PurpleCity5

If you're keeping Wallace at that $8M and then signing someone at a similar hit, then you damn well better be drafting someone at CB/OLB very high because its going to be tough to take a cap hit of $18M-20M at receiver and expect to keep Wagner or Williams while attempting to make improvements elsewhere. I can't see how the team can actually trust Pierce, Judon, Powers, or even Waller for that matter but not think Perriman is capable of taking the reigns. You won't plug in all these spots via FA if you expect to sign some quality players. Now as to my argument on Wallace, I'm not saying that he's not a good player, now if the Ravens are going away from the WCO, then I wouldn't have much of a problem with keeping Wallace. If you look at what Anquan Boldin did for us, many people would say "Oh, it's just Anquan going off in the post season again". But looking closely, Caldwell played towards the strengths of the WCO and to a point Boldin's. Because of the demand of the slant/crossing patterns and having someone who can do that for you, it completely opened the offense up. You just saw more slant/crossing patterns from Boldin and he was able to eat up the tight man and press coverage with ease while winning the inside/outside with no issues. You also saw a revived deep passing game. This is what the Ravens need in a receiver if they expect to move the chains, succeed in the Redzone and open up this offense. In order to get the deep passing game going, they're going to have to open up on those short/intermediate patterns. As far as Wallace numbers go, we saw a majority of his production come in through the 1st nine weeks, after that you could see that as CBs began playing closer and going to a zone coverage and playing some tight man zone, his production decreased largely. It sounds like I'm trying to take credit away from him, but what the Ravens got in Wallace as far as strengths go, multiplied in terms of weaknesses. You had a guy who can go deep and be a big play option for you in YAC, but if you wanted to open up the deep passing game, then you needed someone else to attack the short/intermediate game. I absolutely love to keep him at a lower cap number, moving on from him at $8M is not a foolish idea, not even Zrebeic thinks that's the case. You want to sign Britt and Wallace then fine, but you damn well better have no problem at CB/OLB because there's no excuses with either of those position. Also, under the assumption that we get both, I highly doubt Wallace will remain on the team long after when you really begin to feel the cap hit of a Kenny Britt or a Pierre Garcon. As far as what Perriman failed to do early on, I do have to agree that it was concerning and left a little doubt for me, but if Joe finds him or delivers a more accurate pass on the top of his routes, are we talking about him not being an option as a #2? What honestly makes me prefer Perriman at #2 is what we have at other positions. I think what he did in the 2nd half of the year is a bright-spot to his development. He dealt with a lot of problems, we both agree on that, and the assumption is that they don't follow him. While he'll be unproven, it's better than what you have elsewhere. You cut Doom and you have Suggs, Judon and Za'Darius behind him. You move on from BW and you got Pierce as your de-facto starter. You cut Wright(Obviously) and you got Jimmy and Young(Who might only be a slot CB), then you add in cutting Zuttah and you got Jensen behind him. If I had to make the choice, then rather than spending money on a big WR who fits this offense, move on from Wallace and rely on Perriman, after that I would make a push at CB/OLB and even C via trade and then using the cap from cutting Wallace to getting someone better, and who is to say you can't draft a guy within the 1st three rounds there if you plug in CB/OLB? We went into the 2015 draft with Steve Smith and Aiken as our starters, I don't see it being the end of the world if we drafted someone behind Britt and Perriman because what this team needs is not another young pass rusher, it's someone who can rush the passer now. If the team wants to pay another reciever and keep Wallace at that $8M cap number, than fine, but as I said there better be some serious attention towards OLB/CB/C come draft day.

I know its bold, because yes, Perriman did have some bad plays, and no, he's not a perfect route runner nor is he nearly refined in that area. Bigger and faster guys like him don't typically run the best routes though, Ravensfan23 pointed this out and I totally agree with him, when I'm watching Julio Jones or some of these bigger guys like Mike Evans or Demaryius Thomas, I honestly have to say that I'm just not blown away by their route running. The fact is that these guys are physical freaks and are best at getting inside/outside position that they can just beat CBs in such a variety of ways. Now Julio is on a different planet but he and plenty of other guys prove that you don't need to run the best routes, that was a weak spot for Perriman and an aspect of his game we all anticipated that he would get to improve on, he just never got that opportunity, this time he will. Even speaking towards the route running, you just have to hope he improves on that over the off-season, he had two summers taken away from improving that so you have to hope he does better in that aspect. I expect that he will. I also can't buy that Perriman isn't ready as an excuse. It won't be the first time the team relied upon someone to step up big time who didn't look like a starting caliber player. We did it with Pitta/Dickson, Za'darius, Gilmore, Campanaro, and even Kamar Aiken. This year we're expecting other guys who are question marks to show up, that's just not enough of a reason not to rely on him. In terms of Wallace, it's not just finding someone better than him, it's finding someone who is a better fit than him. I think the Ravens are looking for someone who can do a bit better in that short/intermediate passing game. Someone who can be a chain mover on 3rd down. Those qualities would make for that and I think it's worth moving on from Wallace if you find someone who can do that and is an upgrade.

Webb is catching too much flack here, he played very well down the stretch and he was a damn good tackler.

I know one guy going down to injury shouldn't ruin your season but we badly missed what Jimmy Smith gave us. Jimmy Smith was the 10th ranked CB with a passer rating of 68.5 allowed. Jimmy Smith was only targeted 5.5 times per game. Smith very rarely allowed big plays with 9.48 yards per catch, lowest among #1 CBs. Players in Jimmy's coverage had a catch rate of 45%, 2nd lowest among #1 CBs When Jimmy goes out, that breaks down our entire defensive coverage. Pees needs to drop more guys back in coverage, that being Orr/Judon/Smith/Mosley, then he's forced to play more cover 2/single high safety coverage so he doesn't get beat on the back end. Then that moves Jarraud Powers and Shareece Wright to the #1 and #3 spots respectively and they did not have good games at all when forced to that roll. We're going to need a healthy Jimmy Smith next year if we want to contend. Our defense broke down twice without him, getting depth there will be important but without him we suffered badly.

There will no excuses in losing to teams we should beat. Biscotii is probably grinding his teeth at the thought the we lost to the Redskins at home, and to the Jets at New York, both are games we should have won. Maybe losing to the Redskins has some meaning considering the replacement at OC, but Trestman's days were numbered anyways. If you can't pull out the win vs Washington than beat the Bengals week 17 and make the postseason. I think this season will be a no-excuse season for Harbaugh unless we have another injury plagued year.

I might get some heat for this, but I'm going to be honest when I say this, I really wouldn't be surprised if we saw Mike Wallace fell off next season. WCO needs guys who are going to attack short and intermediate passing game, I think the dip in the 2nd half of the season shows that. In tight man coverage Wallace just does not win enough to attack on those slants/shallow routes. I understand he's a 1,000 yard guy, but I don't think you're going to get another season like that from him unless he makes a big change. As far as Perriman's development go, I think some people are underrating what injuries and some off-field problems did, it really took a tole on him. I'm not going over not playing a professional game for 2 years, you and I know that, but the biggest issue that I found from Perriman was absolutely the chemistry between him and Joe. So many times they were not on the same page, on Joe's INT vs New York on Perriman's deep curl route he was expecting the ball a bit earlier than when it arrived, and by the time Joe threw the pass he lost the inside position to Skrine. Receivers usually time their routes and passes and it seems that Perriman and Joe were both off there. There's the off-field stuff, the death of a close friend and the near death of his father, it's hard to focus on Football when stuff like that happens to a young guy. I also disagree about Perriman not beating Wright or Woods for that matter. Woods, that an argument that can be made for Woods but Wright? He couldn't even get Tajae Sharp off the field. Robert Woods played in a below average passing attack so there's plenty to be had there but at his current skill set he's a #3, outside of Seattle game he was pretty underwhelming. As far as complementary receivers go, the Ravens history of guys show their not looking to get someone labeled as complementary. I wouldn't label guys like Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith Sr., Derrick Mason or even Mike Wallace in that category. I think the reason idea of a complementary guys in this offense is someone who compliments it, the Ravens are in need of production from the slot, in that meaning someone who can consistently beat linebackers in coverage with ease, something they just couldn't do much of. Outside of the three guys I listed, I don't think they go after anyone else. As far as getting a guy who can produce, I think its in the cards if the price is right, as I've said Britt, Garcon and even Marshall are options(Even though his chemistry issues might prevent that). I don't think they'll get those guys because Perriman will be relied upon, they would much rather trust him than Michael Pierce at DT, Matt Judon at OLB, or Powers at CB. I get that Mike Wallace is a 1,000 receiver but his flaws is what held this offense back IMO. The Ravens need a chain-mover, someone who can win off the LOS to attack those slants/shallow routes that are so prevalent in a WCO and someone who can be a big body overall there. I think an upgrade there is needed, if not then I think Wallace stays, but it wouldn't shock me if Perriman makes a huge jump over the off-season and we see him as the #2.

During his time in Denver, he had serious problems and they just couldn't tolerate it anymore. In Chicago's case, I don't think it's age, he was about 27 when he got to Chicago and only spent 3 seasons there, they moved on but why? They didn't need to get younger, just faster, but they could've had that with the other guys on the roster. He spent 2 seasons in NYJ now one year removed from a career year. He just never gets to settled down and is always moving around, that's a big concern. As far as his price tag goes, his cap hit is at $9M, so taking his first year of 1500 14 TDs and what Marshall can do going forward, skill wise and numbers wise, the $9M cap hit is totally worth it, no question does the guy produces and no doubt would I pay that much for a guy capable of 1,000+ 10 TD. Not to mention he is a FA in 2018 and has a minimal cap hit of 7.5M in 2017. I just see no reason to be concerned about the price. Guys have an equal/above cap hit and are hitting nothing close to that. I'll be honest though, Randy Moss is a guy who had some locker room issues himself and while Marshall isn't even on his level, I can honestly say that it could work out similar fashion, maybe the results won't be as great but it could really be a difference maker, I wouldn't completely rule it out, but its a huge question mark for me.

My problem with Marshall is the fact that how does a guy that talented who produces that much becomes a rental player? It doesn't make sense to me, to be honest with you it's probably a locker room issue and a big one for him to continually find team after team. That said, same can be said for Steve Smith but he played for one team before coming here, Marshall keeps bouncing around but the question is why? I don't know what type of interest we would have.

Depending on the money BWill, it's such a toss up but if I were to make the call and I would get BW at a good price than give me BW.

I don't think the Ravens settle with Jensen or Urschel at C. If they were good enough they would've replaced Zuttah when he had that awful stretch. They talked about building a strong and physical front and didn't mention Urschel or Jensen once. I think Wagner staying depends entirely on Brandon Williams, if the Ravens can keep him at a good price then Wagner is gone.

I'm not saying that Lewis did a bad job or anything of that nature, but the fact of the matter is that while letting go of KO was the right choice, that certainly doesn't mean that we didn't pay the price for it. It's not about what Alex Lewis did in year 1 vs KO in year 1, its Alex Lewis in year 1 vs KO in year 4 because that's where KO left off. That's the level of play you're trying to replace. Lewis did very well in pass protection, but as a run blocker I wasn't blown away, but the expectation is that he will hopefully grow there. And I don't think he's going anywhere, its either Zuttah only, or both Zuttah and Wagner with Lewis either staying at LG or moving to RT. Overall I certainly think Lewis did very well, but what we missed from him was that monstrous run blocking that we got from KO. I'm not attacking Lewis, but the fact of that matter is that we did pay the price for someone we didn't want to pay. It's very similar to Pernell McPhee leaving, yes, not paying McPhee was the right choice, but that doesn't mean we don't miss him. Everything that McPhee is as a player is exactly what we're missing here, but is that a direct knock on Judon/Smith? No, because that's just what happens when you lose good players.

That's what I was thinking in reference to Wagner. He's not a mauler, he does a good, no great job at containing his blocks but he's not a mauler in the run game. Another mauler would be Kelechi Osemele, who I feel like we miss here. Lewis has done a solid job at filling in at LG but he isn't as physical as KO, in the pass or run. We need a mauler here, guys who'll push guys around and bring a strong physical front, that start with Zuttah and replacing him, but I don't know if we stop there or keep going with changes.

I think we'll be very aggressive with C position and it will probably be up there with CB/OLB in terms of a priority. They alluded to building a strong and physical front and they talked about it a lot. I think we either get one via trade or we trade up in the 2nd round for one. I think Oz and Eric will go after a center hard. Zuttah is done here.

I think of him competing for that starting job, I don't think they hand it to him but I think he wins over his competition if we're talking about getting Robert Woods and Kendall Wright as a duo in this hypothetical. I think Kenny Britt is a better option than Wallace, he's a better fit for this offense and I think would produce more here while solving plenty of issues for this offense. After that I would say Garcon. That's about it, so I agree with that, you're not going to really find someone better and if you do you're paying a price for it. As far as the money goes for a WR, the only guys I could see the Ravens pay is Kenny Britt and maybe Pierre Garcon. Outside of those two I don't think they'll really pay up, going back to the press conference, Ozzie said he's looking for a complementary receiver. He's looking for someone who isn't going to break the bank and would probably be best served as a #3.

I can't believe it either, WR is a position that's going to continue to get paid because I think the truth is that teams are finding a lot value in #2 WRs, especially if you have a well established #1. We did get Steve Smith Sr. at 3M a year, but that was towards the tail end of his career, he really wasn't expected to finish that contract, had he bit a few years younger, then we would have paid a lot more for a guy like him.

I talked about Britt as an option but that's a toss up, who's to say they really pay for a WR. He isn't a #1, but he could be a very high end #2 and solve a lot of our problems. Not getting one via FA is the problem though, how are they going to plug in the holes at WR? Even #2 WRs come at a pretty good price now, Muhammad Sanu got 7M per year, that's not something the Ravens would even think about for a player like that, unless he's a difference maker for the offense. Draft I think is nearly out of the question. I think Breshad competes for the starting job, I don't think he's given it but I don't know if the Ravens pay up for someone worthy of a starting spot. I think the best they'll do with is Robert Woods/Kendall Wright, however those are not guys who I think are going to lock down the #2 spot, they aren't starting material and probably are best served as 3s/slots. Those guys are a good fit for a WCO and are effective in slant/crossing patterns so under that circumstance Wallace is a near lock to stay. Do you think the Ravens pay up for a #2 WR at a high price? After seeing what these young guys are making I wouldn't be so inclined. They're likely not paying for a WR and are not drafting one either so regardless they might have to rely upon him to step up as a default. They can keep Wallace but is he really a guy you want as your #1? I would much rather go for someone better and let go of Mike, I don't think he's a guy on the rise and I feel like he's got one foot on the door in terms of what he has left in the tank, that would sound surprising given that he had a 1000 Yard season here, but looking closely, you could see that Mike sometimes struggled to win against tight man, you could see that he couldn't get a good release on those slant/shallow routes and that really limited the WCO. I think this really explain his decline this season, because he didn't burn out and we didn't hear about any injuries that he dealt with during the year.

Alex Mack has done some really great things for them, especially how well they've been able to run up the middle. They have a very physical presence there. I also don't think he's the #1, that's doubtful.

ATL has speed guys all over the place its crazy. I think the offensive line is a Center away from being great, if Wagner is retained. I expect great things from Stanley and Lewis should progress. I'm a big fan of Dixon and I feel like he's going to make his mark. Center is very important right now for us and I think the Ravens are looking for someone big and strong there, I think it could arrive via trade because the FA market is dry and I don't know if the Ravens can be aggressive there in the draft.

Out of the three I would say Woods along with Wright is the most likely. He should come in at a low price and the Ravens need production out of the slot. As for Wallace, I think he goes if the Ravens upgrade the #1 spot. From what I've seen the Ravens are relying on Perriman to step up big time regardless if Wallace stays or not. You just got to not only trust his draft position but the potential as well, what rmc said certainly isn't wrong, the Ravens are looking for a complimentary guy so someone like Woods would only fill the void as a #3. He's not going into the off-season next year with the same off-field situations and injuries, he's going in with the opportunity to build a relationship with Joe and work on his craft, something he wasn't able to do. A lot of people and my self are talking about Perriman as a #2, but funny thing is Harbaugh talked about him as a potential #1. I think the guy is going to have plenty of expectations going into next season. Garcon is going to get paid, but his age could effect things and Vincent Jackson is a #3 at this point.

Not to say that Britt is a #1 but he could play at a really high level. I also wouldn't rule out on the FO shelling out money for a WR. Let's not forget that we did trade for Boldin a while back and I think his cap number was fairly high at the time we got him. A lot of people including me said that paying Weddle just isn't something the Ravens would do and they got him. I don't think the Ravens are opposed to giving someone good money as long as they're getting a really good player at a good price. The Ravens know what they need on offense, someone who can keep drives alive and being a big body in the redzone. I think Oz would look at Britt to a solution to his problems.

K.C's offense just isn't built to win. You can't win all these games in ugly fashion. Outside of that the dropped passes were terrible, but the ball placement wasn't all that good either on some of those throws. This AFC title game is a swing game, could go either way.

We could technically have both, but I don't think the Ravens go that route, I think it's possible the Ravens structure his contract to take the cap hit early on, but at the same time with Jernigan and Mosley hitting FA they probably would push the money to take his cap later on but of course that makes cutting him later a bit tougher. I don't think the Ravens would view Britt as just a complimentary WR when he hits the market. I think Oz would view Britt as a stud. When you look at the #s, it's impressive given in the type of offense he was in, it was an awful one and the QB situation was just too much to go through. The Ravens might view Britt as a problem solver for the 3rd down and YPP woes. Yeah, Ozzie doesn't overpay for guys, but what he does love is a bargain. I think a guy like Britt who'll get $7-8M who can do so much for this O would present some good value. I don't think there is someone just as good as Britt or better at that price. After Britt they I don't think they pay anyone. They probably would just settle for a complimentary option and call it a day.

I agree with almost everything you said but why let go of Webb? Of course that cap hit is high and we'll definitely work on bringing that down. If we do then yeah, I think the Ravens bring Webb back, if I can recall he had a top 5 coverage grade in a stretch of the season, I think it was towards the end of the year. Regardless he's solid and should remain. At TE, I feel that Pitta has been a bit of a crutch for Joe. He looks like he has no interest in blocking and as a receiver he's limited. His #s look good but he's getting a lot of his production from four games and dump off passes. Not only has he not been consistent, but he's just not athletic enough to win against MLBs play after play. Cut Pitta and force Joe to stay in the pocket longer and go through his reads. His comeback was impressive, but its time to close this chapter. At CB I would keep Powers, he'll come in cheap and he was decent when he wasn't forced into a bigger role, this is someone who did struggle with injuries, for dime/nickle packages he should stick around. You're not going to find many good #4 and #5 CBs out there who play decent when out there in the nickle or dime packages. You can do worse than Powers. I feel that Wright might get cut, that I can agree with.

I doubt Wallace is playing at that number and I did notice some of Wallace struggles in tight man, what he excelled against was man coverage and struggled against the zone, which isn't a huge surprise given the nature of the coverage. He struggled with it more on those crossing routes though and I think our slower guys struggled with that, Pitta really did because not only did he not beat linebackers/safeties but he just didn't get to those soft spots on defenses, which is unusual because that's something Pitta always did well. Julio for sure helps, but even in games where he didn't play, I just noticed how the Falcons just had guys open in play after play. The Falcons just did a great job in exploiting defenses and got guys who had free releases, defenses played back because of the speed guys and they managed to have WRs matched up on linebackers in numerous plays and yeah, their guys won. I really do agree with your opinion on the Perriman/Britt pairing, the Ravens were 23rd in the league in 3rd down conversions in the league, to add to that in YPP(Yards Per Play), the Ravens were 24th with 5.2...That's just awful. I think we can attribute a lot of that from those dump-offs to the RB/Pitta that went nearly nowhere. Converting on 3rd down, getting 1st downs, and YPP have to be three things that need to improve going into next season. I honestly feel really good about the offense. If we decide to keep Wagner, and upgrade the C spot, then I think we could have a top 5 OL. Not only that but I feel really good about Kenneth Dixon and one of the TEs breaking out.

I like what Wallace did here as well, but if we're paying Britt that $8M salary than having Mike Wallace at that 8M cap hit just isn't something you would want. I think Perriman kind of relieves Wallace of his duties, being that speed guy and someone who can highpoint the ball and make those tough grabs, things that I don't think are Wallace strongest qualities. I'd also point to Wallace 2nd half decline, to be honest with you it's something I would be concerned about. Watching the Falcons offense, iv notice that outside of Julio they have guys who just get free runs, what I mean by that is play designs that get guys open. I want to see more from that from the Ravens, scheme guys open when playing a zone coverage. Personally, I love a Perriman-Britt pairing. For one, Kenny Britt could really do some great things here, he was really limited in the Rams offense. We all know about Perriman and the things that held him back, I feel that his route running is going to be worked on this off season and if he improves on that then I'm thinking he truly breaks out next season. We could have 2 1,000 yard WRs IMO.