Chris Mcalister As Safety...

[tweety]

We all know McCalister can hit. Why can't we pull a Rod Woodson and convert him to Safety? Just like Gary Baxter was a better Safety than corner I then McCalister would be a better safety.

[catty112]

Would be a nice thought but were loaded at safeties as it is

[theFRANCHISE]

McAlister, at his age and with the aftereffects of his injuries, doesn't have enough range to play safety. Even if they were to put him in at Strong Safety for strictly run support, he may be more of a liability than if he were to stick with playing CB.

[SIZZLE4PRESIDENT]

This would probably work for another team but we need corners not safeties right now

[SIZZLE4PRESIDENT]

This would probably work for another team but we need corners not safeties right now

[tweety]

McCalister ran a 4.3, after age and injury I say he is 4.5 speed. There is no way he is Will Demps like speed 4.9. Range isn't the problem, it is the experience.

[tweety]

Of course you draft a corner...Don't let Fabian go and keep Samari.

[THEFairwindFarms]

Good idea for another team, but between Reed, Landry and Leonhard, i think were ok

[tweety]

How does this sound:

SS:Chris McCalister
FS: Ed Reed
CB: Samari Rolle
CB: Fabian Washington
nickel: brand new drafted rookie ready to take number 2 spot in a few years

Who would mess with our secondary. Last years 3rd Zibrowski's ready to take McCalister's spot in 3 years.

Naturally you don't sign Leonard or Landry:

Free up cap space and avoid drop charges.


As far as we are concerned Leonard and Landry are not a part of the team. They are free agents.

[catty112]

Landry is a restricted FA, which means most likely he'll be with us next year

[RoflDogs]

[quote name='tweety' post='142591' date='Jan 20 2009, 09:11 PM']How does this sound:

SS:Chris McCalister
FS: Ed Reed
CB: Samari Rolle
CB: Fabian Washington
nickel: brand new drafted rookie ready to take number 2 spot in a few years

Who would mess with our secondary. Last years 3rd Zibrowski's ready to take McCalister's spot in 3 years.

Naturally you don't sign Leonard or Landry:

Free up cap space and avoid drop charges.


As far as we are concerned Leonard and Landry are not a part of the team. They are free agents.[/quote]

Here is some math
Landry's cap+Leonard's Cap< Mcalister

[tweety]

[quote name='catty112' post='142595' date='Jan 20 2009, 08:14 PM']Landry is a restricted FA, which means most likely he'll be with us next year[/quote]
Let him shop.

No one will give up a 3rd round pick for him. Let him shop.

[theFRANCHISE]

[quote name='tweety' post='142591' date='Jan 20 2009, 08:11 PM']How does this sound:

SS:Chris McCalister
FS: Ed Reed
CB: Samari Rolle
CB: Fabian Washington
nickel: brand new drafted rookie ready to take number 2 spot in a few years[/quote]
That's an extremely injury-prone secondary, though. Three of the four players you name, have missed time this season. And Reed was on the verge of missing the season with that neck injury.

Plus, that'd be putting all our eggs in one basket and hoping that our current backups will be starter-ready if the starters go down with injuries as they probably would at some point in the year. Landry and Leonhard are still valuable commodities, and are both worth more than McAlister, both financially and physically at this point.

C-Mac is old. It happens. This a business, and McAlister takes up a lot of cap space for someone who's one year older, with one another season under his belt where he's coming off a significant injury. He has no more upside, and even if he can still play, the question remains, for how much longer?

I'd rather just stick with a rotation of Leonhard/Landry at SS, and allow the other backup safeties time to develop without the immediate threat of starting before they're ready. I'm giving the rookies another year. And then, focusing on drafting a CB, and let him work as the nickel (as you said) behind Washington and Rolle. Or, if he's ready, let him take Rolle's spot and let Rolle be a nickel specialist.

[tweety]

[quote name='RoflDogs' post='142597' date='Jan 20 2009, 08:15 PM']Here is some math
Landry's cap+Leonard's Cap< Mcalister[/quote]
We already have him under contract, we can cut him by why.

We can't get a big trade from him he had major knee surgery. Put him a safety. He can cover any TE and tackler any RB.

How can 5'9" Leonard cover a TE.

[RavensIQ]

McAlister would be an EXCELLENT safety! There's talk about Landry not fully recovering from his injury the way everyone expected him to. He might not be ready to go for next year. Jim Leonhard is probably taking a trip to NY with Rex. McAlister could replace Landry and at the same time he gives us great depth at CB bcuz if someone goes down he can fill in instantly. We could move Nakamura or Zibi to Safety if something like that happened. The only thing is...C'Mac is not going to want to take a pay cut, which he would have to do.

Besides the money aspect getting in the way, C'Mac would be a perfect safety for the Baltimore Ravens.

C'Mac and Ed Reed roaming the field...one has a 107 yard fg return for a touchdown the other has 2 records for the longest interception return for touchdowns 106 yards and 107 yards...All they do is set records when they touch the ball.

[theFRANCHISE]

[quote name='tweety' post='142601' date='Jan 20 2009, 08:20 PM']We already have him under contract, we can cut him by why.

We can't get a big trade from him he had major knee surgery. Put him a safety. He can cover any TE and tackler any RB.

How can 5'9" Leonard cover a TE.[/quote]
How can a player coming off of major knee surgery cover a TE without the same explosiveness in his knees?

And Leonhard's size hasn't been a detriment to him this season. He's taken down RBs bigger than him, including Jamal Lewis and Brandon Jacobs, and those guys are as big as TEs.

[tweety]

Not a team in the NFL would give McCalister 9 million a year. He will take a pay cut.

[RavensIQ]

Actually next year he's making $10 million...

[tweety]

[quote name='RavensIQ' post='142612' date='Jan 20 2009, 08:25 PM']Actually next year he's making $10 million...[/quote]
Yeah, no one pays him that much...

Drop Landry and we get a 5th compensation. Where as if we let CMac go it is all negative.

[theFRANCHISE]

[quote name='tweety' post='142609' date='Jan 20 2009, 08:23 PM']Not a team in the NFL would give McCalister 9 million a year. He will take a pay cut.[/quote]
Tell that to his ego, though. I know we don't know how these players think, but remember, this is the same Chris McAlister that held out all of training camp and the preseason for a new contract only a few years ago.

So, he figures, he recognizes that no one would pay him what he's slated to earn this year with a new contract. Therefore, he'll do whatever he can to keep his contract as-is and earn his base salary.

[TSizzle00]

They would have to Lower his pay because safety does not pay as much as CB and we are loaded with safeties

[tweety]

If his agent is any smart he will tell CMac to go down. No team pays him that much, and he knows it. We are not giving him it either, we will take the cap.

We had great safeties, Landry and Leonard don't have to play with us next year.

[usmccharles]

are you crazy, hes not even healthy enough to play his position, then you want to throw him in were we have reed and lenorad, no way, we need cbs more than safetys as everyone said

[tweety]

[quote name='usmccharles' post='142619' date='Jan 20 2009, 08:35 PM']are you crazy, hes not even healthy enough to play his position[/quote]
That is why we move him to safety.

[tweety]

Ozzie Newsome is the smartest GM in the world and I'm sure he is thinking about it.

Draft a CB, then TE and grap a WR in Free Agency..diamond next year.

[52Kia Kaha92]

No way, C - mac is great on coverage so why put a great cover corner (which is waht we need) at safety and mess up our corner depth

'Also Ravens IQ where di yu hear landry might not be good to go???

[tweety]

Landry won't be in physical drills like the rest of the team early in the off-season. Chris Mac was great in coverage but age and injury has slowed him down. To put that much pressure on his knee is ridiculous. Safety is less stress on his knee and plays to his his Strengths.

[RavenFan626]

no, for a few reasons
1. he will cost too much
2. I don't think he would want to make the switch
3. If he made the switch it would be FS (Reed's spot) not SS
4. We have alot of young depth at SS

[justifythegame]

this is a retarded idea.
1) the ravens are loaded at safety, it is the one position that doesn't need to be addressed.
2) mac is a shutdown corner when healthy, there are only a handful of players like that in the nfl, why move him from the position
3) the ravens have had corner issues for the past 2 seasons, why would you take c-mac out of the lineup, that will put us back in the same position as the last 2 years
4) fabian washington is overrated by many Ravens fans. Just because he celebrates after a play does not undo the mistakes he also makes. No one expects him to be an elite corner, just a better corner than samari, and that is good enough as long as we have a #1 corner playing. He is not a shutdown corner, he has trouble staying on his man, and lacks in size to finish a tackle so safeties have to finish it for him. With that said, Washington is still an EXCELLENT corner, and will only continue to improve as a Raven, but he is not a #1 option @ corner for a defense like the ravens. He will be a fantastic #2 corner and will play nicely subbing in for samari and taking his spot after samari retires.

Last but not least, people like to talk crap about c-mac and how he will be cut blah blah. Most likely Samari will retire this year or next year. Fabian Washington will be the next man up to fill his role. C-Mac will be back, and will play some more seasons. A corner will be drafted in the coming drafts to step up for mac one day, but that person is definately not going to fill the role as a rookie. Which is why c-mac will stay and will still play CB.

[theFRANCHISE]

[quote name='justifythegame' post='142717' date='Jan 20 2009, 09:47 PM']Most likely Samari will retire this year or next year. Fabian Washington will be the next man up to fill his role. C-Mac will be back, and will play some more seasons. A corner will be drafted in the coming drafts to step up for mac one day, but that person is definately not going to fill the role as a rookie. Which is why c-mac will stay and will still play CB.[/quote]
There have been no outward indications that Samari Rolle has contemplated retirement this upcoming season, or in the immediate future for that matter. We know it'll come eventually, but Rolle is more likely to keep playing since he's been a serviceable #2 CB, and has shown no indications of being a liability on the field this year (at least when compared to Frank Walker or Corey Ivy).

The better way to phrase it is, Chris McAlister is more likely to be cut than Rolle is likely to retire. That's not an indication that Rolle is better than McAlister; it all boils down to money. McAlister has not shown himself to be the type to take a pay cut (having never done so in his career, and having held out for money before). Also, McAlister does not appear to have bought into Harbaugh's system, as his benching mid-season showed. To say the benching was entirely based on his health, is to blindly deny the possibility that C-Mac may have been just one of maybe a handful (if that) of players that didn't buy into the new culture of the team.

To say that Chris McAlister will play some more seasons (I emphasize the plural here), is to ignore the fact that he will be 32 years old next season, has missed significant time over the past two seasons because of injury, and cannot fight Father Time. Ray Lewis, in that respect, is a freak of nature, and cannot be used in defense of McAlister's age.

Defensive backs rely as much on speed as they do instincts. It's safe to say that McAlister likely doesn't have the same speed he did entering the league. His instincts may be intact, but there are other physical limitations which may prevent him from making as much of an impact on this defense as he had in the past. I wouldn't necessarily be happy to see him go, but if it's necessary in order to sign other, more valuable players (Jason Brown, Terrell Suggs, Sam Koch, etc.), then so be it.