Joe Flacco traded to the Broncos. Terrell Suggs reportedly agrees to sign with the Arizona Cardinals. My Thoughts are that I wish Joe the best in Denver till we play them of course Seeing Suggs leave hurts my heart, he should have retired a Raven, but I can understand him wanting to go play back home. Good Luck Suggs.
With Suggs gone, that puts us precariously closer to no Weddle, Suggs, or Mosley next season. I think we're really going to miss the leadership and identity from these guys, but the production is starting to see a little decline. Still, unless someone steps up big, Suggs was one of the best we had.
Also what do you guys think about the Ingram rumors? I personally hate it. The Ravens can draft and plug and play a RB at nearly any point in their history. Why waste money on a 30 year old RB?
Well the Mosely money is pure insanity. That contract is over the top and not warranted as far as I am concerned. I liked Mosely but never thought he was THAT great. Very solid and super reliable, but that is, in my opinion, game changer money and he was not a game changer to me. So far it looks like we have lost: Weddle (cut) Suggs (AZ) Mosely (NYJ) Z.Smith(GB) We have retained: Nick Boyle Tavon Young Brandon Carr (option) Michael Pierce (tender) Patrick Onwausor (tender) Z Smith looks to be dabbling with the Packers. I would like to see the team bring him back now in a prominent role since Suggs has cleared space by leaving. UPDATE: Looks like Smith will be getting upwards of 16 mil a year from GB. YIKES, that is crazy money- I am not in panic mode, let the other teams spend crazy money on these guys. More than half of them will not live up to their deals, so I am not as concerned as some. I am ok with Ingram, as long as it is not back breaking and the biggest wish of mine is to stay away from Leveon Bell. This generally happens every year and much of the fan base goes nuts and then it pans out to be just fine when the year starts, As far as I am concerned, we can keep on signing the bargain guys that hve been the foundation of a lot of our success (D. Smith, M. Birk, B. Carr, etc..)
Looks like all 2019 free agency contracts are grossly inflated. Perhaps teams are trying to avoid a LeVeon Bell/Antonio Brown situation?
Ok those reported numbers for Mosley and Smith are both beyond insane. I certainly would have liked Mosley to stay, but how can you justify paying those numbers when you just got out from a large QB salary? We can put it in the books that Mosley isn't the next Ray Lewis. I imagine he's going to be not much more than an after thought in team annals as the years roll on. I'm really not sure what you do in FA or the draft right now. I doubt winning games off the run and defense is going to be as effective. Probably best to double down on offense since that's clearly your team centerpiece now and roll with the punches on defense.
Just to be clear though, even though we lost our "big" sack numbers from last season, the team has been far from a pass rushing nightmare. From a production standpoint, the Ravens certainly have room to improve. Weddle and Suggs also are far closer to the edge of the cliff physically, but their leadership will be missed. Mosley is the only loss who I feel is a real kick currently and going forward as he has a lot of good football left.
I completely agree here. We have been through this before with the loses of Kruger, McPhee and others going back to Adalius Thomas even. They all went on to have mediocre tenures with other teams. We saw the same with Bart Scott and Danell Ellerbee and they went on to underwhelm as well. Mosely will be a loss for sure, he was solid and very reliable. But it is not the end of the world and as for Suggs and Weddle, I think we had seen the last of their higher end production. Older players tend to fall off precipitously and I would rather cut ties a year too early than too late. I think we have a plethora of young players waiting in the wings in Bowser, Williams, DeShon Elliott, Chuck Clark, Anthony Averett, and a handful of others that the FO seems to have confidence in and it seems DeCosta has a real plan as to how to clean up the salary cap and set us up for success in the future. I have some confidence that they have a solid plan and will not get too crazy over the next couple of months while they put it in place.
For who? The Ravens may not find the next Ray Lewis with each pick, but they certainly find solid ILBs pretty easily
He may not be the next Ray Lewis or CJ Mosley, but Kenny Young was pretty impressive last year. I think he hit a little bit of the rookie wall late, but I think most of us expected him to start this season. It's just that we expected him to start next to Mosley and Peanut would hit the bench. We don't really have a thumper ILB, but some people were high on Bam Bradley. I didn't see enough of him to make a judgment.
The Browns traded for OBJ which is a great move for them. One thing to note (and the Ravens better take note), the league is getting far more active in trading players than it seemingly ever has. I sometimes wonder if the Ravens truly do try to get ahead of the curve instead of playing catchup with outdated tactics (old has-been coaches, defense and no offense, etc).
I don't think we have the draft capital to trade for a quality WR, and I'm not sure what player you trade away for one either
I'm not saying we do an OBJ trade. I'm saying in general, the teams who are getting ahead of the game like the Patriots, Eagles, and Rams are doing a lot of trading to get things done. The Browns may be getting in on the trend.
ILBs that are 2-down and specialty guys are easy to find. Its the 3-down, stay on the field ones that excel in 2+ or all 3 phases that don't grow on trees and only a handful are in each draft ready to contribute. Last year three went in the first round and made an impact with their teams (R. Smith, Vander Esh, and R. Evans). This year, there are likely 3 more in D. White, D. Bush, and M. Wilson. After those guys, the drop off is significant and you're looking at more of a project or backup. With more passing comes the need for more versatile linebackers that have range, speed, and instincts against the run, can bring occasional pressure in rushing the passer, and drop into zone coverage or match up with tight ends or backs out of the backfield in the passing game. Its a skill-set that is hard to identify and develop, but is becoming more crucial to defenses. If you don't have at least one, you subject yourself to matchup problems that teams can try to exploit easier, especially in no-huddle.
As we know, the Ravens MO has always been to hardly ever purchase players in the first week frenzy, when players are being grossly overpaid and are usually doomed to fail to live up to those contract demands. The Ravens have definitely taken a big defensive hit with the loss of 4 major players from that side of the ball. The interesting thing will be how Eric DeCosta resolves that problem with his own replacements down the road. Ozzie loved to wait till the cuts happened to fill needs and I suspect that Eric will do the same. He was highly sought after for a reason, let us have patience and see what he can bring to bear on the problem as it is.
Reports in that say the Ravens have landed Earl Thomas. Adam Schefter ✔@AdamSchefter Former Seahawks’ S Earl Thomas intends to sign a four-year, $55 million deal that includes $32 million fully guaranteed at signing with the Baltimore Ravens, league source tells ESPN. Deal includes $22 million in first nine months. 3,875 12:13 PM - Mar 13, 2019
