Signings, Cuts, Trades

[Simba]

I do think the WR room was "mismanaged" for lack of a better term, but I also don't think it's as easy as everyone is saying to get a stud. Don't get me wrong, there are WRs in FA that I would have taken, but they're much more depth guys than anything substantial. Stud WRs simply don't make it to the FA market. That's why there are overpays for guys like Kirk (although he's doing well). I'm all about trying to improve a position but I'm also not just throwing money at it no matter what. And then you see the price of trades for WRs nowadays. Not saying any of this stuff is impossible by any means, but it's not like we just had WR opportunities abound and passed up on them. There are serious ramifications to making that type of investment and that's really hard to do in our current state with Lamar in limbo.

 

[rmcjacket23]

We honestly saw Chase Claypool get traded for a second round pick which probably isn't something any team would have wanted to do. The only wideout that was available that was actually has a accomplished career was Brandin Cook. If anyone think The Ravens should have given up a second or higher round pick for Cook just because Bateman was done for the season is cool but I don't blame The Ravens for not even pushing that panic button like that. Cook has been traded by just about every team he has been on so far and then you got to think about working on his contact for next year to make it cap friendly which isn't a guarantee that his agent would do that.

One thing I learned about participating in the forum mock draft is that trades aren't easy regardless how big of a need you may have. It's not really that easy to accomplished. Truthfully I would have probably been more concerned about The Ravens offense if Mark Andrews was done for the season because the guy has been The Ravens # 1 receiver for some time now.

Second round price tag for Claypool was the price tag for other teams. Nobody reasonably thinks that was the price tag to trade him inside the division.

 

[rmcjacket23]

I do think the WR room was "mismanaged" for lack of a better term, but I also don't think it's as easy as everyone is saying to get a stud. Don't get me wrong, there are WRs in FA that I would have taken, but they're much more depth guys than anything substantial. Stud WRs simply don't make it to the FA market. That's why there are overpays for guys like Kirk (although he's doing well). I'm all about trying to improve a position but I'm also not just throwing money at it no matter what. And then you see the price of trades for WRs nowadays. Not saying any of this stuff is impossible by any means, but it's not like we just had WR opportunities abound and passed up on them. There are serious ramifications to making that type of investment and that's really hard to do in our current state with Lamar in limbo.

In my eyes, there's really no such thing as "depth" in FA or via trades of any significance. Demarcus Robinson and DeSean Jackson are what depth looks like in FA. Sammy Watkins too. These aren't needle movers. They are the textbook definition of "depth". So if "depth" is what people seek, we achieved that. It's just the people that think "depth" are like 800 yard players that are wildly out of touch with reality.

None of the trades anybody has discussed for WRs are for "depth" either. They're for guys who are going to play a ton. That's not depth. Those are trading for starters. The better the starter, the more it costs.

Depth comes from the draft. And we just don't have enough of it.

 

[Sandtown]

I honestly think receivers like Allen Robinson and Marquez Valdes-Scanting was on The Ravens radar to sign but I think when Devante Adams got traded and received his big contract extension then when Christian Kirk got his deal it just changed everything. The wide receiver market just became too over priced for The Ravens liking. Robinson right now hasn't really been all that good and Christian Kirk has been ok but bad teams once again just making things harder for good teams.

 

[BoredMarine13]

If anyone think The Ravens should have given up a second or higher round pick for Cook just because Bateman was done for the season is cool but I don't blame The Ravens for not even pushing that panic button like that.

I wouldnt be upset if they were unsure about Bateman's status or thought he could make it back. Now we know they knew before the deadline he would be done and put out the "few weeks" comment as an attempted smoke screen. Really odd and poor way of handling all this. Would love to have more info on why Bateman was on the field in Tampa as well

 

[Simba]

In my eyes, there's really no such thing as "depth" in FA or via trades of any significance. Demarcus Robinson and DeSean Jackson are what depth looks like in FA. Sammy Watkins too. These aren't needle movers. They are the textbook definition of "depth". So if "depth" is what people seek, we achieved that. It's just the people that think "depth" are like 800 yard players that are wildly out of touch with reality.

None of the trades anybody has discussed for WRs are for "depth" either. They're for guys who are going to play a ton. That's not depth. Those are trading for starters. The better the starter, the more it costs.

Depth comes from the draft. And we just don't have enough of it.

I don't necessarily agree with that. Not that they're world beaters by any means, but you had guys like Juju, Landry, Smith, etc. that have all had success in this league that all signed for little money comparatively speaking. I'd argue literally any one of those guys would have been a better option at WR3 than Proche, Wallace, etc.

But you're also missing the point of what I'm saying. I think the mismanagement was more that we didn't try to acquire more quality depth in the event the young guys haven't stepped up (like they haven't sans Duvernay). I never would have expected us to be in the big trade/FA signing market but there was a clear mismanagement in acquiring NFL level players for that room.

 

[rmcjacket23]

I don't necessarily agree with that. Not that they're world beaters by any means, but you had guys like Juju, Landry, Smith, etc. that have all had success in this league that all signed for little money comparatively speaking. I'd argue literally any one of those guys would have been a better option at WR3 than Proche, Wallace, etc.

But you're also missing the point of what I'm saying. I think the mismanagement was more that we didn't try to acquire more quality depth in the event the young guys haven't stepped up (like they haven't sans Duvernay). I never would have expected us to be in the big trade/FA signing market but there was a clear mismanagement in acquiring NFL level players for that room.

Maybe. But why bother drafting Proche and Wallace if you're only going to sign cheap, uninspiring veterans to play in front of them? Proche and Wallace are the depth. So we now want depth for the depth?

FWIW, I've seen enough of JuJu to know he's a JAG. I'd rather have Proche at $1M than JuJu at $3-4M. But that's me.

 

[BoredMarine13]

But you're also missing the point of what I'm saying. I think the mismanagement was more that we didn't try to acquire more quality depth in the event the young guys haven't stepped up (like they haven't sans Duvernay). I never would have expected us to be in the big trade/FA signing market but there was a clear mismanagement in acquiring NFL level players for that room.

Would love to have heard some conversations between Roman, Harbs, and EDC about WR in preseason. If its a money/player availability holding back an addition then that's somethin I can begrudgingly live with. If they saw something in training camp that made them think this unit could have a break out year... I'm concerned

 

[Simba]

Maybe. But why bother drafting Proche and Wallace if you're only going to sign cheap, uninspiring veterans to play in front of them? Proche and Wallace are the depth. So we now want depth for the depth?

I mean yeah. When you have Bateman followed by Duvernay, Proche, Wallace, and a bunch of UDFAs, I don't think it's hard to assume that you should probably add some more talent if you can. I'm all about letting the young guys play but we've seen time and time again that it doesn't always work out. We hype guys like that all the time (and I'm guilty too) so this should be no surprise and really no debate whatsoever.

 

[rmcjacket23]

I wouldnt be upset if they were unsure about Bateman's status or thought he could make it back. Now we know they knew before the deadline he would be done and put out the "few weeks" comment as an attempted smoke screen. Really odd and poor way of handling all this. Would love to have more info on why Bateman was on the field in Tampa as well

For clarity sake, I think they knew Bateman being out for the year was a possibility, not a certainty. Quite certain the decision to have surgery was Bateman's, and it was made basically the day that Harbaugh announced it or the day before, which was after the deadline.

They knew the problem was bigger than what they suspected, but I don't think they knew it was a season-ender for certain.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

If we want a stud receiver by trade or FA then the ravens need to extend Lamar and backload tf out of it to make cap space, trade away valuable players for draft capital, then burn up all of that cap and draft capital to bring in one player.

It’s a 2 year plan minimum and we haven’t taken the first step in that plan, the reason why?….

We’re too busy competing for a possible super bowl

This is a parity driven league yall. In order to have it all at once you gotta have insane luck, the kind of luck franchises go decades without finding. If you don’t luck out, your next best option is to just find ways to max out your roster, if power run game, defense, and a heavy dose of TE is in fact the way to maximize Lamar then frankly we haven’t done a bad job. The question is: is that the best way to maximize Lamar?

 

[gtalk12]

Maybe. But why bother drafting Proche and Wallace if you're only going to sign cheap, uninspiring veterans to play in front of them? Proche and Wallace are the depth. So we now want depth for the depth?

FWIW, I've seen enough of JuJu to know he's a JAG. I'd rather have Proche at $1M than JuJu at $3-4M. But that's me.

I would love for us to at least attempt putting Proche and Wallace out there for some meaningful snaps.

Of course that’s asking for the impossible

 

[BoredMarine13]

If we want a stud receiver by trade or FA then the ravens need to extend Lamar and backload tf out of it to make cap space, trade away valuable players for draft capital, then burn up all of that cap and draft capital to bring in one player.

It’s a 2 year plan minimum and we haven’t taken the first step in that plan, the reason why?….

We’re too busy competing for a possible super bowl

We are an organization with an eye on sustainability, which is great for fans who like seeing a quality team year in and out. Also great for lining Steve's pockets.

The problem it seems is that every year, some team, is saying fuck the cap lets go HAM. Tough to compete against that mindset and super rich owners.

 

[rmcjacket23]

We are an organization with an eye on sustainability, which is great for fans who like seeing a quality team year in and out. Also great for lining Steve's pockets.

The problem it seems is that every year, some team, is saying fuck the cap lets go HAM. Tough to compete against that mindset and super rich owners.

Ehh, I need to a see a lot more than a one year sample of the Rams doing this to think its tough to compete against. And they weren't even a earth-shattering team last year either, and they look horrible this year.

 

[rmcjacket23]

I would love for us to at least attempt putting Proche and Wallace out there for some meaningful snaps.

Of course that’s asking for the impossible

I mean I think at least one of them is inevitable at some point in the season. Will depend on game flow, game plan, and how we perform against certain teams.

 

[RavensMania]

For clarity sake, I think they knew Bateman being out for the year was a possibility, not a certainty. Quite certain the decision to have surgery was Bateman's, and it was made basically the day that Harbaugh announced it or the day before, which was after the deadline.

They knew the problem was bigger than what they suspected, but I don't think they knew it was a season-ender for certain.

I'm glad he decided to have the surgery now rather than waiting. I remember to well when Laveranues Coles kept pushing surgery down the line and he really was never the same because he didn't have surgery, once he had his lisfranc back in 2005. Hollywood had his Lisfranc back in late 2018 or early 2019 and was ready by training camp. Not sure how bad Bateman's lisfranc is but he most likely is ready by June or July.

 

[Simba]

We are an organization with an eye on sustainability, which is great for fans who like seeing a quality team year in and out. Also great for lining Steve's pockets.

The problem it seems is that every year, some team, is saying fuck the cap lets go HAM. Tough to compete against that mindset and super rich owners.

I don't think money has anything to do with it. Bisciotti has enough to get virtually anyone on the market if the FO wanted them. It's the mindset that's the bigger issue, and it's somewhat hard to argue against it. The Rams sold out virtually everything to get their Super Bowl and it worked, but they're already toiling back towards mediocrity. EDC and Co. are more of the ilk that you build a team that is consistently in the hunt. Of course, it's been a long time since we've won one so you can certainly disagree with the stance especially when you see a team spend big and win, but I think they also recognize that a lot of teams have tried that before and it hasn't worked. The prime catch 22.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

We are an organization with an eye on sustainability, which is great for fans who like seeing a quality team year in and out. Also great for lining Steve's pockets.

The problem it seems is that every year, some team, is saying fuck the cap lets go HAM. Tough to compete against that mindset and super rich owners.

What those teams are doing right now is working right now, the rams have been shockingly sustainable, but you can probably expect one or two franchises to eventually attempt the same model, fail miserably, and then there will be a different trend, perhaps more traditional/sustainable models, maybe something entirely new. But frankly we haven’t been in a spending frenzy type of cap situation since harbaugh and flacco came to town, and we’ve been competitive for most of it, with a ring to show for it, we would’ve had to blow up a portion of one of our Lamar teams to make the moves being suggested, because we had so much cap trouble lingering from the flacco era when Lamar was in the prime “team building” stages of his rookie deal. That window has closed and now it’s time to make due or hope for the absolute best opportunity, and no good opportunity for a wr has presented itself other than Pickens

 

[UPennChem]

This is pretty insufferable to read.

 

[ndub]

What those teams are doing right now is working right now, the rams have been shockingly sustainable, but you can probably expect one or two franchises to eventually attempt the same model, fail miserably, and then there will be a different trend, perhaps more traditional/sustainable models, maybe something entirely new. But frankly we haven’t been in a spending frenzy type of cap situation since harbaugh and flacco came to town, and we’ve been competitive for most of it, with a ring to show for it, we would’ve had to blow up a portion of one of our Lamar teams to make the moves being suggested, because we had so much cap trouble lingering from the flacco era when Lamar was in the prime “team building” stages of his rookie deal. That window has closed and now it’s time to make due or hope for the absolute best opportunity, and no good opportunity for a wr has presented itself other than Pickens

Ah yes, a ring to show for it... ten years ago... with only one playoff win (thanks to a huge Lamar TD run) in the last ten years. Highly successful approach.