bigcatfrank1

I hope this doesn't mean Ravens are not drafting a CB in the first round.

I don't see Carr as a starter, I agree if a top corner is available then take him.

I think Young and Smith should start, Carr can platoon. Add one great pick and that is very improved backfield.

Plus we should get a safety in the Draft too, 2 deep cover guys is not enough.
Levine is a situational player, a good one , but still a special teams and situational player.

Get a great Corner, a Center, a Safety, a RB, a WR, and a Pass Rusher cause this team needs young good players.

Excellent move....we now have 3 very solid corners on Carr, Young and Smith as well as 2 very good safeties in Weddle and Jefferson. Levine also gives them some depth.
If Kafusi, Z. Smith and Correia step up this year this could be an awesome defense. We need a good pass rusher to go along with Judon since IMO Sugg's is over the hill and will probably retire. We also need a replacement for Orr if Correia can't handle it. Maybe McClellan?? Our D line is solid with Williams , Jernigan Urban and Pierce. Some quality depth would be nice.
The offense will be fine if we sign Mangold or someone like him and get an adequate replacement for Wagner. Hurschel at center makes me nervous. Alex Mack should take over at left guard. I guess Hurst or Jensen can handle R tackle. Sorry to see Ducasse and Wagner leave though.
Maxx Williams needs to step up this year and be the guy we thought we drafted. Boyle and Pitta will be ok if he doesn't.
I like the recievers we have,,,,Waller, Perriman, Wallace and Moore. Hopefully Aiken stays. Getting Bolden back wouldn't hurt. I love Dixon and West. Woodhead should provide some versatility.
This team is starting to take shape and looks pretty good. Great improvements in the secondary make us better already. We should be able to get some decent OL, LBs, and corners in all of the 1st 4 rounds. The big pieces are in place so we really need some depth.
I bet Ozzie takes the best middle LB available in the first round and picks up the best offensive lineman with his second pick. After that he will go for a McPhee-type pass rusher in the third. All of these should be available to him and would give the Ravens a good shot to contend next year.

Elflein Center at #48 second round. Leaving the #16 first pick to BPA for anyone of the WR, RB, Edge, LB, CB that may be available. Then 3- 6 they can focus on strengthening depth.

OK think there are some good options that will work; Here is one scenario;

FA- sign Latavius Murray RB for 5-6mil Yr.
FA- Sign Zack Brown ILB for 3.2-4.2 Mil. yr.

do not sign Claiborne or Mangold-
Best chance for a CB at pick #1, ([ profanity deleted]- WR or Pass Rush)
#48 get Pat Elflein- Center -with the second pick.
This leaves 5 picks to strengthen Pass Rush, OL WR.

wild cards - a high rated Edge or one of the 2 WR's Williams or Davis are available at 16, but if not
get a WR and pass rush deeper in the draft and possibly pick up a cap casualty

The best shot at a RB at #16 is Dalvin Cook. This of course changes the FA situation at RB which I would not risk.

Well, Elflein at #2 looks really good now!

since the top 8 are probably set, from 8th pick down,-
I think the Ravens will be looking at one of these players for #16-
M. Lattimore CB, Rueben Foster LB, Barrnett DE, MIke Williams WR,
Cory Davis WR, T White CB, Charles Harris DE , Dalvin Cook RB,

however battling - one the following- Teez Tabor CB, Gareon Conley CB, Adoree Jackson CB, T Charlton DE.

John Ross, J Peppers and Watt will fall too far down on the Raven's board.

  1 hour ago, budman said:

Maybe not. Don't be surprised if Ozzie decides to go with Urshel to start the season. Not saying it's a great idea but releasing Zuttah and not being in the Mangold dealings as of yet, says that they may use in house or wait to see who shakes out when cuts start .

So, our current O line would be Stanley, Jensen, Urschel, Yanda and Lewis - with Hurst and 3 potted plants as backups. 

Ozzie better be up to something. 

I think more like; Stanley- Lewis- Elflein (rookie draft)- Yanda - Hurst, Use Urshel, Jensen and Skura as a back up plan to Center and Guard , Nemobot and DeOndre back up to Tackles. Still have to look hard at
Pughsley and Broxton.

Time to get a top Center from the Draft. Elflien or Pocic are both really good Centers.
Sandwiched between possibly the 2 best guards in the NFL will be the key.

  On 3/13/2017 at 6:52 PM, bigcatfrank1 said:

example, some on this site have said to take the TE at #16. I absolutely disagree, unless 48 players are taken before #16.

A TE at #16 is certainly in play, though I wouldn't bet that we would go that route, because there's really only one that we would be interested there.

We need playmakers. TEs who can catch passes and create mismatches would certainly qualify as a playmaker.

I know fans like to pretend like we have a lot of good players or quality depth at TE, but the fact that we keep referencing how much depth we have is kind of the point. We have a lot of depth and nobody who can separate themselves from the pack and force significant playing time and create problems for the defenses.

We've got guys that can block, and we've got guys that can catch. We don't have anybody who can do either.

SO you are saying that Howard is in play as the top 16th player on the Ravens board. Just say it Mac. no reason to beat around the bush.

I dont quite agree, there will be plenty of players available to the Ravens at #16 that will be better suited for the team at this point. I predict it will be the Ravens choice at #16 to pick a player who fills immediate need, style of play, dominance and can fill the starter level at the position asap.

Beside the fact that the Ravens TE depth is solid, there is no way to know if a Rookie can come in and compete at the starting level we agree on that.

With the retention of Pitta or Watson, even Gilmore, Waller or Boyle it would be doubtful to take over a starting position. These guys are Pro athletes, I think you give them less credit than deserved.

Again, its obvious that you disagree with me that the Ravens will not look at certain positions with the #1 pick. I guess we are about to find out this draft if that is so. There are many rated players to be chosen at 16, yes it will depend on the first 15.

However moving all players in and out the Ravens will pick past Howard for a CB, Edge, LB, WR, OL.
I say there are 10 players above him, maybe more at "clock time"

Have him sign and retire a Raven. I just don't see AQ getting done what is needed.

The issue will be if The Ravens need to sub for Wallace or Perriman. At this point they have only Moore and Campinaro.
I think a speedy, big, young receiver is where they will get the most for their money and roster space.

I believe with the signing of Woodhead and Pitta, as well as an athletic Waller who looked better last year, the Ravens have a good core of middle of the field receivers now.

unfortunately, AQ might just be a playmaker that they can do without this year just because of roster space. They may throw him a bone, however it will not be much money and why would he risk injury for so little return.

  5 hours ago, bigcatfrank1 said:

Get Latavius Murray RB. Without an improved, hard nosed, top running game the Ravens could do the same thing as last year, drop the big games. They need to do everything they can, I think Murray can help immensely, and immediately.

All other FA positions can follow if possible, LB, CB, RT and C. But they are not as critical in my opinion to get a #1RB. Where is the biggest weakness?
lets look at the options:

Corners- Smith (1), Young, Canady- CB ?
O Linebackers - Suggs (1), Za Smith, Judon, Beyer - OLB ?
I Linebackers - Mosely (1), McClellan, Correa, Onwausor - ILB?
(ntm other LB -Locombo, Lewis and Luckett)
O line-
Yanda (1) Stanley (1) Lewis (1) Zuttah, Jensen, Nembot, Urschel- Tackle/G/ C ?
(ntm other OL- Skura, Pughsley, Broxton, DeOndre

or West, Allen, Woodhead ( who is more of a receiver option back) - RB?

Dixon's suspension makes it that much more of an absolute necessity!

There are wonderful prospects in the draft that can most possibly strengthen spots. Obviously we need the top 2 picks to start, hopefully the top 4. However, RB will be the hardest to get the largest return from. Expecting 1000yds from a rookie is a ridiculous expectation and honestly that is what the Ravens need more than anything on this team. Considering that the running game makes up more than 25% of the total game play of the entire team, this position, the load, Its effect on the passing game, yardage, first downs, field position, especially for the Ravens, is critical, critical, critical !

Oz, Solve the Running Game, you solve a huge situation and still leaves many possibilities for the remaining positions. Get Murray, I've got a good feeling about him and the Ravens.

I like Z. Brown too, but only after solving the Running Game.
ps. Take a look at Cordelle Patterson WR, K returner, option back

Murray has average 4.0 YPC (not that impressive) behind a dominant offensive line for a few years now.

That's called a MAJOR red flag. He won't be a Raven.

stats make it easy for conjecture, what you didn't address is the problem in the Ravens running game.

At least I proposed my opinion on a decent solution. I will stick to it.
What would you do?

However I will add that there are a few RB's in FA that could help the Ravens in the same fashion.

example, some on this site have said to take the TE at #16. I absolutely disagree, unless 48 players are taken before #16.

aka as sarcasm.

example, some on this site have said to take the TE at #16. I absolutely disagree, unless 48 players are taken before #16.

  4 hours ago, bigcatfrank1 said:

  On 3/10/2017 at 8:47 AM, rmcjacket23 said:

  On 3/10/2017 at 0:35 AM, YorkCountyRaven said:

  On 3/9/2017 at 4:43 PM, rmcjacket23 said:

You're still missing the point entirely.

1. Nobody is saying that signing a FA corner takes away from drafting 1 or 5 of them. Still have no idea why you keep coming back to this.

2. You shouldn't be looking at what Wright got last year, because that's when he was coming off a good season. He was actually pretty good, or at least, above average, in 2015. That's why we paid him like that last season. He was signed for peanuts during the 2015 season after he was cut by the 49ers. That's what the market is for average corners. Its not nearly as robust as you think it is.

3. Sure, Webb, Jimmy and Young are good picks. That's 3 respectable corners in, what, 8 years? There's also Chykie Brown, Asa Jackson, Marc Anthony, and Tray Walker (unlucky on this one). So for every 1 corner we drafted that panned out, another one didn't.

You could argue that's due to where they were drafted, but no team can commit a day 1 or 2 pick on a corner every year and be successful. Heck, the guy you are arguing against us signing was a very high draft pick who was viewed as a "can't miss" prospect by many. There's busts just littered among day 1 picks in recent years at the corner position.

Again, goes back to my point... tons of risk.

If you think drafting corners is the way to go, I agree, and signing one won't change that. It MAY mean that you draft somebody else instead of a 6th round corner who's extremely unlikely to pan out, because lets face, we aren't using two top 3 round picks on a corner. Maybe one of those goes to a corner, but we aren't going to pull a Steelers and draft like 4 corners in the first 3 rounds like they've done recently. That hasn't panned out well for them thus far either.

4. Nobody is even remotely suggesting that we aren't trying to build through the draft. What you're neglecting is that our drafts haven't been very good lately (main reason why we are in this mess) and that a team that has like 10 positions they want to upgrade can't possibly do it in a draft, or two drafts, or maybe even three drafts. Half of your draft class is going to be irrelevant when its all said and done... that's just how the NFL works.

A lot of what people are missing is if we do go ahead and pursue Claiborne that allows us to use our 1st round pick on a pass rusher or even inside linebacker. Reuben Foster will be sitting there to take over Orr or a pass rusher that could take over Doom. If we don't pursue Claiborne the obvious first round pick should be corner, as you stated tavon is impressive but is better suited for the nickel and Jimmy is a great number 1 but he always gets hurt. In my opinion this would be a good signing.

No, it doesn't change anything. Again, signing a guy like Claiborne doesn't shift your priorities in any way.

We're going to take the highest rated player on our board in the 1st round. It doesn't matter what position it is. Could be pass rusher, MLB, Corner, Safety, Offensive Line, TE, WR or even RB based on what I see.

Signing Claiborne doesn't change that, because we aren't going to just start saying "we must have a corner, so we must take one here". That's how you end up drafting that doesn't turn into a good football player.

Don't agree, you make it seem like there cannot be players, of similar level in competing positions, that are absolutely more important to add to a given roster. for that matter the Claibourne signing, if it happens, absolutely would have an effect on "priority". What it would not change is the choice of players who will be available for the Ravens at #16.

Why do teams trade positions if they didn't want to improve an immediate need? (of course as Romo shows still can bite you I=A)
Most teams don't trade up for the #1 QB or RB, why because they have solid filled positions. Not because he is the most talented player in the Draft, its a position decision.
It happens all the time.
So the 2 go hand in hand, one plus the other makes the best choice for the team. It s the most logical and the most historically.

Also you say on "our board" so " position need" plays into that decision.

Now sure one can argue which position is of the larger need, this seems to be the stronger of the argument that the post is referring to.

All being said, no one expects the Ravens or any team to take a 2nd round prospect over a 1st round prospect just because of position. Not that it probably hasn't happened, I would say is a rarity

1. Don't see how signing somebody like Claiborne changes priority in the slightest. If you signed like a Stephon Gilmore to a monster contract, THEN it would change priority.

Signing a low level FA to a small contract with little or no guaranteed money (which is what we would do) doesn't change priority in the slightest, because its essentially a year to year contract.

Ozzie has told the public this probably thousands of times... the purpose of FA for the Ravens is to address certain positional needs so that the Ravens don't have to take a positional need in the 1st round. They use FA to make sure that the BPA strategy is still available in the draft.

2. When I reference "our board", it means the FO will design our draft board in a way that it eliminates certain positions for consideration from being the 1st round pick. For example, they almost certainly won't have a QB with a first round grade, because we don't want or need to address QB at that spot. Our rankings and ratings are put together based on a draft board we assemble to reflect positions we are interested in.

In some years, that draft board probably narrows down to maybe 3-4 positions. This year, almost every position would be a viable choice, because we have so many positions we can upgrade.

The entire purpose of FA for the Ravens (which is somewhat different than other teams) is that they don't have to assign a priority to certain positions per se in the first round of the draft. FA allows them to pick anybody at mostly any spot.

I will also point out that not every team has the same strategy obviously, and different franchises view FA and the draft differently than others. There are franchises who view it quite the opposite as the Ravens, wherein they use the draft as a place to attempt to upgrade need positions.

I think you just validated both of my points, I agree with most of your explanation.

  4 hours ago, bigcatfrank1 said:

Don't agree, you make it seem like there cannot be players, of similar level in competing positions, that are absolutely more important to add to a given roster. for that matter the Claibourne signing, if it happens, absolutely would have an effect on "priority". What it would not change is the choice of players who will be available for the Ravens at #16.

Why do teams trade positions if they didn't want to improve an immediate need? (of course as Romo shows still can bite you I=A)
Most teams don't trade up for the #1 QB or RB, why because they have solid filled positions. Not because he is the most talented player in the Draft, its a position decision.
It happens all the time.
So the 2 go hand in hand, one plus the other makes the best choice for the team. It s the most logical and the most historically.

Also you say on "our board" so " position need" plays into that decision.

Now sure one can argue which position is of the larger need, this seems to be the stronger of the argument that the post is referring to.

All being said, no one expects the Ravens or any team to take a 2nd round prospect over a 1st round prospect just because of position. Not that it probably hasn't happened, I would say is a rarity

When it comes to the draft the ravens will always go with the guy highest on their board.  Which is the BPA.  If they think they can trade back and still get that player then that is when they will make a trade. Whoever that guy is they are going to go with regardless of what position which is what he is saying.  The board is already set up so it doesn't matter what position the player is if he is the BPA then he is getting selected.  I don't think he is arguing with how the board is put together he is simply saying come draft time it doesn't matter because that whole hypothetical situation of these players are close, but this position is more of a priority. 

 

For example say this is our board and we are on the clock: (think of this list as how we are viewing actual players in the draft and not like they are the actual players)

1. Ed Reed 2. Todd Heap 3. Ben Grubbs 4. Anquan Boldin

Now we need a Guard since Alex Lewis might be kicking out to tackle and this Ben Grubbs type of guard would be a great addition. We also need a receiver and this Boldin type of player would really benefit Joe.   We don't really need a free safety, but we aren't going to pass on this Ed Reed type of player when we think he is the best player on the board.

huh?

Basically, you said two things. Which is what I am saying.

If you read McJackets response it didnt say that. He said and I quote that " it doesn't shift priorities in anyway"

also says "we are going to take the highest rated player on our board"

my points have't changed,
first if we acquire a CB in free agency it could and very probably will influence which player is selected in round #1. Additionally It will depend on ALL the players available at that time, rating (board), skill and position.

Not just the highest rated player!
If you were to poll Coach, Oz, Eric, owner, and all the coaches I am positive that you would get 4-5 BPA opinions at each pick from 1-200.

So yes BPA, rating, skill, position, match to the team philosophy, player personality, and consensus will all be factors

  On ‎3‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 0:35 AM, YorkCountyRaven said:

  On ‎3‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 4:43 PM, rmcjacket23 said:

You're still missing the point entirely.

1. Nobody is saying that signing a FA corner takes away from drafting 1 or 5 of them. Still have no idea why you keep coming back to this.

2. You shouldn't be looking at what Wright got last year, because that's when he was coming off a good season. He was actually pretty good, or at least, above average, in 2015. That's why we paid him like that last season. He was signed for peanuts during the 2015 season after he was cut by the 49ers. That's what the market is for average corners. Its not nearly as robust as you think it is.

3. Sure, Webb, Jimmy and Young are good picks. That's 3 respectable corners in, what, 8 years? There's also Chykie Brown, Asa Jackson, Marc Anthony, and Tray Walker (unlucky on this one). So for every 1 corner we drafted that panned out, another one didn't.

You could argue that's due to where they were drafted, but no team can commit a day 1 or 2 pick on a corner every year and be successful. Heck, the guy you are arguing against us signing was a very high draft pick who was viewed as a "can't miss" prospect by many. There's busts just littered among day 1 picks in recent years at the corner position.

Again, goes back to my point... tons of risk.

If you think drafting corners is the way to go, I agree, and signing one won't change that. It MAY mean that you draft somebody else instead of a 6th round corner who's extremely unlikely to pan out, because lets face, we aren't using two top 3 round picks on a corner. Maybe one of those goes to a corner, but we aren't going to pull a Steelers and draft like 4 corners in the first 3 rounds like they've done recently. That hasn't panned out well for them thus far either.

4. Nobody is even remotely suggesting that we aren't trying to build through the draft. What you're neglecting is that our drafts haven't been very good lately (main reason why we are in this mess) and that a team that has like 10 positions they want to upgrade can't possibly do it in a draft, or two drafts, or maybe even three drafts. Half of your draft class is going to be irrelevant when its all said and done... that's just how the NFL works.

A lot of what people are missing is if we do go ahead and pursue Claiborne that allows us to use our 1st round pick on a pass rusher or even inside linebacker. Reuben Foster will be sitting there to take over Orr or a pass rusher that could take over Doom. If we don't pursue Claiborne the obvious first round pick should be corner, as you stated tavon is impressive but is better suited for the nickel and Jimmy is a great number 1 but he always gets hurt. In my opinion this would be a good signing.

No, it doesn't change anything. Again, signing a guy like Claiborne doesn't shift your priorities in any way.

We're going to take the highest rated player on our board in the 1st round. It doesn't matter what position it is. Could be pass rusher, MLB, Corner, Safety, Offensive Line, TE, WR or even RB based on what I see.

Signing Claiborne doesn't change that, because we aren't going to just start saying "we must have a corner, so we must take one here". That's how you end up drafting that doesn't turn into a good football player.

Don't agree, you make it seem like there cannot be players, of similar level in competing positions, that are absolutely more important to add to a given roster. for that matter the Claibourne signing, if it happens, absolutely would have an effect on "priority". What it would not change is the choice of players who will be available for the Ravens at #16.

Why do teams trade positions if they didn't want to improve an immediate need? (of course as Romo shows still can bite you I=A)
Most teams don't trade up for the #1 QB or RB, why because they have solid filled positions. Not because he is the most talented player in the Draft, its a position decision.
It happens all the time.
So the 2 go hand in hand, one plus the other makes the best choice for the team. It s the most logical and the most historically.

Also you say on "our board" so " position need" plays into that decision.

Now sure one can argue which position is of the larger need, this seems to be the stronger of the argument that the post is referring to.

All being said, no one expects the Ravens or any team to take a 2nd round prospect over a 1st round prospect just because of position. Not that it probably hasn't happened, I would say is a rarity

Get Latavius Murray RB. Without an improved, hard nosed, top running game the Ravens could do the same thing as last year, drop the big games. They need to do everything they can, I think Murray can help immensely, and immediately.

All other FA positions can follow if possible, LB, CB, RT and C. But they are not as critical in my opinion to get a #1RB. Where is the biggest weakness?
lets look at the options:

Corners- Smith (1), Young, Canady- CB ?
O Linebackers - Suggs (1), Za Smith, Judon, Beyer - OLB ?
I Linebackers - Mosely (1), McClellan, Correa, Onwausor - ILB?
(ntm other LB -Locombo, Lewis and Luckett)
O line-
Yanda (1) Stanley (1) Lewis (1) Zuttah, Jensen, Nembot, Urschel- Tackle/G/ C ?
(ntm other OL- Skura, Pughsley, Broxton, DeOndre

or West, Allen, Woodhead ( who is more of a receiver option back) - RB?

Dixon's suspension makes it that much more of an absolute necessity!

There are wonderful prospects in the draft that can most possibly strengthen spots. Obviously we need the top 2 picks to start, hopefully the top 4. However, RB will be the hardest to get the largest return from. Expecting 1000yds from a rookie is a ridiculous expectation and honestly that is what the Ravens need more than anything on this team. Considering that the running game makes up more than 25% of the total game play of the entire team, this position, the load, Its effect on the passing game, yardage, first downs, field position, especially for the Ravens, is critical, critical, critical !

Oz, Solve the Running Game, you solve a huge situation and still leaves many possibilities for the remaining positions. Get Murray, I've got a good feeling about him and the Ravens.

I like Z. Brown too, but only after solving the Running Game.
ps. Take a look at Cordelle Patterson WR, K returner, option back

  On 3/10/2017 at 3:46 PM, Ravenous_Ravens said:

Bold Prediction:

Best Defensive line 2017.
Top 5 Defense 2017.

That's nowhere near bold. Here's a bold one. We draft Mike Williams in the first round and he catches fire and makes Flacco look really good.

Even bolder we draft Williams WR and sign RB free agent L. Murray and they both get 1500 yds

Oz get us a 1000yd ground game running back!
A Downhill runner who can sustain punishment, who can achieve first downs with a large percentage of success and who can carry the ball in consecutive running plays causing deception is what the Ravens need very badly. The benefit that this player brings is critical to the Ravens style of football and winning success against high level offenses.
A defense that hands the ball back to its offense -only benefits- if its offense can burn clock, gain field position and score mountable points (aka Tucker) both TD and FG; otherwise an opposing, strong, offense will triumph in most games.

This was evident last year, I just cannot see ignoring it again. Woodhead hopefully is a good addition however at 32 years old is NOT a #1 downhill Running Back.
To hand this responsibility to West, I believe, could again make for a difficult season when facing the "top tier" teams with strong offenses and better run defenses.
While Dixon has shot himself in the foot, he should bounce back, though he may be more of a Woodhead type RB than a Jamal Lewis/Ray RIce type who proved to bring the winning solution to the offense.

All these moves need to be based on beating New England. NE just add some big time players and got better than last year.

so you say, NE is a balanced team so "big time players" may or may not mean "better". Just like all NFL teams they will lose some players as well.
The Ravens have one of the best records in the NFL vs New England.
They have lost to Indy, Cinci and Pitsburgh in the playoffs, these have cost them much more severely.

Even though i like Williams as a player, i do not think he was worth investing 10 mil+ into. I would rather find a slightly less "marquee" name, and pay them well but not break the bank. They are not getting a return on investment on any of these high dollar contracts. Ngata, Suggs, Dumervile, Webb, Pitta, J Smith. None of them have turned into better players than they were. Although Suggs and Doom have had some strong years here and there in their careers, I find both of them disappearing for games or chunks of entire seasons with little impact. J Smith plays about 3 strong games a season. And Flacco has been terrible. To me, this team is a hot mess with no chemistry or cohesiveness.

In a market where the franchise tag for DT/NT is 14.2 million, retaining the #1 FA overall in the NFL at just over 10 million a year is a great bargain. Brandon probably could have gotten more however I believe he chose to stay a Raven. Good for both parties.

Also the contract is 27 million guaranteed which is an advantage for the Ravens to restructure within the 5 year term.

As for Suggs, Pitta (last year) and Doom they did have better years in the second contract round.
Joe Flacco played out his entire rookie contract ( 5 years) deservedly he earned the "big contract" the Ravens made huge money off the back of a rookie contract and they knew it, sometimes contracts are rewards though many in the industry would disagree. QB is the unique position that is often rewarded by contract.

The jury is still out on Flacco and Smith. If the Ravens win another Super Bowl with Joe, his contract makes the entire payday worth it to the Ravens organization. If not they will need 3 years of playoffs to recoup some of the money, considering the team bonuses, that is the risk with a big QB contract. Look at many that haven't paid off and there are very many that didn't. Joe carries much of the weight.

I just cannot agree that signing Williams is at a all big financial problem at this time in his career or an overpayment for his caliber of player for the Ravens.

Jefferson/Weddle look to be as good or better than what we had with Webb and Weddle at Safety. So its an upgrade looking at it now.

The CB position will be the key to keeping the Safeties on track. If they have to worry about a weak side like last year it certainly will handcuff them.

Stay with the plan and get a strong, young CB at #1 and hopefully Smith stays healthy. Young looked great last year and I expect big things from him this year.
He will be best in the nickle but he can play the dominant corner position. Picking up some additional veteran support wont hurt if a bargain presents itself later in Pre-season. Undrafted FA , cap casualties and rookies from last year are all possibilities.

Keeping Levine also strengthens nickle and dime packages, he is an underestimated, and certainly earned his way back on the team.

basically its all about
Corner, Corner, Corner!

I hope he works out but I am not crazy about the signing. I think it sends the wrong message to the young guys on the team. The coaches and front office giving up on Buck Allen, and taking snaps away from Dixon and West. All of them are still very young players for a 32 yr old that has been injured more often than playing in the last 3 years.

Are those young guys so bad that you reach out. What does that say about their own confidence to draft and develop ?

Dixon took snaps away from himself! Allen has had problems its something the coaches are seeing, West had his best year of his career, and the Ravens failed in the running catagory. I cannot see how you could say that the Ravens are giving up on them. Sometimes young players need time to develop, veteran playmakers and ball handlers are the best that they can learn from.
The Ravens best years are when they have a 1000 yd RB, downhill style runner who achieves first downs on a regular basis. None of the 3 young guys have acheived that.
Get Latavius Murray, add him to West, Dixon and Woodhead. Then go win a Super bowl...none of them will be complaining! except Allen who could stay on the PS or Pup

  2 hours ago, bigcatfrank1 said:

unfortunately- Pitt #1, NE #2, Denver #3 and Ravens #4 against each other. Ravens were definitely in the lower 16 in the league considering 4 really good and 4 plain lousy.

bigfrank my man, you have to know at how the players picked by the other teams have fared for the last 4 years to make an informed decision. And I don't think there is any logical reasoning that would put Denvers class in front of ours.  The only guy that played for them in that class was Williams and he can't hold B Wills jock strap.  And I think you could even argue that our class was better than NE.  Clearly Collins was a good pick.  Logan Ryans first year starting was last year, but he has been a solid contributor.  Harmon was a back up in the four years in NE, but a contributor nonetheless.  But the other guys were misses. Clearly there isn't an argument to be made that our class was better than Pitts, and for the most part that because of Bell.  If Bell was the only guy in that rookie class that made the 53 in 2013, Pitt would have still had a better draft than ours.  But as I said, I think you could make the argument that our class comes in at 2 or 3 on that list.  But Denver comes in at 4 without question.

maybe you are right, I dont know about all the Denver players. Just looking at the numbers I think the Ravens did ok, the only issue is The Ravens didnt make any playoffs and all 3 of the other teams did.

  2 hours ago, The Beak said:

Don't underestimate B Will, he is a difference maker , not just a gap filler, there is a HUGE difference between Brandon and Pierce, we are lucky to retain B-Will....

Glad we have B-Will, but at nearly $11M/yr, that could've covered a FA CB and ILB or OL.

Pierce is actually more explosive and powerful in the middle than B-Will.

not great ones. Maybe potential. B Williams is a great player.

  1 hour ago, EdTheMythicalOne said:

This is going to be a long post and I apologize in advance for it because there is just so much I disagree with and have to adjust for sake of maximum correctness. I honestly don't know how a writer for the Ravens site can get away with making certain cases that appear in this article without presenting the whole truth. So please allow this novice to take the pro to some school and I will let the fans/posters here figure out who makes a better point. Maybe I should be writing for this site?

First of all, the main premise of this article is to not judge players too soon or to use one piece of evaluation to measure the success rate of a pick. Then the author goes on to use SALARY as the main measuring stick to prove that these players are something special. How many horrible QB's are getting paid crazy money these days? Teams have the ability to throw around crazy money in the days of the increasing salary cap. Poor teams will overpay for marginal talent all the time. Why not use some actual factual data to dictate who was or was not a good player.

Secondly, I think any time a team completely whiffs hard on their top two draft picks that draft is considered a bust. These are supposed to be players that are cornerstones of your franchise for years to come and both Elam and Brown contributed almost nothing in terms of on field production. The Ravens spent a lot of money and other resources in trying to correct those draft mistakes.

Third, the author brings up the lack of playing time for Brandon Williams, Kyle Juszcyck, and the release of John Simon. What the author fails to mention is that in Williams' rookie season he had a certain superstar Haloti Ngata and another second round bust pick in Terrence Cody ahead of him on the depth chart. At DE he had Arthur Jones and Chris Canty ahead of him. Where in that line up do you expect him to get snaps. His snaps came subbing in for Ngata after Cody got hurt again.

In Juice's case he had a superb lead blocker in Vonte Leach in front of him. Can you blame the Ravens for starting Leach over Juice? Juice was also a 4th round pick which is extremely high for a fullback. Most of them aren't even drafted anymore. Then there is John Simon who was behind Elvis Dumervil, Terrell Suggs, and Courtney Upshaw (another high pick bust in my opinion). He just was a numbers game cut plain and simple. Nobody was judging him at the time or labeling him as a bust.

Rick Wagner was a good tackle and I don't think he's worth the insane amount of money he's getting paid. It is just a matter of the current market dynamics. Lack of talent on the market and tons of cap space for some teams. Do you think Rick Wagner is the best RT in the game of football? I certaintly don't but he's getting paid like it.

Last year's draft won't be considered a bust because Ronnie Stanley appears to be the real deal. Any time you can grab a franchise LT in the draft you have to be tickled pink. Our second and third round picks are a bit questionable because Correa did almost nothing coming out of a small school and then Kaufusi is an old rookie who got hurt in his first season and couldn't play. Willie Henry and Carl Davis also couldn't contribute last season due to injuries so nobody is really judging them just yet.

The issue in Correa's case is all the hype he was getting from this site in training camp and in the pre season. He was making headlines more for his after play scuffles than his actual production. To have him wipe out as an edge rusher and then struggle in his conversion to MLB is obviously going to draw some ire, but this season will be his redemption phase. Nobody has closed the door on him yet.

How would you rank these 2013 draft classes

Pitt
1 Jarvis Jones
2 Leveon Bell
3 Markus Wheaton
4 Shamarko Thomas
4 Landry Jones
5 Terry Hawthrone
6 Justin Brown
6 Vince Williams
7 Nick Williams

Denver
1 Sylvester Williams
2 Montee Ball
3 Kayvon Webster
5 Quanterus Smith
6 Vinston Painter
7 Zac Dysert

New England
2 Jaimie Collins
2 Aaron Dobson
3 Logan Ryan
3 Duron Harmon
4 Josh Boyce
7 Michael Buchanan
7 Steve Beauhrnais

Ravens
1 Elam
2 Brown
3 B. Will
4 Simon
4 Juice
5 R Wagner
6 Kapron Lewis Moore
7 Aaron Mellette
7 Marc Anthony

unfortunately- Pitt #1, NE #2, Denver #3 and Ravens #4 against each other. Ravens were definitely in the lower 16 in the league considering 4 really good and 4 plain lousy.

Correa, Davis and Henry all need to step it up!!