EdTheMythicalOne

21 minutes ago, Sunday QB said:

I hope we see a lot from Chris Matthews in training camp to give him a shot this year.

He's had what, two seasons now to show something and he's been leap frogged by Aiken, Butler, and even Dan Brown. He is a big body and was a weapon in the super bowl, but he's been a ghost since. It is like he's got Marlon Brown's plague. Sure, I hope he shows something to deserve a roster spot, or maybe even Waller wakes up and can be that guy. If not I think the Ravens need to draft that guy or try to find him on the FA market.

3 minutes ago, hn68wb4 said:

No, I imagine we're going to negotiate as long as we feel a deal can get done, no reason to just outright cut him when he can be above average depth. I get the feeling that he wants to be here and we would be smart to keep him as quality depth.

I like the idea of having him around for depth since we sort of know what we have with him and we've bombed all of our free agent bring ins at the position lately..the depth move ones like Darian Stewart and Kendrick Lewis. I can't imagine he will be cheap enough to keep as a bench player though.

6 minutes ago, BOLDnPurPnBlacK said:

Didn't realize Erik Walden put up 11 sacks last year for the Colts. That's crazy!

Would probably be a cheap signing but could maybe bring some rotational pass rush if we don't bring Doom or Barwin in. 

 

Also I'm not hating the idea of Fluker. Terrible pass protector but he is nasty in the run game. 

 

Mangold is prob my #1 guy tho. Would love to have him here on a 2-3 yr deal. 

Pryor would be great but prob a pipe dream. And didn't like the idea of Floyd but on a cheap 1 year prove it deal?? Maybe. 

I am actually following the markets for Fluker and D. Poe formerly of Kansas City; especially if the Ravens can't bring Brandon Williams back.

Fluker struggles in pass protection for sure, but can swing from RG to RTand who knows, maybe a new coach can help him out some. it just really depends on what other teams think of him and because the market is bare of good RT's...some might over value Fluker.

Poe is interesting. Read conflicting reports that he will possibly get near top level money for his previous good seasons, but he's had two very mediocre seasons back to back thanks to an injury to his back which might make him take a 1 year prove it deal. He's actually stronger than Brandon Williams and more athletic and could switch over to DT/End.

I don't love the idea of Mangold, but if healthy he's certainly an upgrade over Zuttah.

I don't like the idea of Pryor either. That's big time money for a guy who has only played the position for one year and I think is a product of being the Browns only real threat. He's had some injury issues and he's shown some head case stuff on the field too like when he got into a yelling match with RGIII in the huddle. I think everyone is right to stay away from him for the asking price right now. He needs to prove it a bit more.

My reactions:

S: Tony Jefferson: In the words of the late, great Harry Caray...."Holy Cow!" I didn't see this move as possible as I am sure the Browns and Jets had more money to burn. I guess we have to give Weddle a fruit basket and also thank the winning history of this franchise to be able to make this move happen. I think Tony probably plays SS now and Weddle moves to FS...and I think Webb's days are done in Baltimore now. I liked Webby, he was a really good player before the knees and back injuries.

RB: Danny Woodhead: A move that makes sense and is under the radar. If healthy he can be the primary 3rd down back and be a change of pace back to whoever is the starter that day. Dumb move by Dixon. Still have Buck Allen and Lorenzo Taliafero hanging around; but I think Lorenzo is seeing his last days as a Raven unless he comes back healthy and completely blows away his other competition. Still can see the Ravens adding a back in the draft.

WR: Mike Wallace: Option was picked up and I think it was the right way to go. Torrey Smith wasn't available for much less than Wallace.

QB: Ryan Mallet: Meh, I am okay with this because we have a veteran back up who is more than just a runner who will throw the ball once in awhile. He knows our system and with any luck we'll never see him taking any starter snaps in 2017.

We still have some holes to fill and it will be interesting to see how the Ravens fill them.

Thank you for your time and effort to set up a new message board for the fans here. I am interested in joining since I am getting private messages that this board closing is official and not an April Fool's Day joke. The timing is a little bit conspicuous though. I think they could have chosen a better date, don't you?

Possible Domain Names, I will suggest a few and feel free to pan or like them:

flockofravens: A little play that we are replacing this message board's "flock" and well, I think you get the Ravens reference.

cawtoaction: The sound a raven makes...

p&battack: Purple & Black Attack.

memoryofartm: Memory of Art Modell, without him there would be no football in Baltimore again.

That's all I got off the top of my head right now. If I think of more later I will drop them.

4 hours ago, Moderator 3 said:

Attention everyone: while we are allowing links to other forums as you search to continue our community, please understand that we are NOT endorsing other sites, especially new ones running on "free" platforms.  Please be aware that new forums may not have the security in place that you have been able to enjoy here.  They also tend to suffer from growing pains.  

Personally, I would try the older, more established, forums, of which there are several.  Otherwise, do whatever you can to protect yourself, perhaps register with a disposable email address and a unique password.

If you have experience with other established forums, please post a link (and perhaps a description) in this thread.

Thank you.

If the powers that be didn't make this less that desirable decision in my opinion, then us fans wouldn't have these kinds of worries, would they?

14 minutes ago, rossihunter2 said:

id suggest boyle over waller - better blocker and safe pair of hands - he can run check downs and go down the seam so he already has a bit of foreknowledge

Too bad Boyle has cement blocks for feet.

10 minutes ago, Sunday QB said:

I think Cordarrelle Patterson is a free agent, I don't think it would be a break the bank deal to get him to come to Baltimore.

Besides Pryor, what free agent out there would help this team alot and not be a CAP issue?

If Boldin isn't dead set on his retirement if he doesn't get a deal from Detroit, I think he's a fit for this team. If you look at our WR corps now and assume Kamar Aiken is gone, this is what you have:

Mike Wallace: Speed Burner

Breshard Perriman: Speed Burner

Chris Moore: Speed Burner

Michael Campanaro: Route Runner/slot

Keenan Reynolds: Route Runner/slot

We don't have that tough possession/fights for the ball guy that can just pick up some first downs and be a redzone threat.

40 minutes ago, mc_red23 said:

Would picking Ross make sense though if we already have Wallace & Perriman?

I don't think so. Ross is a new man to being a WR, transitions from a KR/PR solely to a CB, then to WR...so not much experience in running routes and his cushions he got in college won't be as big in the NFL. He's also had a history of injury issues in college and what happened at the combine? Runs a 40 and then pulls a hammy and is done for the day. That doesn't bode well. Then there is the fact that he's tiny and probably not durable. No way I go near him in the first round. I think this is a Patrick Johnson clone.

23 hours ago, lgcs27288 said:

Think we will go more H-back with the plethora of TEs we have?

I am thinking this might be a place where Darren Waller thrives. freak athlete for his size, just can he block at all? Would also help if he got rid of the bricks he has in his hands.

I did not think the Ravens were going to be able to pull off the move for Tony Jefferson. Him coming to Baltimore is proof to me that he doesn't have a cinder block for a head. Sure he could have earned a lot more, but the Browns are a complete mess, have been for years, and probably aren't getting better any time soon. You can't build a team completely through free agency like the Redskins have tried to do for years. The Jefferson move solidifies one big weakness and that probably means Webb will be cut soon. Can't really think it is prudent to keep him at his salary, even if restructured, to be a back up.

Ravens also pick up Danny Woodhead...meh...I think he's a warm body until Ken Dixon comes back. What a stupid mistake. You'd think these guys would wake up and learn that if you cheat, you will get busted.

Ravens picked up the option on Wallace and didn't sign Smith, so there's the WR question answered. I still think they add a body or two after veteran cuts.

Still need some help at C and possibly RT and we need a starting corner badly. I think we're okay at DT with what we have in house and we need to find a starting edge rusher. I don't know if all they guys we need are in house already. In fact, at most of the positions I am sure that guy is not in house.

6 minutes ago, arnie_uk said:

Addition by subtraction. 

Cut:

Webb 

Lewis

Arrington

Wright 

Doom

Pitta

Watson

Sign:

Tony Jefferson

Calais Campbell 

Pierre Garcon 

Nick mangold

Don't re sign Williams or wagner, keep juice.

Draft in no particular order:

CB

Pass rusher

Guard/tackle depending on what you want to do with Lewis (use your 2 3rds to jump into the second again)

That's a better team. 

 

 

Tony Jefferson is being offered around $9-$10 million from the Browns who have money to burn. Now I know Jefferson should be telling himself that the Browns is where you go to commit career suicide, but money talks. No way the Ravens are close to that amount. Doubtful this happens. Plus he is more of a SS which means that Weddle moves over to FS? Not so sure that's a great combo.

Calais Campbell will get PAID. Again, this is a money issue.

Pierre Garcon is already signed?

Mangold has injury issues and would be a patch-work upgrade. No point in spending big money on him when the rest of the team will be crud.

Juice is gone, can't "keep" him.

Sure...draft a shut down corner, a premier pass rusher, a good starting NFL caliber G/T...all in one draft. Easy peezy.

3 minutes ago, Sami84 said:

So..how bad are this FO. THey have turned the baltimore ravens in a mess.

No O-line outside of stanley and an older yanda

NO pass rush

No Secondary depth

No WR of any real note

Ozzie we trust ay..

Blowing it all up for the next regime? No more Ozzie and no more Harbaugh?

4 minutes ago, rmw10 said:

We still have Ryan Jensen...

Until they cut him after no other team signs him off his tender deal and the Ravens won't get compensated.

12 minutes ago, Static said:

Please dont spend more than 2.5mil on Torrey

I agree he shouldn't get paid very much, but I think he can still be a productive weapon back with the Ravens. Pairing him up with another speed threat on the other side isn't a bad idea because that's what they did with Jacoby Jones. Wallace is much better than Jones as a wideout and then Perriman can slot in or whatever combo of him Chris Moore, Keenan Reynolds, and Mike Campanaro you can fix up. That is of course if they keep Wallace and there is no sure thing about that.

7 minutes ago, izvoodoo said:

You're pretty much always in the same place.  Draft and sign as best you can.  There's a salary minimum so it's hard to go full fire sale. 

Well, sometimes you are drafting for depth and looking for perhaps one starter and other times you are looking for the next corner stones of your organization.

One of them is Stanley hopefully. Now it starts on defense.

Just now, rmw10 said:

And it looks like the final domino will officially fall soon

 

Called this shot a long, long time ago as well as stating that Wagner will also be gone.

2 hours ago, rmcjacket23 said:

I mean cool, but it seems kind of odd to rate how good a draft pick somebody was by how he performed on a team that didn't draft him.

Again, that's like the Atlanta Falcons saying that Brett Favre was a good draft pick for them. Its kind of hard to be a good draft pick when you never actually play or play well for that team, regardless of how you did elsewhere.

 

Not really like the Favre situation. A lot of people think Favre is some Cinderella good ol' guy. The reason why Atlanta ditched him is for his raunchy side off the field. They didn't trust him. The talent in the arm obviously was there, it was the head (pun intended as well) that was the issue.

The thing is, we are saying is this PLAYER a good PICK? If you picked a guy and he plays on your team and performs decently enough to get himself a job for another team and then has a long NFL career, that means you picked a good player. He has/had talent. This is better than drafting a guy on your team that barely plays and then fades into obscurity because he has no talent to hang in the NFL anymore.

Of the players I mentioned, most of the ones I rate as being a good pick that had more success elsewhere were also at least decent players for the Ravens before they left. A lot of them actually played their best years with the Ravens.

So is a player a bad pick if he plays 4-5 seasons with the Ravens and then plays 6 years more with other teams and performs just as well or better than he did with the Ravens?

In the case of Dwan Edwards, maybe the coaches were the problem and didn't know how to use him effectively? He certainly wasn't a bad player. He was no Hall of Famer, but he was good.

3 minutes ago, Davesta said:

If we sign Torrey and cut Wallace, is there dead money we have to worry about? 

All money is dead presidents/people. It is almost literally Soylent Green.

36 minutes ago, redrum52 said:

In his defense, it was the Niners.

And he 100% sold out on going after a pass that ultimately gave him that scary concussion. He skied for that pass and contended for it and was up so high and the collision with the defensive player caused him to land right on his head. Dude was out cold for 10 minutes or so.

Just now, Underdogsontop! said:

Yeah that's kind of greedy. But I never thought he was a top 5 or 7 RT anways. He's a reliable starter but I've seen him struggle once in a while. Don't remember who against though. 

The year he struggled most is when he was playing through a Lisfranc injury the same as Jimmy Smith had and you saw how much that affected him in his first season back. He's been very solid, but he is in a perfect storm. Weak RT market, very solid work history, and the expanded salary cap.

He's not greedy for accepting to play for some crazy money a team is willing to toss his way. I can't blame him for it. I am sure if the money was equal he probably would have stayed here.

15 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

La Canfora says a Torrey reunion is very likely.

Yay....?

Did somebody secretly replace our Ravens front office with Al Davis' team building philosophy and are they waiting for us to see if we can tell the difference? (Folger's Crystals anyone?)

Seems like we're trying to build and Olympic relay team instead of a WR group....Mike Wallace, Breshard Perriman, Torrey Smith, Chris Moore.

Why did I just get a new TOS agreement again if the boards are actually closing? Why have new TOS rules if there will be no more board to post on at the end of the month?

7 minutes ago, K-Dog said:

I think we have more needs than opportunities to meet those needs this off season. 

 

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.

6 minutes ago, Sami84 said:

They better be..because anything otherwise is flawed denial.

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.