[News] Eisenberg: Ravens Should Invest More At Receiver Position, Even If Steve Smith Returns

[Ravensfolyfe]

We seem too be stuck on stupid when it comes to keeping playmakers.

[Tru11]

so what positions are we going to ignore and what key players are we going to cut to make this happen?

[riseNConquer81]

so what positions are we going to ignore and what key players are we going to cut to make this happen?

there are 53 men on this roster...not even half of them are key playmakers.

[riseNConquer81]

i sad so many things like this last year, and the year before, and the year prior to boh of those, and pretty much every year for about a decade +/- 2.

[riseNConquer81]

I am really getting tired of hearing how we made a HUGE mistake not over paying Boldin and Torrey. If they are so good why are the 49ers on the bottom of the heap? they have both "miracle workers" and they don't seem to be working any miracles.

you think $6M for the lead receiver of a superbowl champion team is overpaying?

also dont know if you heard, but they just benched their starting quarterback...for BLaine Gabbert. MIGHT have a little something to do with that...

Edited November 4, 2015 by riseNConquer81

[RavensDieHard21]

I Pray SSS, the legendary receiver will return and Perriman turns out to be a good pick. Ozzie and drafting receivers has been tough. We might as well stick to the formula of drafting great defensive players early then gambling post 2nd round to get receivers. I'm just so mad we didn't get Diggs! The whole site here was begging for him to get drafted because he was a stud, but let's keep this veteran receiver pipeline going. Mason, Boldin and SSS have all been gold.

[Tower of Power]

"They should ignore Smith when penciling in their wide receiver plans for 2016" - and probably Perriman too. Time to change the WR scouting personnel/system? Were Diggs and Austin playing way too far from Baltimore to be properly evaluated?

[Tru11]

there are 53 men on this roster...not even half of them are key playmakers.

 

so you are saying let half the team go for 1 guy?

[ReginaldColeman1]

DE/OLB round one: Back to the Future (Defense first)

Left Tackle in the second round. High motor, smarts, athletic steps, team player.

WR in the third

fill in the blanks in the fourth CB,S,C etc

It would make sense if the Ravens finished less than hoped for at this juncture to trade a top 10 for a middling teen and a high second. I'm not sure there are any players who out of the box look like Amari Cooper at any position this year. Paging Khalil Mack.

[ibleedpurpleandblack]

Thanks John but Ravens fans have been saying this for years!! You can't finally have a franchise QB and then give him a bunch of role playing receivers who couldn't make it on other teams practice squads and expect them to be starters. Just doesn't work that way!!

[Fastynart]

Oh my gosh. Here we go again. More baloney about wide receivers. Does anyone remember that we scored 27 or more points in three of our six losses this year? When you score that much and lose your problem isn't a lack of wide receivers. It is DEFENSE. This is why I dropped my SUN subscription. These guys don't know squat about that which they are writing. It doesn't take a football genius to figure it out. The Patriots don't put bushels of money into wide receivers. They put their money into their defense and on their offensive line to protect their franchise quarterback. Like him or not, Belichick knows what he is doing.

[Ravensfansince03]

At 36 years old, and breaking ribs, followed by an Achilles tear almost within a month of apart...I really doubt Steve will return. I can only imagine how his family feels about the toll the sport is taking on his body at his age.

[Ravensfansince03]

Most important thing is making sure we keep Flacco protected with a steady line. So finding some Tackles to replace Monroe etc. Phil Simms said "a smart franchise manager protects their greatest asset, and the greatest asset is your Quarterback"

[Derrel]

Move on from Smith and Campanaro.

[cbrook1862]

This is another talented WR draft, we need to take full advantage of that

[Swift 1]

All you guys really think it is the offense that's the main problem? Or first round pick better be a defensive player and our second round also.

[JamieRaven]

First off, I would like to say that those that are saying that Perriman is a mistake and that we need to rethink our scouting system, in my opinion are wrong! He hasn't played a single game this season for us so how you could evaluate that one I do not know! Injuries happen you can't do much about it do you think he intended to hurt his knee...no, does he want to be playing...yes I am sure, will the medical staff let him...no because he is not fully fit! Secondly, going back to a post I made last week, I personally think we are too reliant on the draft particularly with late round picks who unfortunately need more time to adjust and develop in the NFL, and as they are replacing free agents etc we suffer as a consequence. I absolutely value draft picks and I am not saying that we should not do so at all, yes you can get some good value in the late rounds, but we need to make some key decisions on players this season I feel as they say here in the UK it is time now to see which players from now until the end of the season 'sink' or 'swim'...simple as that! Letting some guys go and cutting some that don't damage us too much $ wise could mean we are more competitive in the free agent market. I am not saying go spend big money, we won't do that! But time and time again there are players out there with a little more cap space that we could go after and be aggressive. Dumervil was the last one where we went after him and got him! What does everyone else think? JC

[cobrajet]

I agree John, we need to look into investing in a proven free agent. I know cap space will be tight, but we need a good tough #1 wide receiver and yes - it is going to cost us.

[Mr.Diggs]

There is a downside to 'investing' in a free agent, even if he is a proven talent. Quality players in free agency eat up a lot of cap space. Its pretty common for wide outs who have been successful for other teams to suddenly flake out on the new one. There is serious risk involved. The Ravens have handled the receiver position well under Ozzie; finding decent players on reasonable deals. The more pressing need for this team in the off season is the pass rush.

[raveninct]

I think it's time to invest in a significant free agent wr. For whatever reason, whether it's bad luck or bad scouting or bad medical reviews, we have not been great at drafting receivers. Examples are Perriman, Taylor, Clayton. But we are good at picking up late-career wr's who play well for us. Examples are SSS, Q, and Mason. And we are good at drafting defensive players. So . . . spend the money on a FA WR (for the person who mentioned Belichick, I largely agree with what you said, but even he will open the purse at times - Randy Moss, Darrell Reveis). Then use the draft on the best CB we can find. The whole Perriman saga has put me over the edge. We should admit the fact that we're not great at finding college receivers who can be stars in the NFL and hit the FA mkt.

[riseNConquer81]

so you are saying let half the team go for 1 guy?

no. that doesnt even make sense. how did you come up with that from what i said?

you asked who we were supposed to cut to make room for new weapons.

Over half the guys on the teams are more than suitable candidates.

[Tru11]

no. that doesnt even make sense. how did you come up with that from what i said?

you asked who we were supposed to cut to make room for new weapons.

Over half the guys on the teams are more than suitable candidates.

 

yeah but they need to be replaced to lol.

 

you would have to cut alot to make enough cap space to sign such a play maker.

 

torrey contract  avg 8 mil a year and i take it you want someone better.

 

so you are looking at cutting at least 9 guys who have a cap of around 1 mill to create space to sign that 1 player and then you have to create space elsewhere to sign the replacements for the guys you just cut.

 

you are basically sacrificing depth if you decide to cut the lesser players and well this season pretty much shows what happens if the quality of your depth is vastly inferior to your starters.

 

sacrifices have to be made if you want a stud in FA.

 

as of now i think we need to get lucky and hit on some draft picks tbh.

[riseNConquer81]

yeah but they need to be replaced to lol.

 

you would have to cut alot to make enough cap space to sign such a play maker.

 

torrey contract  avg 8 mil a year and i take it you want someone better.

 

so you are looking at cutting at least 9 guys who have a cap of around 1 mill to create space to sign that 1 player and then you have to create space elsewhere to sign the replacements for the guys you just cut.

 

you are basically sacrificing depth if you decide to cut the lesser players and well this season pretty much shows what happens if the quality of your depth is vastly inferior to your starters.

 

sacrifices have to be made if you want a stud in FA.

 

as of now i think we need to get lucky and hit on some draft picks tbh.

no they dont.

and besides that, they're being brought into to replace the crappy "weapons" that arent working out for us, so start there obviously. Marlon Brown can go. Darren Wallaer can go. Jeremy Ross can go. Jeremy Butler can go. Raheem mostert can go.

You dont need to clear an astronomical amount of cap space either.

Who said we had to go buy somebody from the free agent market? Theres a rookie wage scale. The draft is where we always shouldve been building from to begin with. Plus even if you did go after somebody in free agency: after this season, we get $20M or so back from Ray Rice and Ngata and other people who dont play here any more. there will be plenty of cap space. Nobody on that depth chart is so precious that they cant be replaced. Just go pick up some more late round and undrafted kids to handle it.

The quality of your depth is always going ot be vastly inferior to you starters, thats WHY they're depth. Anytime you get into a situation where you dig this deep in your depth chart, your season is over, it doesnt matter who yo have. that's a moot point.

[Tru11]

no they dont.

and besides that, they're being brought into to replace the crappy "weapons" that arent working out for us, so start there obviously. Marlon Brown can go. Darren Wallaer can go. Jeremy Ross can go. Jeremy Butler can go. Raheem mostert can go.

You dont need to clear an astronomical amount of cap space either.

Who said we had to go buy somebody from the free agent market? Theres a rookie wage scale. The draft is where we always shouldve been building from to begin with. Plus even if you did go after somebody in free agency: after this season, we get $20M or so back from Ray Rice and Ngata and other people who dont play here any more. there will be plenty of cap space. Nobody on that depth chart is so precious that they cant be replaced. Just go pick up some more late round and undrafted kids to handle it.

The quality of your depth is always going ot be vastly inferior to you starters, thats WHY they're depth. Anytime you get into a situation where you dig this deep in your depth chart, your season is over, it doesnt matter who yo have. that's a moot point.

 

smh.

 

i though you knew how the cap worked and what our situation looked like next season.

 

im not even going to bother explaining it anymore.

 

lets just say our dead money coming off the books and flacco contract structure are tied and we wont magically have 20 mil orso to spend without cutting some really good players and 1 person in particular signing an extension or restructuring his contract...

 

plenty of cap 

Edited November 4, 2015 by Tru11

[riseNConquer81]

smh.

 

i though you knew how the cap worked and what our situation looked like next season.

 

im not even going to bother explaining it anymore.

 

lets just say our dead money coming off the books and flacco contract structure are tied and we wont magically have 20 mil orso to spend without cutting some really good players and 1 person in particular signing an extension or restructuring his contract...

 

plenty of cap 

what?

what are you talking about?

how is Joe's contract tied to a bunch of dead money from other players?

What "really good" players do we have to cut? we dont have that many of those anymore. Yanda just got an extension. J Smith is in the first year of his new contract. Suggs is signed through 2018. Dumervil si signed through 2017. Web already took an outright pay cut. Mosley, Taliaferro, Allen, Williams, Jernigan, all the TEs are all on rookie contracts. Monroe is signed through 2018 IF we still want him. if we dont, we can cut him and save $2M. Daryl Smith signed through 2017.

Every receiver we got is expendable unless Smith Senior decides not to retire, but we have him signed for cheap already.

only guy we gotta try and sign is Osemele. He's a guard, they dont cost that much and with Yanda hanging around, he dont have enough leverage to front load his contract. Yanda's 2016 base is 6.2M, Kelechi aint getting more than that. Probably wont get close to that.

Who I'm missing?

Flacco's cap hit in 2016 is nearly $30 million. when he signs his inevitable extension, it will be significantly less. No more than $20M, most likely somewhere between $14M - $18M. That's at least $8M right there, which is a comfortable amount.

I didnt say we would have $20M to spend, i said we would have enough cap space. $20M is just what all those players are costing us right now. But it isnt at all far fetched that we could have that much space, especially after the cap increases to a projected $150M from its current $143M and change. The minimal savings from Joe combined with that increase gives us $15M alone. And i know you dont think everybody on this team right now is staying.

Obviously people's cap hits increase as their contracts progress and that will eat into the savings from some of these cuts and contract moves, but it wont evaporate it. We'll have space.

so you wont bother to explain it anymore? you havent explained "it" at all. you've yet to make any sense.

Edited November 9, 2015 by riseNConquer81

[Tru11]

what?

what are you talking about?

how is Joe's contract tied to a bunch of dead money from other players?

What "really good" players do we have to cut? we dont have that many of those anymore. Yanda just got an extension. J Smith is in the first year of his new contract. Suggs is signed through 2018. Dumervil si signed through 2017. Web already took an outright pay cut. Mosley, Taliaferro, Allen, Williams, Jernigan, all the TEs are all on rookie contracts. Monroe is signed through 2018 IF we still want him. if we dont, we can cut him and save $2M. Daryl Smith signed through 2017.

Every receiver we got is expendable unless Smith Senior decides not to retire, but we have him signed for cheap already.

only guy we gotta try and sign is Osemele. He's a guard, they dont cost that much and with Yanda hanging around, he dont have enough leverage to front load his contract. Yanda's 2016 base is 6.2M, Kelechi aint getting more than that. Probably wont get close to that.

Who I'm missing?

Flacco's cap hit in 2016 is nearly $30 million. when he signs his inevitable extension, it will be significantly less. No more than $20M, most likely somewhere between $14M - $18M. That's at least $8M right there, which is a comfortable amount.

I didnt say we would have $20M to spend, i said we would have enough cap space. $20M is just what all those players are costing us right now. But it isnt at all far fetched that we could have that much space, especially after the cap increases to a projected $150M from its current $143M and change. The minimal savings from Joe combined with that increase gives us $15M alone. And i know you dont think everybody on this team right now is staying.

Obviously people's cap hits increase as their contracts progress and that will eat into the savings from some of these cuts and contract moves, but it wont evaporate it. We'll have space.

so you wont bother to explain it anymore? you havent explained "it" at all. you've yet to make any sense.

 

you are the one who makes little sense.

 

we only have 46 players under contract next season.

some will get cut.

 

they will have to be replaced by signing/drafting/resigning/tagging/tendering players to get to 53.

 

right now we have 5,5 mil to spend on 5 guys to get to 51.

incase you dont know the top 51 count against the cap.

 

flacco will need a new deal to create cap.

cutting bums to be replaced by bums wont save much cause they aint making much and going  cheaper means lesser quality.

cutting good players to be replaced by bums will only hurt the team.

 

flacco new deal + cuts might create some cap but overall we will still be a bottom team in terms of cap to spend.

cap goes up means contracts goes up as well.

higher draft pick also means more of the cap going to rookies.

 

to put things in perspective.

we might have 20 mil but teams like the bears and raiders will have over 60 mil.

 

realistically we wont have 20 mil to spend on FA and what we will have wont put in any position to win a bidding war unless we spend it all on 1 guy.....