EdTheMythicalOne

Just now, allblackraven said:

Nah, agents are usually very nice guys. Pleasure to deal with.

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

16 minutes ago, rossihunter2 said:

they have literally no insider information ever, never really have any interesting nuggets in particular apart from the occasional like "funny story" but they normally involve mink playing board games with john urschel - they are literally there to be hosts who essentially write copy of any interviews etc. and then call them articles - i just dont think they are particularly interesting personalities either which doesnt help my opinion of them

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.

3 minutes ago, ThatsMyJoeTerback said:

It has to start with good drafting, which hasn't been the case with us for some of the last few years.

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.

This is a term Owner Steve Bisciotti hates to use and said that the Ravens would never be "rebuilding" because he wants a team that is consistently competitive and has a chance for the playoffs and better every season. To his credit under the Harbaugh era that has been true. The Ravens have tried to keep their core stars around and have had only two losing seasons under Harbaugh; and the first one you can toss out because of all of the disastrous injuries that swept through the roster.

But we're seeing key names and players leave due to market issues and the amount of money the Ravens are already paying others. Rick Wagner is gone, Juice is gone, I feel very strongly that Brandon Williams will be gone, Dumervil is gone, and Suggs will not be playing much longer. Add in Yanda not getting any younger and we have no wide receivers of much merit other than Mike Wallace who also might be cut. Webb may be gone, Jimmy Smith can't stay healthy, Lawrence Guy is gone, Zuttah is probably gone, and Dennis Pitta will either take a pay cut or simply be cut.

Time to go young with the draft and adopt a New England approach. They never sign the really high priced free agents to huge mega deals. But they also seem to have a coach and organization that while players may not always like it...they just win and winning is everything.

Harbaugh is very much a players' coach. He likes them to express themselves and be themselves. Bill Bilicheck for all you may hate him for does not play that. You either do it his way and you play, or you can get lost on the bench and cut.

It will depend on this draft class and the previous ones as to how well the Ravens can do until their next superstars emerge..if ever.

JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDon time!

"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.

At this point can we sign Boldin if we can get him for what the Lions gave him last year? He "only" caught 67 balls with 8 TD's. That would be a lot better then what T Smith is going to bring to the table. Can't wait for another 8-8 season. SAD.

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.

5 minutes ago, jsarrocohome@yahoo.com said:

No the ravens want to keep lewis at LG to help protect flacco's blind side when you lose a RT you get a RT you don't start moving guys out of position that just makes thing worse and the ravens have a couple of RT's that are big and athletic that they like don't worrie if we lose some one they will find a replacement

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.

10 minutes ago, BOLDnPurPnBlacK said:

Yea i saw. Sorry im still learning the admin tools, but just found how i approve new members.

Youre now approved and everyone else who's registered is as well.

 

Like i said, if you register and arent approved right away i apologize. Im at work, but ill try to check it every so often and approve you as you sign up.

Feel free to take the bare bones that are there and customize it to reflect our home here if youd like to spend the time. Create topics, etc.. If anyone tries and you have questions on creating topics, sub topics, etc... just PM me.

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.

36 minutes ago, RavensFanMania said:

and it may be a new and improved board they are working on as well.  Who knows

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.

We cut 2 terrible players to clear about 5 mil in cap.
Then we sign a rb for 2 mil that should not be higher than our 3rd back. Even AP is only rumored to get around 4 a year.
And we tendered Huff at 1.8 mil?? Yeah Huff, I know, who is that?
The FO is at it again

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.

  17 hours ago, steelcityraven said:

We need to let Webb go... There are plenty of quality safeties in the draft (No less then 5 legit prospects in the first 3 rounds) and we can pick up another veteran S for fairly cheap (who should play equally as well as webb)

I do not see us cutting doom but stretching his contract out over a longer incentive heavy contract would be smart... we need pass rushers.

Finally... we have to cut Pitta... even if we bring him back later for less. He is set to make more then Ben Watson and our other (good young TEs) combined. Pitta is not worth that... especially when we have Watson and all the young TEs on contract.

Arrington should go... and I would imagine that we will lose BW, RW, and Juice...

I think Kamar will probably be gone as well

I really believe that Zuttah will also be let go... clearing even more space.
Finally... Not sure what we are doing with Buck Allen and Talifero... but with West and Dixon seeming to be secure and the plans we have to add a speed back... I really don't see us keep both of them.
 

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.

  15 minutes ago, crazyboutravens said:

  17 minutes ago, DoubleP said:

  25 minutes ago, bioLarzen said:

This price was out of our range for Brandon Marshall.

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.

On 2/15/2017 at 9:03 AM, rmcjacket23 said:

1. That would depend on what you think his best season was. If you think his best season is strictly based on the number of sacks he had in a season, then yes, his best season was with the Browns. If you factored in the fact that he was a part-time player with the Ravens compared to a full time starter who was playing 75-80% or more of snaps in Cleveland for the first two years, then no, his best season wouldn't have been in Cleveland.

2. I strongly suggest you go back and look at what Edwards did (or in this case, didn't) do when he was in Baltimore. You mentioned health with Cody, yet compared to Dwan's time in Baltimore, Cody was Brett Favre.

He averaged 8 games a season his first three years here, meaning, on average, half the time he wasn't available to play, and he missed the entire 2008 season with injury.

In actuality, they both played the exact same number of regular season games, with 57. It took Dwan almost two seasons longer in order to play that many games. And given that neither was a pass rusher (Dwan had 2 career sacks in Baltimore), the difference between the two in terms of tackles is about a half a tackle a game.

So, sure, Dwan was a half a tackle a game better than Cody. And while I agree that Edwards was in higher demand in FA than Cody, lets not pretend like Dwan got some big money deal from Buffalo either. He made roughly $5M for two years of work there.

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.

On 2/13/2017 at 9:03 AM, rmcjacket23 said:

1. It doesn't mean he was a bad pick for the NFL, but it certainly means he was a bad pick for the team. There's no scenario where anybody could say that he produced quality value as a 2nd round pick for the Ravens. Did he produce quality value for the Bills/Panthers? Sure, but not for the Ravens. 

As I said, he was basically the same player as Terrence Cody. We can't say one was a bust and the other was a good pick, because the only thing that matters for the team drafting that player is how well they play for THAT team. If Matt Elam goes on to be a stud for another team, that doesn't mean he was a good pick by the Ravens. It means the Ravens spent a 1st rounder on a guy who rarely played well for them and then played great elsewhere.

2. As far as Kruger, again, just depends on expectations. I think 2nd round picks should be consistent starters, yet unspectacular players for the most part. Torrey Smith is a guy that I think fit the mold of what I would expect a 2nd round pick to be. Good player, quality contributor, not a franchise-type guy that you want to lead that particular unit in the future.

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.

On 2/9/2017 at 10:27 AM, rmcjacket23 said:

Well, yes and no. Dwan Edwards is the perfect example of why that type of thinking doesn't always apply. He had an 11 year career, but he was far more productive in the back half with Buffalo/Carolina than he was in Baltimore.

Was largely a non factor for his first 3 years in the league (32 tackles, 0 sacks in 25 regular season games), started playing decently his final two years in Baltimore, but his best years were definitely in Buffalo and Carolina.

So did we draft a good player in terms of total career? Yes, but does that really matter if he's not a good player for THIS team? Debatable. It was a bit different back then, but if we drafted a guy in the 2nd round who gave us the same production as Edwards did in his first three years, literally everybody would be trying to run him out of town. We don't even tolerate one injury from a rookie or one season of being irrelevant... imagine 3 years of that? For perspective, Dwan Edwards tenure in Baltimore from a statistical aspect is about the equivalent of Terrence Cody's tenure in Baltimore. So shouldn't they be evaluated as the same if they produced as the same and were picked in the same round?

 

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.

According to Jason La Canfora this is something that is a potential match. Jefferson is most likely not going to get a contract offer from the Cardinals as he will be one of the top safeties on the market. He also will only be 25, but will be probably one of the more sought after players at his position since he's so young. I am not sure what evidence La Canfora has because the article I see a link to doesn't really mention anything other than just pure speculation. The Ravens want to get younger at safety, Tony Jefferson is young. Looks like a tackling machine to me that could help out around the LOS and help on run plays and can blitz from time to time, but I wonder what his coverage skills are like. In four NFL season he only has two interceptions and they both came in 2015.

What do you all think?