[News] Late For Work 1/7: Ranking Ravens' Top Free Agents Of 2016 Class

[BR News]

DeCosta turns down Titans interview. Will Bisciotti turn up the heat? Harbaugh and Showalter team up.

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[jravens13]

Ike Taylor might be a Squeeler, but he is 100% right about Antonio Brown and Steve Smith. Hard work beats out talent every time and twice on Sunday. Congrats to B-Will!

[RavensDieHard21]

Does anyone realize how stable our offensive line was down the stretch? That is one of our biggest strengths, but to allow KO to walk would really damper that. Look at how bad even some of these playoff teams lines are. NE, Den, Arz, Sea, they all have major flaws in their lines. If we keep KO we have one less worry, I'd say get Tucker's deal done a sap and tender KO if needed. He would get tendered as a guard anyways since he spent a majority of his time there. Once we clear some space in our cap, sign him! Aiken also should receive 3rd round tender, unless we don't have intentions on a WR early, which in that case if we can afford it, let's do it.

[MissRay27]

Can't wait for 2 0 clock this day!!

[cobrajet]

Congratulations Brandon Williams.

[Bat-mite]

I think Harbaugh proved he is one heckuva coach this year. How does anyone beat the Steelers twice in a season with 20 players on IR? Astounding. However, I do question our conditioning and defensive secondary coaching. Special teams were top notch. Here's hoping Biscotti knows what to do and does it.

[salamander]

Eric DeCosta, thanks for your continued loyalty to the Ravens. It is refreshing to know what a high value you place on your relationships, your team and love of the Baltimore community, above just monetary considerations. The evolution of the GM job to you will happen 1 day. Til then, please help us nail the draft this year and have fun pulling pranks on your co-workers.

Edited January 7, 2016 by salamander

[budman]

Hey Mcjacket & BioLarzen!! Being that you guys are guru's of the salary cap, what chance do you give us that Osemele stays?

Edited January 7, 2016 by budman

[budman]

Eric DeCosta, thanks for your loyalty to the Ravens. It is refreshing to know what a high value you place on your relationships and love of the Baltimore community, above just monetary considerations. The evolution of the GM job to you will happen 1 day. Til then, please help us nail the draft this year and have fun pulling pranks on your co-workers.

DeCosta really does deserve kudos. However, it has been several years now that he has been rejecting offers that could enhance his career. At one point Biscotti must have thought he might leave and made him a offer he couldn't refuse. I think he is paid GM salary or close to it so that he stays. It makes you wonder how much longer he can/will wait for Ozzie to step aside? It wouldn't surprise me to hear that this will be Ozzie's last year. Not that anyone wants that to be the case, it's just that DeCosta has learned everything he knows from Ozzie and will probably turn out to be one of, if not the best GM's in the league. He deserves a shot anyway.

[January J]

Simply put- Decosta is the man. That kind of loyalty is rare. This guy gets it, not always about money. His family is comfortable and his friends are here. Most people would uproot all of that and not have that type of patience to wait on a gm job when he can have it now elsewhere.

[WNC-Raven]

Simply put- Decosta is the man. That kind of loyalty is rare. This guy gets it, not always about money. His family is comfortable and his friends are here. Most people would uproot all of that and not have that type of patience to wait on a gm job when he can have it now elsewhere.

Well he is getting paid GM money without GM stress and responsibility. Not a bad deal

[crazyboutravens]

Why do we never look ahead to sign the guys that we worked with for 4 years to make them good players and then just let them walk every damn year. We let Pernell go and did not replace him with

a pass rusher. We let Paul Kruger go and have not replaced him as a rush lineback that is young.I think that is why our talent level is dropping and at some point it has to stop...

[bioLarzen]

Hey Mcjacket & BioLarzen!! Being that you guys are guru's of the salary cap, what chance do you give us that Osemele stays?

 

I would say - in my best Mink impersonation - "zero percent chance. ZERO percent chance!"

 

... but then again, if I was the "cap guru" of any organization, that organization would be in a deep, deep trouble

 

And, of course, I'd be more than glad to be proven wrong about KO

Edited January 7, 2016 by bioLarzen

[bioLarzen]

Well he is getting paid GM money without GM stress and responsibility. Not a bad deal

 

Dunno, I somehow like to think it goes beyond the money for him...

[bioLarzen]

Ike Taylor might be a Squeeler, but he is 100% right about Antonio Brown and Steve Smith. Hard work beats out talent every time and twice on Sunday. Congrats to B-Will!

 

The winning combination, hewever, is talent PLUS relentless work.

 

Just ask Ray Lewis

[bioLarzen]

I think Harbaugh proved he is one heckuva coach this year. How does anyone beat the Steelers twice in a season with 20 players on IR? Astounding. However, I do question our conditioning and defensive secondary coaching. Special teams were top notch. Here's hoping Biscotti knows what to do and does it.

 

I kinda jokingly said that the best case scenario would have been if we only had those 2 W's. We would have the top pick now - and just about exactly as much emotional satisfaction about the season as with 2 W's. The other 3 didn't mean much emotionally - well, maybe that ridiculous one in Celeveland... It was the sweeping of the steelers that made it a season not to kill ourselves over. And we could now say: "we were so bad in 2015 that everybody beat us - but we were still better than the steelers" :D

Edited January 7, 2016 by bioLarzen

[balfan23]

Well he is getting paid GM money without GM stress and responsibility. Not a bad deal

I didn't realize our FO's salaries were a matter of public record. 

[b93333]

"In Ozzie we trust" used to be the word... we shall see this off-season if that expression still rings true.

[budman]

I would say - in my best Mink impersonation - "zero percent chance. ZERO percent chance!"

 

... but then again, if I was the "cap guru" of any organization, that organization would be in a deep, deep trouble

 

And, of course, I'd be more than glad to be proven wrong about KO

I hope you are wrong also!!  Thanks Guru. lol

[The Mom Gene]

I am not worried about Joe and his CAP. It will get worked out. Seems that the "analysts" are making this a huge deal. Like we're the only team facing this issue... ever.

Much ado about little things.

[harfordravenfan]

Does anyone realize how stable our offensive line was down the stretch? That is one of our biggest strengths, but to allow KO to walk would really damper that. Look at how bad even some of these playoff teams lines are. NE, Den, Arz, Sea, they all have major flaws in their lines. If we keep KO we have one less worry, I'd say get Tucker's deal done a sap and tender KO if needed. He would get tendered as a guard anyways since he spent a majority of his time there. Once we clear some space in our cap, sign him! Aiken also should receive 3rd round tender, unless we don't have intentions on a WR early, which in that case if we can afford it, let's do it.

 

Pretty sure we can't tender KO

[The Mom Gene]

Dunno, I somehow like to think it goes beyond the money for him...

 

I would love to keep KO....  Tucker...  and a few others too...  I trust in these guys.

And I do know it does go beyond the money for DeCosta...  He has been completely open about why he loves it here.

[The Greek]

go team!!

[AsianRice]

Utmost respect for Eric; it seems kind of rare nowaday ppl turning down big load of money for the gain of the relationship and the friendship, especially in the NFL business. thank you Eric for being so loyal to the Ravens nation and the community....

[EliteRavens]

Hire a new DC, and Congrats to Brandon

[stixfix69]

Sign Tucker to a contract, and Franchise KO, and get him to sign a extension next year....or before camp starts, like they did with Ngata a few years ago....Oz will figure it out like he always does, we do make a point of keeping players we feel can;t be replaced with the depth we have or a rookie...JMO...

[757RavensFan]

 

 

 the talent gap between Baltimore and division foes Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals is widening rather than shrinking.

 

I understand the gap between the Ravens and Bengals may be widening since they beat us 5 straight. However, to say the gap is widening vs the Steelers is just wrong considering we've beat them 4 out of the last 5 games. 

[757RavensFan]

Sign Tucker to a contract, and Franchise KO, and get him to sign a extension next year....or before camp starts, like they did with Ngata a few years ago....Oz will figure it out like he always does, we do make a point of keeping players we feel can;t be replaced with the depth we have or a rookie...JMO...

 

I found out last week that we couldn't afford the cost to franchise KO. That would be in the $12M -$14M range.  

[krnraven]

DeCosta was given a raise last year or the year before to entice him to stay put as Ozzie's successor. So he is basically making GM money. Obviously the terms were never disclosed.

[WNC-Raven]

I didn't realize our FO's salaries were a matter of public record. 

The amounts paid are not made public but it was said 2 years ago when teams were coming at DeCosta heard that Steve decided to pay him like a GM in order to keep him. That's all you need to know