Stand Pat?

[hallmark]

I don't think I've ever wanted a team of mine to stand pat in the off-season more than this Ravens squad. Is there any chance in hell that this could happen? I mean, I really don't expect them to be able to keep Ray, Bart, Sizz, & JB. But could they? Are there any capologists around here?

I guess my point is that I don't feel like they even NEED to make a big splash anywhere in the off-season. Just re-sign your players and tee it up again!! A high profile free agent might not fit in.

And as far as the draft goes, let's just see how good our own young guys are after another season of growth. I mean, we have youth all over this team. We not BE ABLE TO draft and improve at any position. I wouldn't hate a blue chip CB, but we don't need more talent there, just better health.

[catty112]

We keep the core of the team together and a couple of extra pieces and we're good. Your right theres no need to make a big splash in free agency and we probably won't. There is a definite need to upgrade our depth at CB and WR though. the fact that our players in those positions are not staying healthy means we need to solidify that position

[Moderator 9]

while it is POSSIBLE to keep brown, suggs, lewis and scott, i think it's unlikely.....especially if we *gulp* win it all.

i expect us to get that extra 8mil by cutting ties with CMac this offseason, which will help. but i think one of those 3 LBs are gonna go and bart is probably odd man odd. i hope not though. i'd love to see them all stay

[T-Sizzle55]

[quote name='hallmark' post='122538' date='Jan 9 2009, 01:01 AM']I don't think I've ever wanted a team of mine to stand pat in the off-season more than this Ravens squad. Is there any chance in hell that this could happen? I mean, I really don't expect them to be able to keep Ray, Bart, Sizz, & JB. But could they? Are there any capologists around here?

I guess my point is that I don't feel like they even NEED to make a big splash anywhere in the off-season. Just re-sign your players and tee it up again!! A high profile free agent might not fit in.

And as far as the draft goes, let's just see how good our own young guys are after another season of growth. I mean, we have youth all over this team. We not BE ABLE TO draft and improve at any position. I wouldn't hate a blue chip CB, but we don't need more talent there, just better health.[/quote]

Financially speaking it would be virtually impossible to keep everyone considering how well we are doing this season. Several players have special clauses in their contracts that entitle them to even more money if: they start so many games, if they play in the playoffs, if we win a playoff game, if we win so many games, etc. That will also count against our cap at the end of the year. There might even be potential holdouts who feel they should earn as much or more than another player. We won't have the money to sign younger and talented players to weaker or aging positions in the draft and free agency. If you don't tend to the team with the cap in mind and let it get out of control it can really pleague your team for years. Another problem is if you're paying a player a lot of money and he needs to be disciplined, it's extremely hard for a coach to justify benching a player who gets $8 million a year. We have so much young talent (who get small paychecks) behind our highly paid starters that have proven that they are capable of taking over for them. The business side of a football team is much like running a franchise. You have to keep bringing in quality personel, but also have to lay off highly paid individuals who've been there for year for a younger guy who can do the job at less than half the price. You can get 2 rookies to do the job for the price of one veteran (if not 3 rookies). You have to keep your cap in check and keep it low as possible so you can continue to reload with high talent and afford to loose players through retirement, mid-season injuries, etc. I would love to keep all our guys and get a FA here or there for depth, but it's just not in the books. If you shell out tons of money to your vets you will be hurting your future just to keep a few players and cause numerous potential problems along the way .

[Whole-Gash]

[quote name='hallmark' post='122538' date='Jan 9 2009, 01:01 AM']I don't think I've ever wanted a team of mine to stand pat in the off-season more than this Ravens squad. Is there any chance in hell that this could happen? I mean, I really don't expect them to be able to keep Ray, Bart, Sizz, & JB. But could they? Are there any capologists around here?

I guess my point is that I don't feel like they even NEED to make a big splash anywhere in the off-season. Just re-sign your players and tee it up again!! A high profile free agent might not fit in.

And as far as the draft goes, let's just see how good our own young guys are after another season of growth. I mean, we have youth all over this team. We not BE ABLE TO draft and improve at any position. I wouldn't hate a blue chip CB, but we don't need more talent there, just better health.[/quote]

We need a blue chip CB because both Rolle and McAlister are old and have proven that we cannot trust them to stay healthy. I cannot remember the last time McAlister played an entire season and I have a feeling he will be released at the end of this year unless he is willing to restructure his contract. Rolle, is older and gets hurt a lot as well, although it's more of the nagging injuries, just when I thought he was going to stay healthy and help us get into the Superbowl he got hurt at the end against the Titans and will be out tomorrow. Washington is the only starter we have behind those two, but he has also gotten hurt a lot this year, so we could probably use two CBs in this draft and we could stand to get a young talented WR.