no worries - i feel like ive been doing this a lot the last week or so
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Signings, Cuts, Trades
- Thread starter RavensMania
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no worries - i feel like ive been doing this a lot the last week or so
it's recency bias - people forget how talented we are because we spent a significant part of the season without multiple all-pro players:
MP missed the whole season
Ronnie missed basically the whole season
Lamar missed more than 1/3 of the season
Marlon missed around the same as lamar too
that's a massive talent drain and doesnt include all the other numerous talents and contributors we were missing
allblackraven
Hall of Famer
Like ALL our running backs....
allblackraven
Hall of Famer
Edgar
Ravens Ring of Honor
Linderbaum gaining weight is necessary and it does interest me.
Willbacker
Ravens Ring of Honor
Need to get a winner emoji. Maybe a face with dollar signs but this post is money. This is for any teams success.
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
But we’re not that conservative. I think we could totally stand to open it up more but having no RBs and no OL pretty much prevented that and condensed the field for us.
There’s no reason to believe this offense can’t absolutely keep up with the high powered afc offenses, especially factoring in our defense. We may be lacking, but this secondary when healthy is gonna be the leagues best straight up. We have what we need on offense to compete when healthy and I think our game plans are gonna reflect that
JO_75
Hall of Famer
We have to win the Super Bowl this year. History says, pay a QB mega money and you don't go back to the Super Bowl. Look at us, paid Joe and had to cut Boldin because of it. Seahawks got by with Wilson and others on cheap contracts, then they had to start paying everyone and you see what happened to them. Chiefs won a Super Bowl with Mahomes on his rookie deal, Rodgers won the Super Bowl in 2010 but after that Packers never made it back to the Super Bowl. Eagles won a Super Bowl while Wentz was on his rookie deal, though injuries played a part in how things fell apart, they fell off after they paid him. Definitely feel like our window may begin to shut if we don't win a Super Bowl with Lamar this season.
If that is the belief that brings me back to the topic of 2 days ago and saying why sign the QB to an extension if it shuts the window? I was not willing to go that far but if that is the belief why ever extend a QB?
Yes but that talent wasnt enough when they had it 2 years ago and the rest of the AFC has gotten better which brings a valid concern of "have the Ravens kept up with the rest of the AFC?" Buffalo is going for it. Tennessee is somehow still going for it and the Chiefs continue to be an obstacle and that is ignoring the rise of the Bengals and the other possible AFC West problems.
talent-wise that clearly was enough - they had a bad game and got dumped out of the tournament when they shouldnt have
and they've added more talent to the offence since then and our best wide receiver isnt a rookie with a plate in his foot...
stop drawing grand conclusions about our capabilities now from 1 bad game 2 whole seasons ago
the rest of the AFC has added guys... spoiler alert we've also made signings and we've got more and better draft picks than all of them - the offseason isnt made in march and it certainly doesnt end before may
I would agree with the Titans a few years back but the Bills were a good team so I do not know why they "should" have won that. Meanwhile the team that last beat the Ravens has gotten significantly better at just about every position group, case in point they were the NFL's number 1 and just made a move to get even better on defense. Even their other additions were just adding guys to make them better at positions they were weak at. Also ignoring that after that season they traded for Diggs which does mean the Ravens drafted better but saying that after they traded their 1st for a great player feels like cheating and they also have their own 1st round rusher who had a productive rookie year.
When I look at the Ravens from back then and compare them though it is more mixed. The front 7 is certainly worse even if Oweh continues to develop, which could help mitigate some of that. The big upgrade defensively though will be Williams, who is a player I honestly have not seen enough to know much of beyond people on here telling me he is great but he sadly lacks career accolades so I never had a reason to notice. On offense it is also somewhat mixed. Mark Andrews is still great and the WR group is much much better but the OLine is not the force that it was during the early rookie years of the contract.
Just using these 2 teams can me how the Ravens are better than the Bills right now. Yes the Ravens could have won that game. I do not think they "should" have won that game but I think it was a 50-50 game that came up the wrong way which in the NFL happens. However since then how is the Ravens roster gotten better than the Bills? No hyperbole, just I really want to know because obviously I might be missing something.
Much as ive always hated when people would say this, shit really has been true even though its not actually the case of reasoning ( i dnt think)…would say brady is the exception but he has always taken paycuts..
Not even gonna lie, i dnt even see bengals as a threat for some reason. Theyre good af but they would have to prove to me this season that that shit is legit
gtalk12
Ravens Ring of Honor
Not getting it done is not a good indicator that the team lacks talent. It means they did no execute IMO
Grim
Ravens Ring of Honor
So I don’t think Watson is clearly the best QB in this division. Each of these QB do some things well and better than the others. Watson may be the most blended of Burrow and Jackson but I don’t think that makes him best. I also never felt Watson was an elite QB. I thought him to be good but I’ve never wanted us to trade for him and swap Lamar, I’d rather just have Lamar. I see them on a similar tier. Not saying that because he’s on the Browns either.
There is also a lot more to winning Super Bowls and championships than just a QB. On paper Browns look good but I still don’t believe in their coaching. They have some on paper amazing players though, I’ll give them that, but I think they think they can just buy a championship and that is just historically not likely (but not impossible).
Browns look desperate though with their moves and they are definitely trying to make a push. I respect them for that at least, they are going all in on this and going to die with this bullet.
I don’t know if all these teams going on a FA spending spree will really be any further ahead or not. The thing about FA is there’s more to building a team like LAR built than signing big names. It’s chemistry and fit too. Don’t fall into the illusion that flash always means success.
There is also a lot more to winning Super Bowls and championships than just a QB. On paper Browns look good but I still don’t believe in their coaching. They have some on paper amazing players though, I’ll give them that, but I think they think they can just buy a championship and that is just historically not likely (but not impossible).
Browns look desperate though with their moves and they are definitely trying to make a push. I respect them for that at least, they are going all in on this and going to die with this bullet.
I don’t know if all these teams going on a FA spending spree will really be any further ahead or not. The thing about FA is there’s more to building a team like LAR built than signing big names. It’s chemistry and fit too. Don’t fall into the illusion that flash always means success.
never said anything about the bills playoff loss...
you're the one who said 2 years ago... so idk why you've brought the bills into this but ok we'll talk about the bills
and that was a pretty even game in buffalo until 2 plays changed the course of the game and that was with tyre phillips and dj fluker rotating at RT... so when you say that the OL right now isnt what it was when we lost to the bills, you're right... it's better and potentially much better because it doesnt have tyre phillips as the starting RT and Kevin Zeitler's the RG and it might have Ronnie Stanley back at LT and it may well have an upgrade at C too if we can add anyone (if not then it's the same C who started that game too)
and yes the bills have added talent but, spoiler alert, just like every other team they've lost talent too - the difference is that losing your starting RT who played nearly 100% of the snaps for you doesn't get massive adam schefter tweets with songs of $120m contracts nor does losing your starting CB or 2 of your top 4 WRs or 2 of your quality EDGE players or your entire interior DL outside of Ed Oliver...
and guess what?
they've watched us do the same thing with Marcus Williams and Morgan Moses and Michael Pierce (and at one point ZDS too) - i think the bills have done good business for sure but part of their good business has been filling holes for good players they've lost
and when you talk about marcus williams like that, you sort of tell on yourself there - you're saying that they've got significantly better but we haven't when we've added a supreme talent in his prime and one of the most prolific playmakers currently in the game - so prolific that he hardly gets targeted anymore
did the rams not just win the superbowl with stafford at QB?
like i get the rationale that a star QB on a rookie deal is very powerful in helping you strengthen your team around them but if you look at the best teams every year (and ones that go deep into the playoffs) on top of just the superbowl winners (because if you just look at SB winners then the obvious conclusion is that the only true certain formula for winning superbowls is having Brady) then you see a lot of the highest paid QBs in the game
the true difference maker in the playoffs isnt a cheap rookie QB, it's health - and yes a cheaper QB allows you to have a deeper roster and mitigate some of the potential health issues but ultimately the superbowl winner is normally in the top 5 healthiest teams
people point to rodgers but the packers arent going out in the divisional round or the conference championship because rodgers is earning too much of their cap, they're going out because they're bottling it in big moments
the 2 best teams in the AFC played in the divisional round against each other and at that time were the 2 highest paid players in the league - the bills had the best defence in the league but couldnt stop mahomes in OT so they went out... allen's contract didnt stop them, mahomes did
and the chiefs didnt lose to the bengals because of mahomes was being paid a bunch of money, they lost to the bengals with a massive lead at half-time because they bottled it in a big-spot and gave the game away
and the bengals didnt win the superbowl despite having the healthiest roster in the league and a superstar QB on a rookie deal
i think its the same as when lamar had that amazing season in 2019 - rival AFC N fanbases went "cool... but do it again"
and he did
i think some are in that place with burrow too "cool... but do it again" - im not though - i thought he was legit as soon as i saw him in his rookie year before he went down... and tbh i knew he was legit before he was even drafted - he was the highest grade ive ever put on a QB since i started grading players (maybe 2014???) and it was easy to put that grade on him too
allblackraven
Hall of Famer
That's the answer in itself - Brady knew there's no Super Bowl had he took 25% of the salary cap for himself.