Ravens2343

Is anyone else excited for the future of guys like Maxx Williams, Buck Allen and Jeremy Butler?  Butler may  not be on the team next year, but he looked pretty good out there today.  Allen looks more comfortable every week and ran well even behind a broken offensive line today.

Now we are going from picks to contracts...  Guys, Brady recovered completely from his ACL.  You'd never know he had that injury... courtesy of Pollard, by the way.  Joe will recover.  I cannot see it having ANY affect on his contract...  this sounds like a high school girl's lunch table...  rumors and drama building...  Come on Man.

Absolutely agree.  I am sure everyone in the organization (including Joe) believes he will be back and fully healthy for next season.  He has been an absolute warrior for this team and I hope he plays his entire career here.  ACL tears are not near as devastating as they were 10 years ago.

We aren't in a position to go after quality O linemen too often - this year we will be and we should be desperate for one after what happened today.

I agree.  It will be really difficult to pass up on someone like Bosa or Hargreaves, but Tunsil or Stanley could dramatically improve the offense on their own.  Free agency will tell a lot in which direction the franchise is looking at, but pairing a potential franchise left tackle with Yanda is something the Ravens really need to consider.

Bosa, Hargreaves or Ramsey would be great also though

The Ravens are entering a dark era, I agree. Too many players in major positions that are either aging or injury prone. Can't contend when that is set up. Flacco injury just magnifies it ten times over.

We can sit here and say that these guys will be back next year but they will all be another year older and most will be coming back from really serious injuries, in which case you don't know if they can or even will get anywhere close to regaining previous form.

I have said it in other topics, we are more than a top 5 draft pick away from contending.

I disagree a little bit on this.  Yes we are not a top 5 pick away from turning our whole team around, but we are ONE offseason away from contending.  Realistically Joe "could" be back sometime in late July early August and Suggs, SSS (if he returns), Perriman and Forsett should all be back before him.  A top 5 pick will help us tremendously and we should have some money to spend this offseason.  Despite all these injuries this team continues to fight and a lot of our players are improving each game.  I may be naive, but I believe the Ravens will be contenders in 2016 as long as Flacco is our starting QB.

We have had the worst injury luck in franchise history this year, 2016 can only be better right?

Yes AP did it in December and came back week 1. Its funny I was watching Gale Sayer on Football Life talk about his knee tear, and how the doctors were in the stone ages compared to now. Point is, knee repairs are routine now and the rehab process is tremendous. A guy like Flacco should be able to recover very well. 

I hope you are right and Brooks made a really quick recovery from the same injury this year.  Joe was the one Ravens player I always thought would be out there.  

We need a pass rusher more than anything else

Yeah we certainly do, but protecting Joe should be our #1 priority.  Monroe is constantly injured and Osemele will probably leave in free agency.  Now that Joe has suffered his first serious injury, protecting him becomes even more important.  Either way this team has an unbelievable amount of problems and one offseason probably wont fix it all

Realistically is there any chance he will be ready to go for next season?  Everyone heals differently, but Brooks made a really quick comeback.  At this point with our top 5 pick i think a LT is almost a necessity, Monroe should be finished in Baltimore.

I'm thinking that Urschel will take over for KO at LG, and Zuttah will battle some rookie for starting center duties.

I agree and hope you are right.  Zuttah has played fairly well this year and before this was pretty durable. Zuttah should definitely be back next year with some rookie competition.

A great FS can bail out CB's who make mistakes and great a CB can make a FS's job a lot easier and allow him to roam around more. This CB vs S argument has been going on for awhile, but there's a definite answer. There have been plenty of examples of both throughout the league. It really just depends on what you prefer and the defensive scheme the team runs.

I agree 100%.  Ramsey and Hargreaves are both great prospects, but we have Terrence Brooks and Matt Elam who both were high picks and are still young.  If both Ramsey and Hargreaves are equal in terms of placement on the Ravens big board, then I may lean towards taking Hargreaves.  Webb and Jimmy are injury prone and behind them we have no one, unless we are able to sign a good veteran corner in free agency.

Few players we should keep, the linebackers, brandon williams, carl davis.Webb. As for the offense, the tight ends and marshal yanda that is it. The rest must be reevaluated, im sick of jimmy, as soon as he got paid he has sucked.  

That's the type of overreaction that will keep us picking in the top 5 for the next 5-8 years.  We have a very good foundation in place and a good draft coupled with some salary cap space should allow us to get right back to where we belong. 

As for Jimmy, he is still recovering from a devastating injury that is especially hard for skill position players to recover from.  He is young and has proven to us he can be an effective corner.

Man, any good WR will be great addition to our team but Coleman is clearly a pipe dream. He is arguably the best prospect in this WR class. Those go early and with our issues on D, I don't think we can afford another 1st round spent on receiver.

Other guys like Treadwell, Boyd, Thomas and possibly Doctson are all going to challenge him for the top spot.  We may have a chance at him if we were to trade back or back into the first round.  Too early to tell what will happen but Coleman, amongst others would be a great addition to our team.

Man I really want to watch Coleman. I'm going to prioritize watching him this weekend.

You should not be disappointed if you do.  The defense doubles him constantly and they still cant contain him, he really knows how to create separation and gains a lot of YAC.  He would be a really nice addition to our team, reminds me a lot of Antonio Brown.

He was removed from the IR-DR list and practicing today!!

I am excited to see what he can do.  We can rush him from a couple different spots along the defensive front.  Excited to finally see what Urban can do!

nail on the head. we might be picking top 5 in next years draft and people are gonna be banging the table for laquon treadwell. 

 

i already see over half the boards with the mindstate that even if we were picking first overall then the pick HAS to be hargreaves even though FS and OLB/edge are both bigger holes than cb and with better talent at the top. 

 

the inability of some people to understand that all teams have peaks and valleys, the league is designed to FORCE teams to suffer through this occasionally, and that the only way to get back to the peak is to stick to our proven winning strategy, weve picked in the bottom half for 7 straight years now, of course we have some misses, weve also found some total steals, and ozzie isnt about to blow our first high pick in years by making a monumental reach, he will stick to the formula and find us a stud in the the early first and second and we will be on our way. 

the only point i see you and others are trying to make is that the FO should be like the lions and draft a WR in the 1st round untill they hit the jackpot.

 

you are not willing to accept that they have a strategy they stay true to.

 

if a WR is available at the spot they are picking and they have him rated the highest they will take him.

if a WR is slipping and he about to fall to a spot they can trade up to they will do it if they can.

they are not going to reach or sell the house like the falcons did.

 

they are not on purpose choosing not to draft a WR.

its a myth.

a very bad one.

 

when they evaluate players and make their draft board they dont have the luxury of hindsight to determine who should be taken when.

 

i remember this board slamming their hand on the table for jealen strong and how we should have taken him in round 1.

heck many here had him over marcus peters.

 

imagine if we had taken him in round 1 lol

You both are missing the point I was trying to make.  I never said we should be like the Lions and draft wideout every year in the first, in fact from where we have been picking recently in the first I think we have gotten good players.  But no where did I say we should start drafting like the Lions did or we should bail on the BPA approach.  I am saying that the Ravens SHOULD realize how poor our wide receiving corps is and look to address it in the draft.  There will be good wide receivers available in rounds 2-3 like every year and it would be nice to see the Ravens invest in the position more. 

I think Weddle, Jeffery, Wilkerson, Miller and Berry are out of the relm of possibility. Just too much money we would have to spend on one player with multiple needs on the roster.

 

I've ruled out Prince Amukamara for us, I thought of him as a guy who could come he given that he is a good CB but the injury concerns are just too great and I think that's the last thing we need. He's only played one 16 game season in his whole career, that's seriously troubling. 

 

I'm down with Mohamed Sanu, he really showed out last season as a primary target and truly stepped up when the Bengals needed him, I prefer Marvin Jones but I surely wouldn't mind Sanu. 

 

I like Crabtree, but if I'm the Ravens, I'm looking for a guy who can really be that guy. I personally feel that Vincent Jackson and Pierre Garcon are better players. I feel that Crabtree already plays in a good offense with a reliable QB, I don't think he can get much better here rather than in Oakland. I feel that Garcon would be a starting caliber WR with the ability to do big things for us. Same for Jackson. I think Crabtree would be a high end #2, but I don't see him elevating his play better than Garcon or VJax. This is why  I don't want Roddy White either. Boldin could be a possibility, though he's up there in age, he surely brings depth, QB chemistry and experience, I'm open to the idea of getting him here. He would be a reliable #3 WR 

 

F.O did say Ngata could return to the Ravens, and there were talks of tampering, I feel that a return could be possible. He's had a rough start and if he doesn't get it straight then I don't know if Detroit brings him back. 

 

I feel that out of those guys, we would likely sign either Ngata, Boldin or Sanu.

If we are going to sign a veteran wide receiver I would rather go the Vjax or Garcon route if'/when they are cut.  Garcon would be my top choice as he can get open and his a good blocker. 

Ngata has been hurt this year and has played poorly when he has been in there, if a reunion is going to happen it would have to be a very small deal.  He would be a nice veteran addition to our rather young, talented D-Line.

I think the biggest UFA we could pursue is Nick Perry.  He could fill our void at OLB and probably wont cost a ton.  I don't remember who brought him up in earlier posts, but I am on board with a signing like Nick Perry.

it would have been nice if we drafted aaron rodgers instead of mark clayton.

 

heck imagine we drafted tom brady in round 3 back in 2000 instead of chris redman and he came in to replace tony banks instead of trent dilfer.

 

would not had to waste money on grbac.

 

could have repeated a few times.

 

probably would have saved billick job lel.

hell probably would not had to suffer so much during the boller era.

As I said hindsight is 20-20.  The point I am trying to make is we cannot keep taking wideouts in rounds 4-7 and expect them to turn into serviceable guys, it barely happens in this league.  We are one of the bottom teams in the league in terms of how small of an investment we make in the receiver position and it is starting to show. 

if we drafted them what guarantee do you have they would have turned out good here?

 

just because a players does good on 1 team does not mean they would do good here or anywhere else.

to many factors play are role to guarantee success.

 

there is really no telling that they would have developped here like in other places.

That is true, every team and situation is different and they may not have worked out here.  But recent guys like Allen Robinson, Davante Adams, Donte Moncrief and Jordan Matthews were drafted outside of the first round and have performed quite well for their respective teams.  It would have been and would be nice in the future if we would take a gamble or two on some second or third round receivers to help Flacco out. 

It obviously makes no sense for me to argue that they would be good here because no one will ever know, but I surely would like to have any one of those players right now with our current situation as it is.

its not that he waits though.

 

its more like how the board falls in to place.

 

he will take 1 if 1 is there that is the highest on his board.

or 1 starts to drop and that players get to a spot he can trade up to and get it.

 

i doubt he is ever going to sell the house to get 1 guy.

thats the fastest way to set the franchise back lol

I agree that selling the house for one guy is not a good strategy, but that's not what I am implying we do.  Hindsight is 20-20 looking back on the results now.  But the Ravens have passed on numerous receivers the last few years who could have been had in rounds 2-3 that turned out to be good.  I am all for BPA because it has worked so far, but sooner or later we have to add wide receiver talent and that may result in us reaching a little for a certain guy.

you think its wise to take another WR high given his luck drafting WRs?

Have to hit one eventually, right?

Perriman's injury is an anomaly, usually Ozzie strikes out on receivers because he waits until the middle rounds to take them.  We have to get a dynamic playmaker early in the draft with someone like Boyd, Coleman or Dural.  Sign a proven veteran aswell and hope SSS and Perriman both return healthy to add to it.

We don't need depth. We need someone to make a play. Not this garbage that keeps being thrown at the problem. Could've given a 2nd by the deadline for a good receiver. Instead we will spend that second on a middle linebacker that'll never see the field

Who would you have traded a 2nd round pick for at the deadline?  I agree that the receivers we keep throwing out there are not good but we really don't have any other options at this point. A trade would have been senseless

If we bring him back in he might just catch fire. Being released by two teams in a short period of time may put that chip on his shoulder - and brining him in with our "mediocre" receiving corps will give him that big man on campus type vibe and his confidence may skyrocket. I think he was truly caught off guard when we released him, and now he's got something to prove. I just see way more pros that cons, and it wouldn't hurt to add an extra returner who we can throw back there when we're in desperate need for a big play or if Ross goes down with injury.

I loved Jacoby when he was with the Ravens and he made tons of huge plays for us, but I would be against signing him at this point.  He is only 31 but he looks pretty much done in the league and we need to allow our younger guys to get valuable reps.

I am thankful for everything Jones has done for the Ravens, especially during their super bowl run, but we are heading towards a youth movement and Jones shouldn't be a part of that.

In a way, it's almost fitting that he's out so long. It just furthers the notion that Ozzie has terrible luck with receivers

Yeah its just the way the season and Ozzie's history with receivers have gone.  I wish the Ravens would have just placed him on IR already and give him all the time he needs to come back and eliminating all the speculation on when he could return.  I just hope Ozzie signs a good veteran receiver and takes one high in the draft, they have to operate as if Perriman is not even on the team.

This doesn't seem to be the draft to look for a Suggs/Doom replacement, its a weak 3-4 OLB class in my opinion. Unless we trade back considerably I don't see us taking one in the first. I think we'll take an OLB later but I doubt high, just isn't the class for it.

 

I know "ANYTHING BUT A BAMA PLAYER!" but I'm liking what I'm seeing from Jonathan Allen

I don't think we will find a replacement in the top half of the first, but there are quite a few prospects who could help us out at OLB.

Emmanuel Ogbah and Shaq Lawson are two guys who could be really good fits for us if we traded back up into the bottom of the first or they somehow slipped to the top of the second.  Later round prospects could be Carl Lawson, Charles Tapper, Noah Spence or Devonte Fields. 

Not at all.  But id rather see Ross or Butler get increased snaps than an old, slow guy who wont be here next season....

They could just be updating their emergency contact list incase of another injury.  I would like to see Butler be active and given some snaps as well, if we do sign Nicks I would rather him take Browns active spot and sit Marlon Brown down for a few games.

If we don't sign Nicks then use SSS roster spot on someone like Beyer or Perry from the PS or try and bring in a young pass rusher from another team's practice squad.

guys, what do you think about the Striker? can a player like him be productive in the NFL?

I think he is undersized to play OLB for us and I am not sure how he would fare as an ILB.  He will probably be a weakside OLB for a 4-3 team if anything.  If he bulks up and adds weight he could interest us, but probably not until atleast the 4th round, his teammate Charles Tapper is a better fit for us.