Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
Meaning in the offseason after next, our only key free agents might be CJ Mosley and Perriman. With a boatload of cap according to Overthecap.com(and that's with Flacco's contract so people can shut up about that).
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- Thread starter JoeyFlex5
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Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
I think that getting Maclin or Decker is a step in the right direction for sure. It does make the offense better. But it ain't gonna mean crap if we don't fix this line.
RavensFan419
Pro Bowler
We can become real good in the next year or two
We have Mosely on the 5th yr option signed through 2018
I'm really not as worried as you are for the OL. We have 3 starters secured and some good depth. Jensen looks the part of a starting C (and frankly it won't be worse than Zuttah), and the options at RT/LG look legit. I don't think our OL is improved, but it's not worse either.
2019 will be Perriman 5th yr option, if excercised
I think the ol is improved. Even with Alex Lewis as a guard it will be his 2nd year and he should improve. Jensen will most definitely be better than Zuttah. The RT position is manageable and Wagner wasn't a good run blocker. If I'm going to have one weakness on the ol it would be thr RT position.
mc_red23
Pro Bowler
NaturalBornHitters
Veteran
-picture-
Steve Smith SrVerified account @89SteveSmith
Look who I ran into !!! #RavensFlock #agent89
THIS.
Ravens FA recruiting is on point!!!
Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
Lol. We brought in Steve? Give that man a job in the front office if this works. Weddle too.
"The Closers"
"The Closers"
Yeah I think there's going to be a dropoff at RT, but I'm taking Jensen/Lewis over Zuttah/Ducasse any day of the week. And I still feel optimistic about Wesley and Nembot, or maybe Eluemunor worst case.
SepticeyePoe
Hall of Famer
Not yet. We still need Weddle to play this season.
Okay so are the Ravens so much better than every organization that the moment you sign with the Ravens any organization you used to play for becomes unimportant and second tier? I get Weddle going so all out because he is an active player but Steve spent most of his career with not the Ravens and even he still seems to bleed purple. What is it the Ravens do that makes our players so much happier than when they were anywhere else? Jacoby was the same way in that he wanted to sign with the Ravens instead of going to the Giants.
I personally strongly disagree with the opinion that our OL is improved. With regards to Jensen, I wrote up a lengthy breakdown on BR during the season that detailed his struggles. He was notably better in the passing game, but he was arguably one of our worst linemen in the running game last season. Even in possibly his best game of the season, he struggled as in head-up situations. To his credit, he was three for free on intended second level assignments (Link1, Link2, Link3), and he was also successful when cutting (Link1, Link2). That being said, he routinely lost leverage battles otherwise, mostly against Jonathan Hankins, showing minimal pop and compounding it with shoddy footwork and balance (Link1, Link2, Link3, Link4). He wasn't completely without his success (Link1, Link2), but this was likely even more-so evident in other games, i.e. against Oakland (Link1, Link2, Link3), and New York (J) (Link1, Link2). His troubles with staying square came in large part due to coming out of his stance high and hop-stepping after engaging, which can be a death sentence since you can't drive through a target when your legs are constantly changing directions. With Jensen, there were several plays such as this one (Link), when his lower body changes angles by up to 180°, and you become worried about his understanding of proper balance. It wasn't a major surprise to see him grade out as poorly in the running game with a 50.6, which was 77th among all guards. Zuttah became a common scapegoat for the OL struggles, but while his top-heavy and grabby play style obviously wasn't without holes, he was markedly better than Jensen last season, so it's tough to subscribe to the notion that Jensen will most definitely be better in comparison. This obviously isn't impossible. If he can iron out the pitfalls in technique, he could very well be a solid center. He's had his highlights, like the strong finish to 2015. However, it remains to be seen whether he'll be the long-term answer. Given that Jensen was part of the team last season, it's immensely difficult for me to subscribe to the notion that our OL improved over last year's with both Wagner and Zuttah no longer on the roster. Truth be told, I feel that it's arguably our most questionable unit at this time.
If the Ravens felt Zuttah was the better C he would still be on the roster. If they felt they needed an upgrade they would have made a move for Mangold. The fact that they did neither of those things suggests that they are happy with who they have replacing Zuttah and feel he will be an upgrade over him.
Now short of Lewis and Stanley getting an extra year I can not see the Ravens line being better purely because Wagner was one of the best RT in football and there is no way whoever replaces him is better than Wagner.
SepticeyePoe
Hall of Famer
This is just a guess, but maybe in Weddle and Smith's cases, they could still have some negative feelings towards their teams due to how they were treated.
Of course, maybe the more likely answer is that we have a great owner, great front office, and great coaches, and they create a welcome environment that makes players love playing here. Hopefully it's enough to convince Maclin to sign here.
I don't think Maclin is very happy with the way his team treated him either lol
Zuttah could've also been done away due to our salary cap concerns. A base of $3.5 million is more than affordable, but we were at roughly $2 million prior to the Pitta injury, meaning we couldn't have afforded to retain Zuttah with the moves we had planned. He's also a scheme-specific fit as a ZBS blocker, so any moves away from the ZBS would make him more expendable. Mangold wasn't signed because he isn't finished rehabbing. Reports came in during the following weeks that he's still dealing with the ramification of the ankle surgery. So that we brought him in for a visit is the telling indicator. We passed on Jake Long after he was red-flagged during the physical. In either case, how a franchise feels and how things pan out aren't tied together at the hip.
NaturalBornHitters
Veteran
Getting back to Maclin, any updates?