[News] Late For Work 4/14: Should Ravens Show Interest In Pro Bowler Donte Whitner?

[Halshayeji]

  12 hours ago, steelcityraven said:

Yes... we should grab Donte Whitner if we can. Whitner and Weddle beside each other would assuredly put an end to out S problems. Whitner is solid... with a great attitude and would fit our defense well. That would also free us up to utilize Webb in the slot... and to add depth to both our CB and S positions! I really cannot think of a reason we shouldn't sign Whitner right now!

Whitner plays exactly the kind of way Pollard did -which means he would probably draw even more flags now than Pollard did a few years back...
Not Pollard's/Whitner's fault, but the NFL's - still, a flag is a flag...

You can't walk into a football game with the fear of being flagged. To be a nasty dominant defense you are gonna get flagged every once in a while and you just gotta take it and laugh it off. It's the price you pay to install fear into quarterbacks and WRs who think runing across our D is a walk in the park. No it's not! You will get hurt

[Tobenna_MBA]

We really should get donta whitner, with him we would have our new ed reed and bernard pollard combo back. Weddle the ball hawk and whitner the thumper, why are we passing this up because ozzie over paid webb and now that he cant play corner anymore we have to find a use for him. smh ridiculous

I agree so Much, If we had the old system back I would make three other accounts just so I could give this comment right here three additional thumbs up. Webb needs to take a pay cut and play in the slot, Weddle plays deep whitner at strong IMHO.

[YorkCountyRaven]

15 hours ago, Moderator 3 said:

19 hours ago, bioLarzen said:

What I think we can take for granted about our schedule:

1.) A home start v. the Bengals or the steelers
2.) A Week#17 game @ CIN
3.) A road MNF game v a mid-tier or lesser team (my guess is the JAX game - maybe the Dallas one)
4.) A TNF game in the first couple of available weeks, v. a division opponent (my guess: our home Browns-game)

Great job!  Do you also know tomorrow's Mega Millions number.

Hahaha

[YorkCountyRaven]

There is literally no point in getting Whitner... Waste of time for the front office. He's a great safety, but we have enough safeties.. Ironic the position named safety is arguably the most unsafe position for the ravens defense in the past what, 3 years. Shame. One minute you're the starter, next minute you're on special teams.

[gooftroop]

Whitner stinks. A missed tackle and blown coverage machine. The Browns desperately need players, so why'd they say goodbye?

[BMoreDuck]

On 4/14/2016 at 7:02 AM, BOLDnPurPnBlacK said:

I think LA's going Goff - the home town kid - and the Browns still go Wentz... or now that the price to move up has been set I think either the Eagles or 49ers will be interested in moving up to 2 or 3 to grab the other QB. Either way, I think the odds have increased greatly of 2 QBs being taken before our pick.

Goff is from the Bay area.

[EdTheMythicalOne]

  On 4/14/2016 at 2:05 PM, EdTheMythicalOne said:

You're missing the point entirely.

Jimmy Smith was probably at best 80% last season. You'd have to think once he's actually healthy again he'd improve his play. Webb was also continually banged up and is now moving to FS and away from CB and Shareece Wright didn't play until near the end of the season when the secondary improved and now he's coming back to potentially be a starter again. Steve Smith coming back and not dealing with micro fractures in his back and hopefully a fully healed ACL will make him better than he already was. Breshard Perriman is hopefully coming back and we didn't even have him on the field last season. I would think if Jimmy Smith is progressing in his healing from his lisfranc injury that Rick Wagner is in the same boat and should improve with a healthier foot. A healthy Eugene Monroe (hopefully) is better than one suffering from injuries and a back up.

This team also did upgrade. Weddle is now in the secondary and even if he's not quite as good as he once was, he's better than anyone else whose been out there. Watson gives us better depth at TE so that gives Gillmore a chance to heal up, Maxx Williams to bone up on the playbook, and Pitta a chance to resume playing. Wallace gives us an extra deep threat and insurance of at least having one if Perriman can't get on the field.

There is a solid core on this team that is still very good. Obviously hitting some home runs in the draft will improve this team, but the team was already pretty good to start with. Having guys back that were starters being healthy will make all the difference in the world. I don't know how anyone could argue that point.

No I get the point.

My point is simple... we will never have a fully healthy team. Its borderline impossible in the NFL. Jimmy Smith gets back to 100%, and then Weddle tears an ACL. That's how things work. Injuries are frequent enough that they should be expected, both at key and non-key positions.

If we are evaluating a team based on how they would perform when they are perfectly healthy, then we aren't make a reasonable evaluation of a team by any stretch.

As for upgrades, we simply don't know. Much like 2013, we THINK we upgraded. If Wallace and Watson aren't that important to the offense, it won't surprise me one bit, because these aren't game changing-type players we are acquiring. And not to mention... we lost some players who were pretty good for us last season, some of which are at positions we have yet to or might not even upgrade.

One thing that all good football teams in the league have is depth. When they suffer significant injuries (and they all do), they have respectable players who can fill those roles.

In the last 2-3 years, one could argue that's been our biggest weakness... lack of depth. And I don't see where we've done enough "upgrading" in that area thus far (again pre-draft, which changes everything) to think this team is capable of taking a major leap forward into serious playoff contenders.

And ironically, some of the reasons you are arguing for us to be fully healthy (like Jimmy and Wagner coming back in year 2 from major injuries) are some of the same concerns we carry into this season.

Do we really know if Joe will be 100% this season? How about Steve Smith... still the de factor top WR on this team, aging and off an achilles tear? Crockett Gillmore is still hurt from last season and its April. Pitta may never play again. Perriman still hasn't played and isn't in football shape to play right now.

Same questions about injuries we had coming into 2015 can easily apply to 2016... only the names on the jerseys are different.

Then my point stands. This team, if it can keep the starters on the field, I think is a 10 win team...that's even before the draft.

I am not expecting Pitta to play this year, I think Watson is an overall upgrade at the position. Gillmore will be fine and Maxx Williams is a good #2 TE at this point.

Steve Smith has some valid options with Perriman hopefully returning and Wallace coming to town. Hopefully this will help us not rely on him as much, but knowing he is there and what he's capable of is nice to have.

Jimmy Smith and Rick Wagner are bound to be healthier this upcoming season. I still think Suggs has quite a bit left in the tank.

The Ravens have a pretty good team, or are fans simply forgetting that we've gone to the playoffs so many times in the recent past?

[rmcjacket23]

On 4/16/2016 at 7:47 PM, EdTheMythicalOne said:

Then my point stands. This team, if it can keep the starters on the field, I think is a 10 win team...that's even before the draft.

I am not expecting Pitta to play this year, I think Watson is an overall upgrade at the position. Gillmore will be fine and Maxx Williams is a good #2 TE at this point.

Steve Smith has some valid options with Perriman hopefully returning and Wallace coming to town. Hopefully this will help us not rely on him as much, but knowing he is there and what he's capable of is nice to have.

Jimmy Smith and Rick Wagner are bound to be healthier this upcoming season. I still think Suggs has quite a bit left in the tank.

The Ravens have a pretty good team, or are fans simply forgetting that we've gone to the playoffs so many times in the recent past?

I don't think fans are forgetting it... I think some fans (me in particular) also recognize that the past is exactly what it is... the past.

Teams go to the playoffs for a decade... and then, they don't anymore. Nothing lasts forever.

My point is the same its always been... for about the first half of the season last year, this was about the healthiest Ravens teams we've all seen in about 3-4 years. 2014 was anything but a healthy season, and when we won a SB, we were hit by major injuries very frequently.

And during that stretch last season, we weren't a good football team by any measure. So, knowing that, I'm taking a "show me" approach rather than a "well we used to be good so we will just snap our fingers and be good again".