[News] Late For Work 5/24: Most Offensive Weapons In Ravens History? 45 Roster Locks

[RRRRRavens]

Let me make one suggestion to everyone picking the final 53 (or 63 if you are including the PS). It might be wiser to pick, say, 58 or 60 since some of your picks are going to go down with injuries and be eliminated that way.

[rmcjacket23]

14 minutes ago, RRRRRavens said:

That won't be a problem. When we need to move a player to IR he somehow always comes up with an "injury". Sorry to be so cynical but let's face it, that's the way the game is played.

They always have an actual injury, otherwise the Union would file a grievance (and would win). The "gray area" aspect is when a player suffers a 1-2 week injury in week 2 and is placed on IR for the whole season.

Because they get paid when they are on IR, they usually don't put up much of a fight over that.

[Maryland]

I don't see Za’Darius Smith as a roster lock. He was very poor on run defense and opportunistic on getting sacks (he didn't burst off the line and 'wow' me on any of them, more like coverage sacks + good hustle). Judon and Ochi could end up being more promising prospects if Smith doesn't take a big step forward.

[rmcjacket23]

Just now, Maryland said:

I don't see Za’Darius Smith as a roster lock. He was very poor on run defense and opportunistic on getting sacks (he didn't burst off the line and 'wow' me on any of them, more like coverage sacks + good hustle). Judon and Ochi could end up being more promising prospects if Smith doesn't take a big step forward.

He's a lock. Not enough depth at the position to cut him. We also don't really cut 4th rounders who had mildly productive seasons after one year.

Edited May 24, 2016 by rmcjacket23

[respecttheRaven]

38 minutes ago, Maryland said:

I don't see Za’Darius Smith as a roster lock. He was very poor on run defense and opportunistic on getting sacks (he didn't burst off the line and 'wow' me on any of them, more like coverage sacks + good hustle). Judon and Ochi could end up being more promising prospects if Smith doesn't take a big step forward.

He is the reason we let Courtney Upshaw go.

 

Edited May 24, 2016 by respecttheRaven
mistake

[Jacquouille]

52 minutes ago, Maryland said:

I don't see Za’Darius Smith as a roster lock. He was very poor on run defense and opportunistic on getting sacks (he didn't burst off the line and 'wow' me on any of them, more like coverage sacks + good hustle). Judon and Ochi could end up being more promising prospects if Smith doesn't take a big step forward.

I respect your opinion but to me it is flat out wrong. Against the Hawks, ZDS caught eyes because he showed good run defense, and from then on he had sacks against Eric Fisher (who's a good LT when healthy), Andrew Witworth, and the Steeler's OL (don't know who their LT is, but their OL is reknown so he should be good).

Plus ZDS worked his butt off this offseason and responded to Harbs 10 sacks challenge. He's a lock to me.

[RRRRRavens]

  3 hours ago, RRRRRavens said:

Agreed. In fact I'd go a step further. Mallett may be our best QB with the one vulnerable point about his temperament. He's an intense competitor and tends to show his disappointment a bit too much when one of the receivers drops one of his passes. Joe doesn't do that. He remains cool and focused on the next play. Mallett could learn a lot from Joe in that area. If he mastered that he could be one of the best if not the best in the league. In the last two games of last year no QB played better than Mallett. He just needs to mature emotionally. All the rest is there.

Well, he still has plenty of accuracy issues that he would need to improve on also. Very noticeable in his time in Houston and somewhat last season as well.

I agree he had accuracy issues on very short passes or dumps. But his medium to longer passes were the best I saw last year from anybody, including Joe.

[RRRRRavens]

5 hours ago, rmcjacket23 said:

Not exactly reasonable to expand a roster from 53 to 90. Most teams struggle to find 53 quality football players in a given year to field a team with... the idea of adding like 1,200 more will only  make the play worse.

I doubt it would make the play worse since you still can only put 11 men on the field at a time, presumably the best 11 you've got.  I'm not seriously suggesting they go to 90.  It's just frustrating to see the Ravens have to let go of so many potentially good players by the end of the summer.  Oh, well . . . . .

[Crusader]

  13 hours ago, stixfix69 said:

In a year or two i really think Dixon could be a RR clone, as far as talent,,,,And i think he runs a wheel route better than RR, as RR basically was the bubble screen guy...:) heck with it, i love all 90 players, and wiah the rosters could expand to 90....)

Agree with moving roster to 90. There may be some impracticalities with such a move but I'd like to see it.

Ravens coaches have a hard enough time getting 53 guys to play good enough to win 4 games and you want 90.?

[slowboater]

20 hours ago, potomacpitbulls said:

My PS favorites are (Sam) Brown, Nembot, West, Onwuasor, Beyer, Waller, Clausell, Canady, Wilson, (Daniel) Brown.

If the Ravens don't find a place for Waller, he won't be on the PS.... too valuable. I predict he has some "injury" and is placed on the IR.

[Halshayeji]

18 hours ago, rmcjacket23 said:

I doubt any team would give up a draft pick for Waller, considering they could have just drafted him themselves last year. Not like he really showed anything since then to make teams all of the sudden perceive him as being better than he was already projected to be.

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he passed through waivers. We always tend to overvalue our players when we think what other teams might do. 

I get that we tend to over value our players because we've invested time and picks in them. But I don't think that's the case with Waller. I think he was a victim of arguably the deepest WR class in 20 years. He was a third round talent in some mocks and we stole him in the sixth. He has elite speed, along with elite size and very good hands. He even blocks like a baller. His only downside was the system he played at with Gorgia and thus he wasn't even close to being NFL ready. Just the fact that he has been in an NFL setting studying an NFL playbook day in and day out makes him so much more valuable than what he was last year. I have no doubt Waller will be an NFL contributed it's just a matter of time. I'm sure a few GMs agree with me and thus I don't think Waller would last on a PS. 

[rmcjacket23]

11 hours ago, RRRRRavens said:

I doubt it would make the play worse since you still can only put 11 men on the field at a time, presumably the best 11 you've got.  I'm not seriously suggesting they go to 90.  It's just frustrating to see the Ravens have to let go of so many potentially good players by the end of the summer.  Oh, well . . . . .

I'm not concerned about cutting players. Its not like the guys we cut end up going to other teams and dominating. Most of them just bounce around the league from team to team and then are out of the league entirely within 3-5 years.

Those are the types of guys we are generally cutting.

[rmcjacket23]

1 hour ago, Halshayeji said:

I get that we tend to over value our players because we've invested time and picks in them. But I don't think that's the case with Waller. I think he was a victim of arguably the deepest WR class in 20 years. He was a third round talent in some mocks and we stole him in the sixth. He has elite speed, along with elite size and very good hands. He even blocks like a baller. His only downside was the system he played at with Gorgia and thus he wasn't even close to being NFL ready. Just the fact that he has been in an NFL setting studying an NFL playbook day in and day out makes him so much more valuable than what he was last year. I have no doubt Waller will be an NFL contributed it's just a matter of time. I'm sure a few GMs agree with me and thus I don't think Waller would last on a PS. 

Not disputing somebody might poach him from the PS. I'm disputing the idea that somebody would trade for him, because to me, it doesn't make sense for a team to do that.

I don't really care about where he was mocked... those mocks were clearly wrong. When 32 NFL teams unanimously tell you that a player mocked in the 3rd round gets taken a full three rounds later, there's only one definitive conclusion you draw from that. And that conclusion is that the mock drafts were wrong about his value.

I would point out something else as well... after ONE season, an NFL team has already asked him to change positions. That should tell you something as well.

Much like Tommy Streeter (I see very little difference between the two in terms of skill sets), I don't expect to see any long term contributions from Darren Waller. I'm sure I'm in the minority, because fans fall in love with receivers with size, but size doesn't always translate. Steve Smith plays taller than he does. Could it be because Waller is so raw? Sure, but NFL teams don't have the luxury of waiting 3-4 years before a player stops being raw.

[Winchester]

Judon and ochi could go to practice squad. Ochi in my opinion will make team b4 judon. Reynolds and d. Brown to the practice squad as well. In my opinion Waller will get cut. Arthur will get opportunity. If he shows starter skills he is on the team. If not he is cut.ravens will keep extra wr for returner. Campanaro is on the team if he avoids injury. Running backs will be Dixon and buck. Forsett is not a lock but very likely is on the roster LT and west would have to really show to be a smashing bruiser to make it. But LT and west are likely gone. Monroe should make the team as well. Pitta i like but after 2 hip replacements and so many TEs would have to look awesome to be on the team. Fact is ravens invested to much into his replacements. Watson I like because of his phenomenal work ethic!! His knowledge and detail to training and nutrition is unmatched in the nfl!! He could train and demonstrate work ethic and training and nutrition techniques to interested young players like kufusi, Henry,Ron Stanley and max. His knowledge of building muscle and leaning out to maximize power and speed is by far the best in the league. He is fanatical about it. It is the reason he is playing well at 35. I know kufusi, Henry and Stanley will be interested in learning from him. He could run a 4.6 at his age. It is exciting to know he will be showing Kufusi and Henry the tricks how to maximize power and explosion.