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Steve Smith on Facing The Panthers He was then asked about the possibility of playing against the Panthers in the future. The man who introduced “Ice up, son” to the lexicon last season didn’t disappoint with his answer. “I want to make sure that whatever team I go to, they’re going to get the best, in shape 35-year-old guy they can get. If that happens to run through Bank of America Stadium, put your goggles on cause there’s going to be blood and guts everywhere,” Smith said. Smith said that now that everything is settled, he’s going to have a “cup of coffee and relax” before figuring out what his next step might be. The Ravens have already been pegged as a favorite to land Smith and while they don’t play in Charlotte, Smith might enjoy knowing they do host Carolina next season. -ProFootballTalk *per reports Ozzie is already on the phone.

-Juilian Edelman had 1,430 all purpose yards and 4 TDs in 2013 -Jacoby Jones had 1,584 all purpose yards and 3 TDs in 2013 (in only 12 games) I wouldn't underestimate Jacoby Jones value simply because he didn't have Tom Brady throwing him the ball

I can get down with that. Means we'd probably target a tackle in Round 1 then. If we lock Monroe up we'll probably draft a WR instead. So would you rather have: -Monroe + 1st round WR/Safety or -Alex Mack + 1st round Tackle

I'll give you a name to look for: Pierre Thomas. Maybe via trade In the event he isn't traded he'll likely become a cap casualty and be released. The Saints are pressed against the cap as is and moving Pierre would create $2.5M in cap savings. So unless they rework his deal he's likely to be on a different team next year. Hopefully ours... He's a big, strong, downhill runner. He would give us that power to compliment Rice and Bernard with. I know most feel that's Bernard's role, but Bernard can't stay healthy enough to bang bodies all season. He needs someone to help absorb that punishment. If we could get Pierre cheap, i'd give him a 2 or 3 year deal and let all three of em battle it out in camp for their place on the depth chart.

How heavy is the pole? Are we talking aluminum? pvc? steel? Or is it made out of a loosely wound veteran minimum contract ?

Joe Hawley is a below average center (as of now) mainly because he hasn't had much experience at the position. But he's young (25) with a ton of upside and has shown a lot of traits that suggest he could eventually become really good down the road. He's probably a borderline top 10 run blocker but definitely has to get stronger and develop more technique in order to be more efficient in the passing game. Put it to you this way, If you'd be gracious enough to give Gino Gradkowski a 4 out of 10 in pass blocking - Hawley would probably be 6.5 out of 10. The top guys are around 9.5 out of 10. If you would be even kinder to grace Gino with a 5 out of 10 for run blocking, Hawley would probably be a 8 out of 10. So maybe that gives you a better understanding of what kind of player he is. What he has going for him is he's aggressive, he gets good leverage and he's quick enough on his feet to hold his own 1-on-1. My take is Atlanta finds a way re-sign him on the low and he and Konz battle it out in camp. If the interest in him from other teams is sincere then Atlanta doesn't have a shot and theyre just going have to hope Konz finally breaks out and becomes the player they drafted him to be.

Cortland Finnegan?

I agree. When you watch Clinton-Dix and Calvin Pryor it becomes obvious they're different makers. The way Ozzie and DeCosta have spoken so highly of Free Safeties over the years, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they pulled the trigger on one of them at #17. If we are able to retain Monroe and both Taylor Lewan and Mike Evans are off the board, I wouldn't be opposed to drafting Calvin Pryor there. What an awesome player he's going to be. I know it's not a fan favorite but he's the next big time safety to enter the league. Think of a bigger, stronger Bob Sanders. Given the way the league has become so pass oriented, having 2 studs lock down the corners while 2 beasts hold down the back end - not a bad strategy to have for the next few years. We'd instantly have one of the best secondaries in the league. Plus, it would be fun watching Pryor flying around in a Ravens uniform smacking people in the mouth every Sunday. Sign Monroe, kick the tires on Santonio Holmes - trade back and draft Pryor in round 1, Cyrus Kouandjio in round 2 and Javaris Landry in round 3. Not my ideal draft but I could get excited about something as simple as the obvious.

Yeah, there's a few. Ideally, you'd want to keep Osemele at LG because it would provide greater depth on the roster. But in the event that we can't replace both of our free agent tackles with viable starters, moving Osemele outside is a solid backup plan. You could go about it in several different ways though. You could draft a guard in the 2nd or 3rd, you could sign a guard and save your draft pick for another position, you could draft a Tackle and promote the guard position from within through a training camp battle. Personally, I'd like to keep Osemele at LG because when he's healthy you're getting Pro Bowl level production on the inside. Some of the top guards out there: 1.) Geoff Schwartz - (28) Solid Vet. Huge body. Stands 6'6'' 340 pounds. You get the size that Ozzie prefers on the interior. You might be able to get him cheap being that he's coming off a vet minimum contract last year and sat out the entire 2011 season with an injured hip. When he's on, he gives you elite run blocking and is capable of top 10 pass protection but the knock on him is injuries and whether or not he can sustain high level play through the course of a full season. Probably top guard in FA. 2.) Travelle Wharton - (33) 6'4'' 315 pounds. He's entering the latter part of his career and last season he was coming off an ACL injury. So you're looking at a short term contract, maybe a 1 or 2 year deal. I'd be shocked if he commanded anything more than $2-3M a year. The gamble with him is his age and his knee, if it pays off you get a top 10 run blocker and a middle of the pack pass blocker. Last year he was rated as Pro Football Focus' 3rd overall LG but he's about to be 33 so he's nothing more than a stop gap. Unless he can have a Birk-Esque type of finish to his career. 3.) John Asomah - (26) 6-4'' 305 pounds. Younger and not as big as you'd like from a guard but he's a terrific pass blocker (he's an ok run blocker, "efficient"). Has 4 years experience in the Zone-Blocking Scheme that the Cheifs ran in Kansas City. Similar in ways to the Houston Texans running game during the Kubiak years. He injured his shoulder last season and never reclaimed his starting role. But he's definitely athletic enough to do the things Kubiak requires from his guards laterally. Wouldn't expect a huge demand for him on the market.

I'll throw some names out there: DT - Randy Starks - He's a force as 3-4 DE, He's a flat out beast against both the pass and run. Being that he's 30, if he could be had at an affordable price (which i highly doubt) i'd sign him and consider cutting Chris Canty. FS - Champ Bailey - Would only be if the FO felt confident that he could not only be a good FS but a productive FS. Low offer only. CB - Cortland Finnegan - Intriguing player if he can bounce back from last year and return to his pro bowl-caliber form. I'd peg him as a starter in the nickle and feel confident as him being a backup corner in the event someone went down. He's proven that he can hold his own on the outside if needed. Would be my backup to Graham. CB - Asante Samuels - can he bounce back and be the player he's capable of being? or have injuries and age caught up to him? I'd consider him on the outside and Webb in the slot in nickle packages (If he's still capable) i'd also discuss the possibility of moving him to FS. DT - Jason Hatcher - He's older and can play both 3-4 DE or 4-3 DT. He's probably the best pass rushing interior D-lineman in free agency and at 32 he might not be as expensive as you'd think coming off an 11 sack season. Again, i'd consider cutting DE Chris Canty ($1.8M savings) to create some room if needed Note - If we could sign a true dominant 3-4 DE like Randy Starks, and we felt Brandon Williams can take a step forward this year holding down NT, it would allow us to put Haloti Ngata back at DE where he's most dominant. Two dominant 3-4 DE would cause obvious 1-on-1 mismatches on the outside for Doom and Sizzle. Could be a big upgrade for us.

I agree with a lot of your points but i think you've really hit the nail on the head when you said, "its hard to get the ball to everyone let alone your 4th or 5th read". I think that's all he would be for us. Honestly, i believe there are better alternatives out there than Lance Moore if that's the direction you wanted to go. For Veteran Minimum, I think we could bring in Kenny Britt for a year as a "prove it to me" kinda deal. I'd even be willing to spend a little more on a guy like Andre Roberts - who's really been flying under the radar lately - big body, athletic, slot receiver who can make big plays on 3rd down. Jerome Simpson could be an interesting fit in the slot. I think even bringing back a guy like Doss would be a better option than Lance Moore. My ideal strategy for WR though would be to wait until teams start making roster cuts because of all the young talented Wr's ready to enter the league. Some really good players are gonna be replaced with these younger, cheaper, more talented rookies. That's where Ozzie makes his bread-and-butter, picking up the scraps and cast-offs from bad teams, polishing them up and turning them into a shiny new Lombardi Trophy. But since this thread is about signing players already out there - if i had to target 2 players I'd go after Jacoby Jones or Andre Roberts then draft a rookie.

The trend for LT contracts, is to offer large base salaries in the first 3 years with a low signing bonus. This acts to serve as "guaranteed money" in a sense because the odds of them being on the team 3 years from now are pretty high. The problem with that is you eat up a lot of cap space every season, whereas, the Ravens like to structure contracts to be cap friendly in the early years. It's not that they are opposed to paying him the money that he's worth - because the market says he's worth $10M+ - it's how they go about paying him. I think that's where the hiccup has been between the two sides. For example: We give him $52.5 Million w/$22M Guaranteed upon signing for 5 years. That equals $10.5M per, the standard you have to pay for a top 10 LT in today's market. You could structure it as: (bs = base salary, sb = signing bonus, rb = roster bonus) yr1 - $1.5M (bs) - $.6M (sb) - $10.5M (rb) - cap hit = $12.6M <----would eat up half of our current cap 0_o yr2 - $8.0M (bs) - $.6M (sb) - --------------- - cap hit = $8.6M yr3 - $8.5M (bs) - $.6M (sb) - $1.5M (rb) --- cap hit = $10.6M yr4 - $9.5M (bs) - $.6M (sb) - --------------- - cap hit = $10.1M <-----could become a cap casualty candidate (saves $9.5) yr5 - $10.M (bs) - $.6M (sb) - ---------------- -cap hit = $10.6M <-----likely to be cut or restructured (saves $10M) *notice the smaller $3M signing bonus (prorated over 5 years =$0.6M against the cap each year) + the $1,5M base salary + the $10.5M roster bonus = $15M guaranteed in the 1st year + the $8M base salary in year 2 = $22M "guaranteed"...after that he could be cut with no cap ramifications. The 3rd year roster bonus suggests they at least expect him to be serviceable three years from now, but in the event that he's not - they would have to cut him before a specific date to avoid paying him the $1.5M roster bonus, saving $10M in cap space. However, if they don't cut him he will have earned $32M in 3 years. That's a lot of dough. Or you could structure it as: (bs = base salary, sb = signing bonus, rb = roster bonus) yr1 - $1.5M (bs)------ $3.5M (sb) - cap hit = $5M <--------much more manageable, gives us flexibility this year yr2 - $3.5M (bs)------ $3.5M (sb) - cap hit = $7M <--------still relatively low yr3 - $8.0M (bs) ----- $3.5M (sb) - cap hit = $11.5M <----about league average for premier LTs yr4 - $10.75M (bs) -- $3.5M (sb) - cap hit = $13.25M <--could become a cap casualty candidate (saves $7.25M) yr5 - $12.25M (bs) -- $3.5M (sb) - cap hit = $15.75M <--likely to be cut (saves $8.75M) *notice the larger $17.5M signing bonus (prorated over 5 years = $3.5 against the cap each year) + the $1.5M base salary = 19M guaranteed in the 1st year + the $3.5M base salary in year 2 = $22.5 million "guaranteed"...year 3 is pretty much guaranteed because if you cut him the cap hit remains the same. The third year base salary of $8M gives him $30.5M through the first 3 years of the contract. If you release him in year 4 you would create a cap savings of $7.25 Million It's rumored that the Ravens offered Monroe $45 million over 5 years but Monroe's camp feels they can get more on the market. (Which means Teams have probably already tampered and offered a larger contract similar to the 1st example) Hope this helps.

No, I would stay away from Lance Moore. He'll be entering the season at 31 years old and is coming off a dismal season where his production fluctuated quite heavily. Last year he only had 37 catches for 457 yards with 2 TDs and wasn't even the 4th Wr at times. That's saying a lot coming from a Drew Brees led offense who threw the ball 650 times for over 5,100 yards and 39 TDs . He did have a minor injury but as a beat writer who closely follows the Saints said, "it's not injury-related"

I still think Eugene Monroe is the only Free Agent on offense we should pursue until teams start making roster cuts. This draft has so much offensive talent, that we should just wait and continue the trend of patient spending. My guess is we came at Eugene Monroe with a Jake Long type of deal: (4 years - $34 million, $16M guaranteed@ $8.5M per) and his agent wanted a Joe Thomas type of deal: (7 years - $84 Million...which was pretty much 4 years - $53 Million, $22M guaranteed @$13.25 per) but we'll probably settle on a Ryan Clady type of deal: (which is pretty much 4 years $42 Million, $15M guaranteed @ $10.5M per)