[News] Eisenberg: 'Hometown Discount' Is An Expired Coupon

[BR News]

In today’s free agency market, players can’t be criticized for taking the best deal for themselves, their family, and their fellow players. Don’t expect any of the Ravens’ top free agents to give Baltimore a break.

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[BiggMack91]

We can say goodbye to at least two of these guys

[RavenRampage]

Hometown discounts only happen with veterans past their prime. Expecting them to not make as much money as they can during their short careers is foolish.

[bostonraven]

All three are likely gone, at least we'll get decent compensatory picks for them next year.

[Crusader]

All three are likely gone, at least we'll get decent compensatory picks for them next year.

I agree and if they do this team will be LUCKY to finish 8-8..

[J.O.14]

I think we will be lucky to keep one of the three. Wagner will be gone, Juice is quite possibly gone, and the only one I think we have a chance with is Brandon Williams, who will probably get paid more elsewhere. Juice or Williams are the only ones I think we could possibly keep, and Williams has the better chance imo.

[Maurice0094]

Football much like any business should pay you for what you are worth. Especially if you are productive you've got to take the money. Honestly the only player the Ravens had to pay market value for was Flacco and that was he was a Super Bowl winning qb. If he didn't win the Super Bowl the Ravens front office would've tried to give him a "Competitive Offer." I believe Marshal Yanda gave the Ravens a hometown discount because its no way KO is a better guard or tackle then Yanda. We as fans have to understand by the second contract the Ravens players are ready to sign with another team for big money.

The Ravens philosophy since winning the Super Bowl in 2000 has been.
1. Use the draft to fill needs or Undrafted free agents.
2. Scavenge over cut veterans so they don't affect the compensatory picks.
3. Try to extend players before their rookie deals expire so they can get them relatively cheap vs. free agent value.
That's why when Ozzie or Decosta miss on a player it hurts more because we can't and won't go in free agency to fill that need. We won't commit the high prices free agents command. I would love to have Williams and Wagner back. That being said I expect all 3 of our big name free agents go walk.

[Chuckx999]

The front office doesn't seem to care that GOOD YOUNG players leave. How can we keep anyone when we have to give "old 3 and out Flacco" so much cash each year and he's now just a below average QB.
Get rid of a few of the thousands of TE's we have and some poor performers to get some cap space. Make "old 3 and out Flacco" restructure his salary to give us some cap space, or even better TRADE him.

[steelcityraven]

I am feeling like John Litna is pushing Juice out of town. He wants more then the top FBs are paid for his client and I believe that they are not realizing that Juice is more valued here then most places. Yes he may got Tennessee or to another team and get more $ but will be one or two years and done - his career will be all but over. If he stays in BMORE he may make a little less but his value will increase over the next 2-4 years here. Litna is the same knucklehead that helped to create the Joe Flacco contract debacle. Ozzie and company should ban Litna from the Castle... and refuse to do business with him.

[The Negotiator]

Flacco is killing this team, he's not Elite and top 15 at best. Flacco you need to take a pay cut or the Ravens need to let you go. We are losing to much talent!!!!

[b93333]

You knew it was game over with Williams and Wagner when the Ravens announced they had made their patented "highly competitive" offer.

[steelcityraven]

It looks like Juice is gone. Feeling like Wagner will be gone and while I think there is still a chance that we bring BW back... feeling like that window of opportunity is closing rapidly. Sharece will be gone and Kamar will be gone. I thing Pitta is a June 1st cut (with the hopes of bringing him back for less $) and I believe that Zuttah will be released. (possibly even Webb and Dumervil).

I think we will retain Doom... but that should clear up a lot of money to bring in a WR and a CB (possibly even an ILB or a C and / or maybe a S)

If we lose 5 potential starters and bring in three that still leaves us with two comp picks moving forward right now. Or we simply trade Webb, Zuttah, or Pitta and we bring those picks in now (in a very talent heavy draft) rather then delaying them for down the road). I am hoping that we pull off a trade quickly and get those picks now.... there is a ton of talent in this draft!

[The Negotiator]

I hope when DeCosta takes over next year he cleans house. The ravens will try to bandaid this team but in the end 5-11 or 4-12 next year. Team lacks Playmakers and we aren't buying any so this team looks bad next year. I use to be a Flacco supporter but he is killing the team with his cap number.

[steelcityraven]

  50 minutes ago, bostonraven said:

All three are likely gone, at least we'll get decent compensatory picks for them next year.

I agree and if they do this team will be LUCKY to finish 8-8..

I love getting the comp picks but if we keeping pushing our talent down the road... we also push our chances of winning - down the road. I would love to see us trade some of these guys and get some extra picks now for them (Webb, Kamar, Pitta, Zuttah and Jensen) are all guys that I think we can get a late round draft pick for this year and in a talent rich draft.... why not get something for some of these guys who really are expendable to us moving forward.

[AvianBrain]

For me as a fan, it has become hard to determine just who or what I am cheering for. Is it the team or the bird on the side of the helmet? How am I to have allegiance for the players if they are always looking to see if the grass is greener on some other team. They deserve to get paid but the big money is ruining football for me. I enjoy watching the young players develop until their rookie contract is up, then they are gone from the team. And, getting a 3rd round comp pick for KO is just wrong. Teams that take a pro-bowl caliber players from another team should be forced to give up their first round pick to the team they stole from. Maybe that will stop the insanity. I have seen a lot of changes in football in my 60 years but for me, free agency is ruining what it means to be a "fan".

[jsarrocohome@yahoo.com]

For me as a fan, it has become hard to determine just who or what I am cheering for. Is it the team or the bird on the side of the helmet? How am I to have allegiance for the players if they are always looking to see if the grass is greener on some other team. They deserve to get paid but the big money is ruining football for me. I enjoy watching the young players develop until their rookie contract is up, then they are gone from the team. And, getting a 3rd round comp pick for KO is just wrong. Teams that take a pro-bowl caliber players from another team should be forced to give up their first round pick to the team they stole from. Maybe that will stop the insanity. I have seen a lot of changes in football in my 60 years but for me, free agency is ruining what it means to be a "fan".

Its a year to year business the team changes a little every year but I like the old way better were guys stayed with 1 team their whole career with few exceptions

[The Greek]

nfl.com has an article on wagner saying he will be the prize RT on the market and will get more than 8 million per season so see u later wagner. there will be some vets we can sign and plug in there unless we have someone in house that may be ready for a shot. maybe we sign guard dj fluker and bump lewis outside. i could care less if we lose juice. we do not utilize him properly plus his blocking has not impressed me on short yardage. he is no vonta leach. b williams sets the tone for our lb's to have clear lanes to the rb's so he should be the priority but i fear his cost will make me sick to my stomach

[The Greek]

I hope when DeCosta takes over next year he cleans house. The ravens will try to bandaid this team but in the end 5-11 or 4-12 next year. Team lacks Playmakers and we aren't buying any so this team looks bad next year. I use to be a Flacco supporter but he is killing the team with his cap number.

not sure i trust decosta as much any longer because he has been a top aide to oz when these crappy picks have been made early in the draft.

[FloridalovesRavens]

Really tired of bringing these guys to the top of their position and they go to another team that offers a few dollars more(millions to them is chump change). Look what has happened with Torrey. I'm not sure but I think the difference was $2 million.

[The Greek]

Flacco is killing this team, he's not Elite and top 15 at best. Flacco you need to take a pay cut or the Ravens need to let you go. We are losing to much talent!!!!

i agree it would make for a nice gesture and show how much he wants another ring by taking a pay cut but i will not hold my breath on that happening

[FloridalovesRavens]

I hope when DeCosta takes over next year he cleans house. The ravens will try to bandaid this team but in the end 5-11 or 4-12 next year. Team lacks Playmakers and we aren't buying any so this team looks bad next year. I use to be a Flacco supporter but he is killing the team with his cap number.

Flacco is not the problem. He renegotiated last year. Give it a rest.

[FloridalovesRavens]

Flacco is killing this team, he's not Elite and top 15 at best. Flacco you need to take a pay cut or the Ravens need to let you go. We are losing to much talent!!!!

Who you gonna put in his place? A second string back up? Think about it. He wins us a SB and you have a problem with his salary?

[J.O.14]

For me as a fan, it has become hard to determine just who or what I am cheering for. Is it the team or the bird on the side of the helmet? How am I to have allegiance for the players if they are always looking to see if the grass is greener on some other team. They deserve to get paid but the big money is ruining football for me. I enjoy watching the young players develop until their rookie contract is up, then they are gone from the team. And, getting a 3rd round comp pick for KO is just wrong. Teams that take a pro-bowl caliber players from another team should be forced to give up their first round pick to the team they stole from. Maybe that will stop the insanity. I have seen a lot of changes in football in my 60 years but for me, free agency is ruining what it means to be a "fan".

I agree, but when teams like the Raiders give up a bunch of money for a LG, that will eventually come back to haunt them when they need to pay a QB that will want top dollar and a OLB that will be the highest paid in the league. Its hard to feed so many mouths that want a lot of money when there is a cap space. I do agree though, it hurts losing players like McPhee, K.O., Art Jones, Torrey, etc.

[rmcjacket23]

  43 minutes ago, AvianBrain said:

For me as a fan, it has become hard to determine just who or what I am cheering for. Is it the team or the bird on the side of the helmet? How am I to have allegiance for the players if they are always looking to see if the grass is greener on some other team. They deserve to get paid but the big money is ruining football for me. I enjoy watching the young players develop until their rookie contract is up, then they are gone from the team. And, getting a 3rd round comp pick for KO is just wrong. Teams that take a pro-bowl caliber players from another team should be forced to give up their first round pick to the team they stole from. Maybe that will stop the insanity. I have seen a lot of changes in football in my 60 years but for me, free agency is ruining what it means to be a "fan".

I agree, but when teams like the Raiders give up a bunch of money for a LG, that will eventually come back to haunt them when they need to pay a QB that will want top dollar and a OLB that will be the highest paid in the league. Its hard to feed so many mouths that want a lot of money when there is a cap space. I do agree though, it hurts losing players like McPhee, K.O., Art Jones, Torrey, etc.

For the most part this is true, though I will say that the Raiders did a smart job of front loading the cap hits of his deal to take the bulk of his cap impact while they had plenty of cap space to spend.

He actually has bigger cap hits in 2016-2017 then he does in 2018-2020, and the structure of his deal also makes it so they can move on from him after 2017 with no remaining dead money.

The question once they get to 2018-2019 is to determine whether they want a $10M cap hit for a Guard. While the price and value of the position is increasing, and they could ultimately decide to keep him, that will no doubt impact their entire Oline spending as well.

In all likelihood, KO will be their LT in 2018 when Penn's contract is up, and could also look to move on from Rodney Hudson, who has an $8M+ cap hit in future years as well with no dead money.

You'll probably see a significant shake up in their dominant Oline in the next year or two, due partially to the fact that they will have to earmark money for Derek Carr (2017 or 2018), Amari Cooper (2018-2019) and Khalil Mack (2017-2018).

Just on current market prices, you're probably looking at realistically $50-60M a year to be paid out to those 3 players alone.

[The Greek]

34 minutes ago, FloridalovesRavens said:

Who you gonna put in his place? A second string back up? Think about it. He wins us a SB and you have a problem with his salary?

he had a phenomenal 4 game run and a descent season in 2014 but has been pretty avg aside from that but i agree we do not have anyone better

[bioLarzen]

To be honest, I've never understood this whole "hometown discount" idea. For what does it even mean? "You've done a great job for us, we'r really delighted with your performance - so, we're honouring and acknowledging it by offering you less than your market value and hope you'll take it."

And people get mad when the player says no thank you...

[Halshayeji]

There's absolutely no way Joe takes a pay cut, that's for sure. But there is a way if needed to drop his cap hit by giving him that 6 mil and moving the hit to 2021 where none of joes salary is guaranteed

[J.O.14]

16 minutes ago, bioLarzen said:

To be honest, I've never understood this whole "hometown discount" idea. For what does it even mean? "You've done a great job for us, we'r really delighted with your performance - so, we're honouring and acknowledging it by offering you less than your market value and hope you'll take it."

And people get mad when the player says no thank you...

Right? I guess people don't really understand what they are saying. That's like any working individual doing a phenomenal job at their occupation and when it's time for a pay raise they decline that opportunity...all because they want to be "loyal" to their bosses. These guys have the opportunity to make a significant sum of money in a short amount of time...why not try to get every penny you can. I guarantee almost every fan on this website would do the same. Its not being selfish, its being smart. Money talks, loyalty only goes so far. I find it humorous when fans say, "well it's only a million dollars..." Yeah, only a million...

[Halshayeji]

12 minutes ago, bioLarzen said:

To be honest, I've never understood this whole "hometown discount" idea. For what does it even mean? "You've done a great job for us, we'r really delighted with your performance - so, we're honouring and acknowledging it by offering you less than your market value and hope you'll take it."

And fans get mad when the palyer says no thank you...

Most of the time, you've already grossly underpaid that same player for a few years because of the rookie pay structure.

 

ozzie to Wagner and Williams. "Iv payed you less than half your market value for 4 years. How bout you take another paycut to stay"

 

Im honestly starting to think... If Ozzie really wanted Wagner and or Williams then negotiations would have started last year. Ozzie certainly would have paid them slightly above market deals with guarantees mostly in the front part. He's betting that he can spend that cap better somewhere else and take those comp picks. Probably a 3rd and a 4th.

 

[Ravensfansince03]

I keep checking into BR.com to see what players were let go or picked up. But every time i check in it's just more speculation and rumors. When do the real moves start happening? Lol