[News] Late For Work 2/20: Ravens Can Double Salary-Cap Space With Rare Offseason Moves

[BR News]

Why Victor Cruz 'doesn't fit' the Ravens and can only be signed under one condition. 10 NFL Scouting Combine prospects who could spark Baltimore's interest. PFF: Ravens should sign pass rusher Jabaal Sheard in free agency.

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[The Beak]

Jabal Sheard === YES YES YES

[leziRav]

I think Dum, Webb, Pitta and Wallace will be back with reduce price, minimun impact on the cap space. Then the rest of the people on the list will be release. With that we can still have over $30 Mil on cap space to sign Brandon, Juice and maybe Wagner. I honestly believe Wagner is gone. With that money will sign Garcon and a CB.

With the first 4 picks through rd 3,we can select a pass rusher, CB, center, guard/ tackle. If we get a guard then Alex Lewis will play RT. It think we will be a better team next year. Ozzie and co have a lot of work to do this off-season. This is a very crucial off season.

[Halshayeji]

Webb should not be released unless a better option is signed! Redoing his and Wallace deals could free up 5-6 mil in cap space for 2017. Same with zuttah, if we have an upgrade then great. If not then keep your pro bowler on a cheap contract.

everyone else on that list is as good as gone. Also add Watson to the list and that's 35 million in free cap to work with.

in Ozzie I trust

[bioLarzen]

"These picks are not based on rumors or reports about teams being interested in the pending free agents, but rather just who PFF thinks makes sense."

... and this is what makes them utterly irrelevant.

[bioLarzen]

Those who get their football info from realiable and impartial sources, have always known that Cruz has nothing left in the tank. This should come as no surprise to anyone.
What I find truly surpriosing is why so many people think Ozzie is in a positrion to make a legit run for Pierre Garcon. The guy will IMHO get a deal from a cap space happy organization that will be way higher than what we can even think about...

[whobilly]

To all of the above mentioned to give us all the extra cap space....Bye Bye. If we stay put with the minimal amount of space we have now get ready for another 8-8 season at best.

[whobilly]

Bring back "Q" for a year. He'll "Only" catch 65 balls, move the chains, and bring that winning nasty attitude this team SO desperately needs. Really, if they are considering Cruz and other non factor WR's why not take a look at Boldin if the price is right?

[J. Naranjo]

cut dumervil, watson, wright, arrington and lewis. extend webb with a maybe 2 year contract, he played pretty good in his first year as a safety so I would try to keep him while lowering his cap hit. resign anthony levine for secondary depth plus special teams, resign guy (highly underrated team player), juice and if possible wagner. Williams will price out and we know it.. ravens cant overcommit to just one player with so many holes in the roster, specially when michael pierce played so well as an undrafted rookie. hopefully he can take a step forward next year.

[J. Naranjo]

I think Dum, Webb, Pitta and Wallace will be back with reduce price, minimun impact on the cap space. Then the rest of the people on the list will be release. With that we can still have over $30 Mil on cap space to sign Brandon, Juice and maybe Wagner. I honestly believe Wagner is gone. With that money will sign Garcon and a CB.

With the first 4 picks through rd 3,we can select a pass rusher, CB, center, guard/ tackle. If we get a guard then Alex Lewis will play RT. It think we will be a better team next year. Ozzie and co have a lot of work to do this off-season. This is a very crucial off season.

I really hope ravens dont hold on to dumervil. he is a pure pass rusher and ravens need a new do-it-all outside linebacker like suggs is. his cap hit is way too high for a guy who only plays on 3rd downs and hasn't been productive enough lately(9 sacks in 2 years). unless he takes a significant pay cut, the ravens shouldn't keep him

[TheRavengers]

Dumervil, Zuttah and Shareece Wright are the first 3 names that come to mind of players who can be released without too much worry from me. I feel like Judon or ZaDarius Smith (assuming he's taken things up a notch) will be the ones taking over his spot.

Webb is fine where he is.

[jsarrocohome@yahoo.com]

cut dumervil, watson, wright, arrington and lewis. extend webb with a maybe 2 year contract, he played pretty good in his first year as a safety so I would try to keep him while lowering his cap hit. resign anthony levine for secondary depth plus special teams, resign guy (highly underrated team player), juice and if possible wagner. Williams will price out and we know it.. ravens cant overcommit to just one player with so many holes in the roster, specially when michael pierce played so well as an undrafted rookie. hopefully he can take a step forward next year.

webb has to go and if A Levin is your secondary depth then you have no secondary

[leziRav]

11 minutes ago, J. Naranjo said:

I really hope ravens dont hold on to dumervil. he is a pure pass rusher and ravens need a new do-it-all outside linebacker like suggs is. his cap hit is way too high for a guy who only plays on 3rd downs and hasn't been productive enough lately(9 sacks in 2 years). unless he takes a significant pay cut, the ravens shouldn't keep him

That is what i said, he come back on a reduced price. We need pass rusher, depth too. Dum has proven he is very good when healthy, remember 2014 season? So we can use him while our young pass rusher developped and get used to NFL. The more pass rushers we have the better. We all know the weakest of our D, CB and pass rushers. We get loaded on those then our D will top 3 in the league.

[J. Naranjo]

2 minutes ago, jsarrocohome@yahoo.com said:

webb has to go and if A Levin is your secondary depth then you have no secondary

webb played really well for a first year safety and you cant lose so many people in the secondary without a solid plan. Levine, mat telam, jerraud powers are all ufa, kendrick lewis and kyle arrington have to be cut. if you add webb to that list you have eric weddle and marqueston huff as your only safeties. levine is a solid back up and pretty good special teamer, he wont cost much to keep and webb has to stay with so many turnaround going on

[eze17]

"These picks are not based on rumors or reports about teams being interested in the pending free agents, but rather just who PFF thinks makes sense."

... and this is what makes them utterly irrelevant.

Well, irrelevant is a pretty strong word. While I never take PFF as gospel, they do have some interesting viewpoints. Looking at how our pass rush was last year, signing a player like Sheard would be a typical Raven's move: veteran player who has shown some skills, played for a winning team, and would be paid relatively cheap. Actually he could be a good fit. Not the big splash signing fan's always clamor for, but a guy that has shown some modest production. While there's obviously no verification of the Raven's interest, wouldn't surprise me if they haven't already had an eye on him.

[J. Naranjo]

3 minutes ago, leziRav said:

That is what i said, he come back on a reduced price. We need pass rusher, depth too. Dum has proven he is very good when healthy, remember 2014 season? So we can use him while our young pass rusher developped and get used to NFL. The more pass rushers we have the better. We all know the weakest of our D, CB and pass rushers. We get loaded on those then our D will top 3 in the league.

2014 was too long ago to have it as your expectation for a 33 year old situational player. ravens dont need more pass rushers, they need better ones, and dumervil hasn't been good enough.

[TheRavengers]

As far as the secondary is concerned, Elam and Shareece Wright need to be gone IMO. Tavon Young has shown me he can play at a good level but the former 2 were huge liabilities in the backfield.

[omar586]

i dont see webb and wallace getting cut, maybe restructured or extension, but no way we cut them, i see :

doom cut- b/c judon is taking his spot, cheaper, younger, and he was productive his rookie year.
kendrick is long overdue to b cut
arrington- cut
zuttah- we need more size and less penalties
wright - is good as gone, his replacement can't do any worse.

[omar586]

we're more likely to sign WAGNER than WILLIAMS,

[TheRavengers]

23 minutes ago, omar586 said:

we're more likely to sign WAGNER than WILLIAMS,

I'd prefer to keep both but if that's the case then we've got no less than 3 guys who can easily fill in for Williams if he's gone. 

[leziRav]

16 minutes ago, J. Naranjo said:

2014 was too long ago to have it as your expectation for a 33 year old situational player. ravens dont need more pass rushers, they need better ones, and dumervil hasn't been good enough.

Ok but are you sure the pass rusher that will drafted will be good? Are you sure that Judon and Z.Smith will be better next year? That is why you need Dum at reduced price in the team.When healthy, he is our best pass rusher after Suggs. He is a proven pass rusher and has only been bad because of injury. Even while injuried, he still has a better sack number than all of our young pass rushers. If he takes a pay cut, he will help the team. If cut he will be good in another team. We need Dum, Webb, Pitta and Wallace at reduced prise. They still have things to give to the team and help develop the young kids in the team.

[budman]

22 minutes ago, omar586 said:

we're more likely to sign WAGNER than WILLIAMS,

I don't think so. $10 mil per is what the starting price for Wagner is. If we had to choose 1, Williams would be it. IMO

[leziRav]

23 minutes ago, omar586 said:

we're more likely to sign WAGNER than WILLIAMS,

If common sense will said sign Wagner and let Brandon walk due to the depth in defensive linemen and lack of depth at OL. However based on what we are hearing from HO and rumors, the team priority is Brandon over Wagner.

[budman]

2 minutes ago, leziRav said:

Ok but are you sure the pass rusher that will drafted will be good? Are you sure that Judon and Z.Smith will be better next year? That is why you need Dum at reduced price in the team.When healthy, he is our best pass rusher after Suggs. He is a proven pass rusher and has only been bad because of injury. Even while injuried, he still has a better sack number than all of our young pass rushers. If he takes a pay cut, he will help the team. If cut he will be good in another team. We need Dum, Webb, Pitta and Wallace at reduced prise. They still have things to give to the team and help develop the young kids in the team.

Don't expect Dumervil to take a pay cut. Many teams with huge cap space will pay him what he wants.

[steelcityraven]

We can double salary cap space pretty quickly -like the article said but that is before we try to sign Wags or Williams.... and those two could also wipe out a pretty big chunk. That does leave us with some tough decisions (mike Wallace, Pitta, Watson, LGuy, and Kamar). All those guys could be let go in an effort to clear more space but they could also all contribute in a big way. WE need to clear some money but we need production for our investment!

[RavensDieHard21]

15 minutes ago, budman said:

I don't think so. $10 mil per is what the starting price for Wagner is. If we had to choose 1, Williams would be it. IMO

Lol that 10 million a year number came from an estimation from some dope on NFL.com.

if Ozzie can get him 5 Yr deal around $38-43 million with half guaranteed, I think he can seal the deal. 

[RavensDieHard21]

The cap is also expected to go up by 12-15 million. I think the first thing to make space is resign Wallace and Webb. Get them on 2 yr extensions. They both played well last year and with a resign we can get cap hits down by at least $4-6 million. 

Then cut the glut, see ya Watson, Arrington, Wright, Lewis, likely doom too.

at bare minimum we save $15-18 million with those moves and are $30 million in cap space. 

Resign Juice, Guy, then either Williams or Wagner. Whoever we get the better deal done with. There is a 25% chance we sign both. 

Then we can target some decent FA players and cap casualties. Jefferson would be nice as would Minter from AZ. Heck even Marshall would be great. 

[fusuymada]

Cap space won't get better until we lose the huge contract we are overpaying our QB. We are a ton of pieces short not to take into consideration the players who will be injured as well and need replaced before the season is over. I have said it before, other great qbs have cut their salary so they can put pieces around them. Flacco has had two huge contracts now and has enough money to keep 10 generations of Flaccos in the moolah. It is time he starts being a team player from putting in the hours, to giving back some money so we can be competitive. If he doesn't then clearly he isn't interested in being a team player and in two years when we can afford to get rid of him, we need to do it.

Yes, when we are winning, then he deserves the money, but we havent had a winning season in 3 years so no way should he be paid the money he is paid, especially since he ranks in the bottom third of the league. Ozzie needs to sit him down and make him understand the score.

[J. Naranjo]

  1 hour ago, J. Naranjo said:

2014 was too long ago to have it as your expectation for a 33 year old situational player. ravens dont need more pass rushers, they need better ones, and dumervil hasn't been good enough.

Ok but are you sure the pass rusher that will drafted will be good? Are you sure that Judon and Z.Smith will be better next year? That is why you need Dum at reduced price in the team.When healthy, he is our best pass rusher after Suggs. He is a proven pass rusher and has only been bad because of injury. Even while injuried, he still has a better sack number than all of our young pass rushers. If he takes a pay cut, he will help the team. If cut he will be good in another team. We need Dum, Webb, Pitta and Wallace at reduced prise. They still have things to give to the team and help develop the young kids in the team.

Dumervil hasn't been much better than Zadarius Smith and Matt judon. Thing is Dum takes 8.3M and smith and judon take 1.3M combined. thats a 7M difference for a slightly better performance. I'd rather give the chance to a younger guy than stick with someone who hasn't been productive the last two years. Maybe sign someone in free agency that will come at a much lower price than 8.3M (bringing back john simon maybe?) Pitta isnt going to take a pay cut after a career year where he lead all TEs in receptions. With Steve Smith retired and Aiken gone, Wallace wont take a pay cut because he has to know that the ravens arent going to go with Perriman and campanaro as their starters.

[budman]

46 minutes ago, RavensDieHard21 said:

Lol that 10 million a year number came from an estimation from some dope on NFL.com.

if Ozzie can get him 5 Yr deal around $38-43 million with half guaranteed, I think he can seal the deal.

Not that laughable considering he has already turned down a offer that we have made, and it was probably around 6 or 7.