[News] Late For Work 5/18: Ozzie Newsome Losing Patience With Two Possible Contract Extensions?

[ellicottraven]

As much as I hate to say it, I must wish the best of luck to Yanda and Tucker should they decide to try the open market in search of a bigger deal. We need to start working K.O's deal right away and get him signed to a contract. As for Tucker, we're going to miss his accuracy and personality, but the Ravens will learn to move on from him as well. I am near certain we'll find an adequate replacement without killing the bank if that is what their agents want Ozzie, Moriarty and the Ravens to do.

We've got way too many other priorities on the salary cap to over extend ourselves. However, having said all that I do wish the players would just accept fair market value and sign long term.

[rmcjacket23]

As much as I hate to say it, I must wish the best of luck to Yanda and Tucker should they decide to try the open market in search of a bigger deal. We need to start working K.O's deal right away and get him signed to a contract. As for Tucker, we're going to miss his accuracy and personality, but the Ravens will learn to move on from him as well. I am near certain we'll find an adequate replacement without killing the bank if that is what their agents want Ozzie, Moriarty and the Ravens to do. We've got way too many other priorities on the salary cap to over extend ourselves. However, having said all that I do wish the players would just accept fair market value and sign long term.

I honestly don't know why fans are so concerned about Tucker's deal. He's a kicker. He's not going to make that much money, and he could easily be franchise tagged for a reasonable price. If we are willing to carry a $3M cap hit for a punter (who probably holds less value compared to his peers than Tucker does), I don't think carrying a $4M cap hit at most for a kicker is going to be a problem.

 

I have zero doubt he will be here long-term. Think of it this way... in 2016, the Ravens could cut Chris Canty (which they almost certainly will do anyway) and a depth player (somebody like a Lawrence Guy) and can free up over $3M in cap space, which is in the ballpark of what Tucker will cost.

 

Heck, cutting Steve Smith next season (which again is incredibly possible) frees up $3M. I'm not even remotely concerned about Tucker.

[RavenManiac#7]

I guess I am a very greedy man. I didn't really realize it until now, but I think I am. I think that because I very much want Ozzie to be able to come to terms on extensions with Yanda, Tucker, and KO too. That's right, all three. Yanda and Tucker surprise me. I would have thought that both of these guys would be Highly motivated to get this done. Yanda, to assure himself that he would retire a Raven, and with the kind of money suggested, doubling one's income ain't chicken feed, and is within the realm of the highest paid OLs. And he would be on a perennial threat to get to the SB as well. And now, Tucker. He seems to genuinely be happy in Baltimore. He is a Huge Orioles fan, an extremely happy and outgoing personality type person, and I just can't bring myself to think that he would want to play elsewhere. Of course, I am certainly not privy to what goes through his mind. Maybe he Does have some desire to play on a team situated closer to his original home area. Who knows? But, again, I would think that he, also, would want to play for a SB potential team. Everybody likes to win, and Tucker is definitely highly competitive. I have to believe that the Ravens will not try to "low ball" him. There's no doubt that the organization wants him and would much prefer not to have to try to replace him. He's a very popular player and I really believe he's the best at what he does in the entire league. KO, as much as I'd like to see us retain him, probably isn't as committed to wanting to stay a Raven as a Yanda just because of his longevity with the team being considerably less. But, to me, I think Yanda and KO are probably as good, or nearly so, as any guard tandom in the league. Yeah, I guess I'm greedy, because I just don't like the idea of losing any of these guys. I'd really like to see Ozzie find a way to satisfy all three of them and extend them all for the long haul. Here's to hoping it gets done.

[RavenManiac#7]

It grieves me, and I can't believe I'm saying this because I am a HUGE Tucker fan, but with a great front line and a great quarterback, you win games with touchdowns, and the kicker is only there for kickoffs and extra points.  I think we need to sign Yanda first, protect Flacco, and win games with offense.  Now, in the Trent Dilfer days, we needed a great kicker like Stover to compensate for our average offense.  And, yes, I love Tucker and hope he stays a Raven for life!

A kicker is only there for kickoffs and extra points? Really! You say win games with offense. Well, the last time I checked, field goals were a HUGE part of a team's offense. Go back and count how many games Tucker has won for us with field goals, game winning field goals. How about the game winner in the closing seconds from, what, 61 yards or something like that. There aren't but maybe a few place kickers in the whole game who would have the leg and accuracy to make that kick. And under that kind of pressure!!! Tucker is a VERY important member of our team and would be extremely difficult to replace. Chances are that if we lose Tucker, our kicking game will suffer a downgrade in quality. Unfortunately, I can still remember the Billy "Can't Kick" days, when we had to punt from somewhere near our opponent's 35 yard line or so. The top kicker in this league makes around 4 million a year. Tucker should get top 5 money, and I sincerely hope he would accept that from us and that we are offering him that. I'm not saying it has to be that 4 mil, but it should probably be close. If we don't offer him that, I guarantee you someone will. He would be a HUGE loss.

[runcontrol]

He is more than likely basing this off of last years performances from QB's and with that in mind, Ben certainly was better than Manning and Bree's.

 

Brees and Ben tied for number one in yards. Brees beat Ben in TD's(by one) and a better completion percentage.  The only way Ben beat Brees is interceptions and Manning really isn't that far behind them.  He had more TDs than both of them and a comp% very close the Ben's.  

 

So the three are actually pretty close and I find it hard to believe that someone would side with Ben considering Brees and Manning have been playing at a high level for years and this is the first time Ben been has gone from being a really good qb, to a great qb.  And Ben only got there after he got hot in the middle of the season and you can't really bank on that happening every season.  

 

I can see Brees being a little bit lower because he lost his number one target to the Seahawks, but I would still take Manning over Ben for the first 13 weeks of the season.  

[rmcjacket23]

A kicker is only there for kickoffs and extra points? Really! You say win games with offense. Well, the last time I checked, field goals were a HUGE part of a team's offense. Go back and count how many games Tucker has won for us with field goals, game winning field goals. How about the game winner in the closing seconds from, what, 61 yards or something like that. There aren't but maybe a few place kickers in the whole game who would have the leg and accuracy to make that kick. And under that kind of pressure!!! Tucker is a VERY important member of our team and would be extremely difficult to replace. Chances are that if we lose Tucker, our kicking game will suffer a downgrade in quality. Unfortunately, I can still remember the Billy "Can't Kick" days, when we had to punt from somewhere near our opponent's 35 yard line or so. The top kicker in this league makes around 4 million a year. Tucker should get top 5 money, and I sincerely hope he would accept that from us and that we are offering him that. I'm not saying it has to be that 4 mil, but it should probably be close. If we don't offer him that, I guarantee you someone will. He would be a HUGE loss.

I believe he was referring to the idea that a more efficient offense that was capable of scoring TDs more frequently would, by definition, require less FGs.

 

If you could reduce Tucker from attempting two FGs a game down to 1-1.5, then by definition, he becomes less valuable. This can be done by scoring more TDs (or not moving the ball at all).

 

The wildcard with his value is based on whatever projected changes to PATs are going to occur. If the change is to move the PAT back to the 20-25 yard line, then kickers become slightly more valuable. If the change is to remove the PAT all together, then they become less valuable.

[Bat-mite]

If there was one additional second left in the game or an additional timeout left, Tucker would have had an opportunity to kick a game winning FG vs the Chargers this past season.  Having a kicker as accurate as Tucker is a weapon that many teams don't have the luxury of having.  You can't state enough how important Tucker has been to our success since he joined the Ravens.

But he only gets that opportunity if Flacco is upright and able to move the team into FG position.

[Bat-mite]

Do you know that the top three scoring Ravens are three kickers - Stover, Tucker and Cundiff? Yep, despite having played for "only" 3 seasons, Tucker scored the second most points in Baltimore Ravens history. His 401 points scored are almost 150 points more than Torrey (182) and  Boldin (86) combined. And he scored 117 more points than the best non-kicker (Jamal Lewis with 284 points - in 5 seasons, as opposed to Tucker's 3).

 

I would say that's a little more than "kickoffs and extra points".

Having Cundiff on the list proves that you don't have to be a great kicker to score a lot of point.  You need a great offense to move the team into field goal position.

 

Again, I am not dissing Tucker or kickers.  I'm just saying get Yanda first.

[Bat-mite]

if we had tucker in 2011 we would probably have another Super Bowl victory under out belts now. Can't deny the importance of a clutch kicker in crucial situations, when the games on the line in the playoffs I don't want to rely on anyone other than tucker. Also have to consider the possible moving back of the PAT this year. Not gonna make a huge difference but it does increase the value of a good kicker.

But is it more important than having a great O-line?  Should they let Yanda walk to keep Tucker?

[Bat-mite]

A kicker is only there for kickoffs and extra points? Really! You say win games with offense. Well, the last time I checked, field goals were a HUGE part of a team's offense. Go back and count how many games Tucker has won for us with field goals, game winning field goals. How about the game winner in the closing seconds from, what, 61 yards or something like that. There aren't but maybe a few place kickers in the whole game who would have the leg and accuracy to make that kick. And under that kind of pressure!!! Tucker is a VERY important member of our team and would be extremely difficult to replace. Chances are that if we lose Tucker, our kicking game will suffer a downgrade in quality. Unfortunately, I can still remember the Billy "Can't Kick" days, when we had to punt from somewhere near our opponent's 35 yard line or so. The top kicker in this league makes around 4 million a year. Tucker should get top 5 money, and I sincerely hope he would accept that from us and that we are offering him that. I'm not saying it has to be that 4 mil, but it should probably be close. If we don't offer him that, I guarantee you someone will. He would be a HUGE loss.

I'm not arguing any of that.  I'm just saying we need to get Yanda first.  it doesn't matter how good your kicker is if you have a weak O-line, a QB who doesn't have time to throw, and no running game because the O-line is getting pushed around.  In that scenario, you are 3-and-out, and the kicker never takes the field.  Get Yanda first!

[OzzieBisciotti]

Unfortunately, bye, bye Dennis Pitta. Maxx Williams is a stud and one of Ozzie's better picks.

[catgirl54]

These QB lists are ridiculous. Yesterday I saw Mark Brunell list Joe Flacco in the second tier QB list alongside Ryan Tannehill and Andy Dalton. Flacco has only won a Super Bowl and led his team to the playoffs every season but one. Dalton and Tannehill??? A joke! He also had Eli Manning in there. I believe Manning has two Super Bowl rings. As for next season, I think Flacco is going to make a lot of these so-called "experts" eat their words.

[RavenManiac#7]

I'm not arguing any of that.  I'm just saying we need to get Yanda first.  it doesn't matter how good your kicker is if you have a weak O-line, a QB who doesn't have time to throw, and no running game because the O-line is getting pushed around.  In that scenario, you are 3-and-out, and the kicker never takes the field.  Get Yanda first!

It looks like you're having to defend yourself quite a bit concerning your original post. Well, maybe I should say clarify, rather than defend. I think what happened was simply that a lot of people, myself included, didn't really get what you were saying, or if we did, then we read more into it than it sounds like you intended. You're explanation here is what kind of makes me think that, because I Do agree with you that a strong OL is Very important. We only have to remember back to 2013 to realize that. I agree that Yanda Is critical, and I hope we extend him just as much as I hope we get Tucker tied up for the long haul. I think losing either one of them is a horrible thought. But when you imply that without Yanda we will have a weak OL, well, I'm not really ready to concede that. While I desperately don't want to find out, I'm not so sure that finding a replacement for him would mean that our OL would be weak. I feel a little more sure that Tucker's excellence would be more difficult to replace. He's pretty much automatic and a weapon himself. He is so good that he actually does add a segment to our offense that we didn't have after Stover left. I don't want to have to weigh the loss of either of those guys or weigh their loss against each other, actually. I think they're both Big parts of our offense and I'm sure Ozzie agrees and will have Moriarity do All he can to keep them both. Actually, to me, I think the hardest one to hang onto just might be KO, but time will tell.

[RavenManiac#7]

I honestly don't know why fans are so concerned about Tucker's deal. He's a kicker. He's not going to make that much money, and he could easily be franchise tagged for a reasonable price. If we are willing to carry a $3M cap hit for a punter (who probably holds less value compared to his peers than Tucker does), I don't think carrying a $4M cap hit at most for a kicker is going to be a problem.

 

I have zero doubt he will be here long-term. Think of it this way... in 2016, the Ravens could cut Chris Canty (which they almost certainly will do anyway) and a depth player (somebody like a Lawrence Guy) and can free up over $3M in cap space, which is in the ballpark of what Tucker will cost.

 

Heck, cutting Steve Smith next season (which again is incredibly possible) frees up $3M. I'm not even remotely concerned about Tucker.

jacket, you always make so much sense. I'm gonna roll with what you said and not be concerned with losing Tucker any more. Actually, I Did think we would franchise tag him before we'd let him go. He's worth top 5 money anyway. And, bat mite, without the sentence "kickers are only for kickoffs and PATs", I probably wouldn't have over-reacted. I don't remember if you got any negs, but if you did, there wasn't one from me. I don't do that to Any one for stating their opinion and don't think anybody should. Besides what Tuck has done on the field, he has just embraced Balto. so fast that it's hard to imagine him not being here. Heck, he doesn't want to root for the O's via long distance.LOL.

[757RavensFan]

Makes you wonder if Tucker's agent was holding out on his deal until AFTER the owner's meeting.  Knowing that the extra point rule was going to possibly change at this meeting, if he did purposely wait, it was a genuis move on Tucker's agent's part.

Edited May 20, 2015 by 757RavensFan

[Bat-mite]

It looks like you're having to defend yourself quite a bit concerning your original post. Well, maybe I should say clarify, rather than defend. I think what happened was simply that a lot of people, myself included, didn't really get what you were saying, or if we did, then we read more into it than it sounds like you intended. You're explanation here is what kind of makes me think that, because I Do agree with you that a strong OL is Very important. We only have to remember back to 2013 to realize that. I agree that Yanda Is critical, and I hope we extend him just as much as I hope we get Tucker tied up for the long haul. I think losing either one of them is a horrible thought. But when you imply that without Yanda we will have a weak OL, well, I'm not really ready to concede that. While I desperately don't want to find out, I'm not so sure that finding a replacement for him would mean that our OL would be weak. I feel a little more sure that Tucker's excellence would be more difficult to replace. He's pretty much automatic and a weapon himself. He is so good that he actually does add a segment to our offense that we didn't have after Stover left. I don't want to have to weigh the loss of either of those guys or weigh their loss against each other, actually. I think they're both Big parts of our offense and I'm sure Ozzie agrees and will have Moriarity do All he can to keep them both. Actually, to me, I think the hardest one to hang onto just might be KO, but time will tell.

I pretty much agree with all that.  I am just remembering our season two years ago when we had such terrible woes on the OL, and how painful it was to see Flacco getting rushed, chased, and sacked all the time, and seeing our running game grind to a halt.  Tucker is an accurate, fun, charismatic player.  He is a high profile kicker who brings a lot of excitement to the game.  But the bottom line is--he needs the offense to get the team into FG position before he can even take the field.

[rmcjacket23]

Makes you wonder if Tucker's agent was holding out on his deal until AFTER the owner's meeting.  Knowing that the extra point rule was going to possibly change at this meeting, if he did purposely wait, it was a genuis move on Tucker's agent's part.

Could backfire though. We don't really what the outcome of this rule change will be yet in regards to what NFL teams will decide to do.

 

Its possible that teams will decide to go for 2 more, which makes the kicker LESS relevant.

[January J]

But is it more important than having a great O-line?  Should they let Yanda walk to keep Tucker?

thats the million dollar question. ima leave that one up to ozzie. id like to say yanda is more important, bc without an o line you are not getting in position to score any points in the first place. im trying not to be bias bc i am a huge tucker fan, but i think yanda is more valuable. heck his salary says so atleast.

[NARavenRush]

THE RAVEN BEACH BASH IS NOT TO FAR OFF. SEE YOU IN O.C MARYLAND

P.S. I over heard a Squeeler fan say their team never has a big party like this.

It's the Ravens Beach Bash, hard shell Maryland crabs, and Natty Boh.