[News] Eisenberg: Reaction To Flurry Of Ravens Free Agency Moves

[BR News]

Tony Jefferson’s signing came as a surprise, but is a welcomed one. Danny Woodhead’s addition makes more sense now. Can’t blame the Ravens for losing Rick Wagner or Kyle Juszczyk, but there’s more work to be done.

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[Saxxin]

If you don't like the addition of TJ you're just trolling.

[metalraven]

If you don't like the addition of TJ you're just trolling.

Don't know who wouldn't like that.

[fusuymada]

Woodhead guarantees the dump off pass will be alive and well in Baltimore.

Why is Webb still on the roster? Signing Jefferson makes him redundant and his cap hit is too high for a backup safety and sometime return guy. Regaining Webbs cap space goes a long way to offsetting Jeffersons salary.

As for Dumervil, he will go somewhere now that he is healthy and sack Flacco a couple times and the message boards will blow up, or they would have if they weren't shutting them down. But Ravens had no choice at his cap hit.

No news about Williams making visits that have been offered to him shows that as long as Ozzie is serious about negotiating, then he wants to wait and sign with the Ravens. He knows he is valuable and knows that if he can't work it out with the Ravens there will be plenty of teams waiting to sign him so he is in no hurry to make that decision like so many other players who couldn't wait to grab one of the first couple offers that come in. They fear the money will dry up and they won't get their cut but players as good as Williams knows he can wait and still get his fair share.

Rumors are we are trying to get Morris Claibourne from the Cowboys.  If we secure him and sign Nick Mangold and cut Zuttah, we have filled numerous holes and allows us to really focus on specific players during the draft.  Or move Mangold to guard beside Stanley and look at another center.

Edited March 10 by fusuymada

[EdTheMythicalOne]

My reactions:

S: Tony Jefferson: In the words of the late, great Harry Caray...."Holy Cow!" I didn't see this move as possible as I am sure the Browns and Jets had more money to burn. I guess we have to give Weddle a fruit basket and also thank the winning history of this franchise to be able to make this move happen. I think Tony probably plays SS now and Weddle moves to FS...and I think Webb's days are done in Baltimore now. I liked Webby, he was a really good player before the knees and back injuries.

RB: Danny Woodhead: A move that makes sense and is under the radar. If healthy he can be the primary 3rd down back and be a change of pace back to whoever is the starter that day. Dumb move by Dixon. Still have Buck Allen and Lorenzo Taliafero hanging around; but I think Lorenzo is seeing his last days as a Raven unless he comes back healthy and completely blows away his other competition. Still can see the Ravens adding a back in the draft.

WR: Mike Wallace: Option was picked up and I think it was the right way to go. Torrey Smith wasn't available for much less than Wallace.

QB: Ryan Mallet: Meh, I am okay with this because we have a veteran back up who is more than just a runner who will throw the ball once in awhile. He knows our system and with any luck we'll never see him taking any starter snaps in 2017.

We still have some holes to fill and it will be interesting to see how the Ravens fill them.

[Samurai_Raven]

Please move Webb back to CB.  IMHO, he is still a valuable player.

[Newguy2017]

My reactions:

S: Tony Jefferson: In the words of the late, great Harry Caray...."Holy Cow!" I didn't see this move as possible as I am sure the Browns and Jets had more money to burn. I guess we have to give Weddle a fruit basket and also thank the winning history of this franchise to be able to make this move happen. I think Tony probably plays SS now and Weddle moves to FS...and I think Webb's days are done in Baltimore now. I liked Webby, he was a really good player before the knees and back injuries.

RB: Danny Woodhead: A move that makes sense and is under the radar. If healthy he can be the primary 3rd down back and be a change of pace back to whoever is the starter that day. Dumb move by Dixon. Still have Buck Allen and Lorenzo Taliafero hanging around; but I think Lorenzo is seeing his last days as a Raven unless he comes back healthy and completely blows away his other competition. Still can see the Ravens adding a back in the draft.

WR: Mike Wallace: Option was picked up and I think it was the right way to go. Torrey Smith wasn't available for much less than Wallace.

QB: Ryan Mallet: Meh, I am okay with this because we have a veteran back up who is more than just a runner who will throw the ball once in awhile. He knows our system and with any luck we'll never see him taking any starter snaps in 2017.

We still have some holes to fill and it will be interesting to see how the Ravens fill them.

Long read but spot on!

[billiejean]

I think that the people that are bemoaning the addition of Danny and the possibility that Pitta will be back next year because they believe that the pair will exacerbate Joe's check down woes need to think logically about this for a second. There is always going to be a check down rout. If Danny and Dennis weren't with us next year then you would be upset with Crocket, Maxx, Dixon, or Camp. Joe most definitely checks it down too much. I don't watch the all 22 tape so I am not sure how many of those check downs were thrown when there was a guy open down field, but I am assuming that does happen. Marty is the guy that is going to have to find a way to minimize check down. Both by coaching and play calling. There were also times last year when Joe would throw it down field on a third down, but the receiver would be in front of the first down marker. That is an anecdotal observation though. I am not sure how many times that happened or if it occurred because the WR were working back to the ball in a scramble drill.

[law215]

B. Williams sign 5-year to stay. Hopefully they can still add CB or C

[balfan23]

Smith to replace Wallace only made sense if it saved us a lot of money ... which it ultimately would not have. Wallace only costs a bit more on the cap this year and we're not beholden to him for 3 years as we would have been with Smith. Sticking with Wallace here makes sense.

[balfan23]

We talk about how to replace Juice, but I'm wondering - do we have to? Depending on what Marty wants to do with the offense, but more 2 TEs sets are an option and I'd like to see more of Boyle this year. As long as he doesn't commit a career killing 3rd offense, he'll be with Marty from the start of the season and we can work out how to use him.

[balfan23]

Mallett is an interesting case. He must have really soured the teams in the league because when you see some of the cash that is being thrown at some pretty marginal QB talent, I am surprised that a QB needy team didn't at least bring him in to compete.

[Saxxin]

Our D just got better. Now focus on the O-line. Get a mauler at center. Cb is a need I agree. But so is our front five. We lost Wagner, that hurt. Focus on the offense now. A good CB can be had at the 16th pick. Or pass rusher. Games are won in the trenches. Fix the trenches on the offense.

[Saxxin]

Please move Webb back to CB.  IMHO, he is still a valuable player.

Webb in the slot. He's built for it.

[EdTheMythicalOne]

1 hour ago, balfan23 said:

Mallett is an interesting case. He must have really soured the teams in the league because when you see some of the cash that is being thrown at some pretty marginal QB talent, I am surprised that a QB needy team didn't at least bring him in to compete.

I was thinking the same thing but apparently whatever he did in Houston (which wasn't the only thing he did, there were other reports about him being huffy and puffy about losing the starting gig) is enough to convince other teams he doesn't deserve another shot yet.

Pretty good situation for us because I think he's a capable starter if anything should happen to Flacco, but on the other hand I hope we never have to see that.

Mallet's best case scenario is something does happen to Joe and he comes in and plays well for 8-10 games and gets some new tape built up on him.

[sizzlingdoom]

  9 hours ago, Samurai_Raven said:

Please move Webb back to CB.  IMHO, he is still a valuable player.

Webb in the slot. He's built for it.

5 years ago, before injuries

[mendii]

Already stoked about the 1-2 punch of Weddle and Jefferson, both these guys excel at the line of scrimmage and certainly aren't too shabby in coverage. I can't imagine the nightmares opposing OCs are gonna have trying to figure out their protection schemes with that kind of versatility on the back end. To me it seems an obvious fit that Alex Lewis will take over the RT spot, possibly Ducasse playing guard. I'd like to go after an upgrade at center now, but the biggest thing on my wish list is that whoever we go after in the 1st round, he becomes somebody whose jersey is seen all over M&T Bank Stadium. I don't care what position he plays.

[rmcjacket23]

Mallett is an interesting case. He must have really soured the teams in the league because when you see some of the cash that is being thrown at some pretty marginal QB talent, I am surprised that a QB needy team didn't at least bring him in to compete.

The QB needy teams mostly found better options.

Even at this point, outside of maybe the Jets or Browns, I don't see a team where he's a better option than that team already has.

There are teams that have backups better than him. That should tell you something.

Ravens fans often overvalue our own players, and I've been saying for months that Mallett's market is almost non-existent as a potential starter.

[balfan23]

1 hour ago, rmcjacket23 said:

The QB needy teams mostly found better options.

Even at this point, outside of maybe the Jets or Browns, I don't see a team where he's a better option than that team already has.

There are teams that have backups better than him. That should tell you something.

Ravens fans often overvalue our own players, and I've been saying for months that Mallett's market is almost non-existent as a potential starter.

While that certainly appears to have been the case, I have to say I'm glad it worked out that way. Perhaps I'm just another Ravens fan who is blindly overvaluing him, but I think he's as good a stop-gap fill in if Flacco goes out for a few games as we could hope for.  

[BigUgly]

2 hours ago, rmcjacket23 said:

The QB needy teams mostly found better options.

Even at this point, outside of maybe the Jets or Browns, I don't see a team where he's a better option than that team already has.

There are teams that have backups better than him. That should tell you something.

Ravens fans often overvalue our own players, and I've been saying for months that Mallett's market is almost non-existent as a potential starter.

Mallett is an upgrade over Hoyer in SF, and would do well in the Shanahan offense.  He'd also do well in Denver or Houston, but the staff screwed up the QB position so badly 2 years ago there's no way they'll take him back and admit their buffoonery.

[BigUgly]

Some interesting FA still out there (beyond Mangold and the CBs discussed):

OLB - Ware, Peppers, Freeney (should've signed him several years ago instead of Babin), Lorenzo Alexander, and Jarvis Jones 

ILB - Hightower (can you imagine?), Zach Brown, and Kevin Minter

WR - Floyd, Wright, Patterson (mostly a return guy)

RB - AP, Charles (might be worth a 1 year flier on one of these guys), Blount, and Murray

[rmcjacket23]

  3 hours ago, rmcjacket23 said:

The QB needy teams mostly found better options.

Even at this point, outside of maybe the Jets or Browns, I don't see a team where he's a better option than that team already has.

There are teams that have backups better than him. That should tell you something.

Ravens fans often overvalue our own players, and I've been saying for months that Mallett's market is almost non-existent as a potential starter.

Mallett is an upgrade over Hoyer in SF, and would do well in the Shanahan offense.  He'd also do well in Denver or Houston, but the staff screwed up the QB position so badly 2 years ago there's no way they'll take him back and admit their buffoonery.

1. Certainly don't think he's an upgrade on Hoyer by any stretch. Actually don't see what skill set Mallett has that would be better than Hoyer's.

Hoyer is obviously just a stop gap until Cousins goes there next year, so its not like a team would think Mallett is anything other than a placeholder.

2. Also don't see how Mallett is an upgrade over Siemian, and it certainly doesn't make sense to bring Mallett in when you have a 1st round pick in Lynch there also.

Plus, either one of those teams can probably have Romo or Cutler if they want to, both of which are clearly better than Mallett by a wide range.

[bigcatfrank1]

Some interesting FA still out there (beyond Mangold and the CBs discussed):

OLB - Ware, Peppers, Freeney (should've signed him several years ago instead of Babin), Lorenzo Alexander, and Jarvis Jones 

ILB - Hightower (can you imagine?), Zach Brown, and Kevin Minter

WR - Floyd, Wright, Patterson (mostly a return guy)

RB - AP, Charles (might be worth a 1 year flier on one of these guys), Blount, and Murray

Good points-
lets figure the Ravens listen about picking a #1 CB draft and a Center at #2. for discussion sake.

I particularly like the Patterson and Latavius Murray choices. Both very affordable and both could contribute quite a lot for the value.

If they were to pick up these 4 guys then they can really look at affordable Pass Rush- LB- and LT guys in Free Agency with what ever money they can manage and the remaining 5 Draft choices

Hightower is worth his weight in gold but can the Ravens cut enough to afford him. Brown and Minter both could help, just need to be at the right money.

OLB - expensive lot, not sure any of these guys are great moves. I think another draft pick for a LB is the more affordable reasonable choice considering the depth on the team.

would that satisfy most needs, I think it would be a great way to begin camp.