EdTheMythicalOne

I am not too upset that we didn't get Fluker or Kendal Wright. These guys are fringe talents and we need something more than that. There really isn't much out there for Center other than Nick Mangold and he's still out there. The veteran cuts haven't happened yet so it remains to be seen just what the Ravens (Ozzie) can pick up on that market. We usually do get one or two decent players this way.

I don't want to derail the conversation but I don't like false comments being attributed to me. First of all @RayRayRaven, there is no speculation about Ed Reed's time being up and him being a shell of himself when he went to Houston, got cut, and then was signed on by the Jets. There is no speculation about Bernard Pollard not doing much of anything after he left Baltimore. At the time those guys got released/allowed to walk via free agency it was their time to go. Ed Reed became a liability in coverage because he lost the speed he did once have. He didn't have the ability to recover like he used to when he goofed. He gambled far too often and left plays wide open because he free lanced instead of going with the play called. If you are unaware of this or refuse to believe what actually transpired then please do not post about this subject again because it just means that your are trolling. Pollard had one more decent season after leaving Baltimore and then in his next season his career ended due to injury. I never affirmed the statement that Joey made about guys losing fat and turning it into muscle and he and I also disagree about Kaufusi. I don't think he's anything special, but what do I really know? I haven't seen him in the pros yet and the only thing I stated was that a high motor and persistence can sometimes lead to dividends and some times make up for a lack of skill and talent. Ultimately the best players have the talent and skills along with the nonstop motors. I am not going to write Kaufusi off completely, but I am in no way expecting him to be a beast.

I'm with you on that. Right now we are depending on an aging and coming off of injuries again Suggs, the inconsistent Jernigan in the middle, Michael Pierce repeating and improving on his play from last year from the middle, then lord knows who at the other OLB spot and lord knows who at Guys' spot. Not that Guy was a pass rushing threat. Matt Judon showed some promise but who knows if that is legit. Z. Smith also showed some promise in 2015 and then disappeared in 2016 when he had more of a chance to play. The team did better with the turnovers last season and that is something that needs to continue in 2017. If people don't think we need to draft another edge rusher as the roster currently stands then they need to think again. Not only do we need a start to replace the loss of Dumervil, but we also need the replacement for Suggs who won't play forever.

The Browns quite simply had money to burn and they have to spend the required minimum money. They essentially bought a 2nd round draft pick that could either turn into a pick or a piece of a negotiation for another trade. I agree that it was ultimately stupid to trade for a guy and a pick and give up tons of money for a player you never intend to keep and essentially broadcast to the world that they will cut if they can't trade him by a certain date. Who in the world would trade for him when they know he'll get cut? It is just like the Tony Romo situation. The Cowboys want to trade him. Ain't no way some team will be stupid enough to offer them anything for Romo when they know they can sign him to a free agent deal when he gets cut....unless Romo wants to play for the Browns I seriously think the Texans made out on this deal. They got an albatross contract off of their books for a second round pick a year from now. Now they have money freed up to make some moves.

And there are no filters there to weed out the people that are simply just trying to start nonsense. I am all about freedom of expression but if your intent is to simply disrupt the conversation and your posts consist of nothing but "So-and-so sucks," then what conversation are you really going to have?

He did do well in coverage at the SS position with Webb as his tandem mate who is probably better at coverage overall than either Weddle or Jefferson. I am not really worried that they will both be horrible. I think they both will be pretty good. It is really all about schemes. Of course if our front 7 can get more pressure the coverage issue won't be a big of a concern.

True, but only by so much. Pitta restructured but we have no idea for how much. Watson could be cut but that doesn't really free up a lot of space. Zuttah I think would get us a couple mil? The rest of the guys are mainly back up players that aren't earning very much. Not sure exactly what our cap number is now but I don't see how we could fit the signing of Zach Brown, Connor Barwin, Morris Claiborne, and Nick Mangold...and then still have money left over for the draft. I just don't think there's enough money left in cuts to make.

Mhm, he was signed as an afterthought by the Bills on a one year deal for relatively cheap. He wasn't supposed to be the starter but Ragland went down with an injury. His stock certainly has risen but by how much? Does one break out year grant you a big payday?

Going all Wacky for Zachy. I like his numbers as well and could be a good duo with Mosley but I can't see how we can fit all of these guys on the team and under cap while leaving enough space to sign our draft picks.

Hope you guys are right, but I won't be holding my breath. If he takes off and becomes a beast in the NFL you all can be sure to tell me so, but you'll have to do it on another board unfortunately as this one might be gone by the time that happens. What tape have you all actually watched though? His scouting highlights tape or have you actually watched him for every down of every game he's played? I doubt very sincerely it is the latter. Anyone can look good on highlights. What you really need to do is to see him on a down by down basis. Have you seen all the plays where he gets washed out by better/bigger/stronger talent?

Clearly you haven't watched the Gotham series. It is absolutely ridiculous. The premise of that show is to tell the story of the city before the arrival of Batman. He's just a pre-teen/teenager in this series. Jim Gordon wasn't even a commissioner yet. He's got no super powers yet he is a combination of the smartest man in the room and the ultimate action star who can beat up anybody and get himself out of any jam. When he really needs to get something done he calls on his good buddy Alfred the Butler who is ex-special forces for the British Royalty and he's just as unstoppable as Gordon is. Of course I know how cool Batman is in the actual series and such that he is actually a part of.

Why yes, yes it was.

I agree about Williams in that system. He clearly was not a fit where they tried to play him. He did not do well at all in Miami at all and he only made 5 starts. They were willing to eat a lot of dead money to cut him. Thing is I think he lost his passion for the game. If you can get him motivated again I think he's got some good football left in him. He might not get big money like he might want, but perhaps the lure of playing for the Ravens and having a chance at some post season play would be enough to get him going again. We've got an opening to fill and if he's ready to play ball then he could be a very nice piece. Just that his last two seasons of work really don't bode well for that. Playing completely out of position certainly didn't help him in Buffalo. Not sure what the deal was in Miami though. That team went 10-6 and with a good year out of him they might have been even better.

I think they get it right more often than a beat writer. He had the hawks taking him first round. The NFL scouting report had him going 4-5. He actually went third, so the NFL scouts were a lot closer on him than the beat writer. Tape is fine for college. You have to remember he will be going up against more elite talent at the NFL level. The tape shows that when going up against guys stronger than him he gets redirected easily. That most of his production comes from his hustle than from talent/skills. Like I said before, you can't knock hustle and the will to track down plays from sideline to sideline and a relentless will can turn into production for sure. The only way we will really know is if/when he's entirely healthy and going up against some NFL talent. I am excited to see what he can do but I am not ready to buy into him being something special. If he is that will be supremely awesome. But if he winds up as JAG (just another guy) that would not surprise me in the least.

The only Butler I want is Alfred; especially the Gotham series version. Who the heck needs Batman when you got super Commissioner Gordon and one man army Alfred?

You can listen to Joey, but you can't HEAR Joey. I have to side with Joey on the Pollard and Reed issue. They were football moves and nothing else. Reed was a ghost of himself and his post Ravens career proved that. Pollard didn't exactly light it up after he left either, of course he also got hurt so you can't really blame that on lack of talent/production. I think everyone here that is a real Ravens fan will miss Ricky Wagner. He's what we all love. A later round pick panning out and starting a playing well. I didn't think the Tony Jefferson deal would be a possibility but I am of course happy with it. I do question how the back end of Weddle and Jefferson will play out because they are not exactly blessed with terrific speed so I wonder what the coverage will be like. But you have to like the swagger of having two hard nosed hitters that have no qualms about coming up in the box and laying a hit on somebody. Both of them exude confidence and pride.

And people shouldn't take a beat writer's opinion as gospel either.

Out of the line backers obviously there is something to like about Hightower but I think his market is very high and I don't think there is much chance to get him. I like Brown but again it depends on his market, but he is a hometown guy (born in Columbia, MD) Minter might be a nice pick up depending on the money. I think depending on what you can get Minter for he might be a decent player that could start or sub in depending on how Correa pans out. For the OL I like Mangold if helathy and I think Fluker fills a need at either RG or RT. He's not a great piece, but he's better than Ducasse IMO and definitely better than nobody. Obviously like Claiborne at CB. I think you are forgetting that Dumervil is still available on the edge and might come a bit cheap considering his last couple of seasons and age. Connor Barwin could be intriguing because in our system he'd probably be moving back out to OLB instead of DE. He seems to fit the OLB position better. I think Demarcus Ware doesn't have much left in the tank. We need a starting edge player and Ware is not that right now in his career. Walden to me seems like a clone of Dumervil. A bit undersized and a pure rusher that doesn't offer much run support or pass coverage. He will also be 32 so maybe we'd be in the same boat with him after coming off of a career year? If Mario Williams didn't look so bad in his last couple of seasons I wouldn't mind returning him to DE in our 3-4 to take the spot vacated by Lawrence Guy.

I think any football player can be considered athletic. I mean, you have to be some sort of athlete to get to this level. But just because you are athletic doesn't mean you will be a good football player. Like I said, the only freakish thing about him is the shuttle time. Everything else is nothing special. His 40 time isn't great even for his size. His bench press wasn't great especially for his size. His jumps were nothing special.

Really, look at all the players in the draft that year and count how many showed some good production. Even the Seahawks don't have any picks from that draft left on their roster, and they won the Super Bowl that year. Why not compare it to all 32 teams in the NFL and see how that ranking stacks up. I don't have the time or desire to do that. All I know is that if you whiff big on your first two draft picks and at least one of them is a first rounder, then you didn't have a great draft. I think Juice was a reach at 4th round. We lucked out with Wagner and we didn't keep Simon. KLM, Mellette, and Anthony never did much of anything for this team. So essentially 3 players panned out for the Ravens. One is a starting DT that is one dimensional. A very good piece no doubt. The other was a starting RT that while healthy did a good job. The last one is a starting FB and like I said, a lot of teams wait to get these guys as UDFA's. Juice was a nice player, but does he really qualify as a player you drool over? So they had a 33% success rate in the draft. 3/9 players they kept and contributed.

The only freakish thing about Kaufusi was the shuttle time. That shows good agility and change of direction. He was pedestrian in just about everything else. His 40 time wasn't amazing. His bench press wasn't special. His vertical and other jumps weren't special. To put that in perspective OLB Tyler Starr ran a 6.64 shuttle drill, a great time for a guy that's 6'4'' 250lbs. Everything else about him was either pedestrian for his position or underwhelming. I'm not saying Kaufusi is terrible. We haven't seen enough of him to say so. By the same measuring stick we can't deduce that he will be a beast. He's got things to like for sure. Love hearing about guys that have a high motor and never give up on a play. Sometime hustle can and will make up for other deficiencies.

Think about what you say in your opening comment for a minute. The Redskins paid a work in progress $8 million dollars on a one year contract. That means if he busts you wasted $8 million and if he breaks out that means you lose him in free agency next year or have to pay through the roof to get him re-signed. That's stupid on two levels. I agree that Aiken has pretty much peaked. I don't know about Pryor and that's the risk on him. Remember, teams were not busting down his door to ink him to a long term deal. I would tend to think the people in the NFL know a bit more about him than you or I do. You have no idea if Pryor peaked, over achieved, or is just at the tip of the iceberg. If it is my money, I am not spending $8 million on that chance, especially when my need is for a proven guy. Floyd would have been a no brain call if not for the off the field issues. Now I think it is right player, right price. The Ravens did sign Stallworth in the past and he had an involuntary manslaughter from his DUI+accident. I think that really depends on how Floyd is doing right now and if he's serious about getting himself cleaned up. That's one of those doing your homework moves just like I think is what the call will be on drafting Ruben Foster if he drops to 16.

For the kind of money he received there is no way the Ravens could afford to keep him. We've got other people on the roster currently who can hopefully fill the void. I will miss him and he was one of those classic Ozzie great pickups. He was basically a forgotten man in San Diego. He was a great value player for us and now he gets paid for his hard work and determination. I don't like that he's going to New England of all places. I remember one other former Ravens player that went to New England and didn't really have a good go of it. Anybody remember Adalius Thomas? He was a super freak of an athlete for our team as he played DE/OLB and even lined up at MLB and S once in awhile. He was a star here and completely flopped in New England. Different scenario though. The Pats don't need Guy to be a superstar. Guy isn't outside of his prime years. Guy is also more of a team concept kind of player. I think he will fit well there and have some very good seasons with them.

I think you should take a look at more tape on Pryor and see how many times he falls over with little or no contact after a catch. For a guy as big as he is he sure goes down easy. He's not as fast as people think. I get that he's still a work in progress at the position but that is all the more reason why a team needing a consistent playmaker shouldn't put all their eggs in his basket as he needs to learn more route running. There are also character concerns with Pryor whereas there is no such noise about Aiken. I agree that Aiken overachieved, but I think the same can be said for Pryor. Again, look at the lack of interest in paying Pryor a big money, long term contract. Again, look at the only team stupid enough to pay him that type of money was the Redskins.

Saw this move coming once it said they were interested in him. He will be a good fit for their defense and will be a favorite of the coaching staff there. I think he will have some great seasons for New England. Deal is reportedly 4 years for $20 million. Looks like the projected $4-$5 million per year was spot on and that kind of money certainly priced him out of the Ravens radar.