[News] Ravens Offer Kelechi Osemele Aggressive Deal

[FloridalovesRavens]

If you want some super-optimism here you go; maybe Joe and Oz have finalized a restructured contract on the precondition of Osemele re-signing with the Ravens giving Joe a solid O-line with K.O and Yanda for years to come.

I like your thinking.

[verified]

are we really going to sign trent richardson? lol im so sick of ozzie and his obsession for these alabama players. Trent richardson does not need to be a raven ozzie just wants to save him smh hes a bust

[verified]

ozzie needs to draft like perriman, steve smith, jimmy smith and webby arent on the team. We need to be more prepared and deeper at skill positions if these players go down again. Stop drafting so many pass rushers early, save them for later in the draft

[hen826957]

@Matty G l agree with you as well :-). Why change K.O. position to LT while he's already good at guard?

[RavensFanMania]

2 hours ago, HuginnJaMuninn said:

If you want some super-optimism here you go; maybe Joe and Oz have finalized a restructured contract on the precondition of Osemele re-signing with the Ravens giving Joe a solid O-line with K.O and Yanda for years to come.

 

2 hours ago, ALI624 said:

That was my thought exactly.

agreed

[RavensFanMania]

2 hours ago, billiejean said:

Its in his best interest to shop around and take the best offer. Im not sure why you think that could hurt him in any way.

sometimes uprooting your family isn't in the best interest if the deals are competitive.

[bioLarzen]

I've read this "aggressive deal" term about 10 different news outlets about the KO-offer... what none of them managed to do is clarify what "aggressive" in this context means.

 

Regardless, I would advise anyone too happy about the news totone your enthusiasm down a notch or two. The Ravens have made the best offer they could to Ellerbe, McPhee, Grubbs, Torrey Smith, Art Jones etc., too.  And they still walked. Why? Because there were franchises with ridiculous free cap spaces that could easily outbid our best offer. I'm quite sure this will be the case with KO. There will absolutely surely be at least one organization that will offer him a sum we could never ever even entertain the idea of having now...

Edited February 25, 2016 by bioLarzen

[JamesColonist]

This is great. KO is proven at guard (14th in league by PFF) so we would at least have the best tandem in the league if he stays. The options for this season are:

1. Monroe at LT, let KO walk, Jensen at guard.

2. Sign KO to be LT of the future, release Monroe.

3. Draft LT in 1st round, let KO walk, release Monroe.

4. Draft LT in 1st round, release Monroe. Sign KO for LG.

5. Sign KO, keep Monroe. Draft OLB, RE, or CB in 1st.

I'm thinking they go #2 here. There are options at LT but I don't think there is that Ogden guy there. Jensen played solid at LG and gives us the option to move KO out without a huge dip at LG. The lack of a pass rush killed us last year, Canty is getting old and the draft is deep at DE. I think if KO stays, Monroe is gone and we trade back from 6 so we can stock up.

[stixfix69]

so in favor of this.....KO is a beast....

[bioLarzen]

20 minutes ago, JamesColonist said:

This is great. KO is proven at guard (14th in league by PFF) so we would at least have the best tandem in the league if he stays. The options for this season are:

1. Monroe at LT, let KO walk, Jensen at guard.

2. Sign KO to be LT of the future, release Monroe.

3. Draft LT in 1st round, let KO walk, release Monroe.

4. Draft LT in 1st round, release Monroe. Sign KO for LG.

5. Sign KO, keep Monroe. Draft OLB, RE, or CB in 1st.

I'm thinking they go #2 here. There are options at LT but I don't think there is that Ogden guy there. Jensen played solid at LG and gives us the option to move KO out without a huge dip at LG. The lack of a pass rush killed us last year, Canty is getting old and the draft is deep at DE. I think if KO stays, Monroe is gone and we trade back from 6 so we can stock up.

Good summary - but there's one mistake here IMHO: if KO decdes to walk, he'll probably be signed by his new team on the first day of free agency - but surely no later than the first 3-4 days. So, by the time the draft comes, he'll probably no longer be a Raven, or will hgave his new Ravens contract signed. Either way, Ozzie probably won't have the chance to decide to let KO walk after he picks an OT in the draft.

 

The most likely scenarios IMHO are:

1.) even with our best effort, Ozzie's offer will be easily outbidded by another organization, so KO walks in the first couple of days of free agency; Ozzie drafts Ronnie Stanely at #6.

2.) KO walks, Ozzie doesn't pick a starting caliber OT, trusts Jensen or Urschel to do a good enough job as a replacement.

 

The three very unlikely scenarios include:

3.) Somehow Ozzie pulls off the miracle that the Mile High Miracle pales in comparison with, and manages to keep KO in Baltimore.

4.) KO walks, Ozzie signs another starting caliber OT in free agency.

5.) KO walks, Ozzie tries to replace him with a mid-round pick.

Edited February 25, 2016 by bioLarzen

[riseNConquer81]

37 minutes ago, bioLarzen said:

I've read this "aggressive deal" term about 10 different news outlets about the KO-offer... what none of them managed to do is clarify what "aggressive" in this context means.

 

Regardless, I would advise anyone too happy about the news totone your enthusiasm down a notch or two. The Ravens have made the best offer they could to Ellerbe, McPhee, Grubbs, Torrey Smith, Art Jones etc., too.  And they still walked. Why? Because there were franchises with ridiculous free cap spaces that could easily outbid our best offer. I'm quite sure this will be the case with KO. There will absolutely surely be at least one organization that will offer him a sum we could never ever even entertain the idea of having now...

Everybody copies everybody in sports media. One outlet coins a phrase, and the rest just quote it.

what it means is that they're offering him at least low end LT money. That's a aggressive because it is a bit more than he's technically proven he deserves, since his resume features guard work almost exclusively. They're going out on a limb to trust him as even a low end LT off of nothing other than a 4 game audition at the end of a losing season and a pinch start back when McKinnie was slacking a couple years ago.

The difference between KO and all those other guys is that KO gets to choose between getting a promotion (of sorts) with the Ravens, or getting paid by the rest of the league as a guard, so its a bit of a different game. 
Even if he gets top guard money somewhere else, its still possible the LT money here could be better. KO gets to flirt with two different pay scales where guys like Ellerbe or Torrey are only getting market value MLB or WR money no matter where they go.

Edited February 25, 2016 by riseNConquer81
elaboration

[bioLarzen]

44 minutes ago, RavensFanMania said:

sometimes uprooting your family isn't in the best interest if the deals are competitive.

There are a good couple of organizations that are in the position to offer KO a deal that makes our best possible offer look anything but competitive...

Edited February 25, 2016 by bioLarzen

[bioLarzen]

3 minutes ago, riseNConquer81 said:

Everybody copies everybody in sports media. One outlet coins a phrase, and the rest just quote it.

what it means is that they're offering him at least low end LT money. That's a aggressive because it is a bit more than he's technically proven he deserves, since his resume features guard work almost exclusively. They're going out on a limb to trust him as even a low end LT off of nothing other than a 4 game audition at the end of a losing season and a pinch start back when McKinnie was slacking a couple years ago.

Yeah, that's my guess too.

 

Thanks for the explanation.

[purpledown]

its going to be a bidding war for KO and the Ravens will lose,

[rmcjacket23]

15 minutes ago, riseNConquer81 said:

Everybody copies everybody in sports media. One outlet coins a phrase, and the rest just quote it.

what it means is that they're offering him at least low end LT money. That's a aggressive because it is a bit more than he's technically proven he deserves, since his resume features guard work almost exclusively. They're going out on a limb to trust him as even a low end LT off of nothing other than a 4 game audition at the end of a losing season and a pinch start back when McKinnie was slacking a couple years ago.

Various tweets from "insiders" indicated the offer would make KO the 2nd highest paid offensive player on the roster.

Yanda is currently at about $8M a year, so it's north of that.

[ellicottraven]

I've read this "aggressive deal" term about 10 different news outlets about the KO-offer... what none of them managed to do is clarify what "aggressive" in this context means.

 

Regardless, I would advise anyone too happy about the news totone your enthusiasm down a notch or two. The Ravens have made the best offer they could to Ellerbe, McPhee, Grubbs, Torrey Smith, Art Jones etc., too.  And they still walked. Why? Because there were franchises with ridiculous free cap spaces that could easily outbid our best offer. I'm quite sure this will be the case with KO. There will absolutely surely be at least one organization that will offer him a sum we could never ever even entertain the idea of having now...

Assuming all you say is true for a bit, I don't understand Ozzie's statement during his presser yesterday saying that Monroe is the LT because K.O is a free agent! That is a statement that isn't helpful if they plan to keep Monroe because it is insulting and alienating to any player. That statement isn't saavy at all if they want to keep Monroe.

So, my sense is the Ravens have decided on their course of action in the first. I am near certain they will either draft Tunsil or Stanley in the 1st depending on availability and who falls to them.

[riseNConquer81]

3 minutes ago, rmcjacket23 said:

Various tweets from "insiders" indicated the offer would make KO the 2nd highest paid offensive player on the roster.

Yanda is currently at about $8M a year, so it's north of that.

right, although the inflation in the guard pay scale alone might possibly take care of that. But Yanda's top 3 guards in the league and arguably the best all around lineman period, so even with inflation factored in: its pretty much tackle money. has to be. 

[billiejean]

  3 hours ago, ALI624 said:

KO Jensen Urschel Yanda Wagner that is a fearsome OL.

Not quite!
Jensen and Wagner are not locks!

Wagner is a lock, who else do we have that plays right tackle at the moment?

[RavensFanMania]

31 minutes ago, bioLarzen said:

There are a good couple of organizations that are in the position to offer KO a deal that makes our best possible offer look anything but competitive...

and that could end up being very true.  We will know in a couple of weeks. 

[ALSKAN RAVEN FAN]

Get er' done Oz.....

[bioLarzen]

  1 hour ago, bioLarzen said:

There are a good couple of organizations that are in the position to offer KO a deal that makes our best possible offer look anything but competitive...

and that could end up being very true.  We will know in a couple of weeks. 

Yeah. March is almost upon us.

[bioLarzen]

  2 hours ago, bioLarzen said:

I've read this "aggressive deal" term about 10 different news outlets about the KO-offer... what none of them managed to do is clarify what "aggressive" in this context means.

 

Regardless, I would advise anyone too happy about the news totone your enthusiasm down a notch or two. The Ravens have made the best offer they could to Ellerbe, McPhee, Grubbs, Torrey Smith, Art Jones etc., too.  And they still walked. Why? Because there were franchises with ridiculous free cap spaces that could easily outbid our best offer. I'm quite sure this will be the case with KO. There will absolutely surely be at least one organization that will offer him a sum we could never ever even entertain the idea of having now...

Assuming all you say is true for a bit, I don't understand Ozzie's statement during his presser yesterday saying that Monroe is the LT because K.O is a free agent! That is a statement that isn't helpful if they plan to keep Monroe because it is insulting and alienating to any player. That statement isn't saavy at all if they want to keep Monroe.

So, my sense is the Ravens have decided on their course of action in the first. I am near certain they will either draft Tunsil or Stanley in the 1st depending on availability and who falls to them.

I don't thik we should read a lot into statements made at the combine. These are all part of the draft strategy.

[Ravenous_Ravens]

  3 hours ago, JamesColonist said:

This is great. KO is proven at guard (14th in league by PFF) so we would at least have the best tandem in the league if he stays. The options for this season are:

1. Monroe at LT, let KO walk, Jensen at guard.

2. Sign KO to be LT of the future, release Monroe.

3. Draft LT in 1st round, let KO walk, release Monroe.

4. Draft LT in 1st round, release Monroe. Sign KO for LG.

5. Sign KO, keep Monroe. Draft OLB, RE, or CB in 1st.

I'm thinking they go #2 here. There are options at LT but I don't think there is that Ogden guy there. Jensen played solid at LG and gives us the option to move KO out without a huge dip at LG. The lack of a pass rush killed us last year, Canty is getting old and the draft is deep at DE. I think if KO stays, Monroe is gone and we trade back from 6 so we can stock up.

Good summary - but there's one mistake here IMHO: if KO decdes to walk, he'll probably be signed by his new team on the first day of free agency - but surely no later than the first 3-4 days. So, by the time the draft comes, he'll probably no longer be a Raven, or will hgave his new Ravens contract signed. Either way, Ozzie probably won't have the chance to decide to let KO walk after he picks an OT in the draft.

 

The most likely scenarios IMHO are:

1.) even with our best effort, Ozzie's offer will be easily outbidded by another organization, so KO walks in the first couple of days of free agency; Ozzie drafts Ronnie Stanely at #6.

2.) KO walks, Ozzie doesn't pick a starting caliber OT, trusts Jensen or Urschel to do a good enough job as a replacement.

 

The three very unlikely scenarios include:

3.) Somehow Ozzie pulls off the miracle that the Mile High Miracle pales in comparison with, and manages to keep KO in Baltimore.

4.) KO walks, Ozzie signs another starting caliber OT in free agency.

5.) KO walks, Ozzie tries to replace him with a mid-round pick.

I think your "most likely scenarios #2" is a bit unrealistic. Jensen showed he's not the solution at LT. He is absolutely solid at LG however and that's where he will most likely start this season. Urschel is the back up C and as such doesn't have all the tools for the position. That's ok he's a solid brains guy for the brains role on the line. Plus another wildcard situation is if they decide Urschel is ready to be a starter, and perhaps let Zuttah go. I have not heard anything about this but another veteran cut potential along the lines of guys like D.Smith, Arrington, Canty etc.

[J.O.14]

I've read this "aggressive deal" term about 10 different news outlets about the KO-offer... what none of them managed to do is clarify what "aggressive" in this context means.

 

Regardless, I would advise anyone too happy about the news totone your enthusiasm down a notch or two. The Ravens have made the best offer they could to Ellerbe, McPhee, Grubbs, Torrey Smith, Art Jones etc., too.  And they still walked. Why? Because there were franchises with ridiculous free cap spaces that could easily outbid our best offer. I'm quite sure this will be the case with KO. There will absolutely surely be at least one organization that will offer him a sum we could never ever even entertain the idea of having now...

There is a difference between the players we have lost in recent years compared to K.O. Osemele is probably being looked at as our future LT. That is a franchise position/player that you really try to keep. Honestly, we know better than to pay players the contracts like those guys you listed received. The only one we really miss is McPhee, who had a great season in Chicago. I really believe we offered him a good deal that he will really consider even with other offers on the table offering more money. If the offer is going to make him our 2nd highest paid offensive player, I'm thinking between 10-12 million a year...maybe even higher. I'm not getting to excited about this, because I know a team will throw a lot of money KOs way. I just think we have a better chance at keeping him than you believe.

[TheConquerorWorm]

My guess is 5 years $40 million with $20 million guaranteed. No other team would pay that amount for a Guard (Tops in the league). And I doubt any other team would pay him that to be their LT after only playing at that position for 5 career games. This year's salary cap number would be $5 million, which the Ravens then post June 1 Monroe cut to save $ 6 million.

Then they use Flacco's savings to sign Tucker & BWilliams to long term deals.

Edited February 26, 2016 by TheConquerorWorm

[J.O.14]

My guess is 5 years $40 million with $20 million guaranteed. No other team would pay that amount for a Guard (Tops in the league). And I doubt any other team would pay him that to be their LT after only playing at that position for 5 career games. This year's salary cap number would be $5 million, which the Ravens then post June 1 Monroe cut to save $ 6 million.

You just outlined the issue. Will a team pay him as a LT or G? He also has that to his leverage, because he proved he can more than hold his own at both positions. I think there will be a team wanting to pay him as a LT. That offer is also similar to Yanda's in yearly average. According to reports, the offer the Ravens made would make KO the 2nd highest paid offensive player on the team, which should be north of 8 million (unless guaranteed money comes into play). I'm interested to see how this plays out. At least we have a decent backup in Monroe....the guy has to have a healthy season eventually for us.

[Ravensfansince03]

Currently (9:45pm) every headlining article brings a smile to my face, and confidence. The team looking to retain Osemele, looking at Trent Richardson, and Harbaugh sticking with Boyle. All are great efforts to get this team on the right track.

[RavensDieHard21]

9 hours ago, HuginnJaMuninn said:

If you want some super-optimism here you go; maybe Joe and Oz have finalized a restructured contract on the precondition of Osemele re-signing with the Ravens giving Joe a solid O-line with K.O and Yanda for years to come.

Now that would be great, If i were a QB, I'd certainly be praying to keep a mauler like KO, he can run block will such aggression, yet his pass protection is underrated I feel. He certainly impressed me at LT.

[RavensDieHard21]

8 hours ago, ibleedpurpleandblack said:

Hope he takes the deal bc i have a feeling if he doesn't then our #6 pick is going to be on LT

I have been thinking the same exact thing, we absolutely could not afford to lose KO and have to depend on Monroe to stay healthy or Hurst to actually not get overpowered every play while Flacco is coming back from a serious injury. very likely if KO doesn't sign that Ronnie Stanley will be the #6 pick, due to his pass protection prowess.

[RavensDieHard21]

7 hours ago, jravens13 said:

This also has huge draft implications. Stanley might be off the table.

I seriously thought they were just going to let him walk with no deal, but this makes sense and made me really happy to read. I am a huge KO fan and I think he is worth the investment. I am assuming that he is getting offered an avg of $8-9 million a year if he is going to be the second highest paid on offense since Yanda is getting roughly a little under $7 million. If KO signs, it is almost guaranteed that our #6 pick will be a defensive star, let's all hope and pray it happens