Ravens OTAs and minicamp discussion

[ellicottraven]

After yet another injury to Camp (the quad injury), I just don't see him making the team honestly.

There is still a full training camp ahead for him to showcase his skills as a receiver. Too early to write anybody in or out at this point imo.

[757RavensFan]

I know it's early and 3 months before the season starts, but is anyone surprised that we haven't heard any reports on how Maxx Williams is doing so far?  I know he missed the 1st OTA session, but we haven't heard/read one thing on him from the rookie camp or this week's OTA.  From everything I've seen, Boyle is the one getting the most pub. 

Edited June 5, 2015 by 757RavensFan

[January J]

We gotta remember Maxx is like 20 years old. Yes he's officially a pro but he's now competing and running with grown men who have jobs to win. It may just take Maxx a bit of time to develop. Now I'm not saying he is struggling or that he won't do well this year, it may just be a case where Maxx mat have to get a bit stronger or it might just be a case where reporters are more surprised at what a guy like Boyle is doing becauae he's looking just as good as Max but you kind of expect it from Maxx as a 2nd round guy, but if you looked at Boyle's as a small school blocking TE, but now you see some Dennis Pitta traits in him, that's worth reporting about.

[Ravensfan23]

Glad to hear that Kamar Aiken is shining in OTAs. Hoping that he can be a playmaker this season. I'd like to hear how Marlon Brown is doing though, ideally I think the best starting WRs we could have are SSR at #1, Marlon at #2 and Breshad at #3 with Kamar, Camp, Waller backing them up.

 

To hear Aiken is doing well is not a all surprising, but I too am glad to hear it and hope he can be more of a playmaker this year. Last season was a great starting point for Aiken and I hoped he'd follow that up with a strong offseason/preseason of work. It looks like he's doing just that right now. 

 

I've based a lot of my opinion on what the offense will look like based on what I've seen from the Bears the last two seasons. However that's a mistake imo. We won't really know what this offense will look like until we see Trestman put together game plans to highlight certain players. I think he could go to a WR heavy WCO like he had with the Oakland Raiders when Tim Brown, Jerry Rice and Jerry Porter all had over 50 catches with the RB having 90 catches. Now i'm not saying any of our guys are HOF type WR, with the exception of Sr. but I do think we could have a offense were 3-4 WRs catch 50+. But I could also see a TE/HB heavy type offense, then we also can't forget the 3 headed monster we seem to be forming at RB. So i'm excited to see what Trestman will be able to do with the offensive pieces that Ozzie has provided. 

 

The fact that Marc is throwing everything at the guys right now, tells me that he'll be a lot more creative and multiple then what Kubes was. No knock to Kubes because I loved what he brought to the team and wished he would have stayed. However i go back to last season and there were times that the offense just looked stagnant without a clue of how to get on the right track. Now that's not to say Kubes did anything wrong in those situations, but Trestman seems like the type of OC who's really good at making tweaks to an offense and taking it to the next level. Many say that the 2002 Raiders team was more of Gruden's offense then Trestman, but Marc definitely helped take it to another level. I can't wait to see what tweaks he'll make to the offense this year.

[FerrariFan87]

Too early to tell.  But if he misses any significant time from training camp, he's gonna have a serious uphill battle to make the team. You can't make the team if you're always in the training room.

Yup, you can't make the team in the tub!

[redlobster]

Good job of Crocket Gilmore gaining 15lbs of muscle in less then a year! Bad for Arthur Brown it took him 3 years to gain about 7lbs..... Jus saying

 

Gillmore is also 1/2 ft taller than brown.

[Ravensfan23]

There is still a full training camp ahead for him to showcase his skills as a receiver. Too early to write anybody in or out at this point imo.

 

Too early to tell.  But if he misses any significant time from training camp, he's gonna have a serious uphill battle to make the team. You can't make the team if you're always in the training room.

 

I agree it's too early to write him off but we can't act as if he's not missing precious time right now. We hold training camp in high regards because we see it as "real football" while OTAs is run in shorts and shells. However there is a reason that coaches put so much emphasis on these "Voluntary" practices. However TC is only a 2 week process, in terms of competition portion of TC. After the 2nd week of TC, you start to move onto installs for the season and the guys who you determine will play a large role in what you wanna do going forward will have much of the focus and practice time. Right now, ever WR will be catching passes from Joe and Schuab, but during a certain point in camp, you'll have guys that only work on the back fields as 3rd team guys. Right now opinions and impressions are being formed and Camp isn't in a position to help his cause. It's  a very important time.

 

Let's say at the time that Carter was added to the mix of Camp and Robinson, the coaches formed the early opinion that it would only be room on the roster for 1 of those guys, even before practices started. Now Carter is the only guy that can make a statement that says...i'm you guy as a returner and can handle the slot role as well. So if that is the case where coaches say, hey we only have room for one of those guys(not saying that's the case), then right now Carter has a huge opportunity to make that impression on the coaches so once training camp does start, guess who's getting the bulk of 1st team reps and now unless Carter just sucks in camp, he'll probably have an upper hand. 

 

Now i'm not saying we should write Camp off, but I think the injury is a huge negative to his chances of making the team right now and he may just be too far behind in TC to even prove himself. We'll see. 

[beasy2487]

To hear Aiken is doing well is not a all surprising, but I too am glad to hear it and hope he can be more of a playmaker this year. Last season was a great starting point for Aiken and I hoped he'd follow that up with a strong offseason/preseason of work. It looks like he's doing just that right now.

I've based a lot of my opinion on what the offense will look like based on what I've seen from the Bears the last two seasons. However that's a mistake imo. We won't really know what this offense will look like until we see Trestman put together game plans to highlight certain players. I think he could go to a WR heavy WCO like he had with the Oakland Raiders when Tim Brown, Jerry Rice and Jerry Porter all had over 50 catches with the RB having 90 catches. Now i'm not saying any of our guys are HOF type WR, with the exception of Sr. but I do think we could have a offense were 3-4 WRs catch 50+. But I could also see a TE/HB heavy type offense, then we also can't forget the 3 headed monster we seem to be forming at RB. So i'm excited to see what Trestman will be able to do with the offensive pieces that Ozzie has provided.

The fact that Marc is throwing everything at the guys right now, tells me that he'll be a lot more creative and multiple then what Kubes was. No knock to Kubes because I loved what he brought to the team and wished he would have stayed. However i go back to last season and there were times that the offense just looked stagnant without a clue of how to get on the right track. Now that's not to say Kubes did anything wrong in those situations, but Trestman seems like the type of OC who's really good at making tweaks to an offense and taking it to the next level. Many say that the 2002 Raiders team was more of Gruden's offense then Trestman, but Marc definitely helped take it to another level. I can't wait to see what tweaks he'll make to the offense this year.

this is a great assessment. trestman has helmed championship quality offensive schemes for mutiple teams and multiple leagues if you factor in his CFL days (fun fact: he had Andrew Hawkins on a couple of those teams). to your point, that tells me this isn't a man that has a base scheme that he's shopping to different franchises like Kubes, but rather a guy that tailors his approach to the specific circumstances he's in.

[ludy51]

I know it's early and 3 months before the season starts, but is anyone surprised that we haven't heard any reports on how Maxx Williams is doing so far? I know he missed the 1st OTA session, but we haven't heard/read one thing on him from the rookie camp or this week's OTA. From everything I've seen, Boyle is the one getting the most pub.

I think they're just moving guys around, seeing what they can do. We'll here about him more in training camp.

[Ravensfan23]

this is a great assessment. trestman has helmed championship quality offensive schemes for mutiple teams and multiple leagues if you factor in his CFL days (fun fact: he had Andrew Hawkins on a couple of those teams). to your point, that tells me this isn't a man that has a base scheme that he's shopping to different franchises like Kubes, but rather a guy that tailors his approach to the specific circumstances he's in.

 

Yea, it'll sound strange but I see this offense being a lot like the 2006 defense. That Organized Chaos type. Now obviously an offense can't move around as freely as a defense, but what i mean is that each week the Ravens offense could look different dependent upon what defense they are facing. Now of course they'll be a foundation to the offense and I think it'll be a Joe Flacco featured offense. If the defense can force turnovers and 3 & outs the way i expect, I can see the Ravens being a lot more aggressive in the passing game. I really expected to see Kubes take full advantage of Flacco's big arm with play action passing but he didn't do that. Not sure way. But I definitely think Marc will take advantage of matchups more so then Kubes did. 

[Underdogsontop!]

Good to hear Ricky Wagner ranked 2nd out of top 35 right tackles according to B/R

[Sami84]

Good to hear Ricky Wagner ranked 2nd out of top 35 right tackles according to B/R

 

Forgive my ignorance but whats B/R?

[757RavensFan]

Forgive my ignorance but whats B/R?

 

Bleacher report website.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2486809-baltimore-ravens-ota-standouts-worth-keeping-an-eye-on-this-offseason/page/1#articles/2329723-br-nfl-1000-top-35-right-tackles

[Underdogsontop!]

Forgive my ignorance but whats B/R?

Bleacher Report. Good app to have on your smart phone. No worries I'm still trying to figure out what "IMO" stands for. Lol

[SeaHawk]

IMO = in my opinion

[ludy51]

I still don't know what IDK means but nobody else seems to know either.

[codizzle]

This is Football OTA's not shorthand OTA's

Amiright?

[Sami84]

Oh i have bleacher report ... Just was braindead and couldnt think. Yeh saw the article now. Hope wagner fully recovers.

[Underdogsontop!]

Was jus an innocent question. Some people are really sensitive.

[Sami84]

Anyhow for me i really have a gut feeling that urschel could be a bettwr center than zuttah. Now dont get me wrong.. Zuttah can run block but he is easily pushed back in the passing game

[The Raven]

Anyhow for me i really have a gut feeling that urschel could be a bettwr center than zuttah. Now dont get me wrong.. Zuttah can run block but he is easily pushed back in the passing game

 

Disagree. Zuttah can barely run block. He's not that great in either aspect of his game.

[Static]

Disagree. Zuttah can barely run block. He's not that great in either aspect of his game.

 

He's good at not being Gino or A.Q Shipley

[sflegend89]

He's good at not being Gino or A.Q Shipley

 

Still can't believe the Broncos traded for Gino, don't get me wrong he seems like a great guy and all but I wouldn't trade a turkey sandwich for him. Gino was a big reason why the offense struggled so bad in 2013, we had an open flood gate right at the heart of our OL, made running the ball and basic pass protection a nightmare. Once the scouting report was out that Gino was a weak link we got mercilessly blitzed right up the gut and had no answer for it.

Edited June 5, 2015 by sflegend89

[PurpleCity5]

I wouldn't be shocked If Urschel becomes our starting C. 

[Moderator 3]

Still can't believe the Broncos traded for Gino, don't get me wrong he seems like a great guy and all but I wouldn't trade a turkey sandwich for him. Gino was a big reason why the offense struggled so bad in 2013, we had an open flood gate right at the heart of our OL, made running the ball and basic pass protection a nightmare. Once the scouting report was out that Gino was a weak link we got mercilessly blitzed right up the gut and had no answer for it.

That was 2013, when the whole line struggled. He might have actually improved. Kubiak certainly knew what he's getting.

[Edgar]

I wouldn't be shocked If Urschel becomes our starting C.

I wouldn't either. Zuttah has played guard and if urschel beats him out, he provides great depth at both positions.

[Underdogsontop!]

I wonder if Urschel did become the starting center if our FO would then use zuttah as trading bait or a back up.

[PurpleCity5]

I wonder if Urschel did become the starting center if our FO would then use zuttah as trading bait or a back up.

Back up, though there could be some teams that would approach for a trade, but I don't think it'll be one we can't reject. He'll give good flexibility/depth. 

[izvoodoo]

Back up, though there could be some teams that would approach for a trade, but I don't think it'll be one we can't reject. He'll give good flexibility/depth. 

I'm also pretty sure he's our only other center.  

[PurpleCity5]

I'm also pretty sure he's our only other center.

We do have Jensen. I'm just saying if its an offer we can't reject, somewhat of a 3rd rounder, which is very unlikely. I do think reguardless if Urschel wins the C job that we'll still keep Zuttah.