Maryland

I invite you to start the discussion then, friend

Ricky Wagner Definite Comp. pick with Lewis the future RT Brandon Williams Possible comp. pick, depends if he's seeking Damon Harrison money Steve Smith Retired Kamar Aiken Might not even be a comp. pick after this season, but probably leaving because we barely use him Matt Elam Re-signs on a short-term prove-it deal Lawrence Guy Seems like a solid player we re-sign for cheap, considering the lack of depth at DE. Otherwise, provides a late comp. pick Anthony Levine Unsure Will Davis Unsure, definitely won't fetch a comp. pick Kyle Juszczyk Probably depends on our OC for 2017 Jerraud Powers Cut Devin Hester Cut or retires Ryan Mallett Unsure, but if he does leave, late-round comp. pick. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elvis Dumervil 100% cut, but may re-resign on a 1-year prove-it deal Lardarius Webb 100% cut, but may re-sign on a 1-year prove-it deal Benjamin Watson 100% cut, but may re-sign on a 1-year prove-it deal Sharecee Wright Unsure, coaching staff seems to love him regardless of performance Jeremy Zuttah Unsure, too early to tell Kyle Arrington 100% cut Kendrick Lewis 100% cut --also, fans aren't going to want to hear it, but Mike Wallace could also be cut, since they would save over $5 mil against the cap, though I think an extension is worked out instead. This was basically a 1-year deal from the start with a chance for an extension. Pitta could also be a cut candidate, depending on how he finishes the season.

You can't trade up too high or too frequently because it'll kill your depth and overall roster strength--see the Falcons after the Julio Jones trade. However, if there is a future perennial pro-bowl talent just a few picks above where they're at and they think they won't get them by staying still, then just give up a mid-round pick and go get him. That's what they did with Ngata.

Unfortunately we don't have the cushion to play it cautious and sit our starting QB for a game. Even if the Jets happen to be one of the worst teams in the league, we can't leave anything to chance and sit Flacco, opting instead to take a gamble that Mallett might win.

There is something to be said here, imo. You look at the players we were high on in the past who got sniped in round 1--Dez Bryant, Marcus Peters, Khalil Mack (granted, that was a huge trade-up), Joe Staley--and think: hey, if you've got a good feeling on somebody, don't leave it to chance, since those feelings about good first round players seem to be spot on. If you really believe in someone like Marcus Peters, don't leave anything up to chance, just go out and get him. And, on the other hand, look at what you're giving up: likely a 2nd or 3rd round pick--areas where we have struggled mightily in resent history (Arthur Brown, Maxx Williams, Carl Davis, Terrence Brooks, Courtney Upshaw, Jah Reid, Terrance Cody, Sergio Kindle). Since we seem to get poor value from those 2nd and 3rd round picks quite often, maybe just trade up and get who you really want in the first round, since those feelings about first-round prospects seem to be more accurate than feelings about 2nd and 3rd round prospects. On the other hand, they could also consider amassing even more picks in the late rounds by trading down, since that's where they seem to find their best value. There's something to be said for getting as many picks as possible: even if you end up cutting some of your rookies because you have too many draft picks, having a lot of picks gives you greater chance of finding a nice late-round gem--basically more darts to throw at your dart board and hopefully get a bulls-eye. An example of this just happened: by trading down twice in the 2nd round and ultimately drafting Correa, we also got picks that led directly to the drafting of Matt Judon and Chris Moore. Even if Correa never pans out, Moore and definitely Judon look like they could be impact players in a few years. By getting more picks, they gave themselves a greater chance of finding talent.

This thread just goes to show that even the best players on this team relative to their position aren't above criticism from fans lol.

I remember Wagner playing very well in his first season as a starter. He was PFF's highest-rated RT halfway through the season. I have to wonder if that lisfranc injury ruined his career, or if it was just an aberrational start to his career. I remember him holding up well vs Watt of all people, and then he got injured in the 2nd quarter and his backup got manhandled.

Haha, so true. I think having Elam return off of IR was the plan all along. The only factor that might change this is if we sustain several major injuries at NT or 3-tech and suddenly need Carl Davis. Might actually be true. For the first time in a long time, I can honestly say I look forward to seeing what Elam does at safety. If he can tackle effectively (big 'if'), he could be an improvement over Webb. Webb will have some OK games and then follow it up with some stinkers where he seems late on multiple plays.

Did not see the Taliaferro move coming at all. Thought for sure they were just going to keep him on PUP as long as possible and then hope he makes the PS. I wonder if they'll actually use him at RB. I don't know anything about the CB we activated, but Kendrick Lewis is absolutely terrible (very late on every play), so I'm perfectly fine with giving anyone else a chance at any position. Levine seems to be the 3rd best safety on the team anyway.

I also wonder if Lewis might already be a better RT than Wagner, at least in the run-game. He struggled with pass protection as a LT, so I'm skeptical to think he'd be a better overall player. I also wonder if someone like Jensen might not be better at LG than Lewis. Like you and others have noted, Lewis doesn't get good leverage against shorter interior linemen because he's too tall. Jensen struggled a bit early on, but seemed to improve last week, perhaps because the offense was a little more balanced. (of course subbing Jensen for Lewis at LG isn't even an option until Yanda returns)

Though this does nothing to answer the OP's question, I've thought about what the NFL could do to make trading more viable. If the NFL could somehow improve the trading system, it would create a better product. It would allow teams pushing for a SB to actually build a better team and consequently present viewers with a better product. In addition, it would help rebuilding teams to rebuild faster by acquiring more draft picks for next year. Finally, it would make the usually boring NFL trade deadline at least somewhat interesting, which would create more press for the NFL among news networks. One idea I've had would be allowing teams to defer some or all of a traded player's cap hit to the following season (similar to a restructure, I guess). One of the biggest obstacles to trades happening in the NFL is players' base salaries, coupled with the usually tight cap for teams who are actually competing for a SB. Of course, this rule change might allow teams to easily bypass the cap with preseason trades, thereby bilking the system, so maybe they should allow a deferment of cap hit only for trades after week 6 or something. However, I'm not sure if this idea would even work, since teams can kind of already defer cap hits for traded players by restructuring. Plus, there is the issue of compensatory picks--why would a team slated to receive a 3rd or 4th round compensatory pick for an impending FA trade said player for anything less than what they'd receive in compensation? Most teams don't trade valuable picks, so it'd have to exceed the projected comp. pick they'd receive, which is unlikely in most cases. Of course, for players with multiple years remaining on their contract, the issue of comp. picks is less of a factor, especially for veterans. Plus, veterans usually have bloated base salaries--teams may not want to incur a cap hit for next season just because they went full win-now mode for one season.

Hah! Wow, that's approaching Limas Sweed territory.

Pees could have put extra coverage on OBJ for sure, but the failed defense vs Oakland and Giants seemed like mostly just poor execution. Pees can't make Tavon Young and Weddle not collide into each other en route to a go-ahead TD.

History says there are no easy wins with the Ravens, since 20 of their last 22 games were decided by 1 possession. (pretty sure that's the stat I heard from Hensley)

Too late in the season to IR him with the plan to have him return (plus they probably wanted to use that option on Elam anyway). It's a real shame he came back for that final week of TC, otherwise he would have been eligible for PUP and could have just rested up at his leisure without tying up a roster spot and aggravating his injury.

Count me among those who would rather see Geno than Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick at least has the passing skills to potentially get some large gains on our secondary. I really don't respect Geno's decision-making at all as a passer (which is ironic because Fitz himself has been pretty careless with the ball, though some of those were bad drops/deflections off the WRs' hands). Jets also might have some considerable injuries to monitor. All of the following DNP in practice on Wed (granted, it was a shorter week for them): OL Ryan Clady (shoulder) LB Darron Lee (ankle) OL Nick Mangold (knee) OL Brent Qvale (neck) CB Buster Skrine (NIR) DL Muhammad Wilkerson (ankle) I really like the prospect of our interior pass-rush possibly going up against a backup C. The way our coaching staff & FO showed seemingly no interest in bringing him onto our PS leads me to believe he'll never be a Raven again. That said, I loved him as a prospect, and as a pure pass-rusher, he showed definite talent. With Suggs permanently injured for the season, Dumervil a complete unknown for the remainder of this season (and honestly, the remainder of his career), and Z-Smith showing very poor production, we need all the pass-rushers we can get. They'd be planning for the future if they signed him to the active roster too, since odds are Doom won't be here next year (not under his current contract, anyway), so they'll need a replacement anyway--why not a 1st year DPR in the same mold as Doom? Surely we can spare a roster spot by cutting someone like Marqueston Huff or Daniel Brown, for example.

I just wanted to post a bad example. I got a kick out of watching that game.

After the first 3 weeks, I don't think anyone expected West to be playing as well as he is right now. With West being pretty reliable getting ~25 touches per game, I'm fine with Dixon as just a change-of-pace back for now. I have to say, Dixon was getting super unlucky with the snaps he got vs Washington, since the OL seemed to completely fail him on every touch lol. And then when he was used at NY it seemed to be on failed screens half the time lol, though he did look good when he finally got some consecutive touches on that one drive.

Considering they have home-field advantage (which is worth 3 points), the fact that this is a pick-em spread says the oddsmakers believe that we're better than the Jets, all things being even. If this game was at Baltimore, it'd be a 6 point spread, just to put things in perspective. Alex Lewis just missed a game because of a concussion, and it's not like he had a concussion history. Other players will get IR'd by concussions (see: Sam Shields, who was IR'd just yesterday). Seems like sustaining a concussion puts you out a minimum of 1 game these days. -Plus, given the Bye week coming up, it might just make sense to sit him out for a week, since that'd give his brain just under 3 weeks to "heal."

I wonder where Danny Gorrer is these days. I thought he played better than Asa Jackson when we brought him back a second time. Maybe that knee injury ended his career.

They actually did run one naked bootleg vs Giants (pretty sure it was the first half, and Joe just threw it short to someone on the left sideline). It got me pretty excited seeing them actually do it lol.

/sarcasm

If we're playing the hindsight game, Ngakoue over KC is the first pick I change. The Stanley pick isn't even on my radar, since you're likely looking at Monroe and Hurst at LT for this season and possible the season after that, which is unacceptable.

I mean, even if he struggles with drops his whole career, that doesn't mean he cannot be anything more than a bust. Demaryius Thomas and Kelvin Benjamin have high drop-rates, but I don't think anyone would consider them busts.

Here's one http://www.espn.com/nfl/playbyplay?gameId=400554303 Eagles/Cardinals