This has come quicker than any of us would have liked, and much quicker than many of us expected, but our offseason is here. Every season, a few of us Ravens fans want to see the team go WR in the draft, and pretty much get our hopes up wanting that. For me, this year will be no different lol. I want Tee Higgins and I'll tell you why. The Ravens biggest issue has definitely been the front 6. We blitzed around 55% of the time, while the #2 team was about 44%. Even with all those blitzes, we rank in the middle or bottom of pretty much all pass rushing stats. You may be thinking it guarantees 1st round attention, but I think it'll guarantee heavy free agency attention. Whether through available players, or by trade, I can't imagine the Ravens don't go into the draft with, at least, enough stop gaps in the front 7 to feel confortable for at least 2020. A pass rusher will likely get drafted in the 2nd imo. But why WR in round 1? Simple. The Ravens have to be kicking themselves for not going WR in the extra deep 2014 class, and this class could be better. But on top of that, we simply need better WR play, because that's the next evolution of this offense. Harbaugh said Lamar came to him and laid out the exact things he needs to work on. John alsl said he and Roman had the same list, so they were impressed with Lamar's self awareness. We all watched the season, where does Lamar need to improve the most? Its not passes to TEs, and it sure as hell isn't running. It's clear as day that it's passes to the outside. The missing piece of this offense is the ability to dominate strictly throwing to WRs. You're not likely to get that by featuring Snead, Roberts, and Chris Moore (the last two likely won't be Ravens next year and will need to be replaced). Decosta has shown he'll focus on hands catchers before freak athletes, and Higgins has some of, if not, the best hands in the draft. That will give Lamar 3 young guys to grow with at WR in addition to his TEs. Yes, the defense needs work, but it seems we masked their issues by scoring a lot. So one of the easiest ways to fix the defense is by scoring even more consitently than in 2019. That one draft pick could be all the attention you really need to give to the offense since damn near every key piece is coming bac . Yanda is the biggest question mark, and maybe a different backup tackle, but the tackle won't require high capital. After that, we should go defense heavy. I mentioned the next step in the evolution of the offense earlier. It'll be the ability to win throwing ij a "traditional" NFL passing scheme. No RPOs, no read option. Lamar has shown to be extremely coachable, and that his desire to improve and to win are second to none. He's about to spend the offseason throwing outside routes, and I'm predicting the come out week 1 with all drop back passes all over the field. Hopefully the improvement continues, but we'll need a Tee Higgins to go along with that, he just catches everything. I like other WRs in other rounds, but Higgins is who I'd target.
Now, in terms of the pass rusher. One of the players you need is a Yannick Ngakoue, if he hits free agency. He has been the most dominating player, but he's been good and consistent. Maybe you keep Judon also and have two above average pass rushers as opposed to one dominant guy. You also use Ferguson and hope McPhee comes back healthy. That "should" give you enough guys to consistently get more pressure without having to blitz as much. If you can do that, and drop more guys into coverage, your defense is instantly improved. If they retain Smith at CB, they will pretty much still be set in the secondary (until Jimmy gets hurt smh). Oh and another thing, Yannick will only be 25 throughout the 2020 season. That's a young guy who could still improve. Judon might also be better with someone else, or multiple guys, for defenses to focus on. Look how Zadarius Smith has been for the Packers opposite another good pass rusher. This defense needs improvement and they could get it all this offseason. Add in a more consistently scoring offense to mask other deficiencies, like a run defense that would still be fairly shaky even with what I've said above. Thankfully there's not too many Ravens and Titans teams out there right now. Side note: a dynamic return man would be nice as well.
So I mentioned in the other thread that if the draft plays out like the past two years, the Ravens better go WR. they have had their pick of receiver the past two classes compared to the 5th, 6th, 7th, etc best pass rushed. The Ravens freaked out about Ridley (an Ozzie draft), but I think Brown looks great. A few of those guys have talent. I'm not giving up on Boykin, but his year was far rougher than I imagined it would be. I'd let Scott be on my team, but I'm not counting on him. Now just because I mentioned WR doesn't mean I'm ignoring the pass rush need. Think about this season though. We had all these young guys and they all got shit canned for older gets because they couldn't do their jobs. The only one who didn't was Ferguson, and that was out of necessity because we had no one else and no one else healthy. We desperately need an interior rush, and I think this all comes from free agency. I'm in the camp of not wanting to pay Judon because I don't think he's worth the contract. At the same time, I wonder if they will be forced to attempt an overpayment because of lack of depth here. Carr and Jefferson both will be gone which is fine. Jefferson is abysmal, and Carr is mostly broken down by now after so many games in the league. We will get Young back and hopefully keep Smith. Peanut was terrible this year after flashing at the end of the previous season, so who knows what his issue is. Thomas was also a total dud this year.
Ravens biggest needs - OLB, ILB, DL, WR, OL(Depth) OLB - Other than Matt Judon (who will be leaving when free agency opens), this group was abysmal this past season. Absolutely no rush on regular base defense, allowed too many catches over the middle to TE/RB/Slot receivers and just didn't play up to Ravens standards. Peanut was out of position more than he was in, he didn't make any impactful plays outside of a handful all year. He can go somewhere else. LJ fort and Ward were nice stop gaps during the season but neither showed up when it mattered. Bowser showed a couple flashes here and there but he is not consistent but will probably get another season to finally show up. Jaylon Ferguson showed some pass rush potential but he was overwhelmed in his rookie year, lets hope he gets better in Year 2. This position just needs a complete overhaul which i do hope DeCosta gets on that primarily. ILB - Josh Bynes performed admirably coming in off the street to stabilize the Front 7 but he was out of gas by Week 16. Maybe with a full off season to get back into game shape, he will play better, but if nothing else, he is still a really good special teamer. The only ILB I would keep. They definitely need to find a couple of these guys to come in and be the run stoppers and middle coverage somewhere. DL - Brandon Williams has been a major disappointment since he got his big contract. He is no Ngata or even a Kelly Gregg right now. He is more like Mount Cody which is pathetic considering his size and ability that he does possess. If the Ravens could afford to cut him, I would, but that isn't financially feasible this season. Michael Pierce was the best lineman all season but he was worn down by the end of it, the backups were trash. Pierce is probably someone the Ravens won't be able to keep either so they definitely need to find some new pieces here. WR - I rather like the core which is Hollywood, Snead, Boykins, and Jaleel Scott. They do need to add a couple though because it would be a mistake to keep Seth Roberts around. Chris Moore probably is gone this off season. OL - The starting 5 was very good all season till the playoff game, but they are a really good group. Marshall Yanda probably retires but Mekari should be able to slide over and play well as he impressed me when he filled in for Skura at Center. Depth is a big problem though, as the talent level drops by a good ways when a backup has to enter the game. The Ravens are pretty good at finding some gems in the middle of the draft to get this taken care of though. Jimmy Smith is a guy that I hope they can resign but at a team friendly deal, which is likely not to happen, so he will likely be moving on. The secondary is the defense's best strength but Earl Thomas has to start playing like he WANTS to play and stop taking plays off and stop quitting if a player breaks into the 2nd level. He got punked on a lot of big plays this past season. Chuck Clark has earned his starting spot but he fell off towards the end of the year, hopefully that will improve in 2020. The team is hurting defensively by far over the offense and the draft needs to be tilted towards replenishing the depth on this side of the ball. Free Agency can nab a few guys to get more play-making ability in the WR game and in the LB core hopefully. Relying on the blitz to get pressure is a recipe for doom as we found out towards the end of the season. Lets hope that the Ravens find what they need to be able to go deeper in the playoffs in 2020.
OLB - I have the feeling Judon will be back. Don't ask me why. The only reason I have is I think he wants to come back and be part of whatever happens here. Will he be willing to play for the money the Ravens would be willing to spend? That's the question. I also think there's a chance to franchise him for one year to possibly extend negotiations. At the time the Ravens decided to completely overhaul the defense in week 5 or so, Ferguson was handed a starting job and tried to grow into it. I think he had the kind of success, or lack thereof, that you'd expect from a 3rd round rookie from a small school. If he improves at the rate Judon did, he will be ready for a big contract the same year he's eligible to walk. Tyus Bowser looked like he was finally starting to get it. But I will never understand why he didn't play in either Steeler game. or at least has no stats in either of those games. He played, and had stats, in all 14 other games. ILB - LJ Fort? Josh Bynes? Chris Board? Peanut, a free agent, I'm thinking, might not be here next year, and I'm not unhappy about that.. So just the names evoke a major need. The Ravens apparently liked Fort enough to extend him two years, not that it guarantees anything. Bynes is a free agent but also good on special teams, and if he was sitting on the sofa watching the games until week 5, he might take a team friendly offer to stay and. But really, are any of these guys the answer? DL- Help. Williams looked tired at times and Pierce can't possibly be in shape. Pierce is a free agent so that may work itself out. Jihad Ward seemed to get some of the coaches attention but it is a position is need of help. OL-The line was good last year for the type of offense the Ravens are playing. Skura may take a long time coming back and may never get back to where he was. And judging from some comments I've read at times, no one thought he was all that to begin with. I thought he performed well and had improved exponentially. Mekari seemed to do well at center right up until the Tennessee game. But he was a rookie. Hopefully the playing time has helped him realize those areas he needs to improve upon. Bozeman played well for a guy who wasn't given the job until he was literally the last man standing and no one else better. Stanley and Brown held the edges and Stanley should be rewarded for his effort before he becomes a free agent. Yanda retiring would make the offensive line more of a priority, but can you ever have enough quality O-lineman? WR- I don't see this as a major need. Hollywood should improve, as should Boykin. Willie Snead . Jaleel Scott should be given an opportunity to take his game to the next level and show the staff he's worth keeping. Roberts and Moore's time is up, which leaves room for two, maybe three, new receivers. I'm guessing one is drafted and the remaining spots are filled with veteran free agents. And one of them should be a returner. Our return game was terrible. I think the priorities will be an edge rusher, followed by D-line, WR and O-line.
Chuck Clark signing a 3 year extension is good for the team. First, we identified and locked up a good, young player, and second, it guarantees that we dump Jefferson. That will only make us better.
Yeah, I'd be surprised if Jefferson isn't cut by end of March. Clark is the starting SS unless he plays himself out of that spot
Just saw James Hurst suspended 4 games next year for PED. Also, jefferson released already. With other teams knowing we were cutting him, at best we could have received a 6 or 7 for him. Regardless, we are about another 8 million under the cap now and drastically improved our secondary by not being tempted to put him on the field. Based on the hype he came with, one of our worst free agent signings ever.
Oh yeah. Foxworth was bad. I feel like his first season was the best of the 3 though. Up until Peyton absolutely exposed and embarrassed his ass in that playoff game
Walker didn't cost us a lot, nor was he meant to be a starter, he just sucked. Foxworth, Jefferson, and Thomas cost big bucks and all were immediate starters
Ok, I had to do a bit of a history refresher on Foxworthless, and it's going to be tough for him to be beat here as the worst free agent signing. His contract was 4 years for 27+ million with 16.5 guaranteed, and this was one of the biggest free agent contracts the Ravens had ever given out. Even with escalating salaries, I wouldn't pay him that now if he were in the league. The Ravens dumped McAllister and were moving on from Rolle at the time. He played all 16 games that 2009 season (including the playoffs where he had to make 13 tackles in the game). In 2010, he tore his ACL and didn't play a snap all season. In 2011, he started the first 2 games and was then inactive week 3. He was cut shortly after that and never played another down in the NFL (we were still eating a 3M dead cap hit for him in 2012). Injury or talent, it doesn't matter to me. What a colossal bust. Interestingly, this is probably why people have such an affinity for Lardarius Webb despite him being a bit of a big contract bust too. We were trotting out the likes of Foxworthless, Fabian Washington, Webb, Frank Walker, and Chris Carr at the time. Cary Williams was still 2 years away from starting.
Damn, you win. I forgot we really only got one season out of him. The only way a current free agent pickup can beat that is if Thomas gets hurt in week 2 and never plays another snap as a Raven. Now, you mentioned Webb, but that's a different category to me. Foxworth was the biggest free agent, big contract, bust. The biggest homegrown big contract bust can only be Pitta with Rice a close 2nd
Got to go in the wayback for this one but I still feel bitter about Leon Searcy. 6 year 31.5 million way back in 2001 and he injured his tricep and never actually played a down for us. I still feel deflated as he was supposed to be the bookend to Ogden for the next 6 years. I don't figure it cost us a ton as he was cut and I am not sure of what the guaranteed monies were, but what a huge get and then huge let down.....
Well as I was thinking about this. People seem to have forgotten our "Savior QB" that was supposed to get us back to the Super Bowl in 2001. That was the KC Chiefs QB - Elvis Grbac who signed a 5yr -30 million dollar deal for us and played exactly 1 season and threw 18 picks before being asked to take a pay cut (2001 was the year the Ravens were in Cap Hell and was on a fire sale) and decided to retire instead. https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2002-03-05-0203050260-story.html
Elvis Grbac is someone I can never forget about (that bum) but I can honestly say I didn't remember his contract. Wow, that's pretty bad too. Definitely worse
