Ravens Training Camp News and Notes

I read that article as well. I love Ryan Jensen's attitude. I love his mean streak and his mentality. I don't love his lack of skill to the degree that he commits penalties to make up for it (as evidenced by the story as well as game tape). I found it interesting in the first preseason game that when we were watching the warm-ups, that Jensen was the only O Lineman that did not warm up and stretch with the O Line. He warmed up and stretched with the Defensive line. Not that it is a huge red flag, but it does explain some of his mentality and who he is closest to on the team.

I find that if you want to be the Center, the captain of the O Line, you need to bond with and command that group and really be there to be a leader. That did not demonstrate leadership to me. He very well may win the center job but something gives me pause to say he will not be the glue that holds that line together in tough games....

He also loses his cool way too quickly..

 

So the Ravens are close to a deal with Jeremy Zuttah. I don't get it. He's a zone blocking lineman who sucked in a zone scheme, so now we're re-signing him for a power blocking man scheme? I just don't get it

 

I think that has a lot to do with Jensen and what they think of him as a starter. I guess he is a starter caliber guy who knows how to run the line and calls and they would rather relegate Jensen to a reserve role as a guard.

 

That's possible. But I think Jensen gets moved to LG if Zuttah takes the Center position again. Sadly, he's probably the best option at guard right now. Unless they go for the shocker and keep Jensen at center and move Zuttah to LG.

 

Either way, it is veteran depth we did not have. I think there may be better options as camps start the cut down, but did we want to take that chance that we could get lucky or take what they have available now and get them signed. A bird in the hand....right?

I am not thrilled but at least it is a guy we know can handle a season long role. The unproven guys we have to pick from are more of a crap shoot than a veteran we know pretty well. It's not ideal but it is better than no one.

 

I haven't looked at how Spotrac calculates cap space, I only use them for their historical contracts which is really cool but costs $30 per year. Overthecap doesn't project anything in their cap space calculations. His goal is to be as accurate as possible on a day-to-day basis and there is simply too much information that he is not privy to. The best place to get Ravens cap numbers is from Brian McFarland at Russell Street Report. He has a spreadsheet where you can view the up-to-date information but also one where he projects things that will happen at an unknown time (presumably when the season begins) like salary cap repayment, practice squad cost, workout bonuses and NLTBE adjustments from the previous season.

http://russellstreetreport.com/salarycap/

With all those adjustments he has the Ravens opening up the seasons at 2.7M over the salary cap. That is not enough to get through the season and they still have plans to sign Zuttah according to several sources. So another restructure, release or extension is in their future. With only two players making over 5M in base salary there aren't a whole lot of options for restructures (Yanda and Flacco). They could free up 3.3M with a Yanda restructure adding 1.66M to his '18 and '19 seasons, 4M with a Flacco restructure adding 1M to his cap numbers from '18-'21. Weddle could save them a modest 2M, Suggs 2.3M. They could also go to Mike Wallace and offer an extension with an unorthodox 2nd year guaranteed roster bonus in '18. They're going to have to get creative.

 

Those are all so crazy. Is this cap pinch getting relief next season? I see there is little to no dead money carried into 2018 so does this get much cleaner next season? I would have to think with all the youth we have, we should be in a better cap space soon, right?

 

As of now, we have about the same cap total next season that we have right now. Now that sounds negative on surface value but it's actually better. For 1, if the cap continues you go up as it has the last few years, that's a huge positive. 2, we currently have 59 players under contract for next season so we won't have to spend a lot to complete a 53 man roster. In fact, we'll have to cut some of the players currently under contract, which will lead to more cap space.

With only Pitta listed as dead money for 2018, it's definitely a better situation next year. There's also situations like Mosely. His 5th year option will be in play for 8M. If they offer him a long term contract, and I'd be surprised if they didn't, you'd have to assume it takes at least 3M off the cap.

As of now, we should be in a fairly good cap situation in 2018. And in the even they have an issue like this year or something that causes a lot of needed cap space, they'll have a few restructure options since multiple players have "higher" base salaries.

2019 is even better with about 25M more in cap space and 46 players under contract (which of course won't count the rookies drafted in 2018 or 2019 which will probably fill out a lot of that roster). 2019 also features a lot of cut options with not a lot of dead money. For example, Weddle, Austin, and Woodhead could all be cut and save 16M in cap space, while only being a combined 3.5M in dead cap space that would not carry over to 2020.

TLDR: The Ravens cap space will slowly improve next season then improve a lot in 2019

 

Brian has a 2018 tab if you follow that link. He has a 2018 Rule of 51 number at 167M but that's before any changes. There's a couple of more restructures coming it appears. Zuttah will effect that number. There will be cuts of course and then you have to add things back in like NLTBE incentives, practice squad, workout bonuses, etc. I beleive the Ravens are making their final repayment of borrowed cap this year so that's behind you.

You have a couple of guys who could qualify for an increase based on the Proven Performance Escalator. Boyle and Z. Smith could get there with a reasonable amount of snaps in 2017. That would add roughly 1M to each of their salaries. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it you won't have many pressing guys you need to re-sign. Urban may be one you like to keep and you could actually get a little relief if you extend Mosley, although the Ravens really need to get out of the habit of pushing so much money to the back end of deals.

Two months ago I thought 2018 was going to bring you some relief. That doesn't appear to be the case now.

 

p.s. Currently the Ravens are around 26th in the NFL in cap space for 2018.

 

Missed the first 7 minutes of the game and couldn't watch the whole thing uninterrupted, but I'll say this much. Tim Williams' sack was a work of art. Blew right by the o-lineman like it was nothing. One move and flew right by him.

I'll also so this, Mallett sucks

 

Did not watch but checked out the highlites. Mallet should be the back up as of this game. He may not have the pocket presences to stay in the pocket but he makes plays on his feet. I like Williams and Donnell as a one two punch, but Boyle is still not to shabby. The defense looks stiffing. They are going to be a force.

 

Faulk, I'm assuming you meant Woodrum, not Mallett

 

I would like to just restate my earlier point that williams is going to be a beast. Another example of top tier talent sliding due to a plethora of other issues.

As for the game as a whole, i am very worried about our O. West has moments of looking great but our O line is disastrous. Also let us pray Flacco is back by opening week. Mallet may not be soley to blame for those ints but they were terrible reads.

Our D however is stellar. penalties are annoying as balls, but our front 7 is getting great pressure and i thought smith looked real good this season again so here is to hoping he can replicate his form from a couple years ago.

Penalties need to be fixed.

Oh and the obvious. Tucker. i love that man.

2k

 

I missed the 1st qtr, but from what I saw:
1) The O-line was getting pushed backwards on running plays but holding their own on passing plays. What happened to the power running game? Maybe we will see it in the 3rd game when hopefully Stanley & Yanda play.
2) Mallet has happy feet. At times I thought I was watching Kyle Boller. Eisenberg gave the blame for the 2nd int. to Adeboyejo, but I have to disagree. He was open with the defender a couple yards behind him and a wide open field in front. All Mallet had to do was lead him. Instead he threw the ball behind him. Adeboyejo made a nice adjustment, but it gave the defender enough time to catch up and grab the ball before Adeboyejo could secure the reception. Maybe there was something a more experienced receiver could/would have done, but I'm not sure what that could be.
3) Mallet is as inconsistent as they come. For the 2nd week Woodrum looked poised and confident albeit against 3rd and 4th string players. I'd like to see what he can do against a 1st/2nd team defense.
4) Chris Moore needs to go.
5) Jaylen Hill should be competing against Webb for the starting slot CB.
6) Like using Ricard as a FB/eligible player on offense.
7) IMHO, Ricky Ortiz has won the starting FB. I also saw him make some good plays on ST. Taliafero needs to go.
8) Larry Donnell - Great receiver. Great in the red zone. Can't block to save his life.
9) Looked like Camp stole a reception from Whalen that would have been a 1st down instead of losing the challenge. Somebody ran the wrong route. I'm thinking it was Camp.
10) Chris Matthews might not be much of a receiver, but his ST skills will probably have him making the team. He is also one of the better downfield blocking receivers on the team.
11) Maxx Williams looked good and fast.
12) Keenan Reynolds did not inspire much confidence.
13) The rookie/on-the-bubble receivers all had nice receptions - Board, Whalen, Mayle.
14) The D-Line looked pretty dominant against the b/u QB's. LB's were flying around. Bam Bradley lived up to his name on a number of plays.

 

Zadarius did have a decent game, and I'd be shocked if Hill doesn't make the team (pending he doesn't regress badly in the next two preseason games.

Jazz, I'm happy you said that because I was thinking it. Mallett is Kyle Boller. Only difference, for me, is I liked Boller's personality.

 

Make peace with Mallet in your minds because he's going to be the backup QB on this team, so there's no real point in worrying about it. If Flacco isn't playing, the team is dead anyway as has been the case since 2008.

I wonder if the Ravens could really go with 0 FB and just keep Richard and use him there when needed? It would actually give him a hat on gameday. I don't like swapping around positions, but if I just look at who plays better, it might be Richard over Taliaferro and Ortiz.

I guess we have Zuttah back. So that begs some more questions - is he our starting C again? Does this mean Jensen is now the LG? Hurst moved all over the line to get playing time and is apparently on the bench again? Would you rather have Hurst or Zuttah playing?

 

My guess is that Zuttah is the center, Jensen becomes the left guard and Hurst becomes the swing tackle for Howard and Stanley off the bench. I am not super thrilled about Zuttah based on his past performance, but it is better than an UDFA being that guy. I like his veteran presence and he has proven he can make the calls, right?

 

The o-line comes down to Zuttah vs Hurst for me, but at different positions.

A. Stanley / Hurst / Jensen / Yanda / Howard

B. Stanley / Jensen / Zuttah / Yanda / Howard

Let's just hope there are no more injuries to the o-line

 

I wonder if Billick had the same visions/flashbacks.