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Signings, Cuts, Trades

JAAM

Hall of Famer

JoeyFlex5

Hall of Famer
Billings then? Cheaper....still very young and has been good in the last 2 seasons and a perfect replacement for pierce.
Not sure I’d wanna go with another pure nose tackle. Honestly I don’t see any potential FA I’d want for DT other than Chris Jones and he’s almost certainly not hitting the market.

however there are guys in the draft I like, gallimore, Davidson, Davis, and murchison are all guys we could get with a round 1, 2, or 3 pick
 

Charm City

Pro Bowler
Billings then? Cheaper....still very young and has been good in the last 2 seasons and a perfect replacement for pierce.
Yeah I'd rather have Billings. He's more of a NT/DT hybrid and can hopefully fill in for BWIll if he ends up leaving next year as well. Armstead is more of a 3T/5T and I feel that he's benefitted greatly from playing on the best DL in football this year.
 

rmcjacket23

Ravens Ring of Honor
Not sure I’d wanna go with another pure nose tackle. Honestly I don’t see any potential FA I’d want for DT other than Chris Jones and he’s almost certainly not hitting the market.

however there are guys in the draft I like, gallimore, Davidson, Davis, and murchison are all guys we could get with a round 1, 2, or 3 pick
I agree. This could be a pivot point for our "defensive scheme". The reality is... if you don't keep Judon, why are you committing to a "base" 3-4 anyway?

If the draft yields you a stud DT or DE who can rush the passer, go that route. The concept of 3-4 vs 4-3 isn't extremely relevant these days anyway, since most teams spend most of their snaps in Nickel or Dime. I think Williams is good enough to be an interior force in either "scheme", and I don't think we should be forcing ourselves to focus on stand-up outside pass rushers as replacements.
 

RavensMania

Staff Member
Administrator
Billings then? Cheaper....still very young and has been good in the last 2 seasons and a perfect replacement for pierce.
he had 37 pressures and 3 sacks last year and was average. This year he made a big jump and I'd be ok signing him, but would be concerned it was due to that great DL they have in SF.
 

JoeyFlex5

Hall of Famer
I agree. This could be a pivot point for our "defensive scheme". The reality is... if you don't keep Judon, why are you committing to a "base" 3-4 anyway?

If the draft yields you a stud DT or DE who can rush the passer, go that route. The concept of 3-4 vs 4-3 isn't extremely relevant these days anyway, since most teams spend most of their snaps in Nickel or Dime. I think Williams is good enough to be an interior force in either "scheme", and I don't think we should be forcing ourselves to focus on stand-up outside pass rushers as replacements.
This is a good class for the ravens to make a strong attempt at updating our defensive identity, get with the times and get a more Steve spagnuolo or mike zimmer style where we want to penetrate and disrupt as much as possible. Imagine the panic winks scheme would create if his 1-2 down rushers are actually able to penetrate and create pressure, rather than just occupying bodies while the standup guys create confusion and pressure...
 

RL52TheGreatest

Ravens Ring of Honor
This is a good class for the ravens to make a strong attempt at updating our defensive identity, get with the times and get a more Steve spagnuolo or mike zimmer style where we want to penetrate and disrupt as much as possible. Imagine the panic winks scheme would create if his 1-2 down rushers are actually able to penetrate and create pressure, rather than just occupying bodies while the standup guys create confusion and pressure...

I honestly believe that our defense is just a few pieces away from being a possible "legendary" defense with the secondary that we have. If we can start to generate pressure without having to blitz all the time then it's going to be very hard for opposing offenses to beat us and it's also going to make the times when we send the house even more chaotic for them.
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
I agree. This could be a pivot point for our "defensive scheme". The reality is... if you don't keep Judon, why are you committing to a "base" 3-4 anyway?

If the draft yields you a stud DT or DE who can rush the passer, go that route. The concept of 3-4 vs 4-3 isn't extremely relevant these days anyway, since most teams spend most of their snaps in Nickel or Dime. I think Williams is good enough to be an interior force in either "scheme", and I don't think we should be forcing ourselves to focus on stand-up outside pass rushers as replacements.

you're absolutely right - the only thing that really matters is whether you use your DL to 2-gap or 1-gap and we've predominantly been a 2-gapping team but 1-gapping teams will likely put explosive interior rushers in better position to succeed so its definitely something we should think about especially if we dont have the personnel to clog the middle like we have had for almost the entire franchise history
 

RavensFan419

Pro Bowler
Everyone keeps talking about AJ Green any thoughts on Amari Cooper? Or too many drops too many drops for me but I still think he’s good
 

Grim

Ravens Ring of Honor
Everyone keeps talking about AJ Green any thoughts on Amari Cooper? Or too many drops too many drops for me but I still think he’s good
I don’t think he’ll leave Dallas. That said, Cooper is OK and a good player but I do worry about his drops
 

Grim

Ravens Ring of Honor
If we make any splash in FA I'd much prefer Edge, DL or IOL. I think we will draft a WR in day 1 or 2.
I think both a FA & draft pick are warranted if possible. If money is tight though then yes absolutely what you said.
 

RL52TheGreatest

Ravens Ring of Honor
I don’t think he’ll leave Dallas. That said, Cooper is OK and a good player but I do worry about his drops

Cooper also has a tendency to completely disappear in games. I really don't like the FA class of WRs this year and think we should just improve there through the draft.
 

rmcjacket23

Ravens Ring of Honor
Cooper also has a tendency to completely disappear in games. I really don't like the FA class of WRs this year and think we should just improve there through the draft.
I've been beating this drum for at least 5 years now. There is no worse position in my eyes to attack in FA than WR. The stud one's are pretty much never available, and the price tag for the mid-tier guys shoots through the roof in FA.

I don't mind the Snead-like signings, because they're cheap and carry practically no risk. But if you're shopping in the $10-15M range for WRs, which is what it would take to sign somebody like a Robby Anderson, I'm staying far away there.
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
I've been beating this drum for at least 5 years now. There is no worse position in my eyes to attack in FA than WR. The stud one's are pretty much never available, and the price tag for the mid-tier guys shoots through the roof in FA.

I don't mind the Snead-like signings, because they're cheap and carry practically no risk. But if you're shopping in the $10-15M range for WRs, which is what it would take to sign somebody like a Robby Anderson, I'm staying far away there.

exactly - look how much we nearly paid ryan grant - i liked ryan grant as a player but that would be a wild contract for his resume at that point
 

rmcjacket23

Ravens Ring of Honor
exactly - look how much we nearly paid ryan grant - i liked ryan grant as a player but that would be a wild contract for his resume at that point
So I'll be honest... I defended that deal at the time.

The reality is... in terms of AAV, they gave nearly the same deal to Crabtree. Granted, it was a shorter deal with less guaranteed money, but the Grant deal was like $14.5M guaranteed. For context, they're paying Willie Snead like $6M a year, and he has equally a garbage resume as Grant and he's actually played here already.

I was wrong about Grant (obviously) but I liked the deal because he was younger than most of our FA signings, the guaranteed money wasn't that much (nor was the AAV), and if you actually gave him the volume of a #1 or #2 WR, I think his stats would have been significantly better, because his efficiency on the targets he was getting was actually quite good.

That being said... neither of those deals (Crabtree or Grant) would have been worth anything to us.
 
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