[News] Late For Work 1/24: Ravens Entering One Of Most Crucial Offseasons In Team History

[BR News]

Kamalei Correa can go from 'draft disappointment' to starter. Ravens now have seven Pro Bowlers with one surprising addition. Don't get your hopes up on keeping Rick Wagner.

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[bioLarzen]

Is there anybody who really, genuinely believes that failing to be able to do so for 7 stragiht seasons, Albert McLellan will suddenly become a starting caliber LB? It seems so weird to me that when discussing the potential replacements for Orr, everybody mentions McLellan... Don't get me wrong, I love his contribution and there's no doubnt he's the top dog of ther ST - but he's been in Baltimore for 7 years and has never became more than depth in the LB corpse. It's just insane to expect him to become the real deal now... And also, moving him primarily to the D corpse would strip the AT from its leader... I'm afraid it would be a lose-lose scenario...

[Azzi22]

were are slowly becoming the browns ... this is pathetic

[merryjman]

Is there anybody who really, genuinely believes that failing to be able to do so for 7 stragiht seasons, Albert McLellan will suddenly become a starting caliber LB? It seems so weird to me that when discussing the potential replacements for Orr, everybody mentions McLellan... Don't get me wrong, I love his contribution and there's no doubnt he's the top dog of ther ST - but he's been in Baltimore for 7 years and has never became more than depth in the LB corpse. It's just insane to expect him to become the real deal now... And also, moving him primarily to the D corpse would strip the AT from its leader... I'm afraid it would be a lose-lose scenario...

I agree. Albert has been a great player but only as a special teamer. It's the same thing as when we had Ayanbadejo here - he was a good guy and a great special teams player but not a starting LB.

[TorryGundy]

Is there anybody who really, genuinely believes that failing to be able to do so for 7 stragiht seasons, Albert McLellan will suddenly become a starting caliber LB? It seems so weird to me that when discussing the potential replacements for Orr, everybody mentions McLellan... Don't get me wrong, I love his contribution and there's no doubnt he's the top dog of ther ST - but he's been in Baltimore for 7 years and has never became more than depth in the LB corpse. It's just insane to expect him to become the real deal now... And also, moving him primarily to the D corpse would strip the AT from its leader... I'm afraid it would be a lose-lose scenario...

You Are correct! And McLellan is also better suited for a Mike and not a Will. He cant cover. And While Mosley got a lot better, he does not have the range to be a will either. We will either draft or convert a SS in the off season. The person has to be able to go sideline to sideline and get depth. Correa struggled with this too, I don't see him as that option ever.

[merryjman]

Cornerback only becomes a huge area of need with a defense that doesn't have a good pass rush. Why do you think that CBs like Cary Williams and Corey Graham got great contracts after the SB win and ended up being so-so? It's because any secondary is going to look good when a monster pass rush is forcing the QB to throw early and make mistakes.

We need edge rushers more than anything else, no question! After that, then start worrying about defensive backs.

[RavensDieHard21]

I love how we probably already wrote off Wagner. We are becoming a joke of a franchise. We can't even keep our good players and instead have replaced them with the league's recycling bin of players. If we are not doing that we are whiffing on early round replacements.

   I am 90% positive Ozzie will let Williams and Wagner go, then there goes the top talent of another draft class. The sick part about the whole thing is Ozzie will then draft Cam Robinson or McDowell to replace one of them then continue to neglect corner and pass rusher, unless he takes a mid round talent. Lately we just seem to lose two good players then replace them with one at best. 

Edited January 24 by RavensDieHard21

[potomacpitbulls]

To me Onwuasor is the man for the job inside. Correa should be moved back outside and play his natural position where he had 12 sacks as a sophomore and 7 as a junior. As for WAAY TOO early draft thoughts, we all agree this team needs playmakers. These 3 would make me happy.

First Round:
Jabrill Peppers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8wQa5tYznQ

Second Round:
Adoree' Jackson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROTgXqxyzq4

Third Round:
Donnel Pumphrey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK5GpJoxI3w

[whobilly]

Another 8-8 year leads to a major blow up of the organization. If we are depending on Arthur Brown......I mean Correa to step in and play we are off to a shaky start. KC was a 4th to 5th round pick but we outsmarted everybody and picked him in the 2nd round. CP. (Can't Play)

[RavensDieHard21]

2 minutes ago, merryjman said:

Cornerback only becomes a huge area of need with a defense that doesn't have a good pass rush. Why do you think that CBs like Cary Williams and Corey Graham got great contracts after the SB win and ended up being so-so? It's because any secondary is going to look good when a monster pass rush is forcing the QB to throw early and make mistakes.

We need edge rushers more than anything else, no question! After that, then start worrying about defensive backs.

PFF had us ranked 30th in pass rush and given our draft position with Barnett and Garrett certainly gone, there will be a lot more value at taking a corner than someone like Charles Harris or Tak McKinley 

[whobilly]

were are slowly becoming the browns ... this is pathetic

Good point. But keep in mind we are mediocre....they are pathetic.

[b93333]

If Ozzie doesn't nail this year's draft (including the top 3 picks this time) this year's 8-8 record will be remembered as the good old days.

[RavensDieHard21]

2 minutes ago, whobilly said:

Another 8-8 year leads to a major blow up of the organization. If we are depending on Arthur Brown......I mean Correa to step in and play we are off to a shaky start. KC was a 4th to 5th round pick but we outsmarted everybody and picked him in the 2nd round. CP. (Can't Play)

Lmao touché. I remember in draft night I screamed bloody murder when we picked him! I knew he was a 4th-5th round talent at best and look at it now. We passed on Spence, M. Alexander, Shepard, Thomas, jones--who everyone knew would be a good coverage LB. 

I loved the rebuttals that everyone on this page gave when I criticized him, "oh he's got a crazy motor, he's relentless, he wraps up well." Guess what? He lacked ideal size, had short arms, lacked any arsenal of legitimate pass rush moves, only played well against mediocre Pac-12 lineman and wasn't excessively quick or capable of moving inside so why did he go in the second? 

[RavensDieHard21]

Roster evaluation:

Best players:

QB: Flacco 32yrs old, solid, yet needs talent around him to play better. Has at least 3 years left.

Justin Tucker is our leading scorer

Yanda is at the back end of a stellar career and will be 33 next season. 

Stanley is likely to become a premier LT if he can gain strength and add to his run blocking. 

Wagner will be paid elsewhere because Ozzie can't get deals done in advance so he pays the price on FA open market day. 

Williams, another talent that Ozzie will have snoozed on. 

Jernigan, plays so inconsistent, but flashes during unimportant games against the Browns and Jags. 

Suggs, our defensive leader has one more year left at best, he will be 35 next season and is best as either a first and second down guy or just a third down specialist. 

Dumervil will likely be a cap saver. 

CJ Mosley is perhaps our best young talent on defense might be top 5 at the position so I'll pray Ozzie actually locks him up. 

Jimmy Smith is a top 10 corner when healthy but his aggressive style has led to dozens of injuries over the years. Hard to depend on.

Eric Weddle might have been the best safety last year, he just turned 32. 

As we can see all of our top players besides a couple are either gone this year or will retire/slow down within the next two to three years. We must pray to God that Lewis, Dixon, Perriman and Young make big leaps because if we don't get younger and more talented then we will be looking at total rebuild mode.

[jsarrocohome@yahoo.com]

  18 minutes ago, whobilly said:

Another 8-8 year leads to a major blow up of the organization. If we are depending on Arthur Brown......I mean Correa to step in and play we are off to a shaky start. KC was a 4th to 5th round pick but we outsmarted everybody and picked him in the 2nd round. CP. (Can't Play)

Lmao touché. I remember in draft night I screamed bloody murder when we picked him! I knew he was a 4th-5th round talent at best and look at it now. We passed on Spence, M. Alexander, Shepard, Thomas, jones--who everyone knew would be a good coverage LB. 

I loved the rebuttals that everyone on this page gave when I criticized him, "oh he's got a crazy motor, he's relentless, he wraps up well." Guess what? He lacked ideal size, had short arms, lacked any arsenal of legitimate pass rush moves, only played well against mediocre Pac-12 lineman and wasn't excessively quick or capable of moving inside so why did he go in the second? 

Then who made the call to draft him in the 2nd round because if he doesn't work out they should sent that guy packing with him Im still hoping the guy works out I mean Christ sakes we gave elam 4 years to prove he is not an NFL player

[ravensnj]

Best available could be an offensive tackle:
Ramczyk- Wisconsin or Robinson- Alabama

That's intriguing. Having Bookends would be sweet

[whobilly]

OMG. You have 7 Pro Bowlers because nobody wants to play in this joke of an exhibition.

[jravens1313]

Wagner isn't worth 10M if we didn't want to pay KO that. All those Zuttah haters and he got the pro bowl nod, lol. The o-line and system are the biggest question marks entering the offseason. Marty better not waste another year of our fans free time.

[drillem]

If the Ravens give up on players before they negotiate with them, don't they defeat themselves beforehand? How about appealing to team loyalty during negotiations. I realize not every player will accept less, but some will in order to be secure and win too. Each year we just write players off and in doing so have set a trend that is abominable for the team's morale. The notion that football is just a business is getting tough to take as a fan. Playing for the Ravens should be a privilege not a business. Drawing quality players into the team by being a winner is how NE works.

[RavensDieHard21]

10 minutes ago, jsarrocohome@yahoo.com said:

Then who made the call to draft him in the 2nd round because if he doesn't work out they should sent that guy packing with him Im still hoping the guy works out I mean Christ sakes we gave elam 4 years to prove he is not an NFL player

The whiffs in early rounders has been atrocious, thankfully Mosley and Stanley will be great players. Elam, Brown, Maxx, Davis, KC, Perriman, some are already gone while others need to make a statement this year. 

[RavensDieHard21]

11 minutes ago, ravensnj said:

Best available could be an offensive tackle:
Ramczyk- Wisconsin or Robinson- Alabama

That's intriguing. Having Bookends would be sweet

Ramczyk is a great player but he had a hip injury. As we all know that is risky business. Ozzie will avoid any questionable injuries like the plague this year. 

If Wagner leaves, Robinson would be the exact opposite of Wagners skill set . He would be a punishing run blocker with average pass protection skills. He does have immense potential though.  

[RavensDieHard21]

14 minutes ago, jravens1313 said:

Wagner isn't worth 10M if we didn't want to pay KO that. All those Zuttah haters and he got the pro bowl nod, lol. The o-line and system are the biggest question marks entering the offseason. Marty better not waste another year of our fans free time.

Those bottom dweller teams with cap can surprise anyone. A LG--KO--was paid $60 million. 

[RavenManiac#7]

I fear our beloved Ravens organization, which was once the model of excellence for the NFL, has become quite the opposite now. The scouting department is far from what it used to be. Ozzie consistently whiffs with early round selections in the draft, and that is devastating to a team. He, also, believes in an unwise strategy of hoarding as many mid and late round selections as he can get, which produces very few starters but many mediocre players. Yes, he hit on Stanley but, goodness, it was at pick #6. And there was C J a few years ago but, again, that was with pick #17. But, what about his other 1st rounders and his 2nd and 3rd rounders. Not a whole lot, except for misses. Remembering that Bisciotti wanted Ozzie to trade up for Matt Ryan but let Ozzie, instead, wait and pick Flacco, with Ozzie saying that Flacco was the one we wanted, really hurts right about now. I have Never been a Flacco basher but I have come to believe that Ryan is the better QB. And, our FO is horrible at managing the Cap and making personnel decisions that affect it. All this, while considering all the needs we have that this article points out surely does not give me a lot of confidence that we will see much improvement next year. I fear Wagner is as good as gone, as is Williams. All I can do is hope that I am wrong about Everything I have just pointed out, and I certainly Do hope that. I just can no longer say "in Ozzie we trust" because I just don't anymore. Oh well, I'll still ALWAYS love my Ravens, though, in good times and bad.

[rmcjacket23]

If the Ravens give up on players before they negotiate with them, don't they defeat themselves beforehand? How about appealing to team loyalty during negotiations. I realize not every player will accept less, but some will in order to be secure and win too. Each year we just write players off and in doing so have set a trend that is abominable for the team's morale. The notion that football is just a business is getting tough to take as a fan. Playing for the Ravens should be a privilege not a business. Drawing quality players into the team by being a winner is how NE works.

Well, in reality, it probably doesn't work that way. We typically make contract offers to players we want to keep. Whether those offers become public or are even good enough to warrant consideration is a different story.

As is usually the case, anytime you get a player coming off a rookie deal heading for FA, they almost always are going to pick the team that pays the most money. Quality teams change on an annual basis, and good teams also can spend top dollar on players if they need to (we've done this as well).

You can attempt to appeal to "loyalty" all you want, but the teams themselves aren't loyal to the players either. The moment you become expendable and aren't matching your perceived worth, the team will look to move on from you, and that's almost universal across the board. So its hard to understand why a player would want to be loyal to a team that he probably knows won't be loyal to him.

The guys that accept "less" are typically guys who have very little difference between offers, or are veterans who have had a big payday or two and want to win at the end of their career.

[jravens1313]

1 hour ago, RavensDieHard21 said:

The whiffs in early rounders has been atrocious, thankfully Mosley and Stanley will be great players. Elam, Brown, Maxx, Davis, KC, Perriman, some are already gone while others need to make a statement this year. 

Maxx Williams was hurt all year. Hard to say he is a miss when he showed a lot of promise as a Rookie. Karl Davis is mainly a run stuffer. Perriman shows a lot of promise as a big play WR. I think he dominates fade routes/jump balls, and has the speed to take any play to the house. How we use him in year three will be the telling sign. All year I saw a coaching staff that had no clue how to utilize their roster to get the most out of each players skillset. That is the biggest problem IMO. 

[Azzi22]

alll of these 1st/2nd/3rd guys....Elam, Brown, Maxx, Davis, KC, Perriman-upshaw that's 6 PLAYERS that should be starters and dominating... yet not one knows how to play the RAVENS WAY. all this ''IN OZZ WE TRUST'' hahahahahah ill keep my mouth shut on what I think about it ...ill use my favorite word here and stay classy.... PATHETIC

[leziRav]

alll of these 1st/2nd/3rd guys....Elam, Brown, Maxx, Davis, KC, Perriman-upshaw that's 6 PLAYERS that should be starters and dominating... yet not one knows how to play the RAVENS WAY. all this ''IN OZZ WE TRUST'' hahahahahah ill keep my mouth shut on what I think about it ...ill use my favorite word here and stay classy.... PATHETIC

The draft is not just about the first 3 rd, it is about the 7 rds and the UDA. Maxx, Perriman, KC are not bust yet. Was Paul Krauger a bust, was Jimmy Smith a bust, how long it tooks then to the players they are. You mention Elam, Brown, etc.. What about B Williams, Juice, Tucker, KO, Pitta, Wagner etc.. I can keep naming them. How every year NFL teams spend money on our free agents. It is because we have been drafting well. Again NFL draft is not just rd1,2 and 3. No team or GM will draft 7 starters each year in the draft. If you can get 3/4 starters of each draft through their rookie contract, then you will be successful as GM. This is the nature of the game. Our FO has been doing a very good job. They are among the best in the league and no one can't argue.

[djk987]

In the attention paid to Donnell Pumphrey I think we see one of the Ravens current problems. Awhile ago they hired a numbers guy (statistician) to help them find value. This has resulted in them taking players who set NCAA records, regardless of having the physical characteristics necessary in today's NFL. Pumphrey is 5'9" and 190 lbs. No amount of "motor" is going to make him able to succeed long term for the team. Unless somehow he was sick, which prevented him from adding muscle, and he is now cured. Heart and motivation are necessary, but they are not sufficient.

[leziRav]

Call me a dreamer if you like, but I have strong feeling that we will get a lot pleasant surprises this off season, hint Alshon Jeffery, Pierre Garçon, Brandon Marshall, CB Trumaine Johnson, Gilmore, Boyle, trade for Harden. Also we will sign Wagner and Juice. We will give a cheaper, cap friendly contract to Doom, Web, Pitta and Wallace. Then the draft will be so nice to us. I know the FO is under pressure and I know they will react well. Last year they were under pressure about missing on draft picks, but what a reaction it was, Stanley, Lewis, Young, Dixon, Jutton and more to come, Kaufusy, Canady, Henry. Let wait and see. I have faith on this organization.

[whobilly]

In the attention paid to Donnell Pumphrey I think we see one of the Ravens current problems. Awhile ago they hired a numbers guy (statistician) to help them find value. This has resulted in them taking players who set NCAA records, regardless of having the physical characteristics necessary in today's NFL. Pumphrey is 5'9" and 190 lbs. No amount of "motor" is going to make him able to succeed long term for the team. Unless somehow he was sick, which prevented him from adding muscle, and he is now cured. Heart and motivation are necessary, but they are not sufficient.

Also refer to Correa. Should have been drafted in the 4th or 5th round. Physical attributes are limited. CP(Can't Play)