rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
Bottom three I agree are goners, and I don't think they'll resign BWill or Jimmy. Even at near veteran minimum deals, at some point, you have to get younger on defense, especially on the Dline and in the secondary (which is rapidly aging). These guys would have even less roles than they already do, and I think out of respect for two players that have played here a very long time, they'll let them seek opportunities elsewhere or retire.Now that we're inching toward the end of the season, here are my thoughts on the impending FAs...
Anthony Averett - tough one here. He's been a good CB for us but also have Peters returning. You can only invest so much but CB remains a long term need and if you can keep him for a decent contract, you do it. Could get near top of market though.
Bradley Bozeman - another tough one. He's been a solid option at C which is big for us. Wouldn't pay top of market but would expect him to be a priority on a market value contract. Fits the Ravens mold on and off the field.
DeShon Elliott - who knows what the injury will do. Would guess he's gone but if his market is non-existent, he could take a 1 year deal to rehab value.
Calais Campbell - if he's interested in playing, I'd retain him. Approaching the "bargain" stage of his career.
Brandon Williams - we're better against the run with him but health has been an issue and I'd think it's time to move on. Could come back at a discount but I think we're going to attempt to get younger here.
Sammy Watkins - Bateman should ascend to WR2 and Duvernay is doing well as WR3. No need to keep him around.
Patrick Ricard - he's staying. Important part of the offense and I'd be shocked if they let him go.
Jimmy Smith - he's retiring. Body can't handle it anymore
Justin Houston - if you can retain him for something similar to what he's making this year, it's a no brainer. Sack numbers aren't huge but he's been a good player for us.
Chris Board - should be cheap enough to retain
Justin Ellis - a good rotational piece. Keep signing him for the minimum if you can.
LJ Fort - not sure it matters much but I'd keep dialogue open for his return. Can't go wrong at the minimum.
Latavius Murray - bye
Devonta Freeman - bye
Pernell McPhee - bye
I think Bozeman and Ricard will be "priority" re-signs. I think we value both of them quite a bit and will look to retain. Ricard won't be that expensive, and will just have to see what the market for Bozeman is.
Houston and Campbell I could "potentially" see coming back, though Campbell nowhere near his current compensation ($8M). And again, its the concept of "these guys are really old" and at some point, you have to get younger. I could see one year deals for both, but I also think we let them go to FA and see if they can do better. Houston's a tough one to gauge what the market will be. Been fairly productive, but didn't get a lot of money this offseason, so not sure if he'll do better or worse next year.
Board and Ellis will get re-signed fairly cheaply. Think they're good depth players and ST contributors that we value, and I think they'll want to stay.
Fort I just don't really care about. I don't know that he and Bynes aren't the same player at this stage, and they're about the same age, though Bynes is obviously healthier. Similar to Dline, I suspect they'll make a commitment to get younger and better at this position, potentially with a high draft pick. Probably one of either Bynes or Fort stays, and the other is gone.
The three hardest decisions for me are:
1. Averett. Honestly have no clue. Some of it may not even have to do with Averett. Peters and Young are both under contract for another year. Peters has a $15.5M cap hit coming off a major injury, with a $10M salary. I don't see the Ravens sticking with either. He could get extended, or he could get cut. Neither would surprise me. An extension likely means that Averett doesn't stick around, and cutting Peters likely means they're committed to keeping Averett.
I also have zero clue what they'll do with Tavon Young. Three months ago, I'd have told you there was like a 95% certainty this was his last year in Baltimore. But he may be the most consistent Corner I've seen on film this year of the three, and he's quite a bit more affordable than Peters and whatever Averett will get. He's owed $5.8M in salary with a $9.2M cap hit. They could broach him for a paycut for like the third straight year, but honestly, he should probably decline it, because I think there's plenty of teams that would give him more than $5.8M a year to play slot corner for them for a few years.
My "gut" says they extend Peters for another year or two, keep Tavon, and Averett hits the market. We try to keep, but he goes for more money elsewhere.
2. Pre-injury, I think Elliott had a good shot to get an extension. Now, I'd say its less than 50% he's back. Feels like they like Stephens (a lot more than I do at the moment), and I'm not sold they won't make finding a ball-hawking Safety a priority in the offseason anyway, either via FA or the draft. If there's one thing I've learned, its that the Ravens value Safety play very highly in this league. A lot more than most teams. We had Ed for the longest time, we threw good money at Weddle, and we threw a lot of money at ET. If we can't get it in the draft, we'll pay for it.
I just don't think he's back.
3. Watkins. I'm kind of on his side here, for no other reason than I haven't seen enough from Duvernay or Proche, outside of being offseason warriors, to think they're going to ascend higher in food chain than they are. As unimpressive as Watkins has been, these guys really aren't beating him out for snaps, which is a shame.
Now I'm not spending a lot of money on a third WR in this offense for sure, because they're just not ever going to be super productive. But one injury to Hollywood or Bateman, and our receiving core doesn't look special to me at all. Normally I'd say "OK, just go draft somebody", but we've done that a ton lately, and I don't think we can afford to spend any more draft capital on receivers. We've got four guys taken in the first three rounds, all on rookie deals, on the roster already.
So my guess is if we're willing to retain him for comparable to what he made this year ($5M), we'll try to bring him back. Possible he doesn't want to come back and try to be a better fit elsewhere, which I won't lose any sleep over either.