EdTheMythicalOne

I'm not sure if I made this point in this thread earlier or in other places, but this is exactly what I have been saying. Right now Pitta has the best hands on the team. He is a proven reliable target that gets himself open in zone coverage which is a skill that all of our other receivers, not just tight ends, lack. I think the idea is for Maxx Williams to be the #1 TE and with Pitta being the move guy. On heavier packages he is subbed out for Crockett Gillmore and then Nick Boyle would act more as the FB. In my scenario (Ben Watson is gone) Darren Waller can also come in as a move player for some mis match opportunities. The only reason why Nick sat was because of his 10 game suspension. The reason why Gillmore and Maxx weren't on the field were because of injuries.

I liked Webb but he doesn't offer the same thing at Tony Jefferson and I feel Weddle is good enough in coverage to be a FS. Overall I think this is an upgrade. Keeping Brandon Williams was nice and will pretty much insure we will have a good run defense again. For the investment I would like to see him staying on the field more. Juice was actually a decent lead blocker and they did use him a lot in that role. I am sure the team already has a plan on a replacement or will find one they like. Who knows, maybe in Trestman's offense we go single back? I agree with you about the defensive backs. Jimmy is great when healthy but that is not very often and we have no clear answer on the other side of the ball. I think we need to sign Claiborne and draft a top tier CB talent and hope they pan out. We need more than a mediocre MLB, we need another starter next to Mosley. I am not sure if Correa is the guy...again, unless the Ravens are planning to move to a 4-3 defense as a base...which I doubt. I am sure there will be some veteran cut here that the Ravens will try to milk the last couple of good seasons out of. Mangold looks to be the option at center if they are going to make a change. The only other option I see is potentially Matt Skura or John Urschel...and I am not sure if either of them is better than Zuttah. We do need another guard and whether it is left or right depends on Yanda really. He wants to move back to RG which is fine, but if that injury he sustained last year is still lingering I think he's better at LG. Then you can possibly sign D.J. Fluker to play RG or RT. I am not so sure Alex Lewis is a good fit at LG. I think you always draft a pass rusher at some point. You can never have too many. The reason why is precisely for the reason you state. We've drafted some and they aren't producing. Time to cut them if we can get somebody better. And I agree, Steve Bisciotti is still sticking to his original statement. That he does not believe in "rebuilding."

Did Paul Tagliabue make this decision? Maybe we should go build a message board museum?

You're right. For some reason I am skipping April.

I wonder how much money is saved and how much he can earn back with incentives again. Pitta is a reliable if not spectacular target. He can get open in zone coverage and most often will catch anything near him. We can't say that about a lot of our receiving targets. I don't think the Ravens plan on him being the #1 tight end moving forward, but is just like he was last season. A security blanket behind Maxx Williams.

I was just about to mention the same name, Morris Claiborne. There will most likely be other salary cap cuts coming soon so having the money saved up to make moves to improve the roster is never a bad thing. I think they will look to see if there is a solid veteran possession guy that gets cut and will ink him, no matter if they intend to draft a WR or not.

If Pitta didn't restructure he would have been cut and I doubt he would have that strong of a market. Other teams saw the same things we did from him last season. I think because he redid his deal that Ben Watson is now gone. That still leaves us with Pitta, Williams, Gillmore, Boyle, and Waller. Perhaps one of them becomes some sort of hybrid FB and takes Juice's spot on the roster.

I think he's probably going to get more snaps in the next coming seasons, especially in passing situations since Tony Jefferson is not exactly amazing in pass coverage. Good guy and team player and like most Ravens, always liked what he contributes. I wasn't so sure they'd keep him but that means we still have some veteran, quality depth on the roster. Now we need to get some more.

To answer your first question and to address your cherry-picking of line rankings: 1) Results. Whether they rated out well on some rankings individually might be all fine and good. It is what they do collectively that really matters in the end. What to the results tell you? I will provide the actual stats for you so that you don't use a certain week's ranking to make your points. Total Offense Yards: 30th Rushing Yards: 19th Passing Yards: 28th. Then there is PFF's actual FULL YEAR of 2016 rankings which rates the line as 16th overall. That's right smack dab in the middle of the pack which means they're okay, not great. Again I will bring up my point that in your plan of taking several years to rebuild, some of those veteran guys will be gone, especially their best piece Joe Thomas. I'm also curious as to what you think of the Ravens offensive line for 2016? I am sure many fans would think they didn't do a terrific job because Flacco was constantly pressured and hit and the ground game wasn't spectacular. According to PFF though, they were ranked 9th overall for the entire season. Really? The Ravens actually had a top 10 OL? Just to put those rankings into some sort of perspective. Your second part: Not really sure what the part of this comment is. The Ravens didn't just hand the reigns over to a rookie QB thinking he was the franchise guy. Of course they were hoping he would be but it wasn't the plan to start him year one. Troy Smith isn't exactly an established veteran QB anyway and never amounted to much at all. The roster already had some quality players on offense to help Flacco and once he showed what he could to with it, the Ravens kept trying to add. That only makes sense. It was essentially the same offense that Kyle Boller had to work with and he couldn't get the job done. So that just goes to show you that yes, you need a good QB to turn a team around. You can have great players around him, but without a captain for your ship it will crash. How is it wasting your money if you get yourself your franchise QB? I would think you'd be wasting even more money spending tons of cash on elite playmakers only to have nobody to get them the ball. Oh, and last time I checked the offense only has 11 guys on it, so that would be 10 guys playing around him. At this point it is clear we're not going to agree on this issue and this thread about the Ravens and their apparently now not really rebuilding off season but more of a restocking. I suggest we move on to that if you have anything to say about it. I don't really care as much about what the Browns are or are not doing.

Ever think it might have more to do with a lack of faith in Pryor?

Ravens have extended DB Anthony Levine to a 3 year deal.

Ben Watson isn't a vertical buy, Nick Boyle isn't a vertical guy, Crockett Gillmore isn't a vertical guy. Maxx Williams might be, and Darren Waller possibly could be if his hands were better. So what was the right decision? Getting rid of the best tight end you currently have with the best hands on the team?

See that posters? All of our feedback has gained us an extra week. Maybe if we keep it up we can keep extending the time the boards stay up and running and convince them that NO time is a good time to "sunset" the boards.

And apparently their idea of a best was is to close down a place where a lot of the real fans actually try to follow their team. Seems like shooting yourself in the foot to me.

867-5309, I got your number. This is "Jenny," right?

Then let's move the board to Alaska where the sun never really sets.

Do they not remember last season when the team went out and signed Mike Wallace, Ben Watson, and Eric Weddle? That's not exactly a quiet off season.

I'm excited to see every new Ravens player on the field and seeing what they got. The knock on Kaufusi is that he was weak and not very flexible in the legs. Hopefully he's worked on that this entire off season and I am looking forward to it, but...people were scratching their heads with the pick. People have been complaining about it. You just haven't seen the posts about it. I am not around here a whole lot and even I have seen them.

I doubt they will pony up whatever Washington and/or New England will pay him and we have options behind Guy. I liked Lawrence Guy and I think he's a decent player, but we can find replacement value for sure.

Because they will cut Ben Watson who is older than Methuzela at this point, Crockett Gillmore isn't exactly the epitome of healthy trying to come back from everything he had going on last season, Waller can't catch, Maxx Williams has been injury prone, and Nick Boyle is one more suspension away from being out of the league and even when he is clean he's a glorified blocking TE. I am certain the idea is to have Maxx as the #1 if healthy and then Pitta is your motion #2 TE. Pitta arguably has the best hands on the roster right now.

CB: Prince Amakumura signed with the Bears, so he's no longer in consideration if he ever was. Haven't heard any progress on Claiborne yet and I haven't heard anything about the Ravens being interested in Pryor.

Watch the video if you want to see the setting of it. It was a relaxed setting, not an ambush. I am not inferring anything other than an intelligence level if you read all of his quotes. When you are over 20 years old you are no longer a "kid." When a kid makes a mistake it isn't like yelling at hospital workers, getting up in their faces, and putting their hands on somebody. That is the act of an immature person. He doesn't get his way and he acts up. I think this is a red flag because out of everyone else going through the same process, he's the only one to act like this. So is it the hospital worker...or him? There is plenty of context to those quotes, all you have to do is watch the video on the link. What the heck does "taking ownership" of the situation even mean? Wow, he issued an apology through his agent. "I'm sorry, please give me millions of dollars." It isn't just Rueben Foster's apology, but it is like all the apologies that have come before him and will come after him. I'm also pretty sure if his teammates know for certain that he was innocent they would have vouched for him. They didn't even say things that teammates typically say of a player they know and like. You know like, "I've been around him for years and we're friends, he's a really good guy, this doesn't sound like him." Nope, they all said essentially, "I didn't see nothing." I am sure people do know a lot more than me and that's why I am simply reiterating that the Ravens need to make sure they are comfortable with all of this, especially if you are taking him in the first round and are expecting big things from him. He may have millions of dollars of talent but it really matters little if you have a 10 cent head. Some people in the NFL that do know more than you are being cautious and I am sure there are others that will say it was no big deal. It isn't my money, but if it was I wouldn't spend it on a guy in the first round with a character question mark.

Definitely more work to be done.

I thought this was coming from the people above the moderators? So who is the "we" you are referring to? As I understand it this decision is coming from the higher ups and the statement to begin this thread is essentially their press release. If that is not the case then you need to clarify it for all of us. Seems to me the message from the statement is that this board is closing because the Ravens believe the fans can and are conversing more on other social media outlets for which the statement provides some links for. If that is not a strong suggestion/endorsement then I am not really sure why it was worth including them. So since "we" understand that they are completely different platforms and tools then "we" should understand why this message board is so much better than those other outlets and a very strong reason as to why they should not be closed down. Are "we" paying attention to all of the backlash this announcement is getting? Are "we" starting to think this may not be a good idea?

A very good player until injuries slowed him down and a player I had a high opinion of. I kind of knew the Jefferson deal meant he was gone and he could not have restructured his deal enough to be an affordable back up player. Somebody else will probably give him a roster spot and depending on his market maybe he comes back to B-more.