Signings, Cuts, Trades

[rossihunter2]

Another thing about this idea of protecting Lamar over opening holes is Moses is known for pass blocking over run blocking isn't he?

Also may indicate the Clevland has the best chance of winning LG at this very second on paper?

im not convinced - it would indicate to me that cleveland over powers maybe but cleveland finished the season really poorly and tyre's been pretty solid in pass pro when at guard...

we'll have to see what development we get from cleveland this offseason, see if he's found a way to improve his lateral foot quickness and whether he can find some finish to his game

the one thing that ben powers has over both cleveland and tyre despite not being the mountain of a man that they are, is that he is aggressive in the run game and finishes

 

[rossihunter2]

I mean I think somebody giving him 2 for 20 or possibly 3 for 30 makes some sense, but the guaranteed money probably wouldn't be anything beyond maybe year 1 or 2, so its sort of irrelevant.

But even like 2 for 20 with half guaranteed may be too much for us realistically. I just don't know.

could probably reasonably have a 6m yr 1 cap hit with half-guaranteed and still be able to cut bait in yr 2 if it doesnt work out but also yr 2 cap hit would be low enough that you could stomach the yr 2 cap hit ultimately if you want to

3 yr deal makes much more sense for the ravens though even if that 3rd year is basically just a dummy year with a bunch of non-guaranteed salary

 

[UPennChem]

We've sent out an offer. Balls in his court.

 

[UPennChem]

We must have contacted Tretter agent and thought his price was way too high. It's very interesting the C situation. Do you think EDC knew this was gonna happen and so he locked up Mekari to be C from the onset?

 

[JAAM]

We've sent out an offer. Balls in his court.

Nice. In other news - that dude Frankie is a fucking idiot

 

[UPennChem]

Does someone like a Jermaine Johnson completely change how you feel about the pass rush room if you can land him?

You'd have OO, JJ, TB, and JF. Do you look for one more guy?

 

[rossihunter2]

We must have contacted Tretter agent and thought his price was way too high. It's very interesting the C situation. Do you think EDC knew this was gonna happen and so he locked up Mekari to be C from the onset?

i get the sense from some of the comments on various podcasts by zrebiec and others that this was kind of the plan from the moment boze turned the long-term deal down in november/december - part of that money got invested in mekari and we moved on from there - get the sense from Harbs (just in how he talked about it) that we were never even in the C market at all (and it makes even more sense why we pursued and targeted moses so quickly because with mekari as the presumptive starter at C we only had 1 RT which was ja'wuan james coming off not playing football for 2 seasons...)

also it suggests that we're definitely going to be adding a tackle in the draft - and most likely it'll have to be someone with swing value/LT value - got to be either someone who's played LT in college or who projects to be able to - but that may eliminate guys like Faalele from contention (unless they think he can swing)

 

[rmcjacket23]

this was the point that surprised me - i get all the stuff about changing practice methods in light of the injuries - but not sure i get the rationale behind the joint practices... we had one big injury during those practices with derek wolfe's whole back/hip thing that seemed like a freak incident but mostly joint practices are a controlled environment where QBs are more protected and contact is limited to specific drills... just seems odd that of all the things they'd roll those back

would suggest to me that we definitely wont see any starters in preseason unless they're rookies or in a position battle for the start - if we cant control injuries in joint practices, we definitely cant control injuries in preseason game situations

Yeah I don't get it either. I'd be advocating for more joint practices, less preseason work, for starters and key players.

 

[UPennChem]

i get the sense from some of the comments on various podcasts by zrebiec and others that this was kind of the plan from the moment boze turned the long-term deal down in november/december - part of that money got invested in mekari and we moved on from there - get the sense from Harbs (just in how he talked about it) that we were never even in the C market at all (and it makes even more sense why we pursued and targeted moses so quickly because with mekari as the presumptive starter at C we only had 1 RT which was ja'wuan james coming off not playing football for 2 seasons...)

also it suggests that we're definitely going to be adding a tackle in the draft - and most likely it'll have to be someone with swing value/LT value - got to be either someone who's played LT in college or who projects to be able to - but that may eliminate guys like Faalele from contention (unless they think he can swing)

Yep these were what I was gethering from Harbs too. Kinda interesting. Well definitely see if this was good plan of attack. I can definitely see that there were other more expensive safer options, but Mekari might be an ascending player. Who knows. He's never been bad for us at any position outside of one game in Buffalo. And he was one of the better players last year on the line. I'm rooting for him. He's got that project pat feel to him too.

Should also be easier to find a T rather than a C I'd think. Plus you have TCC

 

[Corvus Purpura]

this was the point that surprised me - i get all the stuff about changing practice methods in light of the injuries - but not sure i get the rationale behind the joint practices... we had one big injury during those practices with derek wolfe's whole back/hip thing that seemed like a freak incident but mostly joint practices are a controlled environment where QBs are more protected and contact is limited to specific drills... just seems odd that of all the things they'd roll those back

would suggest to me that we definitely wont see any starters in preseason unless they're rookies or in a position battle for the start - if we cant control injuries in joint practices, we definitely cant control injuries in preseason game situations

Maybe one joint practice with Matt Rhule was enough to sour them on the idea of doing it again.

 

[Corvus Purpura]

That makes me nervous about our running back situation. Is another one needed in the draft?

 

[RavensMania]

That makes me nervous about our running back situation. Is another one needed in the draft?

This would only be 8 months from when the injury took place. I'm not sure if it was a clean tear or if either one of them had to wait for the MCL to heal before going under the knife. No need to worry at this point as it wasn't expected for them to be ready by training camp?

 

[rossihunter2]

We've sent out an offer. Balls in his court.

this reads to me like wagner trying to get more money from the rams by using the ravens offer to see if he can get them to budge from their lower offer...

leads me to believe he's either going there or he's coming here - would seem to be that rams and ravens are the only 2 possible outcomes here

 

[Simba]

That makes me nervous about our running back situation. Is another one needed in the draft?

I’d be surprised if we don’t add one in the mid rounds regardless of their health. None of the RB3 (and eventually RB1) options did anything last year so you’re looking for better depth either way.

 

[rossihunter2]

Does someone like a Jermaine Johnson completely change how you feel about the pass rush room if you can land him?

You'd have OO, JJ, TB, and JF. Do you look for one more guy?

i think that's why they've been interested in green and key - add a vet to the room (even if it's a younger vet who's more of a pass rush specialist like key - alternatively calais returning would help here too even if he's technically part of a different room) and then draft one too

come into camp with Oweh, Tyus, Hayes, Ferguson, a vet and a rookie and see whether Hayes keeps his spot (like you'd assume he would) and whether Ferg keeps his spot (like you'd assume he might not)

but jermaine johnson does change this pass rush pretty dramatically - he's more advanced with his moves than oweh was coming out and has similar levels of upfield explosion - he's also an advanced run defender so you have no doubts that he's gonna play on all 3 downs which allows you to keep dynamic pass rushers on the field on all downs - it also allows you to flex tyus bowser around more easily and if you get a guy like key it means you see less of oweh flexed inside (unless you stunt him behind someone like a key or a calais if he returns)

 

[UPennChem]

i think that's why they've been interested in green and key - add a vet to the room (even if it's a younger vet who's more of a pass rush specialist like key - alternatively calais returning would help here too even if he's technically part of a different room) and then draft one too

come into camp with Oweh, Tyus, Hayes, Ferguson, a vet and a rookie and see whether Hayes keeps his spot (like you'd assume he would) and whether Ferg keeps his spot (like you'd assume he might not)

but jermaine johnson does change this pass rush pretty dramatically - he's more advanced with his moves than oweh was coming out and has similar levels of upfield explosion - he's also an advanced run defender so you have no doubts that he's gonna play on all 3 downs which allows you to keep dynamic pass rushers on the field on all downs - it also allows you to flex tyus bowser around more easily and if you get a guy like key it means you see less of oweh flexed inside (unless you stunt him behind someone like a key or a calais if he returns)

Thanks for this. I don't know why my brain literally can't remember Hayes exists despite us talking about this 3 times already. Yeah if you add Key and JJ, I'm not sure Ferg makes the team

 

[rossihunter2]

Yep these were what I was gethering from Harbs too. Kinda interesting. Well definitely see if this was good plan of attack. I can definitely see that there were other more expensive safer options, but Mekari might be an ascending player. Who knows. He's never been bad for us at any position outside of one game in Buffalo. And he was one of the better players last year on the line. I'm rooting for him. He's got that project pat feel to him too.

Should also be easier to find a T rather than a C I'd think. Plus you have TCC

good pass protector and as much as he's an experienced and exemplary professional, im sure it'll help him somewhat to be able to take all the reps at C in the offseason for once rather than bouncing around everywhere

he's just always find a way to play within his own strengths and make pass rushers meet him on his terms - what he did to von miller was amazing lol - where he's not so good is paving the road for the running game but tbf bozeman wasn't much of a road-grader either and nor was skura

but i think you're absolutely right about T vs C - just more options in both free agency and also the draft and the ravens will have identified that well before we hit the winter - they'll have had some idea before the season even started

 

[rossihunter2]

Maybe one joint practice with Matt Rhule was enough to sour them on the idea of doing it again.

we've had some good ones before and we know that harbs thought they were valuable because he kept trying to add more each year (after the first one, the only year we didnt do at least one was the covid year)

 

[UPennChem]

good pass protector and as much as he's an experienced and exemplary professional, im sure it'll help him somewhat to be able to take all the reps at C in the offseason for once rather than bouncing around everywhere

he's just always find a way to play within his own strengths and make pass rushers meet him on his terms - what he did to von miller was amazing lol - where he's not so good is paving the road for the running game but tbf bozeman wasn't much of a road-grader either and nor was skura

but i think you're absolutely right about T vs C - just more options in both free agency and also the draft and the ravens will have identified that well before we hit the winter - they'll have had some idea before the season even started

With this move being made the biggest question becomes Stanley's health. If he's good to go you've probably got

Stanley, Phillips, Mekari, Zeitler, Moses.

That's in contrast to

AV, Powers, BB, Zeitler, Mekari.

Should be much better

 

[rossihunter2]

That makes me nervous about our running back situation. Is another one needed in the draft?

im not particularly nervous about those 2, but i think we will add another back somewhere on day 3 if there's one we like - 1) because it hopefully provides some injury insurance, 2) because we have a hole at RB3, 3) because it looks like a pretty nice class of RBs