[News] Late For Work 1/25: Anyone Buying Big Ben Retiring? Colts Want Eric DeCosta

[BR News]

John Urschel featured on HBO Real Sports. Pro Football Focus named Marshal Yanda the best NFL guard in 2016. Get ready to see Joe Flacco buses around Baltimore.

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[Minionhunter]

"But I enjoy carving out my own path and not listening to what people say I can and I can't do." - John Urshel

Yep, spoken like a true research scientist. He is headed for academia when all is said and done. Bet.

Please note, I say that without even a hint of sarcasm, it is just the way with many (but not all) academic researchers I know.

[ellicottraven]

Ben Roethlisberger - Attention seeking Drama Qeen par excellence
Joe Flacco - Polar opposite par excellence.

[reed20]

2 minutes ago, ellicottraven said:

Ben Roethlisberger - Attention seeking Drama Qeen par excellence
Joe Flacco - Polar opposite par excellence.

Big Ben is actually a pretty nice guy. He's had a lot of concussions and im sure that's playing into his decision.

[bioLarzen]

Don't get me wrong - I'm absolutely happy about Urschel's mathematical prowess being so widely recognized in the NFL scene - but somehow I can't help feeling I'd be much happier if he was renowned for his on-field production... But the reality is that he's been outplayed by a fourth-round rookie...

[bioLarzen]

As for Roethlisberger... we, Ravens fans, know exactly how it goes when a key cog of your team is contemplating retirement every single off season - just to come back every single time... Right... Ed? :D

[GMAC]

So the Colts aren't satisfied with stealing our team back in the 80's, Pagano and several of our players? Stop trying to be the mid-west Ravens already and find your own personnel!

[steelcityraven]

Ben is a drama queen.... when he can no longer garner attention from his play... he stirs drama to get attention through the media anyway he can. He is not retiring... he just needs attention... and that is why the sqeelers will not win the super bowl again under ben... his head has gotten too big

No shock on Yanda being named the top G in the NFL but KO also looked great out in Oakland. Tooo bad we didn't have both this season... with Stanley and Wags at the T spots. Congrats to Yanda

Cant wait until that FA period opens up... I am curious to see the direction that Ozzie and Eric go? It should shed some light on their thoughts heading into the draft.

[steelcityraven]

  10 minutes ago, ellicottraven said:

Ben Roethlisberger - Attention seeking Drama Qeen par excellence
Joe Flacco - Polar opposite par excellence.

Big Ben is actually a pretty nice guy. He's had a lot of concussions and im sure that's playing into his decision.

Nice guy???? I wonder if all the women that he assaulted would agree with that statement.

[bigcatfrank1]

Ben should retire, to the Ravens bench as a back-up QB.

[fusuymada]

Ben is wearing the walking boot of retirement to get more sympathy and so he can hear the Squealers fans crying so he won't quit. Well, he has to pay back like 20 mil in money he already got in signing bonuses so I doubt very seriously if this is anything more than another childish attempt to get attention.

[ellicottraven]

Eric DeCosta isn't going anywhere primarily because Steve is going to show him the use case of Ryan Grigson who was hired after Eric first declined an interview with the Colts. Now he's gone! That should be enough to deter Eric from leaving Baltimore where he has ties, enjoys the work environment, people and is basically paid like a GM and happy. Why then would he leave for another city where his job could very well be limited?

[bigcatfrank1]

John Urshel is the Man! He will become what Yanda has become. The Ravens O-line will prove itself in 2017. Either with or without Wagner, so if he wants to be on a Super Bowl team he should just take the 7.5 mil progressive and be a Raven. Its time to get that 1200 yd beast mode RB, Dixon can be the all around back getting 500/500 and Juice can lead the way as FB, keeping either West or Allen in the reserve spot. Joe, this is your year, no excuses. The Ravens have put a lot into this front line, the best Guard in football, the #1 rookie tackle in football, hopefully making efforts to keep a top 10 Tackle. They sill invest about 20 mil in the WR corp, and another 18 in the RB, with Pitta and at least 2 TE the Ravens will admittedly have switched to an "offensive" heavy team in "Dollars" with adding Joe's contract into the mix.
This simply puts the Defense in a position to deal with its young LB corp, which I think is a great bunch of talented players. The Big Guys up front are fantastic, I know its tough to see Brandon go, but if he doesn't want a ring, that is his own fault we will get one without him. Weddle and Webb worked well together, I think they actually got better as the season moved on, But rotation will need some more development. Corner is our biggest need, OZ and Eric go get us a shut down corner and get us another couple in the draft. Dump everyone except Smith and Tavon, look at walk ons, FA's, bring in some young competition and start over. lets get this thing right.
All packages suffered last year. We need our secondary working like clockwork. There is no time to waste, the NFL is a 55-70% passing football league any given week when you look at both divisions, though the Ravens will be an exception similar to the Patriots and Squeelers who we must always contend with, this secondary must be prepared for high powered WR and multi-dimensional options.

[sami]

I think a lot of people put too much credence in where a football player was drafted.

[b93333]

For my money it is time for Ozzie to retire. We clearly need a fresh perspective in our drafting system. This would also ensure that we don't lose Decosta to the Colts.

[budman]

17 minutes ago, b93333 said:

For my money it is time for Ozzie to retire. We clearly need a fresh perspective in our drafting system. This would also ensure that we don't lose Decosta to the Colts.

Wrong. You wouldn't be getting "a fresh perspective" or anything different. DeCosta has been working the draft hand in hand with Ozzie, and that means the missed picks are on him too. Not 1 man shoulders the blame here and our owner backs that up.

[merryjman]

For my money it is time for Ozzie to retire. We clearly need a fresh perspective in our drafting system. This would also ensure that we don't lose Decosta to the Colts.

Did you read the article? Nowadays, Ozzie is not very involved at all with the draft process. All he does is call up the players. It's been DeCosta for a few years now.

Besides, I think we have done a good job drafting anyway so I don't agree that a "fresh perspective" is needed at all.

People who complain about Ozzie "missing" a lot in the draft are the same ones at the roulette table who, if black shows up 8 times in a row, bet heavy on red. Spoiler alert: they leave with no money.

[merryjman]

Don't get me wrong - I'm absolutely happy about Urschel's mathematical prowess being so widely recognized in the NFL scene - but somehow I can't help feeling I'd be much happier if he was renowned for his on-field production... But the reality is that he's been outplayed by a fourth-round rookie...

Seriously. I'm getting tired of the Ravens - and the NFL - boasting about their very own math genius when the guy doesn't even start, and - as you said - got outplayed by a rookie. It's as if this one genius can make up for the PR damage from hundreds of domestic assaults, drug arrests and nightclub fights.

[eze17]

  2 hours ago, ellicottraven said:

Ben Roethlisberger - Attention seeking Drama Qeen par excellence
Joe Flacco - Polar opposite par excellence.

Big Ben is actually a pretty nice guy. He's had a lot of concussions and im sure that's playing into his decision.

Sure, ask some of the women he's assaulted how "nice" a guy he is...He's the steriotypical jock who thinks he is better than everybody else. Listen to not only how he speaks, but his reactions to media questions. He feel's he's above the "common" people. Arrogant jerk, period. He pretends injuries like no other QB, because he want's all the attention focused on him. And as for concussions, he had the fewest times sacked last year in his career. Look it up. Just more melodrama from someone who has to have the attention on himself, rather than answer why his team couldn't beat the Pat's and contend for another Super Bowl.

[eze17]

DeCosta is going nowhere. The Raven's are actually paying him GM money already, he has super strong ties to Baltimore, Biscotti & Newsome have total faith in him, etc. etc....And really, would he want to go neck deep into the mess that Irsay has created in Indy? My guess is "no way!"

[eze17]

Ben is wearing the walking boot of retirement to get more sympathy and so he can hear the Squealers fans crying so he won't quit. Well, he has to pay back like 20 mil in money he already got in signing bonuses so I doubt very seriously if this is anything more than another childish attempt to get attention.

Truth!!! 100%!!!

[The Greek]

bisciotti says he has 2 gm's yet they still screw up picks in the early rds.

[bigcatfrank1]

Eric DeCosta isn't going anywhere primarily because Steve is going to show him the use case of Ryan Grigson who was hired after Eric first declined an interview with the Colts. Now he's gone! That should be enough to deter Eric from leaving Baltimore where he has ties, enjoys the work environment, people and is basically paid like a GM and happy. Why then would he leave for another city where his job could very well be limited?

Awesome!

[bigcatfrank1]

  3 hours ago, bioLarzen said:

Don't get me wrong - I'm absolutely happy about Urschel's mathematical prowess being so widely recognized in the NFL scene - but somehow I can't help feeling I'd be much happier if he was renowned for his on-field production... But the reality is that he's been outplayed by a fourth-round rookie...

Seriously. I'm getting tired of the Ravens - and the NFL - boasting about their very own math genius when the guy doesn't even start, and - as you said - got outplayed by a rookie. It's as if this one genius can make up for the PR damage from hundreds of domestic assaults, drug arrests and nightclub fights.

I think that is a bit of an overstatement. Though he was outplayed because he payed the price for his mistake. Watch out this year, I think many are underestimating the Ravens for 2017.

[Ravenole]

I am not sure Big Ben will retire but among the things he must consider is that he has been sacked 505 times in his NFL career and there is no telling how many times he has been hit. I'm just saying......

[bigcatfrank1]

  1 hour ago, b93333 said:

For my money it is time for Ozzie to retire. We clearly need a fresh perspective in our drafting system. This would also ensure that we don't lose Decosta to the Colts.

Did you read the article? Nowadays, Ozzie is not very involved at all with the draft process. All he does is call up the players. It's been DeCosta for a few years now.

Besides, I think we have done a good job drafting anyway so I don't agree that a "fresh perspective" is needed at all.

People who complain about Ozzie "missing" a lot in the draft are the same ones at the roulette table who, if black shows up 8 times in a row, bet heavy on red. Spoiler alert: they leave with no money.

I would agree, Eric has has either as much to do or more with player selection than anyone. The Ravens drafts over the past 5 years have been rated by most experts to be above average or higher than most at all levels.

Teams usually need 2-3 years to re-gain momentum when losing key positional players and suffering mass injury seasons which is exactly what has plagued the Ravens for 3 years.

Here is a classic case of common replace and re-institute game plan. Its obvious that no one player, coach or FO person should be called out for full responsibility this was a collective "failure" to produce.
Young Players either develop fast, get offered big money quickly or home teams can be in the right spot and retain them. They can be lost quickly to non-playing time and suffer adverse consequences.

As far as boasting 4yr + Veteran "home grown" starters The Ravens have kept the choice of who they could convince, attract and who "would stay". Here is your list for 2017- Flacco, Yanda, Suggs, Pitta, Juzchzke, Morgan Cox, Justin Tucker, Lardarius Webb, Brandon Williams, Rick Wagner, Jimmy Smith,
at any given season one could find a pretty good list of 4yr+ Veterans on The Baltimore Ravens roster. I myself would say This speaks pretty well for Eric, Oz and the FO of this organization

[bigcatfrank1]

9 minutes ago, bigcatfrank1 said:

1 hour ago, merryjman said:

  2 hours ago, b93333 said:

For my money it is time for Ozzie to retire. We clearly need a fresh perspective in our drafting system. This would also ensure that we don't lose Decosta to the Colts.

Did you read the article? Nowadays, Ozzie is not very involved at all with the draft process. All he does is call up the players. It's been DeCosta for a few years now.

Besides, I think we have done a good job drafting anyway so I don't agree that a "fresh perspective" is needed at all.

People who complain about Ozzie "missing" a lot in the draft are the same ones at the roulette table who, if black shows up 8 times in a row, bet heavy on red. Spoiler alert: they leave with no money.

I would agree, Eric has has either as much to do or more with player selection than anyone. The Ravens drafts over the past 5 years have been rated by most experts to be above average or higher than most at all levels.

Teams usually need 2-3 years to re-gain momentum when losing key positional players and suffering mass injury seasons which is exactly what has plagued the Ravens for 3 years.

Here is a classic case of common replace and re-institute game plan. Its obvious that no one player, coach or FO person should be called out for full responsibility this was a collective "failure" to produce.
Young Players either develop fast, get offered big money quickly or home teams can be in the right spot and retain them. They can be lost quickly to non-playing time and suffer adverse consequences.

As far as boasting 4yr + Veteran "home grown" starters The Ravens have kept the choice of who they could convince, attract and who "would stay". Here is your list for 2017- Flacco, Yanda, Suggs, Pitta, Juzchzke, Morgan Cox, Justin Tucker, Lardarius Webb, Brandon Williams, Rick Wagner, Jimmy Smith,
at any given season one could find a pretty good list of 4yr+ Veterans on The Baltimore Ravens roster. I myself would say This speaks pretty well for Eric, Oz and the FO of this organization

Edited January 25 by bigcatfrank1
i didnt forget Tucker

[JamesA119]

My opinion is that a team only needs one GM. This article insinuates that DeCosta has been making the decisions on our recent drafts, and Ozzie is in a more or less supporting/supervisory role. So who is directly responsible for the less than stellar drafts we've had recently?

I think that DeCosta needs the Ravens more than they need him. He is quite lucky to have a kind owner like Bisciotti. If DeCosta had accepted a GM position several years back, there's a high likelihood that he would have been fired by now.

[bigcatfrank1]

My opinion is that a team only needs one GM. This article insinuates that DeCosta has been making the decisions on our recent drafts, and Ozzie is in a more or less supporting/supervisory role. So who is directly responsible for the less than stellar drafts we've had recently?

I think that DeCosta needs the Ravens more than they need him. He is quite lucky to have a kind owner like Bisciotti. If DeCosta had accepted a GM position several years back, there's a high likelihood that he would have been fired by now.

Maybe its Oz who is quite lucky to have an owner like Bisciotti.

[Chuckx999]

Lets face it, maybe its time for Ozzie to retire. He did well in his early years with Ray Lewis, Ogden, Ed Reed and a few others, but now its very few and that number drops every year. They past 4 years have just been bad. There are a few draft choices playing as starters but they would be second string on most good teams. Look at our record the past few years. The team needs a BIG change and needs it SOON!!!!!!!