[News] Late For Work 1/5: Simple And Straightforward Way To Lower Joe Flacco's Monster Cap Hit

[steelcityraven]

Tuckers deal will get done... THe one the I am concerned with is KO.... I guess we can look at a KO deal in a couple of ways. If we let Monroe go.... (and I think we will)... it frees up money that we could possibly use to re-sign KO (who could start at LT while Jensen or Urschel takes over at G). Or we can go out and sign one of the 3 big OTs in this draft and have a starter there for the next 3-4 years on a rookie contract- freeing up money for other issues. We know KO can play- we are never sure of a draft pick.... even a very high pick. I am feeling like KO could very well be gone however... I think Upshaw will be back (hes more valuable here then almost anywhere else) and I think that a deal will get done with Flacco but feeling like KO will be elsewhere (as much as I would love to see us re-sign him)?

[steelcityraven]

Shaq Lawson.... maybe the # 1 if we think Suggs is not going to return?

[slowboater]

Flacco will make more in one year than i make in a life time. I hope he is smart enough to leave some on the table so we can afford a couple pro bowl receivers. They can only make him look even better.

The Ravens are in salary cap purgatory. Pitta, Flacco, Suggs, Webb, Monroe... it goes on. And everyone want Osemele to be re-signed. Where will the money come for probowl receivers? Even one? Whether Flacco cuts the Ravens more slack or not, I just don't see it. Ravens will be looking a 2017 at least. Hope they draft well!

[thieverycorporation]

So what I take from the Suggs comments in the post is he is rehabbing on his own with no clear update nor timetable for his progression back. It is interesting that no one from the organization is commenting on him. That seems daunting at this juncture. I have to say that I truly hope they have a contingency plan if he doesn't return to form or at all. I know he loves football. Where he is mentally and physically is a valid question for us fans. We can ill afford to count solely on him returning to form. We already had a need for a formidable pass rush and now that seems even more evident. I will not count Suggs out but I will say the only way forward with confidence is to acquire another player and plug and play him until Suggs shows at least 3/4 of the explosiveness he had prior. I also think Flacco's agent needs to recognize that not all the fans were in full agreement with the seemingly over payment to his client. With his most recent regressions as far footwork and technic it seems like a stretch for him to be a $28 million a year man. I don't think even Flacco believes he's worth that. Lesson's should be learned by the front to not be beat over a barrel in respects to contracts. It's becoming a common thread in respect to that issue. Lastly the noticeable improvements in rankings of the defense shouldn't be overlooked but the lack of production during the first half of the season can't be either. I wonder what happened to turn that area around ? Was it personnel, scheme, strength of schedule, coaching ? One thing for certain and true. It's time to rethink what methods the Ravens employ as to how the put the roster together. The obvious lack of weapons on both sides of the ball must be addressed by the front office and the 5-11 record reflects that fact. We've had enough wasted drafts on marginal talent and competed. Now it's showing that they were marginal and we are in a advantageous position to correct those misses. Will we hit every one? Now the scouting dept and Ozzie and co should be held accountable for another missed opportunity in the event that happens this time. IMO, it's time to expect a marked improvement in design and direction. Because we pay the bills via emotional attachment and fiscally. It's another prove it year. You've capital so use it.

Edited January 5, 2016 by thieverycorporation

[rmcjacket23]

The Ravens should just release Suggs and let someone else deal with an old, constantly out of shape veteran who obviously feels the Ravens owe him something. Suggs quit on the Ravens before the start of this season based on how he came in and then thought that 3 weeks worth of toning was going to prepare him for the season and this is what we got. Ravens should just announce his release and let him go. I said in an earlier comment if the players no longer view him as a leader, which apparently they do not, then his value is only what he produces which was nothing last year and probably not much more next year. I am not willing to pay Flacco a 20 mil cap hit for his performances either. I am not a great fan of Mallett but at least he could be accurate enough and smart enough to convert 3rd downs, something Flacco struggled with all year. Mallett had less talent around him than Flacco had and still produced similar results to Flacco. After this year and how we played, no one deserves a guaranteed spot on this team.

Cutting him costs more than keeping him.

 

Not a very smart option.

[rmcjacket23]

The Ravens are in salary cap purgatory. Pitta, Flacco, Suggs, Webb, Monroe... it goes on. And everyone want Osemele to be re-signed. Where will the money come for probowl receivers? Even one? Whether Flacco cuts the Ravens more slack or not, I just don't see it. Ravens will be looking a 2017 at least. Hope they draft well!

Probowl receivers are completely irrelevant to winning SBs.

 

There's a reason basically all of your favorite Pro Bowl receivers are consistently playing in the Pro Bowl... its because they aren't playing in the football game that comes after the Pro Bowl.

[bioLarzen]

Has anyone noticed how Dan Brown basically disappeared the last two games? I don't recall him being inactive - still, I don't remember him doing anything out there, while Butler flourished and Matthews made strides...

[Johnny-U]

Flacco is quoted as saying "it [salary neogations] is out of my hands". Kelichi O. was quoted as saying the same thing. BS! The players have full control of the negotiations, they just don't have the honesty to admit their ONLY priority is getting the max money they can.

[Kwilliams84]

Reconstruct Flaccos contract, Resign KO and he will be tackle, Resign Justin Tucker, Cut pitta due to health, cut marlon brown, cut monroe, let upshaw walk promote Za'Darious smith to his position plus he gets sacks, Move webb to saftey him and will hill in the back end, Draft 1st round cb Mackensize from clemson to go along with j. smith, 2nd round Draft wr josh Doctson from tcu, SSS, aiken, butler, perriman, doctson, matthews, 3rd round draft jonathon bulllard, dadi nicholas or sheldon day to go along with jernigan, williams, for future front with urban

[Ravensfansince03]

Glad Sarah mentioned "Passrusher" as a top need. Because while everyone has been saying we need a DB, I see it as we need a top notch DE more importantly. Suggs wont be here forever, and plus we still need one or two guys that can bring the heat constantly. I'm talking Carlos Dunlap & JJ Watt type of guys.

[OUravensfan]

I think we can all be greatful we didn't give a contract with a 28 million dollar cap hit to a nose tackle.

[harfordravenfan]

Certainly think there's different degrees to injuries and different healing times, so I don't put a ton of concern into this. I don't try to compare one torn Achilles or torn ACL to another, because many of them are different. 

 

If he's still in a walking boot in May, then I'll be concerned.

 

About what I was thinking, no real need to rush the boot off and keeping it on may prevent any set backs from happening

[rudywasoffsides]

I think we all agree Flacco isn't going anywhere and is the face of our franchise for at least the next 5 years whether you like him or not correct? Can someone please explain to me why then we don't just take on three extra years to his remaining 3 years, make all the money he is already owed guaranteed and spread it over the now 6 years we have him under contract? Wouldn't that make the cap hit for each year well under 20 million and give us a ton of money to spend elsewhere on the roster? I feel like this what the Pats did with Brady and while I know Flacco isn't even in the same league as Brady, we view him  no different than Brady in that he is the face of the franchise and isn't going anywhere any time soon. I'm not a salary cap whiz though so maybe this isn't how it works, thoughts?

[roamingcharges]

Say what you want about the man; I love Brian Billick!!!

[sami]

Would you leave some on the table so your employer and fellow employees can make more?

If some of those guys were my bodyguards, yeah I might leave a little.

[jravens13]

Why do we continue to backload contracts? We are just going to extend Flacco and Backload it even more, just like we did with Webby after we asked him to take a paycut. It leaves you stuck and unable to cut/move players who are aging or underperforming. Spending money isn't the issue, it is the management of the spending and the way we have worked out the contracts that are killing this team from making any significant moves as well as keeping our own free agents.

[ellicottraven]

Suggs don't get comfortable watching movies and chilling. Get your butt to the rehab facility and rehab like a Raven! Get rid of that stupid boot ASAP. You don't really need it so long after surgery. Or is there something we need to know about your injury? Please come back and lead the Ravens.

[ellicottraven]

If Linta gets into a contest of wits trying to make Joe Flacco the richest QB all over again, we're in for a long and stressful off season folks. That guy has the propensity to drag this on for eternity which may eventually compel us to just leave Flacco's contract be, which in turn will kill us everywhere else. Something's got to give in this situation or we'll be in trouble.

[Ravenous_Ravens]

Personally I think this is the year Ozzie would be best suited to let Eric take lead on the draft. Of course weigh in with insights, but it is time to begin transitioning the GM role in a more substantial manner. He was chosen and groomed to take over one day and that day gets closer each season. I'd prefer to see him with more responsibility and allow Ozzie to prepare for his eventual exit or reduction of his current role. This also makes sense with the transitioning of the Ravens team from one of defensive prowess to one more offensively powered and a younger core of players.

[rmcjacket23]

Why do we continue to backload contracts? We are just going to extend Flacco and Backload it even more, just like we did with Webby after we asked him to take a paycut. It leaves you stuck and unable to cut/move players who are aging or underperforming. Spending money isn't the issue, it is the management of the spending and the way we have worked out the contracts that are killing this team from making any significant moves as well as keeping our own free agents.

We had an issue with it in the past with some deals, but most of the one's I've seen lately have been mostly flat against the cap...

 

Yanda: 

Starting in 2015: $4M, $7.9M, $7.8M, $8.8M, $8.8M

 

Suggs:

Starting in 2014: $7.8M, $3.95M (restructured), $7.45M, $6.95M, $6.95M

 

Monroe:

Starting in 2014: $3.2M, $7.7M, $8.7M, $8.95M, $8.95M

 

These are all recent deals they handed out. While they all increase significantly from year 1 to year 2, they also flatten out after that for the most part. There's basically only about a $1M spread between year 2 and the final year of most of these deals.

 

For the record... the gigantic majority of NFL contracts that are long-term and for mid-to-large tier money are back-loaded from a cap perspective. This is because players generally get larger signing bonuses up front with a small base salary, so the player gets more money up front and the team can prorate the signing bonus over the long term.

 

With Flacco's new extension, the overwhelming belief is that we will flatten out his cap hit over the long term, so that his cap hits are generally in the $20-25M range over at least a five year period. Certainly something that should be easily accomplished.

 

Flacco's deal is sort of outside of the norm of the typical contracts we give. We had never given a contract that size before, and I think we realized that we didn't handle it the right way. For the most part, all the other contracts we give out are fairly standard from a structural perspective.

[bioLarzen]

Twitter forces people to phrase in a concise way - misunderstanding and lack of clarity is bound to ensue. Mike Preston tweeted

 

"Few inside Ravens organization expect assistant GM Eric DeCosta to leave for other possible GM openings around the NFL."

 

... and now people are debating whether he meant "a few" people thinking DeCosta will bolt (meaning he's considering it and there's a fair likelihood), or that "few of them" think he will (meaning it's not a likely scenario at all)...

Edited January 5, 2016 by bioLarzen

[bioLarzen]

Would you leave some on the table so your employer and fellow employees can make more?

 

If their - and especially my fellow employees' - performance affected my own as heavily as the O-line and receiving corps affects the QB's production, I probably would - in my best interest...

[bioLarzen]

Probowl receivers are completely irrelevant to winning SBs.

 

There's a reason basically all of your favorite Pro Bowl receivers are consistently playing in the Pro Bowl... its because they aren't playing in the football game that comes after the Pro Bowl.

 

Megatron, AJ Green and Dez Bryant sadly agree.

[baltimore1975]

Personally I think this is the year Ozzie would be best suited to let Eric take lead on the draft. Of course weigh in with insights, but it is time to begin transitioning the GM role in a more substantial manner. He was chosen and groomed to take over one day and that day gets closer each season. I'd prefer to see him with more responsibility and allow Ozzie to prepare for his eventual exit or reduction of his current role. This also makes sense with the transitioning of the Ravens team from one of defensive prowess to one more offensively powered and a younger core of players.

This guy is one of the best on draft day even though his draft picks usually do not start until the late teens or 20's and you say he needs to step back? Come on man....in Ozzie We Trust bro.

[jfarley1961@gmail.com]

Am I wrong or did Suggs restructure his contract last year? If so, maybe he was thinking he would restructure in the hopes that it would help keep Ngata in Baltimore. He seems very bitter about the fact that Ngata is not here. I understand that it was his best friend, but his attitude this year seems very unlike him. Perhaps even a little passive aggressive. "92 on the hat" Maybe it is just the injury, or perhaps he feels betrayed by the organization for not resigning Ngata. I am clearly just guessing, but what are your thoughts?

[CaliRavenFan]

Sizzle, its okay I haven't been in the greatest mood either knowing the other team is in the playoffs and we are not.. Enjoy the offseason but please come back, we not only need you but we all love you!

Sincerely, RavenNation..

[bioLarzen]

Say what you want about the man; I love Brian Billick!!!

 

If we could only forget that awful timeout v. the Pats in 2007...

[bioLarzen]

I hate when people cry about how much these athletes get paid. This is the profession they are in and the money they are getting paid is the market value for their services, why fans get upset about what these guys make is just laughable.

 

The only issue I have with the players getting paid the equivalent of the budget of smaller countries per season is the effect of this on football: today, a competent NFL roster takes a considerable chunk of even the wealthiest owners' money. We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars - no wonder the owners want to see their invsstments as protercted as possible. The result? The NFL is slowly but surely becoming flag football. Things players (and refs) 15-20 years ago wouldn't even notice get flagged on a regular basis. Of course: back then, if a player went down, it meant little loss - today it's millions of dollars out of the window. From a nuisance it beacme a catastrophe. Players have evolved from assets to commodities. Assets are utilized, commodities are protected.

 

This is my only real grudge about players getting payed like they do. It kills football as it is meant to be played.

Edited January 6, 2016 by bioLarzen

[MadStorkSociety]

Would you leave some on the table so your employer and fellow employees can make more?

 

 

I hate when people cry about how much these athletes get paid. This is the profession they are in and the money they are getting paid is the market value for their services, why fans get upset about what these guys make is just laughable.

 

I am not crying about how much athletes make. It was simply an observation. We are told Joe is a great competitor and he's all about winning. If he wants to win he could make sure that there is enough money for top notch OL & WR's. Then he is more likely to win and maybe even win himself a new car.

 

Also, I work where i can grow the pie and make more for me and my co-workers. Joe works under a salary cap. The rules are different. 

[mearzunkies]

Joe will do what is best for the TEAM and for Joe! There is middle ground and there does not have to be lost $$. I do want KO back, although it will probably not happen:-(