[News] Late For Work 1/27: Top Question For Seven Ravens Positions

[BR News]

Ravens fill their remaining coaching vacancies with internal promotions. Eric Weddle shaved his beard for his wife's birthday. The Pro Bowl skills challenge 'should exist forever.' WR Cooper Kupp making a name for himself at the Senior Bowl; would Ravens be interested?

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[BiggMack91]

we can't win unless flacco plays better an we need to run the ball more but that being said if the ravens drafted a RB in the first round that might force these "coaches" to run the ball. but I personally think it would be a mistake to draft a RB in the first round But as far as mike wallace goes ask him to take a pay cut or get rid of him he's good but not worth 8 mill. Then the TE situation I say cut both Pitta and watson saves money an we have some good young talent at TE to replace them. The biggest need is at CB and there is plenty of talented DBs in this draft so I would love to see us load up an get 3-5 DB 2-3 CB 1-2 Safeties but unfortunately we might draft just 2 like last year. As far as pass rush goes I think we have some good talent with Judon and smith but if we don't have a secondary to cover for more than 3 seconds how are you supposed to get any kind of pass rush going so that being said solidify the secondary then worry about the pass rush

[b93333]

Looks almost like the Ravens think Joe will magically play better this year. I hope they are taking some concrete steps to improve his mechanics that we don't know about. Otherwise 2016's 24th ranked QB likely will continue to struggle - as will the Ravens.

[The Beak]

I think Joe will improve this year, last year the knee may have played a role in his happy feet pocket dances, but we need to RUN the ball, it's the only way to help Joe on third downs, so sick incomplete on 1st down , 2 yd run on 2nd down, and 3rd and long, let the big dogs up front do some paving , try to get 3rd and 2 or 3 , that will help Joe...

[Black&purple#55]

we can't win unless flacco plays better an we need to run the ball more but that being said if the ravens drafted a RB in the first round that might force these "coaches" to run the ball. but I personally think it would be a mistake to draft a RB in the first round But as far as mike wallace goes ask him to take a pay cut or get rid of him he's good but not worth 8 mill. Then the TE situation I say cut both Pitta and watson saves money an we have some good young talent at TE to replace them. The biggest need is at CB and there is plenty of talented DBs in this draft so I would love to see us load up an get 3-5 DB 2-3 CB 1-2 Safeties but unfortunately we might draft just 2 like last year. As far as pass rush goes I think we have some good talent with Judon and smith but if we don't have a secondary to cover for more than 3 seconds how are you supposed to get any kind of pass rush going so that being said solidify the secondary then worry about the pass rush

Agree, Patriots don't have a great pass rush but their secondary makes them look like they got pass rush

[TheRavengers]

Regarding TEs, if anyone of them should go it's Ben Watson at least. Pitta's finally made a good recovery and has good chemistry with Joe, Boyle and Gillmore are good catches when healthy and not suspended. Waller's made improvements. Maxx Williams, eh I'd keep him one more year to see if he evolves more.

[rmcjacket23]

Looks almost like the Ravens think Joe will magically play better this year. I hope they are taking some concrete steps to improve his mechanics that we don't know about. Otherwise 2016's 24th ranked QB likely will continue to struggle - as will the Ravens.

Well that and they probably don't really care about "rankings", since rankings are subjective and don't really mean anything.

[Chuckx999]

Nice atricle in todays Wash. Post on how Tom Bradys salary cap is so low by Brady choice. He would rather take a smaller salary so the TEAM can affort the players it needs to keep on winning. Ask old "3 and out Flacco" if he would do that for the Ravens??????????????????? FAT CHANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Adreme]

1 hour ago, b93333 said:

Looks almost like the Ravens think Joe will magically play better this year. I hope they are taking some concrete steps to improve his mechanics that we don't know about. Otherwise 2016's 24th ranked QB likely will continue to struggle - as will the Ravens.

Being actually healthy instead of coming off an injury when you clearly are not healthy is the first big step.  Flacco got that injury too late in the year to be fully recovered in time for the season and that was a big deal.

[Azzi22]

why in the world would we let go of PITTA? clearly the best TE we have on the roster... you cant let go of 80+ catches and 600 yards just like that.. especially when steve smith retired... get rid of waller/boyle/Watson ..

[Adreme]

1 minute ago, Chuckx999 said:

Nice atricle in todays Wash. Post on how Tom Bradys salary cap is so low by Brady choice. He would rather take a smaller salary so the TEAM can affort the players it needs to keep on winning. Ask old "3 and out Flacco" if he would do that for the Ravens??????????????????? FAT CHANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

31 other starting QBs are not doing that but then again they also are not in position where they have nearly the sponsorship dollars he does and more importantly a wife bringing home 40 million per year so you don't need to worry about theextra million here or there.

[whobilly]

Nice atricle in todays Wash. Post on how Tom Bradys salary cap is so low by Brady choice. He would rather take a smaller salary so the TEAM can affort the players it needs to keep on winning. Ask old "3 and out Flacco" if he would do that for the Ravens??????????????????? FAT CHANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of Joe's wife made 40 mill a year like Brady's wife does maybe he would consider it.

[whobilly]

What will the Ravens do with Mike Wallace? Really? Given that he's the only legitimate NFL receiver we have on the team I hope they are smart enough to keep him.

[Crusader]

Looks almost like the Ravens think Joe will magically play better this year. I hope they are taking some concrete steps to improve his mechanics that we don't know about. Otherwise 2016's 24th ranked QB likely will continue to struggle - as will the Ravens.

I wondering when does the statement " You can't teach an old dog new tricks start to come into play? Joe's played practically the same the last 4 years.

[The Greek]

wish the front office could find guys like edelman and hogan and wish we had the coaching staff that can utilize players like that if we did have any. i would say camponaro comes close but he has to stay healthy. maybe we have other guys but our coaches maybe are afraid to try things with them. i think chris moore could do damage on a wr screen or quick slant under 8 yards like brady runs with edelman or amendola.

[usmccharles]

17 minutes ago, Chuckx999 said:

Nice atricle in todays Wash. Post on how Tom Bradys salary cap is so low by Brady choice. He would rather take a smaller salary so the TEAM can affort the players it needs to keep on winning. Ask old "3 and out Flacco" if he would do that for the Ravens??????????????????? FAT CHANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You clearly don't know how the cap works.  He lowered his salary this year so his 4 game suspension wouldn't cost him as much money.  Brady doesn't actually take "less" money.  @rmcjacket23 can break it down for you, maybe you can learn something instead of spitting out lies, just saying. 

Edited January 27 by usmccharles

[Moderator 3]

6 minutes ago, Crusader said:

I wondering when does the statement " You can't teach an old dog new tricks start to come into play? Joe's played practically the same the last 4 years.

And Matt Ryan played the same for years, too, until he got a good OC and tore up the league this year. 

[Crusader]

  2 hours ago, BiggMack91 said:

we can't win unless flacco plays better an we need to run the ball more but that being said if the ravens drafted a RB in the first round that might force these "coaches" to run the ball. but I personally think it would be a mistake to draft a RB in the first round But as far as mike wallace goes ask him to take a pay cut or get rid of him he's good but not worth 8 mill. Then the TE situation I say cut both Pitta and watson saves money an we have some good young talent at TE to replace them. The biggest need is at CB and there is plenty of talented DBs in this draft so I would love to see us load up an get 3-5 DB 2-3 CB 1-2 Safeties but unfortunately we might draft just 2 like last year. As far as pass rush goes I think we have some good talent with Judon and smith but if we don't have a secondary to cover for more than 3 seconds how are you supposed to get any kind of pass rush going so that being said solidify the secondary then worry about the pass rush

Agree, Patriots don't have a great pass rush but their secondary makes them look like they got pass rush

That's because all of their guys have been playing together for years. Only two players have been on different team (Eagles) for a short time and they have a secondary General: Devin McCourty. (7 years). Which brings up again two questions. 1). Do Ravens suck that bad a player selection? 2). Or are the coaches doing a bad job?

[sami]

Regarding TEs, if anyone of them should go it's Ben Watson at least. Pitta's finally made a good recovery and has good chemistry with Joe, Boyle and Gillmore are good catches when healthy and not suspended. Waller's made improvements. Maxx Williams, eh I'd keep him one more year to see if he evolves more.

I believe Maxx set rookie records for Raven TE's. Hes going to be a good one. We dont need Watson. Pitta is too productive to let go. With Wallace we need to renegotiate his contract and keep him for 3 or 4 years.

[BigUgly]

  2 hours ago, Black&purple#55 said:

  2 hours ago, BiggMack91 said:

we can't win unless flacco plays better an we need to run the ball more but that being said if the ravens drafted a RB in the first round that might force these "coaches" to run the ball. but I personally think it would be a mistake to draft a RB in the first round But as far as mike wallace goes ask him to take a pay cut or get rid of him he's good but not worth 8 mill. Then the TE situation I say cut both Pitta and watson saves money an we have some good young talent at TE to replace them. The biggest need is at CB and there is plenty of talented DBs in this draft so I would love to see us load up an get 3-5 DB 2-3 CB 1-2 Safeties but unfortunately we might draft just 2 like last year. As far as pass rush goes I think we have some good talent with Judon and smith but if we don't have a secondary to cover for more than 3 seconds how are you supposed to get any kind of pass rush going so that being said solidify the secondary then worry about the pass rush

Agree, Patriots don't have a great pass rush but their secondary makes them look like they got pass rush

That's because all of their guys have been playing together for years. Only two players have been on different team (Eagles) for a short time and they have a secondary General: Devin McCourty. (7 years). Which brings up again two questions. 1). Do Ravens suck that bad a player selection? 2). Or are the coaches doing a bad job?

We've not drafted CBs with high pick in the last decade, save for Jimmy Smith, and despite multiple efforts to find a value pick in later rounds, only Webb and Young come to mind as successes. We have been slightly better with veteran FAs - guys like Graham, Williams, and Stewart have done well enough here to price themselves out of our willingness to pay to retain them.

Perhaps the reason we haven't taken the secondary more seriously is that we had stability with Ed for so long, and we've usually managed to generate a pass rush. Weddle is finally a stabilizing force at the back end, but our pass rush has really fallen off.

[rmcjacket23]

49 minutes ago, Chuckx999 said:

Nice atricle in todays Wash. Post on how Tom Bradys salary cap is so low by Brady choice. He would rather take a smaller salary so the TEAM can affort the players it needs to keep on winning. Ask old "3 and out Flacco" if he would do that for the Ravens??????????????????? FAT CHANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just FYI, Tom made $28.7M playing football for the Patriots this year.

Cap hit and what he actually gets paid are two different things.

[VermontRaven]

7 minutes ago, sami said:

I believe Maxx set rookie records for Raven TE's. Hes going to be a good one. We dont need Watson. Pitta is too productive to let go. With Wallace we need to renegotiate his contract and keep him for 3 or 4 years.

I agree that Watson is the TE I would let go.  Too many questions marks for that old of a TE coming off of an Achilles injury.  I love the POTENTIAL of all 3 of our young TEs--Maxx, Crockett, Boyle, and Waller...all have their question marks, but anyone of them could step up and be big playmakers.  I say try to bring back Pitta on a more team-friendly deal and let these guys compete.

Wallace in my opinion is a tough call for the Ravens.  He is our most proven WR, but showed signs of decline towards the end of the season and $8 million cap hit this year is pretty big (save $5.75 million if we cut him)  However, I'm not sure I'd extend him for 3-4 years because I think it is very possible his play starts to decline and we would be stuck with another bad contract or facing a lot of dead money with cut, etc...I think we pay him this year or sign him to a modest 1 year extension.  If we had someone more reliable behind him, I think he might be a cap casualty, but we don't.

 

 

[metalraven]

  2 hours ago, b93333 said:

Looks almost like the Ravens think Joe will magically play better this year. I hope they are taking some concrete steps to improve his mechanics that we don't know about. Otherwise 2016's 24th ranked QB likely will continue to struggle - as will the Ravens.

I wondering when does the statement " You can't teach an old dog new tricks start to come into play? Joe's played practically the same the last 4 years.

Yep. Prior to the injury, he was the same. I hope he somehow does learn "new tricks" in 2017. I would love to see it. But I doubt it.

[metalraven]

wish the front office could find guys like edelman and hogan and wish we had the coaching staff that can utilize players like that if we did have any. i would say camponaro comes close but he has to stay healthy. maybe we have other guys but our coaches maybe are afraid to try things with them. i think chris moore could do damage on a wr screen or quick slant under 8 yards like brady runs with edelman or amendola.

Regarding point 1 - I'm not sure it would make a different. Those guys know their role. They play within the system. When a player goes to NE, he knows he's not going to be "the guy", or a super star. The players that last on that team understand one thing: Win, even if it means I won't be a superstar.

It's attitude, culture.

[metalraven]

  1 hour ago, Chuckx999 said:

Nice atricle in todays Wash. Post on how Tom Bradys salary cap is so low by Brady choice. He would rather take a smaller salary so the TEAM can affort the players it needs to keep on winning. Ask old "3 and out Flacco" if he would do that for the Ravens??????????????????? FAT CHANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just FYI, Tom made $28.7M playing football for the Patriots this year.

Cap hit and what he actually gets paid are two different things.

Ya. I remember when everyone was heaping praise on him because he was so "unselfish" regarding his contract. But the numbers, when broken down, actually showed Brady benefiting financially. I don't remember the details, but I'm always skeptical when any article speaks of how "unselfish" Brady is.

[RavenRampage]

why in the world would we let go of PITTA? clearly the best TE we have on the roster... you cant let go of 80+ catches and 600 yards just like that.. especially when steve smith retired... get rid of waller/boyle/Watson ..

Yeah. Let's keep Pitta and Waller(he looked like a serviceable backup) at least. I don't think we'll gain much from cutting Boyle, but Watson has to go for the cap room.

[BigUgly]

  51 minutes ago, The Greek said:

wish the front office could find guys like edelman and hogan and wish we had the coaching staff that can utilize players like that if we did have any. i would say camponaro comes close but he has to stay healthy. maybe we have other guys but our coaches maybe are afraid to try things with them. i think chris moore could do damage on a wr screen or quick slant under 8 yards like brady runs with edelman or amendola.

Regarding point 1 - I'm not sure it would make a different. Those guys know their role. They play within the system. When a player goes to NE, he knows he's not going to be "the guy", or a super star. The players that last on that team understand one thing: Win, even if it means I won't be a superstar.

It's attitude, culture.

It's also system. Edelman and Hogan would disappear in our offense. We drafted a guy like that way back when - Brandon Stokely. Shoulda kept him, but he didn't fit the front office's ideal of a productive wideout. Peyton and the Colts proved us wrong. The fact that they took a flier on Camp and Reynolds is encouraging - drafting for potential and intangibles.

[BigUgly]

Nice atricle in todays Wash. Post on how Tom Bradys salary cap is so low by Brady choice. He would rather take a smaller salary so the TEAM can affort the players it needs to keep on winning. Ask old "3 and out Flacco" if he would do that for the Ravens??????????????????? FAT CHANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

C'mon, man. You really think Brady would take a pay cut out of the goodness of his heart or for the betterment of the team? This is the Patriots, after all. Perhaps not all of Shady Brady's compensation is counted in the cap:
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/report-patriots-pay-a-brady-owned-company-run-by-suspect-partner/

[rmcjacket23]

1 minute ago, metalraven said:

Ya. I remember when everyone was heaping praise on him because he was so "unselfish" regarding his contract. But the numbers, when broken down, actually showed Brady benefiting financially. I don't remember the details, but I'm always skeptical when any article speaks of how "unselfish" Brady is.

The truth is somewhere in the middle. The reality is that he certainly doesn't get his "max market value" in terms of compensation. He's good enough he could easily be making $25-30M a year on average, which he's not doing. Here's what we know for sure:

1. Through 2016, he's made $196.1M playing football for the Patriots. That's over the course of 17 seasons, which comes out to an average of $11.5M per year over his career. Note that this dates all the way back to 2000, when salaries and salary caps were significantly lower.

2. From 2009-2016 (post ACL tear), he's made just over $130M, which comes out to an average of $16.2M per year. In the last three years alone, he's made $60.8M, which is an average of roughly $20.3M a year. 

3. Note that throughout his career, the vast majority of his compensation comes in the form of various types of bonuses, which can be used to balance the salary cap impact at any given time.

Of the $196.1M he's made in his career, $151M of that is in the form of bonuses (signing bonuses, roster bonuses, and option/restructured bonuses), all of which can be prorated over longer periods of time against the cap.

4. If fans really want to say Brady takes less, they'd be better off waiting until 2017, when he's scheduled to make just $1M. You probably shouldn't pick 2016, which was far and away Brady's most compensated year of his career. He was the 4th highest paid QB in the league this season. 

[VermontRaven]

10 minutes ago, BigUgly said:

C'mon, man. You really think Brady would take a pay cut out of the goodness of his heart or for the betterment of the team? This is the Patriots, after all. Perhaps not all of Shady Brady's compensation is counted in the cap:
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/report-patriots-pay-a-brady-owned-company-run-by-suspect-partner/

Wow!  How many ways can the Patriots cheat?  And the sad part is, the NFL is helping cover it up!