Found me out
-
Welcome to PurpleFlock! Be sure to sign up here so that you can chat with your fellow Ravens fans.
The Offensive Line Thread
- Thread starter Sledge Hammer
- Start date
Te
yea i didnt think of it that way. We should def draft a versatile guard who can take over yanda spot.
I actually think OL should be drafted every year at some point in the draft.
so ive got time so ive been going back through some of the oline highlight blocks vs the raiders and you know what? james hurst was great this week - like legit good at left guard without tempering our expectations - he wasnt just not bad like he was week 1 and 2 he was legit good and especially good at finding blocks in level 2 - 1 of which was on a hugely successful pull where he drove the guy back a few yards
what was even more impressive was that some of our better runs came running behind/following hurst - both collins and allen broke out good chunks of yardage behind hurst blocks
what was even more impressive was that some of our better runs came running behind/following hurst - both collins and allen broke out good chunks of yardage behind hurst blocks
Agree, he looked very good this week. All of the lineman, except Eleumenor looked really good this week.
i mean skura was fine but i he wasnt brilliant - howard, stanley, jensen and even hurst looked like top guys at their position this week
BloodRaven
MVP
Absolutely
Actually for the entire year, not just week five, PFF has the following ratings
Here are some stats that may surprise you from the season – not just week 5
Ryan Jensen - 3rd best center
Ronnie Stanley - 5th best left tackle
Austin Howard - 3rd best right tackle.
i wouldnt say im surprised by that
Its almost like the positions that were not gutted by injury are actually looking pretty well.
In some ways, this was my favorite performance on the OL, because it was the most above expectation.
Hurst was asked to pull 12 times and connected on 11, had 3 pancakes, 7 blocks in L2, and 4 highlight blocks (an outstanding single-game total). Prior to Sunday, his success on pulls had been poor:
W1: 10 pulls, 6 points (1 x 7, 0 x 2, -1)
W2: 10 pulls, 5 points (1 x 6, 0 x 3, -1)
W3: 4 pulls, 2.5 points (1 x 2, -0.5)
W4: 3 pulls, 0 points (1 x 2, -2)
W5: 12 pulls, 11 points (1 x 11, 0)
W 1-4: 13.5/27 = .50 points per play on pulls
W5 = .92 per play on pulls
Roman's system calls for many short (1 gap) and long (2+ gap) pulls which are significantly more complex than any of the last 10 seasons. It's only 1 game, but it's my hope Hurst has turned a corner in terms of his ability to pull.
The Ravens are unlikely to be able to retain both Hurst and Jensen at the end of the year (both will be UFAs). Jensen will get paid (by some team). Hurst will play somewhere in 2018 with his value as a swingman and might start. The incredible dearth of tackle talent in the NFL now tells me he might get a 2-year deal to lock him in as a backup swingman, or perhaps 3 years/10-11 million if some team wants to start him at guard and get the flexibility to move him outside in case of injury.
BloodRaven
MVP
Someone is going to break the bank for Hurst and suffer serious buyers remorse. As for Jensen I think whether he stays or not is dependant on his market, he has ideal size and power but is not irreplacable and we should not overpay
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Can we just talk about how good Jensen has played? Not only him being good, but he sets the tone for the whole offense, he is gaining a fast reputation as a total pain in the ass for defenders, he's nasty as hell and wants to tear your head off.
Having a guy right in the middle who plays with that level of aggression and nastiness brings a whole different identity to your offense, to front sevens, our offense will be known as the one with that red headed asshole in the middle and DTs won't be excited about facing that guy for 60 minutes.
It makes me so mad to think about what we COULD have right now. We swore the OL was gonna be the worst in the league, but we have 3 top tier performers there and we're missing starters at each guard spot, if we had yanda next to Jensen and if we were able to land a nasty son of a bitch for RG(like if goose was as-advertised and healthy, or if Alex Lewis got stronger) then our line would be sick, and defenses would stay up all night before playing us. Sad, typical ravens "what could've been" story
Having a guy right in the middle who plays with that level of aggression and nastiness brings a whole different identity to your offense, to front sevens, our offense will be known as the one with that red headed asshole in the middle and DTs won't be excited about facing that guy for 60 minutes.
It makes me so mad to think about what we COULD have right now. We swore the OL was gonna be the worst in the league, but we have 3 top tier performers there and we're missing starters at each guard spot, if we had yanda next to Jensen and if we were able to land a nasty son of a bitch for RG(like if goose was as-advertised and healthy, or if Alex Lewis got stronger) then our line would be sick, and defenses would stay up all night before playing us. Sad, typical ravens "what could've been" story
im not sure that we should let jensen go - he's been one of the best centers in the league and i thought we were supposed to have slightly more cap space than usual this coming year as long as we dont borrow any more from 2018/2019 - now some of that will likely go to CJ (but some of that used cap space is already on CJ's 5th year option so it wont have a huge impact on cap space in 2018 - although it will in future), i fully expect jimmy smith to get an extension and that should leave some cap space to keep our own UFAs and bring in some from outside - our big UFAs are mike wallace, ben watson, ryan jensen, james hurst, brent urban (arguably not) so i wouldnt say that its a given we let go of a guy who so far has been playing like one of the best centers in the league - especially as we dont obviously have an in house replacement
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Watson, Wallace, Urban, and very possibly hurst are all gone, if Jensen walks I'll be pissed, top 5 centers aren't a dime a dozen.
Also, if Wallace has more slumps and shows streaky play he might have his best offer from us, so he could come cheap assuming he doesn't explode in the next 11 weeks
It's crazy, that's why I don't believe we're going to draft a lot of OL, because we have an enormous amount of those allready. You mentionned the starters, by year's end Eluemunor and Skura will be great depth along with Hurst as a great swing tackle. Quality and depth wise without the ridiculous amount of injuries our OL is the best in the league no doubts.
id like to keep jensen and see if we can bring back urban for cheap - but i imagine we will be adding a tight end or two next year as well as oline and rbs - to be honest just all offence
He is our most important free agent this year. I’d love to keep Hurst as well as a swing tackle and guard in a pinch, but I wouldn’t give up Jensen to do so.
Urban is definitely gone, unless he comes cheap do to his injury. I’d only sign Wallace if he gave us a hometown discount. Watson I can’t see keeping due to his age. We need more TE talent and as much as I like the potential of Maxx, he can’t stay on the field.
BloodRaven
MVP
Looking at the contracts given to other top centers over the past year we're looking at around $50 million over 5 years with 30 guaranteed, and thats just the start point before we even get to cap inflation.