UPennChem
Hall of Famer
This is exactly what I was thinking. You gotta also supplement him with another somewhat early draft pick
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Signings, Cuts, Trades
- Thread starter RavensMania
- Start date
This is exactly what I was thinking. You gotta also supplement him with another somewhat early draft pick
Definitely not my first choice by any means, but could be a good budget signing for a year if the other options aren't reasonable. Always liked his ability to work at really any level of the field, inside or outside. Obviously he's lost a step but there are a lot worse options out there. Would still love to get younger but no qualms at all if we were to add a cheap vet to that meeting room.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
Right, but I guess that's my point. If the barometer is "better than Snead at receiver", then I'd be targeting somebody in that price range that's younger, or I'd be targeting somebody in a higher price range. They're still going to want receivers who can block.
Plus, I wouldn't really be interested in signing Sanders for more than a one year contract. They'll give him guaranteed money for year 1, which means if you backload it, he'll have some dead money in 2022.
I think it will be hard to sign anybody to a one year contract for much more than the vet minimum. I think anybody we sign we should sign with the intention of being here for multiple years, otherwise our dead money in 2022 is just going to continue to climb. And while 2022's cap MIGHT be considerably higher (we're all assuming fans are back in the stands in the Fall, which I don't believe is a guarantee) than 2021, the last thing I'd want to be doing is spending the delta on dead money because we signed veterans we only ever wanted for one year to multi-year deals.
You aren't really going to have much of a choice this year. That market for these mid-tier guys could be in serious trouble with the cap decrease. Lots of these guys are going to be on the lookout for 1 year deals hoping to try again next year, but that's not going to be tenable for a lot of teams this year. Thus, the multi-year/option year deals to spread a cap hit out but not really anything significant. It sucks but that's likely to be reality this year for a lot of guys.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
I agree. I'm mostly suggesting a) we don't necessarily have to be in that space and b) we don't have to do it on players we don't want to see here beyond 2021.
The voidable year trend is a bad one, and I seriously hope we're not going down that path. Luckily, we really haven't to this point. If we're going to go that route, where we're basically admitting to a decent dead money cap hit in future years with no expectation of the player being around, I would do it on somebody who provides a lot more value than Sanders.
obviously they're not all going to succeed but i would point out that this WR draft class is particularly deep with slot guys
i get the rationale that you arent expecting a rookie to contribute in the same way straight away as a veteran but i look at every round and see options at the slot
One hundred percent agree. I'm not that deep into prospect evaluations yet but my original thoughts at WR feel like I have like 85% slot guys right now.
And I don't disagree completely. I'm not hung up on Sanders by any means. Just that he could be a good veteran stop gap if some of the other options don't materialize. They're going to add a vet to this room regardless of whether it's a big name (least likely), another middling player, or a veteran on his last leg. Not like we're really going to have that many options unless they surprise us and are willing to spend big.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
Correct. I suspect its either a) we go after a top tier player or b) we're signing guys down near the veteran minimum, and looking to the draft.
You almost have very distinct tiers this year
Top (Allen Robinson, Chris Godwin, etc.) - going to have to pay big if you want one of these guys
30+ Vets (TY Hilton, Emmanuel Sanders if cut, etc.) - still some value here but obviously very short term
Mid Tier (Kendrick Bourne, Keelan Cole, etc.) - some decent players but do any move the needle for us?
That's almost why I lean toward the vet direction if you aren't willing to spend big. It's short term but I'd rather have a year of production from an old guy than another Seth Roberts type on this team playing significant snaps. Obviously we need to draft better if we're not going to spend, but no issues supplementing that with a veteran.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
If we're not going to spend big, I'm probably not spending at all really in that group. Sure, maybe a $2-3M spend on a one year deal, but I'm not going after somebody like Hilton on a one or even two year deal.
I'll just add bodies in the draft, retain the guys we have, and try again next year. Everybody should realize by now that we're not going to get two quality receivers, a great Center, depth at Oline, and like 3 new pass rushers in one offseason, especially with $20M to spend and perhaps less draft picks than normal. At least 1-2 things we want this offseason aren't happening. Receiver could easily be on that list.
JAAM
Hall of Famer
Would you hand Robinson big money?
ive got between 30-35 draftable WRs from what ive seen so far - of those 35, i reckon 15 are going to be spending most of their time playing out of the slot at least to begin their careers and it's very much weighted with slot guys higher in the draft too (based on my grades)
id expect a seth roberts type of guy at most tbh
EDIT: just saw you literally mentioned not wanting seth roberts in your next post lol
I'm not completely disagreeing. Just if we spend in the mid tier, I'd rather it be a vet than almost spending $7M+ a year for Ryan Grant who is now out of the league entirely. Either pony up or get a stopgap, because the mid tier isn't going to do anything for us. Maybe one or two guys there that I'd support depending on price.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
I'm conflicted. Haven't really made up my mind yet.
If we're not going to retain either Yannick or Judon, which I think the FO is trending towards letting both walk, then I would expect us to be shopping in the high end market for a WR or maybe like a Center, though I don't see a high-end Center being available.
Really just comes down to price, and I think its hard to gauge what prices will look like this year. We can't really afford to have any FA signing costing more than maybe like $8-10M against the 2021 cap. So if you're shopping in the $15M/year range for a WR or something like that, you've got to backload it quite a bit to make that work, which I'm usually very against. But acknowledge this is a very abnormal year for the cap and that its pretty much the only way we can upgrade our team through FA this offseason.
As I also said once before, if we extend Lamar, I think that changes things quite a bit. Even on a backloaded extension, his cap number would still probably be up around $10M this year, which would be like $7M more than what it is now. That's like 1/3 of your cap space or more.
JO_75
Hall of Famer
I say we offer OBJ to the Rams for their 2024 1st Round Pick lol. I wouldn't be opposed to trading him for a high pick if we had a plan and replacement ready to go. Obviously I think we could get a second round pick for him like we got for Hayden but potentially a late first by a team who needs a proven tackle for 2021.
if it's not a 1st+ then why would we do it?
rmcjacket23
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There's two and only two possible scenarios I see for Brown getting traded:
1. The Ravens use a high draft pick on a Tackle, likely a first rounder. Board would have to fall right and they'd have to really like the guy. I don't even think if they selected a guy on day 2 or day 3 that they'd automatically move Brown. And this means a trade wouldn't happen until at least probably May, at the earliest, meaning some teams will have had the ability to upgrade their needs in FA and the draft by then, and you really haven't started practicing yet, so value could be an issue.
2. Something goes astray during the season early on, and its clear we're not going to compete. Obviously value diminishes when you're talking about an October trade, where the receiving team doesn't even get a full season from the player.
Other than that, I do not think Eric will entertain training Brown for a 1st+ offer before the draft. If this were a year where we had more cap space and could sign a veteran stop gap in March, it could be more likely. But we can't afford to spend free agency $ on a veteran Tackle of anything other than a Fluker-level, which I think we can all agree wasn't very good for us. So its either you draft his replacement, or you keep him. And you won't know if you can do the former for another like 3 months.