Now That The Big Wave Of Free Agency Is Over...

[theFRANCHISE]

Now that the big wave of free agency has come to an end and virtually all of the big names are gone, are you satisfied with how the Ravens have proceeded thus far?

Frankly, I'm perfectly fine with the level of inactivity by Ozzie Newsome & Co.

The only new faces, as of this post, will be LB Brendon Ayanbadejo, CB Frank Walker, and K E.J. Cochrane.

Also returning are G Jason Brown, LB/DE Terrell Suggs, and LB Nick Grieson.

Obviously, within the coming weeks, more transactions will be made, and there is a distinct possibility that many Ravens free agents will re-sign with the team after the draft, should they fail to find a new home.

But with an eye towards the draft, I'd say I'm satisfied with what's being done, as the restructuring of contracts will help tremendously after the draft in signing draft picks.

There is very little work that needs to be done in keeping the nucleus of the team intact, and as Coach Harbaugh said before, consistency will be key in making this transition as smooth as possible.

Although there were some big names that many were tempted to pull the trigger on, I was glad Ozzie & Co. kept their cool and waited until the dust settled. After all, this free agency period saw the largest contracts ever awarded in any free agency period, and there were many questionable figures thrown out there.

With that said, what are your thoughts? Do you wish more had been done? Or are you already looking towards the draft for the team to make its big splash?

[exiledraven]

I am actually pretty excited about what DID happen!

I live in Illinois and all of the Bears fans were very upset that the Ravens took away one of the fanbase's favorites. That's going to be a huge improvement on special teams. Given our huge problems at corner, I'm happy to see the addition of a guy who can compete for that nickel slot and push the young players, but also contribute in a big way on special teams compared to the others.

I have to say, I am really pleased with the aggressive improvement on the coverage and return units. It's more than I expected given the cap situation and the status of Suggs and Jason Brown.

Let's see how this draft shapes up and then the Ravens will be one of those teams that scares people this year assuming we get a healthy Pryce, Rolle, Cmac, and McNair. If that happens, then this team can be scary.

The draft will also tell a lot about the staff's opinion of Troy Smith. If they think he can be the guy in another year, there might not even be a QB drafted. Obviously, the Ravens need corners...but what Round and what players?

Can't wait

[neepo13]

I was a little disappointed that the Ravens choose the guy from the Packers over Andre Dyson from the Jets. Dyson has been a starter in this league and if we were to have another catastrophic year at CB like we did last year Dyson has the experience to hold his own. He's coming off a down year and an injury if I am not mistaken, we could have got him for just a little more then what we paid the other guy. Other than that I am kinda sad that we didnt land Randy Moss . Kidding. I am happy with what we have done so far.

[Ravens52]

I kind of wanted to grab someone like D-Hall or Sheppard. But from what the Ravens done so far it looks like there going to be building in the draft which I really like. I'm also a little dissapointed we didn't try to land Bryant Johnson though too. But it's alright the Ravens always have good drafts. No complaints from me.

[slugz]

all in all i was trying to shop a lil bit of player to bloggers but they was like no not him we dont need him hes a prob but im happy with all the transactions that took play but if we didnt do anything else i would have loved pacman in purple but i guess not i hope ogden lets us know what hes gonna do so we wont waste a pick on replacing him and wee dont need a qb just a backup ol backup dl cb and some wrs

[Corvus]

I am very happy with the "inactivity." If the Ravens management was doing something like, say the Raiders (who are 20 millon something over the cap already, and still have to pay out Asomugha's 9 million franchise tag and whatever they do with this possible Deangelo Hall trade) have been doing, I would lose a lot of faith in the leadership of the team off the field. I think Ayanbadejo was a great signing, and Walker is a young guy (with decent stats for someone who didn't start very much in his first 4 years) who is certainly going to add a good amount of depth that was lacking at corner last year (and I'm pretty sure we'll draft a corner at least by the second round, maybe a first rounder).

I'm glad that Suggs will be back next year, I just wish he would forget about this grievance about wanted to be franchised as a DE so we could go ahead and sign him long term. I'm glad Brown is back too, he will provide some good leadership for our O-line if JO does decide to retire, plus he is one of ur best linemen.

I kind of wish we had brough Darling back seeing as he had a pretty good year last year but I think he will have much more opportunities (possibly as a starter) with th Chiefs so its not that big of a deal and I wish the best of luck to him. Other than that, I am quite happy with our offseason moves so far.

Like I said, I'm glad we didn't go on a "shopping spree" like some other teams did with their "win now!" philosophy. We already have a great team and the gaps that we actually have are slowly filling and the draft is only a month away, I'm excited. Most people are probably already writing us off because of last year and because of the Browns' trades and big name signings, but we'll will certainly be competing next year and I think we have a solid shot of makng the playoffs providing we don't run into overwhelming injury problems again.

EDIT: Didn't know about the Cochrane, I assume he might be Stover's replacement whenever he decides to retire.

[ragnorok99]

I'm satisfied with the relative dormance. They held on to everyone I really wanted them to keep, and I think they're in a pretty good position heading into the draft.