Let's Welcome Gaither Back Today

[Ed_Reed20]

[quote name='Alexir' timestamp='1296680554' post='631168']
If we deem his back healthy, and that he is 100%, than we can throw whatever we want at the guy. [b]I mean we gave Dominique Foxworth 35 Million[/b] and he missed all of last year and isn't in the conversation of top ten at his position and Gaither is. Staying healthy is a problem all athletes face, the fact that the Ravens are talking to him in the first place is a good sign.
[/quote]

Foxworth's deal was for $27.2 million.

[berad]

[quote name='Ed_Reed20' timestamp='1296689093' post='631273']
Foxworth's deal was for $27.2 million.
[/quote]

The number gets higher every time someone references it

[FerrariFan87]

Again, if Gaither's healthy, we've got to bring him back. His absence was felt this year! Ask Joe and the RBs!

[FerrariFan87]

[quote name='Ed_Reed20' timestamp='1296689093' post='631273']
Foxworth's deal was for $27.2 million.
[/quote]

Yup, with $16.5 million guaranteed! Not sure why we overpaid by so much, but you know we're willing to spend.

[Ed_Reed20]

[quote name='FerrariFan87' timestamp='1296689921' post='631281']
Yup, with $16.5 million guaranteed! Not sure why we overpaid by so much, but you know we're willing to spend.
[/quote]

CB is an overpriced position and that year, the market was pretty shallow. I think the next best CB after Foxworth was Bryant McFadden. At least the Ravens didn't pay him the way Oakland or San Fran paid DeAngelo Hall and Nate Clements respectively.

[ghost1986]

No deal reached yet.

[Ravenmore74]

[quote name='AsianRice' timestamp='1296676514' post='631125']
Why would Rex go out sign Gaithers when he has a probowler D'Brickashaw Ferguson as LT?
[/quote]
That is simple, insurance. 3 lineman went down for Steelers by the 3rd QT of the AFC Championship game you don't think Rex took a note of that...

[PuRock]

The only news I saw was from Rotoworld

[quote]No tangible progress was made toward a contract extension in the Ravens' Wednesday meeting with free agent Jared Gaither.

The Baltimore Sun is sticking to its prediction that Gaither won't be back, despite the Ravens' need for a left tackle upgrade. The Ravens are expected to extend Gaither a restricted free agent tender later this month, but don't actually anticipate him being restricted in a confusing situation per the current CBA. He's expected to be an unrestricted free agent.[/quote]

[Bltravens]

[quote name='Ravenmore74' timestamp='1296745889' post='631507']
That is simple, insurance. 3 lineman went down for Steelers by the 3rd QT of the AFC Championship game you don't think Rex took a note of that...
[/quote]
So the Jets should sign another starting LT, and let him rot on the bench until DBrick gets hurt?

[FerrariFan87]

No way a deal would get done today, but hopefully we got some more information on his health situation...

[-Truth-]

[quote name='Ravenmore74' timestamp='1296745889' post='631507']
That is simple, insurance. 3 lineman went down for Steelers by the 3rd QT of the AFC Championship game you don't think Rex took a note of that...
[/quote]
Rex Ryan: Let's see. Who are our Free Agents this Offseason? David Harris, Antonio Cromartie, Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards, Brad Smith, Brodney Pool, Shaun Ellis, Tony Richardson, Eric Smith, etc. That's 9 players who missed a combined 1 game due to injuries on our way to the AFC Championship, compared to the 16 games missed by the lone Gaither. But you know what? Let me dip into the fund to bring along another gifted LT. I mean, it's not as if any of them started for us. I'm sure one of them will appreciate taking a paycut in order to fill an obvious need. Besides, it's like I always say, a quality back up is better than a quality starter.

[tweety]

Let him test the market, if he comes back then sign him. He was never a happy raven. LT isn't a big issue O-line was well off without him.

D-line bigger issue than O-line

[bauer77]

[quote name='Ed_Reed20' timestamp='1296691070' post='631298']
CB is an overpriced position and that year, the market was pretty shallow. I think the next best CB after Foxworth was Bryant McFadden. At least the Ravens didn't pay him the way Oakland or San Fran paid DeAngelo Hall and Nate Clements respectively.
[/quote]


D Hall plays for washington...Lol

[Ed_Reed20]

[quote name='bauer77' timestamp='1296769875' post='631775']
D Hall plays for washington...Lol
[/quote]

I know he does. That doesn't change the fact that the Raiders grossly overpaid him several years ago.

[bauer77]

[quote name='Ed_Reed20' timestamp='1296770047' post='631777']
I know he does. That doesn't change the fact that the Raiders grossly overpaid him several years ago.
[/quote]



ohhhhh yeahhh lol i forgot he played for the raiders for a year.

[ghost1986]

[quote name='tweety' timestamp='1296769365' post='631767']
Let him test the market, if he comes back then sign him. He was never a happy raven. LT isn't a big issue O-line was well off without him.

D-line bigger issue than O-line
[/quote]

I dunno man. I agree that he has to prove his loyalty to us after almost going to the team that's lost every Super Bowl they've been to. But that's not to say the LT isn't a big issue. Some say it was Flacco and Birk's fault that Polamalu's blitz wasn't picked up, but Joe got sacked much more this year with Gaither out. Sometimes he sacked himself. I'd say both d-line and o-line are equal. They're both missing one man to be dominant. McClain said Gaither's healthy, but that remains to be confirmed by Harbaugh or someone more official(not to take anything away from McClain)

[T3hRaven]

Trying to get Matt Light would be a better solution than trying to sign Gaither long term. Because the o-line did not perform as well as it should have this season, it seems a lot of people forgot the issues with Gaither's work ethic and durability. The original concerns with Gaither were a contributing factor to why we took Oher in the first place, and those haven't disappeared. On top of that, I think we'd wind up over paying Gaither. He has an uncommon natural ability to play LT, but I don't trust him to be in the right mindset to play to the best of his abilities every week.

Taking Light, on the other hand, would be a much cheaper move and would probably pay off better in the long run. He's not as good as he was, but he's still a solid option at tackle for a few years. He would solidify the line enough, and would allow the team to be able to put Yanda back at guard. Matt Light would also be the perfect veteran to bring in to help out Michael Oher. Light and Oher are very similar in size, and it seems a common concern with Oher's ability to play left tackle is his size. Light has been a Pro Bowl as a smaller left tackle in the league, and I think most people would agree he's a solid player. Surely he knows some things to help Oher overcome his size deficiency and become a great left tackle, since Oher still is the long term solution at LT, at least for the moment.

[flynismo]

Not worth making a new thread over, but I hear McGahee and Stallworth's agents are talking to Oz as well.Not sure why Mcgahee would be talking to Oz since he is still under contract....maybe to restructure?

[berad]

[quote name='flynismo' timestamp='1296777612' post='631884']
Not worth making a new thread over, but I hear McGahee and Stallworth's agents are talking to Oz as well.Not sure why Mcgahee would be talking to Oz since he is still under contract....maybe to restructure?
[/quote]

Definitely to restructure. He's poised to make an inordinate amount of money [i](not sure the exact figure, but I think it's ~$5 million)[/i] for a back-up RB. If he doesn't re-do it, he'll be a salary cap casualty... assuming we have a salary cap... or a season.

[flynismo]

[quote name='berad' timestamp='1296778241' post='631895']<br />Definitely to restructure. He's poised to make an inordinate amount of money <i>(not sure the exact figure, but I think it's ~$5 million)</i> for a back-up RB. If he doesn't re-do it, he'll be a salary cap casualty... assuming we have a salary cap... or a season.<br />[/quote]

if I recall, Willis' cap hit is over $6M this coming season.

I'm sure he could find a starting job somewhere else in the $3M/year range; but we'll prob give him that to stay here and resume his role with us. Win/win for everyone if he restructures.

[CapoRocky]

OK, I'm going against the flow here and want to say that Gaither should be sent packing. If you hired someone to do a job for you, then that person ended up stealing all of your money, would you be stupid enough to hire them again? This is what Gaither did in 2010. He took the money and laughed all the way to the bank. If we hire him again, then he develops a mysterious back injury again, will we be the dumbest team in the NFL? Definitely!

[63bru]

[quote name='CapoRocky' timestamp='1296782534' post='631929']
OK, I'm going against the flow here and want to say that Gaither should be sent packing. If you hired someone to do a job for you, then that person ended up stealing all of your money, would you be stupid enough to hire them again? This is what Gaither did in 2010. He took the money and laughed all the way to the bank. If we hire him again, then he develops a mysterious back injury again, will we be the dumbest team in the NFL? Definitely!
[/quote]
Yeah, his injury was mysterious, but no one on the team doubts his toughness. I still think that this season was a blessing in disguise. This past year makes him much more affordable to re-sign, and he's still one of the most talented young tackles in the NFL. You can't let a player like that slip your grasp.

[CapoRocky]

[quote name='63bru' timestamp='1296782667' post='631931']
Yeah, his injury was mysterious, but no one on the team doubts his toughness. I still think that this season was a blessing in disguise. This past year makes him much more affordable to re-sign, and he's still one of the most talented young tackles in the NFL. You can't let a player like that slip your grasp.
[/quote]

Unless we draft someone better this year!

[Romo Ravens]

[quote name='CapoRocky' timestamp='1296782759' post='631933']
Unless we draft someone better this year!
[/quote]

We won't.

[Blex64]

[quote name='CapoRocky' timestamp='1296782759' post='631933']
Unless we draft someone better this year!
[/quote]

A complete waste of a pick. The best option is clearly to sign Gaither to fairly low salary contract with huge bonuses and incentives. If he plays at the caliber we know he can play at, we get our awesome LT and he gets paid. If he doesn't, he looks for a new home and we get to keep a draft pick.

We can't afford to waste draft picks, especially not needlessly. Offer shouldn't be on the table unless Gaither decides to ask for something ridiculous and refuses to negotiate.

[63bru]

[quote name='Blex64' timestamp='1296783008' post='631937']
A complete waste of a pick. The best option is clearly to sign Gaither to fairly low salary contract with huge bonuses and incentives. If he plays at the caliber we know he can play at, we get our awesome LT and he gets paid. If he doesn't, he looks for a new home and we get to keep a draft pick.

We can't afford to waste draft picks, especially not needlessly. Offer shouldn't be on the table unless Gaither decides to ask for something ridiculous and refuses to negotiate.
[/quote]
We won't get someone better, but we should still draft a tackle. This year showed that our depth at the position is sub par. A middle round pick on a left tackle with good pass blocking skills would make me feel a lot better if Gaither or Oher went down. I don't trust Cousins, and while the o-line was decent at times this year, I'd like to keep Yanda at guard at all times.

[berad]

[quote name='63bru' timestamp='1296783221' post='631940']
We won't get someone better, but we should still draft a tackle. This year showed that our depth at the position is sub par. A middle round pick on a left tackle with good pass blocking skills would make me feel a lot better if Gaither or Oher went down. I don't trust Cousins, and while the o-line was decent at times this year, I'd like to keep Yanda at guard at all times.
[/quote]

Agreed. We have Harewood coming off of IR but he's a known project so I don't know if the Ravens are convinced of his possible contributions next year. I think, what's more likely, we'll sign a veteran to be a back-up - assuming we get Gaither healthy and re-signed.

[Jabara]

We can not take another chance on Gaither unless the front office is sure he is ready to play.
And if they are just taking a chance on him, not knowing what may happen, I will think twice about the intelligence of the Ravens.
How can he be trusted after last season???????????????
If the Ravens really want him, they better get him in shape now. How could they be so stupid?
Maybe Cam will use him for a reverse...

If we keep Cam and Gaither, and neither come through, I'll question the FO.

[Bullrush]

[quote name='CapoRocky' timestamp='1296782534' post='631929']
OK, I'm going against the flow here and want to say that Gaither should be sent packing. If you hired someone to do a job for you, then that person ended up stealing all of your money, would you be stupid enough to hire them again? This is what Gaither did in 2010. He took the money and laughed all the way to the bank. If we hire him again, then he develops a mysterious back injury again, will we be the dumbest team in the NFL? Definitely!
[/quote]
You're being silly now. Injuries happen in the NFL. And I don't think he missed any games due to injuries before 2010. As for his salary, he's still getting paid peanuts. This guy played at a Pro Bowl level for at least 2 years and he was getting paid a few 100k's per season. Compared to Joe Thomas maybe or Jake Long who in my opinion he outplayed, those guys made close to 10 mil. yet Gaither never complained. He didn't even complain about getting shifted to RT, arguably the dumbest move we (it's Cam not "we") made last offseason. It's not cool to bash Gaither now. He knew he would become an UFA this season. Why would he just fake an injury for no reason? All it would do is lose him a lot of money because of the red flags. So if he was that greedy he would have played his butt off (injury or not) so that he could get a huge contract and go somewhere else. But he sat out the season which convinces me that he's not all about money and that he did have some serious issues with his back. So it's not fair to bash him now.

We need to re-sign him unless his back is career threatening which just isn't the case, we haven't heard anything like that being reported. The last report I read like a week ago stated that Jared is healthy now and ready to go.

[ravensdfan]

[quote name='Bullrush' timestamp='1296811047' post='632064']
You're being silly now. Injuries happen in the NFL. And I don't think he missed any games due to injuries before 2010. As for his salary, he's still getting paid peanuts. This guy played at a Pro Bowl level for at least 2 years and he was getting paid a few 100k's per season. Compared to Joe Thomas maybe or Jake Long who in my opinion he outplayed, those guys made close to 10 mil. yet Gaither never complained. He didn't even complain about getting shifted to RT, arguably the dumbest move we (it's Cam not "we") made last offseason. It's not cool to bash Gaither now. He knew he would become an UFA this season. Why would he just fake an injury for no reason? All it would do is lose him a lot of money because of the red flags. So if he was that greedy he would have played his butt off (injury or not) so that he could get a huge contract and go somewhere else. But he sat out the season which convinces me that he's not all about money and that he did have some serious issues with his back. So it's not fair to bash him now.

We need to re-sign him unless his back is career threatening which just isn't the case, we haven't heard anything like that being reported. The last report I read like a week ago stated that Jared is healthy now and ready to go.
[/quote]

He missed 5 games in 2009 due to injury as well. It's clear our O line was better with Gaither playing however, he does us no good if he does not suit up. Either he accepts an offer heavily laden with incentives and bonuses or we search elsewhere IMO.