Ravens releasing Jameel McClain and Vonta Leach

[Ravenseconbeast]

Sam Koch is next.   

 

His been in serious decline since 2012

[Militant X 1]

Not really surprised by these releases.  Thanks for the memories guys and good luck to you the rest of your careers!

 

#Mili

[dirtybird10]

Sam Koch is next.   

 

His been in serious decline since 2012

Do you think we will release him without a replacement? Unless we plan on bringing in a vet, we better hang on to him until we know we have someone to take his job. Even with his decline he still is a solid punter.

[BALTIMOREFLACCO]

No surprise here

[NaveSenrag]

Do you think we will release him without a replacement? Unless we plan on bringing in a vet, we better hang on to him until we know we have someone to take his job. Even with his decline he still is a solid punter.

Basically every college punter becomes a UDFA. If we keep Koch it won't be because we're afraid of not being able to find a replacement.

[Gordo52]

I'll remember both of their play against the 49ers on Thanksgiving and their contributes to our Super Bowl run. I wish them the best and hope they find good teams for next year.

[Bruce_Almty]

The originator of this thread passing out crying towels??? Get ready for expansion, more names coming soon.

[dirtybird10]

Basically every college punter becomes a UDFA. If we keep Koch it won't be because we're afraid of not being able to find a replacement.

 

True, but I would think we wouldn't want to do anything until we felt we had someone capable of replacing him. I think there are several punters that will be that possibility, but I could see us having a competition at it possibly. I just don't think you want to leave the punter position open until you feel you have a solid replacement. A few bad punts here and there can totally change a game.

[dirtybird10]

I'll remember both of their play against the 49ers on Thanksgiving and their contributes to our Super Bowl run. I wish them the best and hope they find good teams for next year.

Yea, smashing heads with Willis, and Ray Rice tweeting the picture of Lech's busted helmet after the game. 

[Ravenseconbeast]

Do you think we will release him without a replacement? Unless we plan on bringing in a vet, we better hang on to him until we know we have someone to take his job. Even with his decline he still is a solid punter.

March 3 is the FA.  

 

Sam Koch's number's are below average: http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/punting/sort/netAvgPuntYards

 

If it means getting our priority players back in Ravens uniform, i wouldn't be surprised if koch gets out before a 'try out' in TC

[Purple_ICE 81]

Score 1 for EVERY mock offseason on these boards hahaha except I guess we will be keeping Sam Koch.

[dirtybird10]

March 3 is the FA.  

 

Sam Koch's number's are below average: http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/punting/sort/netAvgPuntYards

 

If it means getting our priority players back in Ravens uniform, i wouldn't be surprised if koch gets out before a 'try out' in TC

That's true, and I think his cap hit is something like 2.5 million. I guess I feel like we would have lumped him in with Mcclain and Leach if we were going to cut him for certain.

[SirPainsalot]

Sad that Leach and McClain had to go, we needed some cap space though.

 

Time for Juice to step up! I expect him to finally have a starting position, get some experience under his belt. He's a flexible fullback who has sticky gloves and good legs, hopefully we can make something outta him.

[Ravenatic20]

Score 1 for EVERY mock offseason on these boards hahaha except I guess we will be keeping Sam Koch.

Thank God!  Koch is an average punter but you cannot forget the importance of a solid holder for FGs and Koch is one of the best!

[LEGEN-wait for it-DARY]

Score 1 for EVERY mock offseason on these boards hahaha except I guess we will be keeping Sam Koch.

 

Not necessarily. They might wait until after June 1st.

[T3hRaven]

This was inevitable.

[Guest I-70WestRaven]

Though this had to be done, thanks Vonte for all you contributed to the Ravens. The position of fullback seems to be becoming a thing of the past, much like TE is evolving into a WR type( Graham, Pitta). The game will always change, just wanted to say thanks for your contributions to the team, good luck!

[display name]

Good move. I enjoyed having both on the team (especially McClain, who was here when I first started watching football back in 2008), yet they are easily expendable.

McClain was an average LB, and we can get that same kind of production in 2014 from a guy with a lot more upside. Josh Bynes is a good example of a guy who is currently on the team who can do that.

I have doubts about Juice being as good as Leach, but we really didn't have much of a choice in the matter when releasing Leach.

[gabefergy]

Thank God! Koch is an average punter but you cannot forget the importance of a solid holder for FGs and Koch is one of the best!

That's a very good point.

[Ravenslifer]

Thank God!  Koch is an average punter but you cannot forget the importance of a solid holder for FGs and Koch is one of the best!

 

You can be sure Tony Romo will never forget it.  It's one of those jobs everyone thinks is a waste of roster space until the guy holding the ball screws up, and I agree, having experienced our own share of kicking woes in Baltimore over the past few seasons, having a solid group of guys working together is important.

[Bravens292]

Thank God!  Koch is an average punter but you cannot forget the importance of a solid holder for FGs and Koch is one of the best!

 

He can score touchdowns too

[bMore Heathen]

Good move. I enjoyed having both on the team (especially McClain, who was here when I first started watching football back in 2008), yet they are easily expendable.

McClain was an average LB, and we can get that same kind of production in 2014 from a guy with a lot more upside. Josh Bynes is a good example of a guy who is currently on the team who can do that.

I have doubts about Juice being as good as Leach, but we really didn't have much of a choice in the matter when releasing Leach.

I hear ya in regards to Juice. I don't think he will ever be a true FB, I think he's more of an H-back. The problem is he is undersized. He could be valuable as an H-back in Kubiac's system, but if we want a traditional FB, we will have to look elsewhere.

Both of these moves were necessary though. It looks like we're going to break the bank on Monroe, so every bit helps. Especially since these players didn't have a big role in our future.

[rmw10]

You can be sure Tony Romo will never forget it.  It's one of those jobs everyone thinks is a waste of roster space until the guy holding the ball screws up, and I agree, having experienced our own share of kicking woes in Baltimore over the past few seasons, having a solid group of guys working together is important.

 

He may still have a job with the raised cap.  He would have a net savings of $1M when a replacement P is taken into account.  I don't see $1M making or breaking any sort of deal we want to make in FA, so I think it's plausible that he stays at this point.

[bMore Heathen]

He may still have a job with the raised cap. He would have a net savings of $1M when a replacement P is taken into account. I don't see $1M making or breaking any sort of deal we want to make in FA, so I think it's plausible that he stays at this point.

Yeah, I don't see him being cut at this point. We'll probably bring in an UDFA to compete, and if he gets beat out, then we make a move. But there's little benifit to cut him now.

[display name]

He can score touchdowns too

He's also done a good job on fake punts. He ran for a first down against Dallas in week 16 of 2008 that helped us win a very tight game, and he threw a sharp pass to Cary Williams in 2010 against Miami that allowed the offense to take over again.

[Raven07]

the move saves us $4.95 million in cap space, and as reported earlier, we were already under the cap with about $16-17 million in space, this puts us at about between 20-21 million or so in room.

[PurpleCityLights]

Sooooo we will be drafting a blocking TE?

[ravensfan520]

Sounds like McClain could be back at a reduced price, but Leach is most likely gone for good.

VontaLeach44 ‏@vleach44 2 mins

Thanks for the memories #Ravenation http://twitpic.com/dwu58c http://twitpic.com/dwu58h

WNST ‏@WNST 3 mins

Ryan: Jameel McClain said the news is fresh to him, but he said the team wants him back. Said "the story's not finished."

I really hope we can resign McClain to a smaller deal. He is a leader and a can still make plays. His cap was too big I understand so I hope we can resign him to a more cap friendly contract.

[jdynamite]

Not surprised by either release.... Only thing that semi-bothers me is that McClain came back later in the season from injury and got a lot of reps I wanted A.Brown to get and help his development.

Leach struggled right along with the entire Oline and run game, barely got used late so I became curious if Juice could give us the same production.

If they don't like juice as a blocker. FB from Oklahoma could be a late compensatory pick.

[52520Andrew]

Well it is sad to see them go but I can't say that this was unexpected. Good luck out there guys