EdTheMythicalOne

It would take a perfect storm of drafting 2 studs in the top of the draft and getting 3 more starter quality players in the draft and some home runs on the free agency market. You know, taking a gamble on a vet and having them break out for us which has actually happened in the past. Then they all need to stay healthy. Not impossible, but I won't be holding my breath.

You can polish some bovine scat but it is still bovine scat. I honestly can't think of a way you can sell this team with all these departures as a contender next season. Yes, we still have Joe Flacco...and he's proven to be a durable, strong armed guy that is NOT a fit for a West Coast offense and can not carry a team unless he's got some special talent around him and a very good ground game...which we don't have. The offensive line is getting decimated. A Nick Mangold signing is a patchwork upgrade, but RT is now vacant and has James "the revolving door I got Joe Flacco's leg destroyed" Hurst and Alex "P. Keaton" Lewis as the top options. Looking at the FA class I don't see very many decent RT's. Most of the top names are LT's that probably would not slide over. The defensive line is getting decimated. Micheal Pierce gives us hope, then there is Willie Henry and Carl Davis...two guys we haven't really seen much on the field. I think Poe would be a nice "take a chance" deal with who is actually stronger than Brandon Williams. When he is healthy he's a good player. Lawrence Guy was a dirty work player who is valuable and he's gone. Have to hope that guys like Brent Urban are ready to go. The linebackers are getting decimated. Thought we had something in the middle with Mosley and Orr..until Orr had to retire. Not sold on Correa being the fix. Dumervil gone, Suggs old...and again Correa/Z. Smith don't exactly have me thinking we're well off. Matt Judon is the only shining star here so far. CB are getting decimated. Once looking promising with the healthy Webb/Smith combo...injuries destroyed that. Haven't had anything really special since. WR corps lacking. Have to bank on draft picks to actually do something now. TE: Pitta takes pay cut or is gone, will become the #2 TE behind a healthy (hopefully) Maxx Williams. Watson gone, Crockett healthy? Nick needs to lay off the PEDS. Waller fits where? Is he our new crazy hybrid Juice replacement? I mean everywhere you look on this roster there is massive turnover about to happen.

Especially Agent 99....nice to look at as well :)...but I don't want to deal with Agent Orange.

I agree with you. Very little of the "articles" here tell me anything I don't already know. The only informative ones are appearing here as "breaking news" after I've already read about it on other sources first. I don't watch any of their videos because I don't find their answers illuminating. They don't have any insider information and if they do, they aren't sharing. They just give the "I think this will/won't happen..." Really? Gee, so do I.

He just better be sure to wear some flowers in his hair.

They need to hit bona fide home runs with the top two picks this year and also keep finding gems in the mid to late rounds for this team to get back to the way it once was. We can't have these years where our top 2-3 picks are either busts or can't be on the field for 2-3 years of their rookie contracts due to injuries. They also have to hope that the top guys from the previous couple of seasons step up. Maxx Williams, Correa, Perriman, etc.

"Na...na...na...na....na-na-na-naaaaaah....hey JUDon!"

Brandon Williams is the next one to go folks. Somebody will pay him something the Ravens will not even be able to come close to sniffing, nor should they. He is not a once in a generation player. He's very good, but he's not...dare I say it...elite.

Boldin apparently wants to sign with Detroit or he will retire.

I think everyone should click on the "Contact Us" button and write notes to the people that make these decisions and let them know what we all think of this one. Look at how many passionate people are out there scrambling around right now to create new message boards. I mainly go to this site BECAUSE of the message boards. I can get much more accurate and up to date information from Pro Football Rumors and Rotoworld than this site. If I need stats I can always go to Pro Football Reference..and in fact I always do.

Funny, because the Ravens think Lewis' best position might actually be RT. He was playing LG (out of position) out of necessity. I honestly don't think he was a good fit at LG and starting two rookies on the blind side was a bad idea. No surprise to me that the team improved when Yanda went to LG.

I wouldn't mind joining but I think I am gonna wait until April to make that decision. I can't help but to feel we're being set up.

They say they are "shutting it down," not "improving it." Before ESPN closed their boards they attempted to revamp them and that relaunch was horrible and looked like they were trying to reinvent Twitter. They had a 140 character limit for posts...try doing that with some of our posts here; even for those of you who do have the gift of brevity.

Just gonna toss this out there: DT: Dontari Poe. He is one of the strongest guys out there and before having a back injury he was a very good player. He's had an injury marred season and last season was his first one back from the injury and he under performed. Might be a 1 year "let's see" contract to re-establish his market.

It looks like a lot of my original predictions on what would happen with this roster are still on point. My misses so far: Zach Orr: I had him staying and the Ravens were trying to keep him as well and talk him out of retiring. Of course back then nobody knew he would wind up with his neck injury that made him decide it was time to leave the game. Suspected miss: "Juice." I underestimated his apparent market this off season and if some team is willing to make him the highest paid FB in the NFL the Ravens will not be that team. Some random things: People were railing on me for suggesting that Wagner would be gone. Anyone check on his suspected price tag now? Back then people were saying $6-$7 mil a year...it is supposedly now up to $8-$10 million. Also got flack for suggesting Alex Lewis or some PS guys could be options. I can assure you that Alex Lewis will be a starting offensive lineman for this team next season unless he gets hurt. I do think Matt Skura (potential C/G) will get an extended look as well as Broxton (potential RG/RT) in the preseason. Lawrence Guy: He's getting quite a bit of interested from the Redskins who absolutely have nothing at his position. People were hit and miss with me on Brandon Williams. Again, please note that I am not making my points based on me not liking these guys. I do indeed like them. I like Brandon Williams. I think he's a very good player. I think he will cost more than what the Ravens can afford to pay him now and going forward.

Just because the team signed all these guys to tenders doesn't mean they can't be cut later. If another team signs those players there is draft pick compensation.

Agree. If Pitta goes he will be a post June 1 cut. I think it's less dead money that way. Webb will either be restructured or cut. He wasn't terrible at FS and we don't have the money missile to launch for a top tier replacement on the market. That means bringing in a fringe veteran and hoping, or finding talent in the draft or hoping Marquesti(onable) Huff is the real deal. Dumervil will be cut unless he's willing to take a discount, which I doubt he will. Health issues, age, and the fact that we at least have some bodies behind him are all factors. I can see a scenario where Pitta and Watson are gone. That still leaves us with Maxx, Crockett, Nick, and Waller plus some draft pickups. There is some pretty deep talent in the draft. Kyle Arrington is gone, I firmly believe that Williams, Wagner, and Juice are all gone too. Kamar should be gone. He isn't worth what some team will be stupid enough to pay him. Zuttah will be gone, Taliafero is gone and Buck Allen will be a fringe roster bubble guy. West may also be gone as well.

6M/Year out of range for a Playmaker such as Brandon Marshall??? All $$$$ figures are out of our range. Not signing all these tenders for bench players (except West) would have given us the money for Marshall I don't think it was all about money for Marshall. He's got an ugly past if you read up on him and I am not talking about being a distraction in the locker room.

"...More moves likely on the way." Ya think? I mean the team only has a bunch of ERFA's and FA's to either sign or let go, then there is the whole business of filling out the roster with players thing. Brandon Marshall I think would have been a good player for the Ravens, the problem is his checkered past. He has a lot of domestic violence things in his distant past and the Ravens would have "some 'splanin' ta doooo" if they did sign Marshall. Ray Rice was by outward appearances one of the nicest people you could have met and he did a ton of charity and community work even before his incident with his wife. Marshall has been diagnosed with personality disorder and has been keeping his nose clean since getting treatment for it. Garcon appears to have several suitors as well so I doubt he will be a Raven. Time to do the opposite of the Air Force and aim lower. I like Brandon Williams, Rick Wagner, and Kyle Whosecheckers? but not enough to break the bank for them and neglect the myriad other holes this team has. To be perfectly honest this seems like it might be the rebuilding season that has been due for some time now and that Stevie B. says the Ravens never do. Too many high priced names and too many holes to fill. You've got to create the cap space and get people to play.

Well, guess I will just go ahead and get my Ravens information from other media outlets as well. The main reason why I stopped looking at ESPN for Ravens and Orioles information is when they shut down their message boards as well. If you are looking for a way to keep in touch with your fans, shutting down the message boards seems like the opposite direction to go. I do also see that the shut down date would officially be April 1st, so this might just be a preemptive set up for a big April Fool's Day joke.

There is a forum post about potential Raven free agent walk-aways and in that post I guessed that both Brandon William and Rick Wagner would walk. Not because the Ravens don't like them, but they can't afford to sign them what some other team will be happy to stuff their wallets with. It helps that Micheal Pierce showed up like he did and that we still have Carl Davis and Willie Henry in house, plus I am sure the Ravens will pick up another body in the later rounds of the draft or get some UDFA. The Ravens like the idea of Alex Lewis at RT and he will sort of be forced to do this when Wagner breaks the bank. That leaves a guard spot open. I know Yanda says he wants to go back to RG next season but I think for the good of the team he should stay at LG. I think it is easier to find a rookie/vet to play RG than LG and I don't like the idea of two rather young guys on the blind side of Flacco. Stanley played better with Yanda next to him than he did with Alex Lewis next to him. D.J. Fluker was just released and coming off of a down year after coming back from an injury. He's big, strong, nasty and is more of a RG/RT. Not sure what his market will be, but he's only 25 and might be a value signing.

I base it on the entire career of a player drafted, not necessarily what they did as a Raven. Given that Dwan Edwards was a better player as a Raven and then went on to play for many more years in the league and be a decent NFL player means he was a much better talent than Mt. Cody. Also remember that Cody was a starter at NT when he actually was healthy and Ngata moved to LDT/LDE in that alignment. I think I made my evaluation process abundantly clear. If you draft a player that is more than just a special teams player for his career and he spends a decade or more in the NFL and gets some significant snaps, regardless if he only played out his rookie contract with the Ravens, that means they drafted a good player. You also have to remember who was on this team when Edwards got here. He was behind a lot of guys. Not so with Cody. Had be been decent and healthy he would have started.

Dwan Edwards was better than Terrence Cody, Cody barely produced if/when he was healthy and nobody wanted him after we was done with the Ravens. Pretty much tells you all you need to know right there. Kruger hardly produced anything at all save for one season with the Ravens. If your argument is going to be that Dwan wasn't a good pick because his best seasons were not with the Ravens, then how can Kruger be considered a good pick when his best season (singular) came with the Browns? Kruger was not a consistent starter for this club either. There is little to no chance Elam goes on to be a stud for any other team. He'd be lucky if he even gets a job after he's done here. The guy can't cover, he can't tackle, and recently he's struggled to be healthy. Those are three pretty big knocks on a guy that is supposed to be a safety valve for your defense. I think guys like Sharper and Torrey were very good picks for the Ravens.

Why do these article writers assume to know what we're thinking and asking? Obviously there is an opportunity cost/lost scenario involved with Brandon Williams. This is why the decision isn't quite so simple. You know what he is and what he brings to the table. He is a very good run stopper that isn't a three down player because he doesn't generate enough pass rush and doesn't collapse the pocket enough like Ngata used to in his prime. He will most likely cost a fortune to keep if you think his market is based off of Damon Harrison's contract last season and the fact that the salary cap is going up again. I would argue that Damon Harrison is actually a better player than Williams so the comparison isn't exactly fair, but the market probably will not make such a distinction. So, if you do keep Williams you can pretty much assure that your run defense will be as good as it has been before, but obviously the money to commit to signing him can't be spent to address needs elsewhere. I personally think the Ravens can survive perfectly well enough without Williams since we have players like Pierce, Henry, and Carl Davis waiting in the wings and incoming draft picks as well. That money could be better spent addressing huge areas of need for this team. Come on writers for this site, give your readers some credit for once.

My point is that even if a guy doesn't perform up to his career best for the Ravens (and that could be for a number of reasons, guys in front of him, injuries early on, etc) but he goes on to be an NFL player for a decade or so, that means you drafted a pretty good player. Just because the Ravens didn't get the most out of him doesn't mean it was a bad pick. A lot of the guys didn't turn out to be better players for other teams after they were with the Ravens. But in the rare instance that it did happen I think we have to look at the factors around the player and wonder if the coaches we had at the time just didn't know how to get the best out of the players they had? Or maybe it took a guy a bit longer to click and realize what it takes to be an NFL player. I saw somebody else saying Paul Kruger was a good pick. I disagree. He turned in one good half season with this team that also carried over into the playoffs...just so happened to be his walk year. He then parlayed that into a huge contract with the Browns and only turned in one good season with them before fading into obscurity and being cut..only to latch on with New Orleans and be a non-factor there. 1 & 1/2 good seasons in the NFL means it was a good pick? If he was a later round pick then maybe, but this guy was a 2nd round pick after all.