Ozzie the Great!

[Ravensfan23]

Rebuilding? Retooling? Or Those words aren't in Ozzie's vocabulary?

Im sure there will be some additional moves made to this team. But looking back to the draft after the SB and the backlash of Joe's contract(crazy) there is an incredible story being told about just how good Ozzie and company are. You look around the NFL at so?e of these cuts and you're seeing 2nd and 3rd round picks being cut from 2013 and 2014 drafts. You look at a team like the Steelers who are so respected for their drafting and always having good young talent, but even their head coach says their defense sucks. Meanwhile Ozzie and company has drafted a total of 28 players since 2013's draft. 23 of those players are currently on the roster or IRed and Of those 23 i count 19 who will be expected to start, be a key backup or at least play ST this year.

Mosley, Jernigan, Brooks, Gilmore, Urschel, Taliaferro, Camp, Brown, Williams, Juice, KLM, Wagner, Perriman, Maxx, Davis, Buck, Walker, Boyle and ZDS.

That doesn't count the UDFA/Practice Squad players added during this time of Marlon, Aiken, Trawick, Levine, Hurst, Orr and Melvin.

That's a total of 35 players who make up the 53 man roster. That's special imo. There was a little debate about if Ozzie has lost his touch because he hasn't drafted any pro bowlers, but when you sit back and see how his man is loading this team up for another 5-7 years of being among the top teams in the NFL. Also guys like Jimmy, Upshaw, KO and Hill are still considered young.

I don't know how common this is around the NFL cause i don't care enough about other teams, but i do know that Ozzie has stacked this team with enough talent that the Ravens should be a consistent 10-12 win team with Flacco at the wheel. Word was that the Ravens were rebuilding after the Super Bowl win, if that's the case then Ozzie has a job running a GM mentorship once he retires because he's one of if not the best in all of sports. Im not saying anything fans don't already know but it's still amazing to watch Ozzie work.

[ludy51]

Don't forget trading an undrafted rookie, in his first year, for a draft pick

[Rav'n Maniac]

Well said!

[Static]

I think we are due for another down year sometime while we move out older guys and get young guys up to speed.

 

ALOT of our key players are old tbh. 

[Ravenseconbeast]

Ozzie could really be the first(and only) GM to be voted in the HOF twice. One as a player and one in the next 10year

[Tank 92]

Oz is always thinking 3 steps ahead. That along with a keen sense of judging football talent and cap management are the things that make him so special.  The hope is that his protege has learned well and the consistency continues for the foreseeable future.

[Guest]

Rebuilding? Retooling? Or Those words aren't in Ozzie's vocabulary?

Im sure there will be some additional moves made to this team. But looking back to the draft after the SB and the backlash of Joe's contract(crazy) there is an incredible story being told about just how good Ozzie and company are. You look around the NFL at so?e of these cuts and you're seeing 2nd and 3rd round picks being cut from 2013 and 2014 drafts. There was a lot of talk about Arthur Brown being one of those. You look at a team like the Steelers who are so respected for their drafting and always having good young talent, but even their head coach says their defense sucks. Meanwhile Ozzie and company has drafted a total of 28 players since 2013's draft. 23 of those players are currently on the roster or IRed and Of those 23 i count 19 who will be expected to start, be a key backup or at least play ST this year.

Mosley, Jernigan, Brooks, Gilmore, Urschel, Taliaferro, Camp, Brown, Williams, Juice, KLM, Wagner, Perriman, Maxx, Davis, Buck, Walker, Boyle and ZDS.

That doesn't count the UDFA/Practice Squad players added during this time of Marlon, Aiken, Trawick, Levine, Hurst, Orr and Melvin.

That's a total of 35 (26) players who make up the 53 man roster. That's special imo. There was a little debate about if Ozzie has lost his touch because he hasn't drafted any pro bowlers, but when you sit back and see how his man is loading this team up for another 5-7 years of being among the top teams in the NFL. Also guys like Jimmy, Upshaw, KO and Hill are still considered young.

I don't know how common this is around the NFL cause i don't care enough about other teams, but i do know that Ozzie has stacked this team with enough talent that the Ravens should be a consistent 10-12 win team with Flacco at the wheel. Word was that the Ravens were rebuilding after the Super Bowl win, if that's the case then Ozzie has a job running a GM mentorship once he retires because he's one of if not the best in all of sports. Im not saying anything fans don't already know but it's still amazing to watch Ozzie work.

 

You know, I'm optimistic about this coming year, but I think I'd have saved my Praise of Oz post until after perhaps game 4 of the regular season. 

 

Or at least maybe game 1.

[Purple Punishment]

I think we are due for another down year sometime while we move out older guys and get young guys up to speed.

ALOT of our key players are old tbh.

Sami?? That you???

[Sami84]

Don't forget trading an undrafted rookie, in his first year, for a draft pick

 

just hope he doesn't turn into a jeff saturday, matt birk or james harrison :/

[Ravensfan23]

You know, I'm optimistic about this coming year, but I think I'd have saved my Praise of Oz post until after perhaps game 4 of the regular season. 

 

Or at least maybe game 1.

So it would take you until week for to how good Ozzie is? I don't need to wait to see what Ozzie has done over the last few years and even longer. Ozzie and company know how to build a team, i don't need to see the results of the first 4 games to see that.

[pep_meister]

Don't forget trading an undrafted rookie, in his first year, for a draft pick

would have rather kept him honestly. felt like our diamond in the rough.

 

could be completely wrong, just a franchise center sounds nice. 

Edited September 6, 2015 by pep_meister

[Ravensfan23]

I think we are due for another down year sometime while we move out older guys and get young guys up to speed.

 

ALOT of our key players are old tbh.

I could see that happening but it 2013 is considered a down year because you miss the playoffs by a game i think you can deal with that. I mean we are spoiled when you consider. If the Ravens played in any other AFC division they'd be 12+ win team every year imo.

I honestly don't think the core is old or at least too old. The old guys left after the Super Bowl. I don't wanna diminish guys like Zuttah, D. Smith, Smitty and Canty but Ozzie finds guys like that whenever needed. Mason, Boldin and now Smitty Ozzie does a great job of bring guys like that in to guide the young WRs. I wouldn't be shocked one bit to see a guy like Vicent Jackson signed next season if needed. Ozzie has never had trouble finding ILB talent and the oline seems to have pieces in place. The only position I really worry about is OLB, but we'll see what ZDS does and if Upshaw is re-signed.

[Ravensfan23]

just hope he doesn't turn into a jeff saturday, matt birk or james harrison :/

He sent to SF, chances are he'll either be cut or retire next season. But seriously as long as the guys we kept works out and he stays out West I wish him the best.

[K-Dog]

You know, I'm optimistic about this coming year, but I think I'd have saved my Praise of Oz post until after perhaps game 4 of the regular season. 

 

Or at least maybe game 1.

I have all the evidence I need ( quite a few years worth )  I know Ozzie is the man.

[JO_75]

I could see that happening but it 2013 is considered a down year because you miss the playoffs by a game i think you can deal with that. I mean we are spoiled when you consider. If the Ravens played in any other AFC division they'd be 12+ win team every year imo.

 

If that's considered a down year, I think the Oaklands, Jacksonvilles of the league would love for missing the playoffs by one game to be considered a down year for them. Seriously though, it's 2015 and we've had winning seasons since hiring Harbaugh. Last official down year was 2007, 8 years ago. Truly amazing how well of a job Ozzie does despite all the "we've lost so and so, we've lost this guy so that means we'll suffer" nonsense. I believe Paul Kruger may be the only one of recent draft picks of the last couple years that is still on his original team that signed him in FA.

[JO_75]

I have all the evidence I need ( 20 years worth )  I know Ozzie is the man.

 

Fixed it.

[GrimCoconut]

If that's considered a down year, I think the Oaklands, Jacksonvilles of the league would love for missing the playoffs by one game to be considered a down year for them. Seriously though, it's 2015 and we've had winning seasons since hiring Harbaugh. Last official down year was 2007, 8 years ago. Truly amazing how well of a job Ozzie does despite all the "we've lost so and so, we've lost this guy so that means we'll suffer" nonsense. I believe Paul Kruger may be the only one of recent draft picks of the last couple years that is still on his original team that signed him in FA.

Arthur Jones & Cory Redding are the two who come to mind that managed to stick around with their teams. Redding wasn't one of our draft picks, though. Jones would be the other guy who is still on his team, although it's hard to say how long. Ben Grubbs lasted a while with the Saints before getting traded this offseason. We usually do keep the best guys here, however. 

[Tank 92]

Right player, right price.  Well, at least more times than not!

[ellicottraven]

Ozzie could really be the first(and only) GM to be voted in the HOF twice. One as a player and one in the next 10year

You cannot be voted twice into the HOF per the established rules right now. Once you are in, that's the curtain call.

In fact I thought there was an article here by Eisenberg or somebody else regarding this very topic not very long back if memory serves me right.

Edited September 6, 2015 by ellicottraven

[Ravenseconbeast]

You cannot be voted twice into the HOF per the established rules right now. Once you are in, that's the curtain call.

In fact I thought there was an article here by Eisenberg or somebody else regarding this very topic not very long back if memory serves me right.

 In 10 years..you never know.   A lot can be done by then.

 

maybe another 2 hof player selected, another 2 SB.   that will probably solidify Ozzie to put him in another category.   

Im pretty sure anyone would agree Ozzie tops Bill Polian in terms of being a GM.   Polian had a lot of hits and MISSES.   Ozzie seems to always have great crop of players every year.   

[ellicottraven]

 In 10 years..you never know.   A lot can be done by then.

 

maybe another 2 hof player selected, another 2 SB.   that will probably solidify Ozzie to put him in another category.   

Im pretty sure anyone would agree Ozzie tops Bill Polian in terms of being a GM.   Polian had a lot of hits and MISSES.   Ozzie seems to always have great crop of players every year.   

I don't disagree with you that Ozzie deserves to go in as GM as well, but I'm just letting you know that may not be allowed per current rules.

[Guest]

would have rather kept him honestly. felt like our diamond in the rough.

 

could be completely wrong, just a franchise center sounds nice. 

 

I thought the kid was playing well too. It was hard to evaluate though. Birk was from Harvard if I recall correctly and maybe this kid will turn into something valuable.

[Tru11]

HOF committee already said you can only be enshrined once.

 

would love it to happen but it wont unless they change the rules and we get new voters.

[Guest]

So it would take you until week for to how good Ozzie is? I don't need to wait to see what Ozzie has done over the last few years and even longer. Ozzie and company know how to build a team, i don't need to see the results of the first 4 games to see that.

 

Flacco said only 10 wins would be a disappointment.

 

I hope the 2015 Draft is one of his best, following 2014 which currently appears a darn good draft. I love the receivers taken, but only production ratifies impressions.  We also have some other problems and some of them are self inflicted. So I'm not ready to sing for singings sake. If the receivers pan out and the defense holds, I'll be in full opera mode. If they don't the Fat Lady will have belted out the final notes.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Danny D

[gooftroop]

I think Joe takes his cue from Bisciotti, who has often said that his benchmark for a successful season is having a home playoff game.

[slangin_birds]

Rebuilding? Retooling? Or Those words aren't in Ozzie's vocabulary?

Im sure there will be some additional moves made to this team. But looking back to the draft after the SB and the backlash of Joe's contract(crazy) there is an incredible story being told about just how good Ozzie and company are. You look around the NFL at so?e of these cuts and you're seeing 2nd and 3rd round picks being cut from 2013 and 2014 drafts. You look at a team like the Steelers who are so respected for their drafting and always having good young talent, but even their head coach says their defense sucks. Meanwhile Ozzie and company has drafted a total of 28 players since 2013's draft. 23 of those players are currently on the roster or IRed and Of those 23 i count 19 who will be expected to start, be a key backup or at least play ST this year.

Mosley, Jernigan, Brooks, Gilmore, Urschel, Taliaferro, Camp, Brown, Williams, Juice, KLM, Wagner, Perriman, Maxx, Davis, Buck, Walker, Boyle and ZDS.

That doesn't count the UDFA/Practice Squad players added during this time of Marlon, Aiken, Trawick, Levine, Hurst, Orr and Melvin.

That's a total of 35 players who make up the 53 man roster. That's special imo. There was a little debate about if Ozzie has lost his touch because he hasn't drafted any pro bowlers, but when you sit back and see how his man is loading this team up for another 5-7 years of being among the top teams in the NFL. Also guys like Jimmy, Upshaw, KO and Hill are still considered young.

I don't know how common this is around the NFL cause i don't care enough about other teams, but i do know that Ozzie has stacked this team with enough talent that the Ravens should be a consistent 10-12 win team with Flacco at the wheel. Word was that the Ravens were rebuilding after the Super Bowl win, if that's the case then Ozzie has a job running a GM mentorship once he retires because he's one of if not the best in all of sports. Im not saying anything fans don't already know but it's still amazing to watch Ozzie work.

on top of that, with the way the salary cap works in the nfl in their attempt to encourage competition, it has become increasingly difficult to really create lasting success. i think that just goes to show how lucky the ravens are to have the front office and scouting department we do who consistently have above average drafts. as has been said before, drafting college players can most definitely be a crapshoot at times because of the many factors that go into a player successfully transitioning from the college to pro game. the success of said players, in my opinion, correlates with the skill of the teams front office, which is why you don't see us cutting recent draft picks like a lot of other teams.

[Ravensfan23]

Flacco said only 10 wins would be a disappointment.

 

I hope the 2015 Draft is one of his best, following 2014 which currently appears a darn good draft. I love the receivers taken, but only production ratifies impressions.  We also have some other problems and some of them are self inflicted. So I'm not ready to sing for singings sake. If the receivers pan out and the defense holds, I'll be in full opera mode. If they don't the Fat Lady will have belted out the final notes.

Flacco's comments is the whole point. How many teams can go into a season sayng that 10 wins would be a disappointment and the team is supposed to be in rebuilding mode. I don't think people realize that. Not saying you fall in this category, but fans around here have pretty short memories. There was people ready to call for the desmise of Ozzie and Harbs after paying Flacco what he deserved and losing all those players, especially Ray and Ed.

Hell let some people tell it the Ravens weren't even gonna be relevant without Ed and Ray. Harbs and Flacco weren't leaders and without Ray the team would fold. Ozzie mortgaged the future for Flacco. The offense won't be good without Boldin, Ozzie is drafting too many defensive guys in the first 3 rounds and not enough offense, Ozzie is losing his touch. All these things were said over the last couple years.

There are analyst picking the Ravens as their SB team right now. I haven't seen a ranking that has the Ravens ranked lower then the 4th best team behind all the media darlings of Pats, Colts and Broncos. That just shouldn't happen with a team is "rebuilding". Ozzie learned his lesson after having to rebuild the from the 2000 SB team and i personally think he's learned it well.

We are so spoiled as fans we're sometimes blinded to the great things that Ozzie and company do. It's gotta be a lot of pressure for those guys to operate under a Super Bowl or bust environment, but i wouldn't want to be in another position as a fam nor have another GM tandem of Ozzie and Eric. Gotta give DeCosta so love too.

[Ravensfan23]

on top of that, with the way the salary cap works in the nfl in their attempt to encourage competition, it has become increasingly difficult to really create lasting success. i think that just goes to show how lucky the ravens are to have the front office and scouting department we do who consistently have above average drafts. as has been said before, drafting college players can most definitely be a crapshoot at times because of the many factors that go into a player successfully transitioning from the college to pro game. the success of said players, in my opinion, correlates with the skill of the teams front office, which is why you don't see us cutting recent draft picks like a lot of other teams.

Yea and that speaks to how good Harbs and his staff is at player development. Harbs has his flaws but one of the areas you can't question is his ability to select quality coaches who do a great job of developing guys. Harbs has done such a great job as a 1st time HC that other coaches who have been HCs before praise him and talk about how much they learned under him. Despite having so much coaching change he still just trust those guys to do their jobs instead of trying to micromanage. But this also goes all the way up to the top. Mr. Biscotti has often said he runs the Ravens like he runs the staffing company that made him wealthy. He said he just puts guys in position and trust them to do the job they are hired to do. That sounds simple but looking at teams like the Cowboys and Redskins it's rare.

[hawkprey]

The 2014 draft was such a slam-dunk. Mosley and Jernigan could have HOF careers. Gillmore, Taliaferro and Campanaro look great and will be big factors this year. Urschel is probably one of the best backup G/Cs in the league, and Urban flashed before he got hurt again. 

 

The 2013 class stunk overall, so it's fortunate that we got good players out of any round, but we still picked up one of the best FBs and RTs in the league, and two good backups in KLM and Jensen. Elam and Brown just underwhelmed so far.

 

I would say we rebuilt pretty quick.

[JoeyFlex5]

Don't forget trading an undrafted rookie, in his first year, for a draft pick

ozzie always has a signature moment every offseason, i think this is that signature moment, not gonna affect the team in a huge way but it just shows how brilliant he is