1720 replies to this topic

[Mr. Irrelevant]

Well Ravens fans, it's the offseason, and as usual, it looks like all hell is seemingly going to break loose.

According to many fans

We overpayed for a QB that still sucks even tho he had the greatest postseason run ever
We are now rumored to be cutting our best WR.
Oh, and we are also on the verge of loosing our best pass rusher.

Well, from what I can see, this is exactly like last year....

We lost a great LB in JJ
Lost an all pro guard in Grubbs
Lost a veteran DE in Redding

So... What's up with the pattern, cause last time I checked, we weren't supposed to make the playoffs with these losses.....

I'll tell you what happened. Oz upgraded and came through....

He trusted Art, who exploded last year
Drafted one hell of a draft to go get KO and Upshaw.
Upgrades in ST in the process...

So now we have a similar deal

We are about to cut a WR.

Business as usual. When Ozzie does this, he finds value that is equal or potentially greater... Or he goes to upgrade to another position. Depending on the deals we give Ellerbe and Reed, there are a lot of things we could potentially do with the money left over.... Maybe Ozzie gives both of them Cap friendly deals and heavily decides to peruse a big name FA worth 6 million or more (although highly unlikely) Jake Long with his price going down maybe? Sammie Lee Hill? DRC? Who knows.

All IK, is that Ozzie has big plans for FA. 6 million is a lot to free. Giving us about 22 million in cap. The money will prob go to Ellerbe and Reed....And we will prob bring Boldin back for cheap.

But why all the complaining?

Ozzie is the coach of the offseason. The best in the biz........ I trust him. You should too. We did just win a SB.

This isn't my typical positivity thread. We didn't lose anything, I don't feel like crap.. It's just Ozzie knows what he's doing.

I hear many say that Ozzie sucks in FA. Well, explain why all of our FA were huge in the SB run.

[ClintLB8]

I'm excited about this offseason! I know how the organization works so they never go out and get the guys that most would like but they get absolute bargains. That might change this year with a huge need on the DL but I expect it to be much the same as past years. A few bargains that I believe would fit..

Rolando McClain ILB, Raiders - I believe he fits what we do and with our strong locker room and having a few teammates here, I believe he signs for a small deal and ends up being a surprise pick up. If we pick him up, Ozzie makes a great bargain again, like always.
Justin Bannan DT, Broncos - This guy has very limited amount left in the tank but I think at vet minimum he could come in and be a stop gap rotational guy. Won't start IMO. Be very similar to what Kelly Gregg was a few years ago when it was his last year or two with the team.
Jasper Brinkley ILB, Vikings - I think he fits a 3-4 better than 4-3, only potential problem with him is that he is very similar to Jameel McClain and would cost roughly the same. So, if going to sign this guy, might as well keep Jameel.
King Dunlap LT, Eagles - He could cost more than I think, but has been a starter. Not been great, but could be brought in as depth and potential starter. I don't think his price tag would be too high.
Quentin Groves OLB, Cardinals - Hasn't been bad in a 3-4 as an OLB. Would be a much cheaper option than Kruger and could help replace him as a pass rush specialist.
DJ Moore CB, Bears - He is another one who could prove to be more expensive than I thought. Like him as a potential bargain, though.
Leonard Pope TE, Steelers - Big TE (6-8 270) that is an excellent blocker and would make a great #3 option.

These are just the bargain options.. not saying we will sign them. This doesn't include the bigger name guys.

[BloodRaven]

I haven't seen a whole lot of the negativity, but then again we just won the Super Bowl. From what I've seen it's just been an ongoing discussion on our options.

Also, I haven't seen one single mock in previous years that was better than the offseason Ozzie put together.

[runamuk]

there is no negativity just fans discussing options like bloodraven said . isnt that what the threads are for ? "fans are saying ozzie sucks in free agency" that's not accurate at all no one is saying that quite the opposite might want to fix that . fans have a right to vent how they feel and discuss all parts of the ravens on this forum . not just one or two fans all the fans that are signed up for this forum . and each one of those fans are entitled to there opinion .suggs is not going anywhere he is our best pass rusher not kruger. wide reciever is the hardest postion to learn in the nfl fans are right to be concerned . wr's, and tight ends have to develop a chemistry with there new qb and that takes time and that is the reason for the concern . we finally get a high powered offense and no one wants to lose that.

Edited by runamuk, 11 March 2013 - 05:12 AM.

[runamuk]

Well Ravens fans, it's the offseason, and as usual, it looks like all hell is seemingly going to break loose.

According to many fans

We overpayed for a QB that still sucks even tho he had the greatest postseason run ever
We are now rumored to be cutting our best WR.
Oh, and we are also on the verge of loosing our best pass rusher.

Well, from what I can see, this is exactly like last year....

We lost a great LB in JJ
Lost an all pro guard in Grubbs
Lost a veteran DE in Redding

So... What's up with the pattern, cause last time I checked, we weren't supposed to make the playoffs with these losses.....

I'll tell you what happened. Oz upgraded and came through....

He trusted Art, who exploded last year
Drafted one hell of a draft to go get KO and Upshaw.
Upgrades in ST in the process...

So now we have a similar deal

We are about to cut a WR.

Business as usual. When Ozzie does this, he finds value that is equal or potentially greater... Or he goes to upgrade to another position. Depending on the deals we give Ellerbe and Reed, there are a lot of things we could potentially do with the money left over.... Maybe Ozzie gives both of them Cap friendly deals and heavily decides to peruse a big name FA worth 6 million or more (although highly unlikely) Jake Long with his price going down maybe? Sammie Lee Hill? DRC? Who knows.

All IK, is that Ozzie has big plans for FA. 6 million is a lot to free. Giving us about 22 million in cap. The money will prob go to Ellerbe and Reed....And we will prob bring Boldin back for cheap.

But why all the complaining?

Ozzie is the coach of the offseason. The best in the biz........ I trust him. You should too. We did just win a SB.

This isn't my typical positivity thread. We didn't lose anything, I don't feel like crap.. It's just Ozzie knows what he's doing.

I hear many say that Ozzie sucks in FA. Well, explain why all of our FA were huge in the SB run.

just quoting this in case it gets changed because all the post made after your original post look out of place .

[redravenfan]

there is no negativity just fans discussing options like bloodraven said . isnt that what the threads are for ? "fans are saying ozzie sucks in free agency" that's not accurate at all no one is saying that quite the opposite might want to fix that you wouldn't want people to think you were just making stuff up or trolling. fans have a right to vent how they feel and discuss all parts of the ravens on this forum . not just one or two fans all the fans that are signed up for this forum . and each one of those fans are entitled to there opinion .suggs is not going anywhere he is our best pass rusher not kruger. wide reciever is the hardest postion to learn in the nfl fans are right to be concerned . wr's, and tight ends have to develop a chemistry with there new qb and that takes time and that is the reason for the concern . we finally get a high powered offense and no one wants to lose that.

the whole ozzie sucking is probably a generalization. i see trust in ozzie on most if not all threads even when people are bashing the latest moves etc...

[jaege]

Well Ravens fans, it's the offseason, and as usual, it looks like all hell is seemingly going to break loose.

According to many fans

We overpayed for a QB that still sucks even tho he had the greatest postseason run ever
We are now rumored to be cutting our best WR.
Oh, and we are also on the verge of loosing our best pass rusher.

Well, from what I can see, this is exactly like last year....

We lost a great LB in JJ
Lost an all pro guard in Grubbs
Lost a veteran DE in Redding

So... What's up with the pattern, cause last time I checked, we weren't supposed to make the playoffs with these losses.....

I'll tell you what happened. Oz upgraded and came through....

He trusted Art, who exploded last year
Drafted one hell of a draft to go get KO and Upshaw.
Upgrades in ST in the process...

So now we have a similar deal

We are about to cut a WR.

Business as usual. When Ozzie does this, he finds value that is equal or potentially greater... Or he goes to upgrade to another position. Depending on the deals we give Ellerbe and Reed, there are a lot of things we could potentially do with the money left over.... Maybe Ozzie gives both of them Cap friendly deals and heavily decides to peruse a big name FA worth 6 million or more (although highly unlikely) Jake Long with his price going down maybe? Sammie Lee Hill? DRC? Who knows.

All IK, is that Ozzie has big plans for FA. 6 million is a lot to free. Giving us about 22 million in cap. The money will prob go to Ellerbe and Reed....And we will prob bring Boldin back for cheap.

But why all the complaining?

Ozzie is the coach of the offseason. The best in the biz........ I trust him. You should too. We did just win a SB.

This isn't my typical positivity thread. We didn't lose anything, I don't feel like crap.. It's just Ozzie knows what he's doing.

I hear many say that Ozzie sucks in FA. Well, explain why all of our FA were huge in the SB run.

Fans hate to see their favorites cut or leave. Heap, Mason, JJ, Redding, we love our Ravens. Unfortunately it is the nature of the beast. So we come here complain, argue, gripe and when the smoke clears, get another trophy.


I dont think anyone feels Ozzie sucks in FA, he just doesn't do much, which stuns people. FAs tend to be expensive, particularly the ones that all the fanboys want. Ozzie is frugal, and careful and slow to act. That tends to rile the fans a bit as all the flash and bang of the other teams goes on, and we seem to just wait. The end result is unarguably good.

Edited by jaege, 11 March 2013 - 06:04 AM.

[HoldingCall]

Well Ravens fans, it's the offseason, and as usual, it looks like all hell is seemingly going to break loose.

According to many fans

We overpayed for a QB that still sucks even tho he had the greatest postseason run ever
We are now rumored to be cutting our best WR.
Oh, and we are also on the verge of loosing our best pass rusher.

Well, from what I can see, this is exactly like last year....

We lost a great LB in JJ
Lost an all pro guard in Grubbs
Lost a veteran DE in Redding

So... What's up with the pattern, cause last time I checked, we weren't supposed to make the playoffs with these losses.....

I'll tell you what happened. Oz upgraded and came through....

He trusted Art, who exploded last year
Drafted one hell of a draft to go get KO and Upshaw.
Upgrades in ST in the process...

So now we have a similar deal

We are about to cut a WR.

Business as usual. When Ozzie does this, he finds value that is equal or potentially greater... Or he goes to upgrade to another position. Depending on the deals we give Ellerbe and Reed, there are a lot of things we could potentially do with the money left over.... Maybe Ozzie gives both of them Cap friendly deals and heavily decides to peruse a big name FA worth 6 million or more (although highly unlikely) Jake Long with his price going down maybe? Sammie Lee Hill? DRC? Who knows.

All IK, is that Ozzie has big plans for FA. 6 million is a lot to free. Giving us about 22 million in cap. The money will prob go to Ellerbe and Reed....And we will prob bring Boldin back for cheap.

But why all the complaining?

Ozzie is the coach of the offseason. The best in the biz........ I trust him. You should too. We did just win a SB.

This isn't my typical positivity thread. We didn't lose anything, I don't feel like crap.. It's just Ozzie knows what he's doing.

I hear many say that Ozzie sucks in FA. Well, explain why all of our FA were huge in the SB run.

Say what you will, the pieces have been in place for quite a while, at least the previous 2 years and maybe more. We've seen proof and yet you may not agree but the biggest change hasn't been quality of the FAs but getting rid of Cam.

Joe looks like the QB the team wanted and Boldin like the receiver they wanted. With the aging, slowing, and injured defense booting Cam was the only way. That's when it all came together. In spite of their early season record the team didn't look like winners until after that moment.

On to FAs! Given the lack of cap space clearly there are going to be big changes this off season. I am not so sure the FO doesn't give younger players an opportunity to prove themselves. I expect to see very few or no signings outside the DL and LB and maybe the OL if Mckinnie leaves. Evens those needs may most likely be filled in the draft.

The Ravens doesn't like the word "rebuilding" but if the FAs and Boldin walk its difficult to call it anything else.

[Mr. Irrelevant]

there is no negativity just fans discussing options like bloodraven said . isnt that what the threads are for ? "fans are saying ozzie sucks in free agency" that's not accurate at all no one is saying that quite the opposite might want to fix that . fans have a right to vent how they feel and discuss all parts of the ravens on this forum . not just one or two fans all the fans that are signed up for this forum . and each one of those fans are entitled to there opinion .suggs is not going anywhere he is our best pass rusher not kruger. wide reciever is the hardest postion to learn in the nfl fans are right to be concerned . wr's, and tight ends have to develop a chemistry with there new qb and that takes time and that is the reason for the concern . we finally get a high powered offense and no one wants to lose that.

I'm preparing the Ravens Nation for what I saw last year. Not specifically on these boards, but on other sites as well... They were crying out
0-16.
Saying losing these players would kill us. Well, we won the big game.......

It is more of a generalization

[BOLDnPurPnBlacK]

the more time goes by... i almost hope we dont retain ellerbe. Let him, Kruger, and Cary walk.

I love Boldin but if he's gotta go he's gotta go. For $6 mill in cap space could you go get a Greg Jennings? I dont know.

We just won the super bowl. While retaining guys helps us this year, I'd much rather have a down year than over pay for an Ellerbe or Kruger who dont have a large enough body of work to merit the contracts they'll get, and will anchor us for down years to come. Before this year Ellerbe was thought to be nothing more than a rotational player.

If we can get any of them for a FAIR deal i absolutely am in favor. But if we have to overpay Ellerbe bc he threatens to take a deal from Cleavland..... Let him walk. Doesnt matter how many time those teams "win" free agency, they never win football games because they cant field a well-rounded team. We consistently do, because we DONT pay for these flavor of the week free agents.

Again, id rather just barely slip into the playoffs or even miss them entirely, than to bring these guys back for this year and be a favorite, only to be in cap hell for the next 5 years.

[dirtybird10]

Fans hate to see their favorites cut or leave. Heap, Mason, JJ, Redding, we love our Ravens. Unfortunately it is the nature of the beast. So we come here complain, argue, gripe and when the smoke clears, get another trophy.


I dont think anyone feels Ozzie sucks in FA, he just doesn't do much, which stuns people. FAs tend to be expensive, particularly the ones that all the fanboys want. Ozzie is frugal, and careful and slow to act. That tends to rile the fans a bit as all the flash and bang of the other teams goes on, and we seem to just wait. The end result is unarguably good.

Yup and usually you see that the biggest players in free agency are the teams that watch the playoffs from their couches in January. Its not the sexy move, but its what most smart teams do. They build through the draft and fill the remaining holes with serviceable veterans who come at a discount. Every once in a while you will see the smart teams make a little splash but its rarely a big deal. Every year the big name free agents go to teams and all the fans and analysts will gawk at the move and tell us how great a deal this will be for the franchise. Then we watch them under perform and the teams like the Ravens, Pats, Steelers, Packers, etc make it back to the playoffs.

The Ravens and Ozzie are not perfect. They screw up things from time to time, but their record is sound.

Edited by dirtybird10, 11 March 2013 - 10:20 AM.

[Ravens<3]

We have the best guys up there doing it. Whatever happens with Boldin,Reed,Ellerbe,Williams & Kruger, our team will survive & we will still be contending. We will still have the key pieces to make a playoff run, and I'm confident that whoever replaces these guys will be the best available options.

All we gotta do is get in the playoffs, after that anything could happen. Even if we lose all of those guys, I'd still like our chances to be in the dance, once again... Let other teams look better on paper, with Flacco & Harbs we're never out of the talk.

With all that said, I think we'll be quiet once again throughout FA, and build our team stronger through the draft.

[AsianRice]

I love Boldin to death since he's signing with us but since we are tied with the organization as a whole rather than individuals, I think cap space hell hole is the one we need to avoid in order to be a consistent winning football team.

We either bring Boldin in for cheap or cut him or let Kruger, Ellerbe and Cary walk to save Boldin or keep Ellerbe with the release of Boldin. Damn, I'm glad I don't have to make the decision for Ozzie...

In recall, Ozzie has learned his lesson of keeping our favorite players when we won our first 2001 SB; in the following 4 years, we had experienced cap hell and bunch of great players released with the losing season going along with it.

Since Harbaugh's era, we have gathered a great group of staffs who will train our young players into NFL players. Our group of staffs, personels, and coaches have proven that they are capable of producing NFL starters so this year doesn't change any of our philosophical approach.

If Boldin is released and signed with other team, I won't be mad of him or the Ravens FO, but I'll be very sad till the draft....

[arnie_uk]

Dan Connor has just be cut by the boys. I be all over him, he can ball

[RavensFanInCA]

Now that Boldin's been traded to the 49ers, I wonder if that means we'll have Torrey and Jacoby running deep with Pitta running across the middle and Rice/Pierce and Leach running hard behind. Opposing defenses would have to cover the entire field on any given play.

Or Ozzie has something else up his sleeve. I'd prefer not to lose Ellerbe, but I don't want to overpay him. I think Suggs has been holding film sessions with some of the D, so we'll have that continuation at least.

[Sizzlebshu]

The Ravens currently have 19 and change in cap space. http://www.spotrac.c...ravens/cap-hit/

After tenders and the like we will have 9-10 mil in cap with room to free up mor eby cutting guys like McClain Leach etc...

I honestly dont want Ellerbe or Reed here if it means overpaying them when we can sign a need like a LT with said money and replace those lost in the draft.

[PuRock]

Its about that time of year again, when all the Ravens fans start freaking out, huh?

Tomorrow free agency will start, and a lot of players will be signed by different teams and we won't sign any big name FAs. It'll have everybody freaking out.

But be patient, we will get the value guys and draft well once again. Just like we always do.

[Corvus Amplus]

I'm confident that Ozzie will build a roster that will contend. We're not like the Jets or Raiders where they got little talents, less picks, and no money.

[Token]

I'm guessing this is where this info belongs:

Art Jones tendered
Reed finally hires an agent, La Canfora says he's unlikely to come back depending on the market for him.