Arthur Jones

[Poes Crows]

Everyone on this board seems pretty resigned to losing him in FA but are we sure about this? He should command a pretty nicely sized contract but I'd also imagine that he's gonna be a massive priority for Ozzie. He was easily our best DL this year and could be a huge part of our defense going forward. There are a couple of options to keep him onboard. I like the idea of offering a market value contract, but with a large portion of the cap hit down the road, after Ngata's contract comes off the books. I know Flacco's cap hit rises astronomically at this time but his deal was always meant to be restructured in an extension. With Suggs, Ngata, and potentially Rice off of the books in the next 2 years we could manage to keep Jones as well as work out extensions for Torrey and Jimmy. Art is just a monster and I can't stand the though of losing him because of massive contracts for declining veterans and I am holding out hope that Ozzie will make it work. Thoughts?

 

It could be done.  It's a matter of what our Staggering Front Office decides.  It's likely to be the wrong decision. They are not fairing well in the new QB gets 1/6th of the Cap Era.

 

They aren't handling it well though. It's a catch 22 now. Whatever they do will be the wrong thing.

 

We need to purge the offices asap.

[Poes Crows]

If Jones is viewed as a possible future anchor of the DL, I believe Ozzie will do anything to keep him. Ngata, Ray Lewis, Yanda, Ed Reed were all anchors in their area of the field, every successful team needs them. Ngate appears to be somewhat on the decline so they need to seriously search of his future replacement. If Jones get away it may be years before developing that caliber of player again. 

 

That brings me to the reason Sugg's contract situation was hinted at the other day, the two (Suggs and Jones) may be connected or perhaps it's Suggs and Pitta, I am not sure. 

 

I don't know how much the signings of Huff, Stokley, Clark, and Spears cost the team but I think there goes a little of that needed cap space. 

 

Suggs is on the wrong side of 30 now, but he had 8 sacks in 8 games, the tail off was clearly due to injury.

 

So do you jettison him on the age and fall off angle or do you look for him to return to form?  He's younger than Daryl Smith. Whatever our Front Office does it will be the wrong decision. They are crazy snake bit.  The venom is rotting their brains.

 

Regarding Pitta, he was an integral piece of the puzzle.  Not unlike, though not as valuable as Boldin. Standing alone, he's not worth a large investment. Let him go, draft a replacement.  We need a running game more than his singular tight end function.

[JoeyFlex5]

Would that make the Patriots the first team in the NFL to have brothers on the same roster?

boss bailey and champ bailey

[HoldingCall]

Suggs is on the wrong side of 30 now, but he had 8 sacks in 8 games, the tail off was clearly due to injury.

 

So do you jettison him on the age and fall off angle or do you look for him to return to form?  He's younger than Daryl Smith. Whatever our Front Office does it will be the wrong decision. They are crazy snake bit.  The venom is rotting their brains.

 

Regarding Pitta, he was an integral piece of the puzzle.  Not unlike, though not as valuable as Boldin. Standing alone, he's not worth a large investment. Let him go, draft a replacement.  We need a running game more than his singular tight end function.

About Pitta, I see where you're coming from. Joe's success is clearly based on a fine balance of chemistry which takes time to develop. I wouldn't be surprised if Pitta left but I don't think the FO will let another of Joe's favorite targets walk. 

 

I agree that Suggs had an issue going on. 

[FerrariFan87]

It just stinks that the Ravens seem to develop these mid-to-late round guys into stars and then we can never seem to retain them once their payday comes around... :(

[Poes Crows]

Teams with franchise QBs can only afford about 8 franchise players at most under the salary cap. That's why we play musical teams each year with the veteran players. It's critical to maintain financial discipline and Ozzie and Pat Moriority do a good but thankless job to keep the Ravens out of Salary Cap Hell.

 

This was only the first year that Oz had to manage a team with a "Franchise QB" and Flacco's cap hit was minimal compared to what it is going to be.

 

Don't think the recent job done by Oz in this and many other regards can be referred anywhere close to "good".

 

Oz is on the "Watch List" now and rightfully so.

[Jalxsu]

It may not be too popular with the fans, but I could see Ozzie drafting a defensive lineman early.

If a guy like Louis Nix is there when we pick in the first, and he's top of our draft board, I wouldn't be shocked if we picked him. Jones is likely to be gone, and Ngata may be gone next year. Before losing, DT will have to be a major priority, and since we have our earliest pick in a long time, getting an elite DT prospect may be too tempting.

I'm not sure if he'd drop all the way to us in the second, but if Timmy Jernigan drops out of the first round, I could see us trading up to pick him (as we did with Arthur Brown last year).

Otherwise, my D lineman priority targets would definitely include Aaron Donald from Pitt. He may be a bit undersized to play DT in the NFL, but he was an absolute monster in college football. If he was a bit bigger, I think he'd be challenging Clowney for the best D line prospect in the draft. If we could get him in the 3rd, he could be a steal.

Another guy who people should be talking about a lot more is Derrick Hopkins from Virginia Tech. He and Luther Maddy were so productive last year. I see him developing in to a Ngata clone in the NFL. It'll be interesting to see how he performs at the combine. Right now I think he's a 2nd rounder, but I think he could fall in the draft because he's not the tallest (6'0 but 310 lbs).

One final guy to keep an eye on is Mister Cobble out of Kentucky. Not would take over the crown of best name in the NFL from Frostee Rucker, but he has improved massively this year, and now looks a legit NFL prospect. He's a beast at 6'0 338, but has surprisingly good footwork and quick feet. He was a leader on the UK defense, and one of the most productive players on their roster. He's solid against the run, and has recently shown improvement as a pass rusher. He's a developmental prospect right now, but he'd be well worth a late round pick. With Mt. Cody becoming a FA, Mister Cobble (I'd never get tired of that name) could be our fat run stuffer.

[Larryterri]

Seems like all the other teams are building talent and getting good players, and we always seem to have to start over year after year. Would like to se us actually keep some good players.

[The Raven]

It may not be too popular with the fans, but I could see Ozzie drafting a defensive lineman early.

If a guy like Louis Nix is there when we pick in the first, and he's top of our draft board, I wouldn't be shocked if we picked him. Jones is likely to be gone, and Ngata may be gone next year. Before losing, DT will have to be a major priority, and since we have our earliest pick in a long time, getting an elite DT prospect may be too tempting.

I'm not sure if he'd drop all the way to us in the second, but if Timmy Jernigan drops out of the first round, I could see us trading up to pick him (as we did with Arthur Brown last year).

Otherwise, my D lineman priority targets would definitely include Aaron Donald from Pitt. He may be a bit undersized to play DT in the NFL, but he was an absolute monster in college football. If he was a bit bigger, I think he'd be challenging Clowney for the best D line prospect in the draft. If we could get him in the 3rd, he could be a steal.

Another guy who people should be talking about a lot more is Derrick Hopkins from Virginia Tech. He and Luther Maddy were so productive last year. I see him developing in to a Ngata clone in the NFL. It'll be interesting to see how he performs at the combine. Right now I think he's a 2nd rounder, but I think he could fall in the draft because he's not the tallest (6'0 but 310 lbs).

One final guy to keep an eye on is Mister Cobble out of Kentucky. Not would take over the crown of best name in the NFL from Frostee Rucker, but he has improved massively this year, and now looks a legit NFL prospect. He's a beast at 6'0 338, but has surprisingly good footwork and quick feet. He was a leader on the UK defense, and one of the most productive players on their roster. He's solid against the run, and has recently shown improvement as a pass rusher. He's a developmental prospect right now, but he'd be well worth a late round pick. With Mt. Cody becoming a FA, Mister Cobble (I'd never get tired of that name) could be our fat run stuffer.

 

Yeah, that's gonna be unpopular with the fans and completely unlikely, no offense.

[Jalxsu]

Yeah, that's gonna be unpopular with the fans and completely unlikely, no offense.

I don't agree about it being "completely unlikely".

Remember that the draft happens AFTER free agency has already begun.

Right now, must of us would say we need to get a receiver and need to improve the O line, but there's no guarantees that those positions will be improved through the draft.

For all we know, we'll sign a RT (such as Rodger Saffold or Eric Winston) and a WR (Jeremy Maclin or James Jones) through free agency, meaning that the next two biggest needs we have are free safety and center. Taking Ha Ha Clinton-Dix/Ed Reynolds or Travis Swanson/Brian Stork would be huge reaches at the 16th/17th pick. We'd get much better value drafting a fantastic D line prospect such as Nix.

[52N19]

I was devastated when adalius thomas left. didn't think we could recover. after that experience we can survive art jones leaving. i thought Courtney upshaw would have a break out year. these guys usually break out in their 4th year. is it the 4th year the learning curve of a football player or the impact of getting a secondcontrsact?

[hn68wb4]

Everyone on this board seems pretty resigned to losing him in FA but are we sure about this? He should command a pretty nicely sized contract but I'd also imagine that he's gonna be a massive priority for Ozzie. He was easily our best DL this year and could be a huge part of our defense going forward. There are a couple of options to keep him onboard. I like the idea of offering a market value contract, but with a large portion of the cap hit down the road, after Ngata's contract comes off the books. I know Flacco's cap hit rises astronomically at this time but his deal was always meant to be restructured in an extension. With Suggs, Ngata, and potentially Rice off of the books in the next 2 years we could manage to keep Jones as well as work out extensions for Torrey and Jimmy. Art is just a monster and I can't stand the though of losing him because of massive contracts for declining veterans and I am holding out hope that Ozzie will make it work. Thoughts?

 

unfortunately he is our 3rd or 4th priority in FA behind #1 Monroe, #2 Pitta, and possibly #3 Graham/Smith

its always hard to let the guys that we spent the time to develop go in FA when they are just starting to come on to the scene, but sometimes is sucks to be so good at drafting and developing talent

its obviously not out of the realm of possibility that he can be resigned, but its really unlikely, a team will come around and offer him an insane contract that we can't match no matter how much we'd like to, just think about what happened last year with Kruger, Ellerbe, and Williams - fortunately none of them were sorely missed production wise

If he is let go: don't be surprised if we take a pass rushing DE at #16/17 in the draft if they are the BPA, we will probably go BPA at our spot and if a good DE falls to us then the FO will be hard pressed to not take them