[News] Late For Work 9/30: Don't Get Hopes Up For Alshon Jeffery, Matt Forte Trades

[rmcjacket23]

I don't see why we don't get Jeffries. The situation to me is perfect. So what if he is here for one year. We will have Perriman for sure for next year and this gives him time to get used to play without having the pressure of being the "man". We would only have to pay under 1 mil to get him for this year and if we cant sign him next year, that's ok. Maybe we have learned our lesson and maybe we do sign him since Smith is gone next year. Listen, we cant draft a receiver, we cant develop a receiver, we need to go get one. Jeffries is coming off an injury but is now ready to go. We need help NOW. Ozzie needs to jump on this. We have the space, we have the need and it would be nice to have him next year, and we can if we spend the bucks, but if not, then that's ok too, we need him NOW.

There is no way that Ozzie gives up a high draft pick for a one year rental on a team that's 0-3... I can't even fathom how we benefit from that.

 

If we added Jeffery and nobody else, I still don't see how any reasonable person who watches us play would then anoint us as a legitimate SB contender, because we simply wouldn't be. We could add Jeffery and still finish with 8 or 9 wins easily... so where exactly is the upside?

 

The ONLY scenario that makes sense is to trade a very high draft pick (likely at least a first or second rounder, possibly more) AND sign him to a large contract extension, easily north of $10M a year. I can't see the Ravens liking the idea of doing either right now.

[jravens13]

Steve Smith is retiring this year. We have had success signing proven veteran WR's (Mason, Boldin, Smith) and very poor results drafting WR's in the past. (Torrey was the only one worth his draft pick and never developed into a No 1. Drafting Perriman makes sense, because there is high upside, and for us to sign a veteran with his physical ability we would have to give up a huge contract. Now that we know Aiken, Brown will not develop into anything more than solid role players, we should decide the most cost effective way to address the position. Think if we signed Stevie Johnson 3YR/10.5M, Brian Hartline 2YR/6M, Percy Harvin 1YR/6M, Cecil Shorts 2YR/6M, Nate Washington 1YR/1M. These guys might not be dominant WR's, but they can be relied upon to get open and make plays unlike Brown and Aiken. I think we need a 2 solid Vet's to replace Smith, because you can't rely on Perriman to do everything himself after this year. Shoot, Santana Moss would be worth having on this team right now. I'm done believing we can develop WR's into starters. We never have, and most teams do have that ability. The only WR's worth drafting must be incredibly fast. Look at the Steelers recipe, because they sure have done a better job than us in that department.

[merryjman]

The fact that the front office and John Harbaugh are silent when it comes to Perriman's injury is inexcusable. The media has really let them slide on this and the fact that no information has been released is completely unprofessional. Having followed the Ravens for a long time, it's not that unusual for John to dance around injury questions but this is getting ridiculous. In fairness, some insight into the nature of the injury will not get our first round draft pick on the field any sooner but fans are really interested in the details rather than the ambiguity we've been getting. John's "I have no idea what you're talking about" in yesterday's presser was downright disrespectful. He needs to stop pretending that reporters are being nosy and understand that the reason these questions are being asked is because the people are sincerely interested in supporting their team and want its players to be healthy and successful.

 

I think I disagree with this. Harbaugh, Flacco, Trestman et al. have said the same thing so many different ways, there is literally nothing else they can report. I think they're getting tired of the same questions over and over, and this is Harbaugh's way of making clear that there isn't anything else to say.

 

I remember a report over the summer from BP's doctor from when he was a kid, saying that this injury is one he'd been dealing with all his life, and that was very difficult to treat or predict healing time for. After I read that I stopped paying attention to Perriman news.

[riseNConquer81]

Bedard's dumb. the fact that we havent lost each of these games by a million points each is evidence that Joe, in conjunction with Smith Senior, are masking at least 6 problems i can think of: LT, and every receiver not name Smith Senior.

Joe has delivered late. Refs need to learn how to call pass interference late.

Defense needs to learn how to pay attention to a top 10 receiver on the other side of the ball late.

Edited September 30, 2015 by riseNConquer81

[RavenManiac#7]

Steve Smith Sr is on his last year at 36 years old. Trading for Alshon(25) would give us a young valuable, big bodied receiver. Him and Breshad would be a dangerous Wr duo. However, it just depends on the asking price.

Find a way! Get it done!! Period!!!

[RavensFootballFan]

I would like to know what is going on with Perriman. I at first thought Perriman was just testing his knee and pulled up when satisfied how far he ran with no problems which many players do when coming back from a leg/knee injuries. Now I am wondering if putting Perriman out there was a public relations move to quiet down fans that backfired. I am waiting patiently for Perriman to heal 100% and still am patient but details would be nice. Thing is, like King said, this whole thing is a mystery. I am not mad, just want more details so fans can quiet down and be more understanding is all. Harbaugh might as well said "I'm here so I don't get fined" when asked about Perriman. Odds are this has nothing to do with his past because his knee issue was adolescent, well before college and he played throughout his college career without missing games as far as I know. Details please.

[stixfix69]

Ashton is going to get more than T.Smith got from the 49ers next year when he becomes a FA, do you really think we can afford that???

[Tru11]

can jeffrey play man cov and not get burned?

[WordProphet]

Smith Sr. is right, a lot of the players on the Ravens are not pulling their own weight and just want to say I'm on the Ravens football team without putting forward any real effort to help the team win. If you don't want to put out serious effort you need to play somewhere else and play like that there!!! I've never seen our defense play this bad in the history of the team, the defense use to be the ones keeping the team in the game, but that's not happening anymore. Too many players on the defense especially the secondary are playing sorry. Flacco and Smith Sr. are playing their hearts out along with a few more on the O-Line but everyone needs to be involved for this to work and to pull the Ravens out of this 0 and 3 hole. And stop messing up the drives O-Line for penalties are killing us and defense not being able to play your positions or not being able to tackle is killing us. We don't have any shut down corners on the Ravens not one, but we do have people who play like the keystone cops falling over one another and letting people score on them in the end zone and I can't understand how this is happening when at one time the Ravens were known for their smash mouth defense for years, but it seem like those days are over and gone now. Why Ozzie didn't pick any serious corners in the draft is beyond me, what was he thinking, we had trouble with the secondary last year that stopped us in the playoffs, this year it seems like they are doing the same thing and are going to make sure we don't make the playoffs this year, what is the genius Ozzie and the coach Harbaugh thinking about!!!

[jravens13]

So what good exactly does this hind sight talk do for the Ravens right now?

 

Making recommendations after obtaining future information about what you should have done in the past is literally the most pointless thing just about any human being can do...

The purpose of the comment is aimed towards the future of the team. Not the present. We are not in a position where we can make moves for a WR, unless we are willing to give up a high draft pick which u know Ozzie won't do. The Bears can always franchise Alshon. They were dumping defensive players who didn't fit their new 3-4 defense. We should address the WR position through free agency with proven vets. Not in house developmental guys like Brown, Aiken, Camp. I was providing information on the type of guys that are available through free agency and the price they are available for. Sorry your dreams are crashing right now...

Edited September 30, 2015 by jravens13

[Dorota]

You can't place all of this on Flacco. He did have drives to help recover at the end of the game, but you could pay him a truck of money and if he has no one to pass to and the run game is plugged, he won't be able to do magic. Apart from that, I feel Q4 is generally Flacco's best and he can do unbelievable stuff there. It's the receivers who really really have to step up. Run their routes well, get separation, catch the ball. Like SSS said, too many guys are just happy to be on the team. That is not enough! You have to be happy to leave your heart, soul and sweat on the field for your team!

[reed20fence]

Anyone ever wonder whether it might be the weight of the 2012 Super Bowl ring that's weighing down some of our playmakers? The "I've been on my adventure, now I'm just here for a paycheck" mentality?

[stixfix69]

To be fair to Harbs, i don't think he or the doctors know whats wrong with Perriman, if they knew he was going to be out this long, he would have been the one put on short term IR, as he is taking up a roster spot....

[Prino61]

We should give up Eugene Monroe, Dean Pees and Marc Trestman for Alshon Jeffery  ... sounds like a good trade to me

Edited September 30, 2015 by Prino61

[Run Pass Pass Punt]

I thought coming into this year the secondary and run game would be our strengths.

[stixfix69]

Been a while since i have seen the secondary so out of position on so many plays...The TD after we took the lead to AJ was just unacceptable....The cushion given him was ridiculous, my wife could have ran that route and scored.....

[EliteRavens]

Why can't Breshad speak to the media?

[757RavensFan]

Bedard is an idiot, what exactly was he expecting Joe to do in Oakland w/ only 26 seconds left? 

Edited September 30, 2015 by 757RavensFan

[stixfix69]

Last two games Flacco has thrown for 740 plus yards and 4 TD's 2 Int's, and the int in Oakland was a desperation pass....Offense isn;t going to score TD's every time in the redzone, the D has to step up and hold leads, which we had in both of those games....JMO...

[rmcjacket23]

The purpose of the comment is aimed towards the future of the team. Not the present. We are not in a position where we can make moves for a WR, unless we are willing to give up a high draft pick which u know Ozzie won't do. The Bears can always franchise Alshon. They were dumping defensive players who didn't fit their new 3-4 defense. We should address the WR position through free agency with proven vets. Not in house developmental guys like Brown, Aiken, Camp. I was providing information on the type of guys that are available through free agency and the price they are available for. Sorry your dreams are crashing right now...

Cool, but every year we know veteran FAs are available, and most years we pass on most of them. There's a reason for that, and its not because the FO has no clue what they are doing, which is sort of the route a lot of fans are going with here.

 

I can say with a high level of certainty that the overall majority of posters on these boards had very little or ZERO interest in us obtaining any of the players you listed 2-3 months ago. While I wasn't in the camp of people expecting Kamar Aiken and Marlon Brown to be stars and thought we needed to upgrade on them, having two older veterans as your top two guys when neither will be here for more than a year is a band aid on a broken bone.

 

We know NOW that Aiken and Brown aren't likely to step into major roles, and thus, mostly due to the Perriman injury, we're in a bind. But can you imagine the utter chaos that would ensue on these boards if we brought in a Kenny Britt, cut a Marlon Brown because of it (a very realistic scenario) and he goes and puts up 800-900 yards and a bunch of TDs on a different offense?

 

I can guarantee you, regardless of what Kenny Britt did as a Raven, nobody would care. The only narrative that would be on these boards is how we let a young guy go to a different team and he is tearing it up.

 

I can honestly say I've never once looked a veteran FA playing elsewhere and said "gee, we missed out on that guy".

 

Plus, lets be honest with ourselves... if Perriman didn't get injured in training camp, we may never even be having this conversation.

[callahan09]

Bedard's comments about Flacco are a freaking joke.  They show a fundamental lack of understanding of the game of football, either that or a fundamental lack of watching the darn games.

 

Flacco put the game-winning TD pass in his receiver's hands in Denver, twice, and neither one was caught.  You can't ask your QB to do too much more than that.

 

He also executed the game-winning drive in Oakland, but the defense gave it right back.  He was then given the ball back at his own 20 yard line with just 26 seconds left, requiring a TD, and I did the research on that going back to the 1994 season (that's as far back as such stats are searchable on PFREF.com), and NEVER has a team succeeded at that situation in that span (literally *ZERO TIMES*).  So we can't EXPECT Flacco to will a win out of that situation when it's literally never been done as far back as the stats are recorded.

 

And then there's the Cincinnati game, where he engineered the game-winning drive YET AGAIN (that's two games in a row where he DID engineer a go-ahead scoring drive, in case you weren't counting) only to have the defense give it right back.  We are now expecting Flacco to engineer MULTIPLE go-ahead late-game drives per game, because the defense can't hold the first one each game?  I mean, it'd be superhuman QBing if he pulled it off, but just because he CAN'T pull it off doesn't mean he isn't doing his job and living up to EXPECTATIONS (it is unfair to EXPECT perfection and especially given the cast of players he's working with).

 

Consider that Steve Smith Sr is his only reliable target, and it's actually pretty incredible what Flacco's doing these past couple of games.  Not enough, OK, but there's a whole field of players on offense & defense that are contributing to it "not being enough", and Flacco I would argue is just about the least of those worries.

 

On the final drive of the game against Cincy, the O line broke down and he had to lob the ball over defenders in his face on 2nd and 3rd downs, setting up 4th down.  A little protection from the O line might have been helpful there if we are to expect Flacco to succeed.  Then he hits the 4th and 3 play for a 1st down, but it gets called back due to an O line penalty.  Then on 4th and forever, he has little option.  Marlon Brown, despite some people saying he should have thrown to him, was NOT open.  He was on the opposite side of the field and had the safety over the top, there is no way that would have been a smart throw.  Forsett is not a playmaker after the catch, he has never demonstrated that ability, and he ain't Ray Rice converting 4th-and-29 on yards after the catch, so throwing to Forsett with defenders at a good angle to him and over 10 yards from the first down marker, would not have been a smart decision either.  Who did he have?  He had an open Maxx Williams, calling for the ball.  So he threw it.  That's a tough throw, and a tough catch, and it just didn't work.

 

Flacco is not the problem.

Edited September 30, 2015 by callahan09

[rmcjacket23]

Last two games Flacco has thrown for 740 plus yards and 4 TD's 2 Int's, and the int in Oakland was a desperation pass....Offense isn;t going to score TD's every time in the redzone, the D has to step up and hold leads, which we had in both of those games....JMO...

Cool, but the offense put up 17 points against Cincinnati, all in the second half. 

 

Nobody realistically went into that game thinking that 17 points was going to be enough to win.

[stixfix69]

Nobody would have thought that, but it was good enough for the lead, until...you know....

[BmoreB]

How do the Ravens benefit from the details being made public? How does it hurt them ?

 

Isn't this whole fan outrage thing about wanting to know information just a pure and simple case of fan selfishness? No, not at all...

It's more about the fact that many fans such as myself invest a lot of money into the team and would appreciate a bit more forthrightness. This whole top secret way of handling this situation is absurd, silly actually.

 

Fan selfishness ? lol that's funny

[WordProphet]

This thing about Perriman is a mystery, I'm figuring he must of had this problem before he came here, because he's been out too long for it to be a minor injury, first day of training camp and he's out this long. We are coming up on the 4th regular season game and he hasn't played one second of an NFL regular season game. I'm starting to think people are lying to us about Perriman's injury and don't want us to know that he will be out for the whole season!!! To me John Harbaugh and Ozzie are not letting us know the truth about the Ravens, for I believe we are in rebuilding mold and not playoff mold for this year or maybe even next year, for the defense is not ready and the offense you got to have more than one man to throw too most of the time for us to be a playoff contender!!!

[MissRay27]

Perriman to IR, spend to get Jeffrey.

[ravenwildman]

Well if Jimmy Smith can keep from being burned this week, that would go a long way to a Raven victory. Let's hope he pops out of this slump he is in. GO RAVENS!

[Prino61]

can jeffrey play man cov and not get burned?

i hope this is sarcasm

[stixfix69]

I don't think Perriman's injury is a secret, i just don't think they know what it is, if they knew what it was they would fix it...If it was a injury that was going to take a long time to heal, then like i said earlier he would have been put on short term IR, instead of taking up a roster spot...Because any player we bring in means someone has to get cut...And personally if their is no improvement in the next few weeks, it wouldn't surprise me if they IR him.....With the injuries we have been getting hit with we just can't afford dead weight on the roster....All the other injuries they tell us straight up, if it's a concussion, a calf, a ACL, PCL, i just don't think they know...

[rmcjacket23]

It's more about the fact that many fans such as myself invest a lot of money into the team and would appreciate a bit more forthrightness. This whole top secret way of handling this situation is absurd, silly actually.

 

Fan selfishness ? lol that's funny

LOL, yeah, just paying money to watch a team play doesn't mean that you should have 100% transparency into what goes on.

 

You'll know when he's ready to play. That's the maximum amount of information we fans deserve to know.