do it much in college either (11 total returns in 4 seasons). This lack of experience leads me to doubt they roll with him at KR for the season. Mike Wallace is a lot more experienced than Moore if we're counting college, not that he's a great candidate from an experience standpoint either. I'm really not excited about Hester after hearing Falcons fans complain about his poor decision-making and seeing it for myself on a few occasions. Add in the fact that he's old and coming off an injury that is notorious for ending careers and I'm pretty cold on the idea.

I think backup OT (instead of Hurst or whoever), backup safety (instead of K.Lewis), and P/K returner are the most likely signings before season start. This complicates the prediction-making. I guess if I were to revise my old prediction a bit, I keep Henry and cut Campanaro, since, as others have said, keeping a 7th WR isn't a good use of a roster spot. They have other options at returner, even if they aren't the most proven or are a bit too old to do it (like Webb and Steve Smith can field punts, but do you really want them doing that?)

Antonio Gates (undrafted), Shannon Sharpe (7th round pick)

After hearing Falcons fans trash him for his poor decision making regarding when to bring the ball out of the endzone and seeing it myself in a few games, I'm a little unenthused about a Hester signing. Return-men fall-off fast once they get too old; we all watched it with Jacoby, and it's probably happening to Hester.

If you take away draft status, experience, and the name on the back of the jersey, then Pierce has outperformed Carl Davis when comparing the two objectively.

I think they would IR Davis rather than cut him. The ankle injury could definitely give impetus to make such a move if it's bad. Agree with Powers as a surprise cut, though looking at it objectively, I think the only reason it would be surprising is because we keep hearing the coaching staff is high on him despite looking awful on the field in games 1 and 2. If that was some no-name rookie UDFA playing the way he was playing no one would bat an eye if he was cut. Another dark-horse cut is Campanaro, though maybe it wouldn't be that surprising, since he has been injury prone, plays a very crowded/deep position, and made an ugly kick return today. Everyone viewed him as a bubble player when TC started anyway.