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There isn't really a great or even decent free agent veteran Center available so the most likely outcomes for next season are that Zuttah is starting or a rookie is starting at center.

Other than Stanley, Lewis is certainly going to be starting on the O Line next year and was startingto look really good before his injury, Young was a surprise stud this year taking the other starting spot for himself, Judon looked really good in his limited snaps and Dixon will probably either be the Ravens starting Running Back or the short yardage back for years to come. I know you have a narrative so you have to ignore the draft being great but you have to be wearing blinders to not see it was a great draft.

A lot of the cap space the good teams have is going to shrink massively as they sign there players whereas even if the Ravens resign everyone they want after cuts there cap space will likely be about the same. Cap hell is what the Cowboys are dealing with where they don't actually have any capacity space even after cutting Romo so they will likely have to restructure some deals with either Lee Whitten or Free or cut one.

I am in agreement with you on the point that Joe Flacco was the reason the Ravens won the Super Bowl but I cant really go as far as to say, outside of said Super Bowl where SF basically abused Ray Lewis in the 2nd half, that the defense did not play amazing. Holding Indy to 9 was impressive and only giving up 3 touchdowns to a Denver offense that was considered unstoppable and then securing the game winning interception is an effort I can not ignore. Obviously I give major props to the offense for getting those points after the special teams blunders but that was a complete effort by both offense and defense. Against NE they held Tom Brady to 13 points which only elite defenses can really do. Now again thats with the caveat that they did not have Gronk that game but the Ravens offense also got lucky that the pats lost Talib who was playing out of his mind at the time. The Super Bowl though was largely won due to the offense getting a big enough lead that the game couldnt be choked away by the defense which is a ton of credit to Joe.

Lets look at the 4 teams in the championship game. Ben: 23.95M Matt Ryan:23.75M Aaron Rodgers: 19.25M and of course Tom Brady:13.76M So it is not only possible to build a winner with a 20M+ QB on your roster but also if you do not have one of those QBs either on a rookie deal or on his 20M contract then you are NOT going to make it that far. They are that valued because if you do not have a QB you do not have a prayer of really making the Super Bowl. You can make the playoffs, you might even make the divisional round but come championship time you see the elite QBs.

Ill make it simple. The Ravens home games next year are the division opponents as well as Houston, Indy, Detroit, Chicago, and Miami. Those are all pretty winnable games so being 6-2 or 7-1 at home would not surprise me. However the road opponents are the division opponents and then Oakland, Minnesota, Green Bay, Tennessee, and Jacksonville. Other then the Browns who are going to be free wins I could make an argument that the Ravens are underdogs in EVERY one of those other road games. Green Bay is really good, Oakland with there starting QB is in the championship game at least, Minnesota was pretty good despite not having there starting QB and are a good home team, Titans are a team ascending quickly and either them or Houston are likely the class of the division next year. Other then the Browns Jacksonville is probably the weakest road game the Ravens have but they always play the Ravens tight and they have been quietly building a team as well so do not sleep on them either. Basically I see 10 wins being the goal of that schedule with that probably being enough to win the division if the Ravens can pull it off. Edit: In those 9 years you have a LOT of playoff appearances pllayoff WINS AND a Super Bowl so it seems rather silly to be like "well you made it further in the playoffs then the division winner but you didnt actually win the division so we will hold that against you"

I can't tell if you are overestimating the Ravens or greatly underestimating the opponents but it's a tough schedule next year. It's going to be a fight for 10 or 11 wins to take the division.

Brady is the exception and not the rule though. Due to outside circumstances he doesn't need to ask for as much but for every other team the market is what it is and the market for a franchise QB starts at 20M per and only goes up depending on how great he is.

Yes and due to the Ravens schedule the teams the Ravens should beat plus splitting the tough games only really gets you to 10 wins which is why I say 9 or 10 wins is the expectation

Ignoring how you seem to not realize Weddle was one of the top rated safeties in the NFL you are forgetting how cap savings work. If you have to pay a new player to take someone's spot you aren't really saving money and since you would be cutting safeties to sign a corner (and a corner who is basically getting by on reputation alone at this point) so you have to pay money to buy new safeties thus making the cut pointless.

Saying 11-5 is the expectation considering the schedule seems a little more of a goal than the expectation especially considering there is still free agency and the draft with a couple important players possibly leaving. Basically knowing the opponents and what they will likely be you are looking at around 9 or 10 wins as the expectation and to be fighting with Pittsburgh for the division again. Depending on what happens in off season for a lot of teams that could go up or down.

I agree with everything except I want to point out that the defense only gave up 21 to Denver which considering who it was was very impressive. The other 14 points were on 2 kick returnstart which isn't fair to put on the defense

If he is so terrible though then why did he grade so high? I dont know whether he is or not because I am not an OL specialist but it seems like there is a disconnect between the perception of the fans and the perception of the people breaking down tape unless the other side of the coin is that the league only has 8 good centers in which case finding one is likely not an easy task. Basically if he had actually done all the things you said I cant see why he would grade this high unless there is some metric to the grading that I am not understanding.

What is the cause of the disconnect between where Zuttah graded out (9th best Center in football) and how people view his value. If he is as good as his grade said then why is he the issue and if not how did he get that grade?

Why would Flacco agree to a paycut exactly? The team has no leverage on that front so why would he do it.

Firstly Stanley has been a great pick and as many pointed out was graded as the top LT in football the last 6 weeks so he is looking like the LT of the next decade. Also Young and Pierce are part of that class as well getting you at least 5 starters out of this rookie class and we haven't gotten to see yet how our 3rd rounder plays because of an injury and how developmental 2nd rounder looks,after a fullong offseason. So it's easily one of the best if not the best rookie class they have ever had. Let's also note in free agency they got one of the best safeties and there top WR last season so that aspect was clearly successful. If the Ravens come anywhere close to matching that success this offseason then you are looking at a powerhouse next year

Yes they had one of the most successful offseasons and drafts in recent memory. Certainly up there for best in franchise history.

The Ravens offered a crazy high contrast to KO but the problem is there was a team in position to overpay so there was nothing they could do.

I do not believe that is how it works. We wouldn'tbe getting this year's cap number just off the books by trading him because the,majority of it is a signing bonus that we are responsible for regardless of what team he is on. Other people know the exact number better but I believe the Ravens would have less cap space if they traded him not more for weird salary cap reasons which is why if you do that you might as well say "we are going to browns it next year and hope for top 2 picks"

Can you say that a team that put up 20 in a half is a bad offense?

If 3rd round picks were expected to be proud bowl players they would not have lasted until the 3rd. I'm sure it stings but Stanley looks like a pro bowler player and more than worth the pick he got. If the draft were reheld today he does not make it to 6 and that's the best thing one can say about him. To the overall point remember a draft is considered successful if you can get 3 starters out of it and the Ravens already seem to have before the players they are developing get a chance to show what they have so last draft might go down as one of the greatest drafts in this teams history despite what people thought at the time.

Some people just can't admit they were wrong about a player. People were livid with the Stanley pick at the time and I guess some people can not accept they were wrong.

The key words in that quote to me were determination and motivation. If someone has those qualities I would move them up on my board as well because great players are often the ones who simply want it more than the other guy so that's a quality you desperatelyou want.

RB are not really a position worth taking a risk on when if you get a great OL you can make any RB look great AND have a great passing threat to with it. I said earlier though I am not sure about where the top Centers in the draft would end up going but I think its worthwhile to try and position yourself to get either the top or one of the top Centers just to be able to cement the offensive line as elite for years to come.

A WR, or any pick on offense that isn't center, in any of the first 3 rounds feels like a waste when, even knowing best player available is the best way to draft, they just are not needed. The Ravens will likely add a veteran WR in free agency so there just won't be room with Wallace and Perriman being the other 2 main WRs. Basically outside of Center they just need to hunt for defensive playmakers (can always use those) which makes me wonder where will the top centers in the draft likely be going so this pressing need can be knocked out as early as possible?