[News] Late For Work 2/9: Ed Reed Opens Up About Coaching For Ravens

[RaRaRavens]

14 hours ago, steelcityraven said:

WE have some guys who need to take the next step if we are going to get to where we want to be. Here are a dozen:

1. Alex Lewis.... I have a feeling we are going to let Wags walk which means Lewis will need to step up and be the man at RT

2. Breshad Perriman... We need him to become our # 1 WR (if not this year...definitely next)

3. Kenneth Dixon... he showed signs that he can be a workhorse type of back for us but we need him to take that next step

4. Darren Waller... the kid is a mismatch at TE and a freak athlete. Now that he has gotten his feet wet... we need him to take the next step and develop into a vertical TE

5. Maxx WIlliams... Man he has so much ability but appears to have the problem that a lot of gifted players due... they never had to develop the work ethic. Hopefully maxx makes the lead this year. (if not Nick Boyle will be kept and Maxx may be gone)

6. Mat Judon... he showed flashes of ability but with us likely to lose Elvis... Judon could be the man on a stacked defensive- if he can take the next step.

7. Tavon Young.... tavon showed sings of being able to be a quality starter in this league. Now he will have to string this work together on a consistent basis. I like his chances

8. Bronson Kafusi... if Kafusi can live up to potential.... he can greatly help our desperate search to improve the pass rush. And with his massive size he can help stop the run and reduce the impact that losing BW may cause

9. Kamalei Coreia... KC has a chance to step into a starting spot and fulfill his draft status... It was a big blow to lose Zach Orr but KC could really fill a need (as he was drafted to do)

10. Carl Davis... Davis showed a ton of potential in his rookie year but seemed to hit that rookie wall and never recovered. We need CD to take that next step (especially if we lose big Brandon). Davis can become a key piece in our front seven.

11. Chris Moore... We could very easily lose SSS, Mike Wallace and Kamar Aiken this off season. We will bring somebody in to help out at WR regardless if that means we retain Wallace, or bring in a FA or draft a WR or a combination of those possibilities. That should still mean that CMoore will have a great opportunity to earn himself some recognition and opportunity. He has the athletic ability but will need to put a lot of work in to bring his skillset up to match his athletic potential.

12. Maurice Canaday... CB out of VA, who is on our practice squad. Canaday showed a lot of potential in camp and our hopes that Sharece Wright and Jerrod Powers would live up to the hype left Canaday relegated to the PS. Canaday looked better then both of them (and could not have been much worse). I think he surprised people and takes the next step+ Looking forward to seeing him next season.

Finally (Bonus) if Dean Pees don't take the next step and learn to close teams out... it will not matter what these young guys do. Pees needs to get better or we will miss the playoffs again... losing a bunch of close games in the 4th quarter and frustrating Raven nation to no end. (and costing harbs his job).
Pees got to get it together quickly!

To sum up your point, over half of our roster is filled with players who were supposed to be the next big things, starters and maybe even cornerstones for this franchise. Almost all of them (talking about the past 4-5 years) have failed to live up to the expectations. Which is why aging veterans need to carry this team and we have the highest average starting age in the NFL. THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM!

For example, if both Suggs and Doom were to retire, guys like KC and Judon would be non-factors replacing them and this team would be picking among top 3 for couple of years at least. And this is the issue at several vital positions.

My fear is that unless all the young guys you named, and many others, do not step up, we will soon be the bottom feeders of NFL.

Whole other issue is, why plethora of our young talented players (especially early round picks), towards whom we had so high expectations, are consistently failing to live up to these hopes. If it was couple of players every draft, I'd probably say it was just an unfortunate pick. But it has been the case with most players in every draft for the past 5 years at least. So I'm left with no explanation other than either our scouts are doing a miserable job or our coaches flat out suck at developing very talented players. And the few true game changers we do manage to find are not resigned because we are in salary cap hell because of all the veteran contracts we have to sign (not to mention the far below average Joe who eats up 22+ M every year, while his playing level is worth 17 at most).

Either way, something has to change if we want to be considered relevant again.

Edited February 10 by RaRaRavens
Additional thought

[#Nevermore]

This article IMHO is not worth the read. Pure and simple the Ravens are much closer than they are far off. To put things into proper perspective, a big reason why the ravens run defense is as stout as it is, is because of BW. You take him out of the equation and the run defense suffers period. Remember he picked up and filled the void left by Ngata and did not miss a beat. This will only be more evident now that Z Orr unfortunately had to retire, who happened to be a tackling machine last season.

Complain for more weapons. I hear it every year but what everyone is ignoring is the fact they have WR's already that they need to utilize better. So many in fact, most of them do not see significatn snaps. If they cannot get enough out of their WR's, then it is time to address the scouting of WR, the development of WR and the coaching of WR even down to the offensive strategies being implemented. When you have a history of drafting well on defense and a history of not drafting well specifically at WR, you gotta be honest and fix things in house instead of passing the blame along to the players all the time. Always going to go get a vet WR suggest they are already aware of this fact and continue to ignore it. Fix this issue in house and stop with "we need more help at WR".

There is also no need to go sign a FA CB. Draft and develop and save the salary cap space for the players already on this team that must be retained. Reaching for a FA to fix a situation is always a risk which eats up more cap space than drafting well and developing. Only real reason to get a FA is if you have that much spare cap space or if a drafted player cannot be expected to contribute in a meaningful manner.

An ostrich must have written this article, with their head buried in the sand. Reality is much different when viewed from above ground.

I agree with much of your article except I think we can absorb the loss of Williams. He has been great and we don't know what will happen when he left, but that's true of everyone when they leave. The Ravens have drafted very well for depth and talent along the defensive front and we need to see those guys step up. Carl Davis, Kafusi and Willie Henry didn't even play. We have Jernigan, Guy, Urban, Pierce. We will draft a few more. I don't want to overpay for him and if another team is going to give him 45-50 million to leave, I wish him the best.

[sizzlingdoom]

  16 hours ago, RaRaRavens said:

Depressing part is that Luke Jones' point when he says: "That’s why a deal may not make sense for either side in the end. Even when they both want it.” actually makes A LOT of sense. We have just TOO.MANY.NEEDS literally all over the roster.

Williams is one of my favorite players and it breaks my heart that I actually have to hope that we won't resign him because we have other gaping holes to fill. And the fact that we are in the position where we have so vast list of needs and thus can't probably resign Williams is the direct failure of the FO over the several past seasons. P A T H E T I C

ive been saying the same for years... I don't get how the NFL and media thinks OZZ is the DRAFT GOD.. hes horrible.. our team is PATHETIC because of it hes got more misses than hits in the last 5 drafts.. say what you wanna say but the problem is OBVIOUS..

both of you guys got it. and Harbaugh tops it all of with the most embarrassing 16 game coaching performance in sports history. The AFC North is a train wreck for once, and we still can't make the playoffs. But hey here's a good idea......Let's bring EVERYBODY back and try again. What a joke and a shame for the fans and players

[20306cab]

  17 hours ago, Azzi22 said:

  17 hours ago, RaRaRavens said:

Depressing part is that Luke Jones' point when he says: "That’s why a deal may not make sense for either side in the end. Even when they both want it.” actually makes A LOT of sense. We have just TOO.MANY.NEEDS literally all over the roster.

Williams is one of my favorite players and it breaks my heart that I actually have to hope that we won't resign him because we have other gaping holes to fill. And the fact that we are in the position where we have so vast list of needs and thus can't probably resign Williams is the direct failure of the FO over the several past seasons. P A T H E T I C

ive been saying the same for years... I don't get how the NFL and media thinks OZZ is the DRAFT GOD.. hes horrible.. our team is PATHETIC because of it hes got more misses than hits in the last 5 drafts.. say what you wanna say but the problem is OBVIOUS..

both of you guys got it. and Harbaugh tops it all of with the most embarrassing 16 game coaching performance in sports history. The AFC North is a train wreck for once, and we still can't make the playoffs. But hey here's a good idea......Let's bring EVERYBODY back and try again. What a joke and a shame for the fans and players

Looks like Quinn and Ryan took a page out of the Self Righteous John/ Pathetic Joe playbook, making boneheaded calls, followed by blockheaded execution, to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the SB.

[sizzlingdoom]

  2 hours ago, sizzlingdoom said:

  18 hours ago, Azzi22 said:

  18 hours ago, RaRaRavens said:

Depressing part is that Luke Jones' point when he says: "That’s why a deal may not make sense for either side in the end. Even when they both want it.” actually makes A LOT of sense. We have just TOO.MANY.NEEDS literally all over the roster.

Williams is one of my favorite players and it breaks my heart that I actually have to hope that we won't resign him because we have other gaping holes to fill. And the fact that we are in the position where we have so vast list of needs and thus can't probably resign Williams is the direct failure of the FO over the several past seasons. P A T H E T I C

ive been saying the same for years... I don't get how the NFL and media thinks OZZ is the DRAFT GOD.. hes horrible.. our team is PATHETIC because of it hes got more misses than hits in the last 5 drafts.. say what you wanna say but the problem is OBVIOUS..

both of you guys got it. and Harbaugh tops it all of with the most embarrassing 16 game coaching performance in sports history. The AFC North is a train wreck for once, and we still can't make the playoffs. But hey here's a good idea......Let's bring EVERYBODY back and try again. What a joke and a shame for the fans and players

Looks like Quinn and Ryan took a page out of the Self Righteous John/ Pathetic Joe playbook, making boneheaded calls, followed by blockheaded execution, to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the SB.

LOL

[manofsteel]

Yes we ned Reed and for him to find true talent and that is not Jimi Smith! Get rid of him, fire him.Always hurt and nothing but a chicken 2nd rate CB

[Chuckx999]

YES, YES Hire the man!!!!! We need his attitude in our defense again!!!!!

[Chuckx999]

Have they hired him yet????????

I don't think Harb's wants someone so popular on his coaching staff. Most of the players that have left spoke up and he doesn't seem to like to hear that some don't think he's that great. Because he's NOT. He just had a very good defense and a few lucky passes from "old 3 and out Flacco" on a run to the SB. Without Reed, Ray Lewis and 2-3 others on defense he's just a average coach.

[dirtybird66]

i would absolutely want ED REED coaching the next ED REED in DES KING.