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The Random Thought Thread
- Thread starter The Greek
- Start date
Few thoughts based on everything I've seen from a day or two ago...
1. Madubuike was one of the least double teamed defensive tackles in the league last year across a significant number of snaps. This year, he's doubled quite a bit. I was always wary of paying him the contract he received because of the fact that he was doubled so infrequently for someone with his production. I had mused about how much McDonald's scheme was able to open up lanes for him as a pass rusher and generate those sacks schematically. Was Madubuike special or more a product of the system?
He's one of the top 5 highest paid defensive tackles in the league based on AAV. I see a lot of people commenting that the Ravens need to get him help, but he's commanding a significant salary (second highest on the team) and he needs to be a major cog in the defensive puzzle. He's taking a significant chunk of the salary cap and that comes with expectations that he'll perform better and help make up for the fact that there may be lesser players around him. I think, for me, the bottom line is that he's just not a game wrecker and they're paying him to be one. Half his sacks and his only forced fumble in one game against the Bengals just isn't cutting it. I hope year two is better with Orr settling in and hopefully a cleaned up backend allowing for more creativity upfront.
2. I was wondering how DeJean would look as a pro. I was definitely in the camp that thought he would need to be in the right scheme, but could be a really good player. Well, he certainly landed in the right spot. The Eagles had the most talented defense in the league across the board and arguably the best defensive coordinator in the league (bottom three at worst.)
3. Howie Rosman is easily the best GM in the league and it isn't particularly close. Roseman managed to turn Carson Wentz into AJ Brown, Devante Smith, and Jalen Carter. He also signed Zach Baun, CJ Gardner-Johnson, Saquan Barkley, and Mekhi Bechton as major contributors. He's truly ahead of the league right now.
4. I can't begrudge the Giants for letting Barkley walk. Would Barkley be the difference between the Giants being this bad and a Super Bowl? Absolutely not. The Giants weren't in a position to sign him to a mega deal. The Eagles were. The Eagles, Ravens, and Lions have shown the value of a good running back, but they are also three teams that had strong teams prior. Ask the Browns how much Nick Chubb has done for them over his career. Or Henry in Tennesee post 2020.
5. When looking at Jalen Carter, it's really easy to say, "How did teams let him fall?!" and downplay the off the field, but that's a big gamble. He was street racing and assuredly drunk off his ass. He also fled the scene where a few people died. Thats not something you can just brush off. Plus, think if he'd been drafted to a team like Las Vegas. You really think Vegas is going to be a good destination for him? The Eagles were in a really good position to take him because they a) had a TON of Bulldogs on their roster that Carter was familiar with and could help hold him accountable and b) the Eagles had an absurdly good roster already. If the Eagles missed on Carter, yeah, it sucks to waste pick 9 overall, but it wasn't going to sink their franchise or season. They could afford to take that risk because they had built a really solid roster.
It's really easy to look at Carter's situation in hindsight, but for every Carter, there are A LOT more Jermaine Burtons.
1. Madubuike was one of the least double teamed defensive tackles in the league last year across a significant number of snaps. This year, he's doubled quite a bit. I was always wary of paying him the contract he received because of the fact that he was doubled so infrequently for someone with his production. I had mused about how much McDonald's scheme was able to open up lanes for him as a pass rusher and generate those sacks schematically. Was Madubuike special or more a product of the system?
He's one of the top 5 highest paid defensive tackles in the league based on AAV. I see a lot of people commenting that the Ravens need to get him help, but he's commanding a significant salary (second highest on the team) and he needs to be a major cog in the defensive puzzle. He's taking a significant chunk of the salary cap and that comes with expectations that he'll perform better and help make up for the fact that there may be lesser players around him. I think, for me, the bottom line is that he's just not a game wrecker and they're paying him to be one. Half his sacks and his only forced fumble in one game against the Bengals just isn't cutting it. I hope year two is better with Orr settling in and hopefully a cleaned up backend allowing for more creativity upfront.
2. I was wondering how DeJean would look as a pro. I was definitely in the camp that thought he would need to be in the right scheme, but could be a really good player. Well, he certainly landed in the right spot. The Eagles had the most talented defense in the league across the board and arguably the best defensive coordinator in the league (bottom three at worst.)
3. Howie Rosman is easily the best GM in the league and it isn't particularly close. Roseman managed to turn Carson Wentz into AJ Brown, Devante Smith, and Jalen Carter. He also signed Zach Baun, CJ Gardner-Johnson, Saquan Barkley, and Mekhi Bechton as major contributors. He's truly ahead of the league right now.
4. I can't begrudge the Giants for letting Barkley walk. Would Barkley be the difference between the Giants being this bad and a Super Bowl? Absolutely not. The Giants weren't in a position to sign him to a mega deal. The Eagles were. The Eagles, Ravens, and Lions have shown the value of a good running back, but they are also three teams that had strong teams prior. Ask the Browns how much Nick Chubb has done for them over his career. Or Henry in Tennesee post 2020.
5. When looking at Jalen Carter, it's really easy to say, "How did teams let him fall?!" and downplay the off the field, but that's a big gamble. He was street racing and assuredly drunk off his ass. He also fled the scene where a few people died. Thats not something you can just brush off. Plus, think if he'd been drafted to a team like Las Vegas. You really think Vegas is going to be a good destination for him? The Eagles were in a really good position to take him because they a) had a TON of Bulldogs on their roster that Carter was familiar with and could help hold him accountable and b) the Eagles had an absurdly good roster already. If the Eagles missed on Carter, yeah, it sucks to waste pick 9 overall, but it wasn't going to sink their franchise or season. They could afford to take that risk because they had built a really solid roster.
It's really easy to look at Carter's situation in hindsight, but for every Carter, there are A LOT more Jermaine Burtons.
Also, as a thought-
Mahomes has looked drastically more pedestrian these last two seasons. As the league has morphed into more two high safety, we've seen less Mahomes magic and more of a methodical approach to his game. It's obviously working because they're winning games, but they also only had a singular game this year (Buffalo in the AFCCG) where they scored more than 30 points with Mahomes.
He's just not making those consistent big time plays like he used to. We did catch a small glimpse of it with the second touchdown to Worthy, but that part of the offense is disappearing quickly.
I think the Chiefs window might be close to fully shut. I imagine we'll see the retirement of Chris Jones and Travis Kelce soon. Mahomes is going to have to break out his vintage magic if those two decide to hang it up and I'm not sure he can consistently anymore.
Mahomes has looked drastically more pedestrian these last two seasons. As the league has morphed into more two high safety, we've seen less Mahomes magic and more of a methodical approach to his game. It's obviously working because they're winning games, but they also only had a singular game this year (Buffalo in the AFCCG) where they scored more than 30 points with Mahomes.
He's just not making those consistent big time plays like he used to. We did catch a small glimpse of it with the second touchdown to Worthy, but that part of the offense is disappearing quickly.
I think the Chiefs window might be close to fully shut. I imagine we'll see the retirement of Chris Jones and Travis Kelce soon. Mahomes is going to have to break out his vintage magic if those two decide to hang it up and I'm not sure he can consistently anymore.
Jmad sacks came from stunts.. just like a lot of those guys on vikings defense this season, product of scheme. We paid him like he was a game wrecker and he isnt that at all. At the same time though, we probably couldnt afford to lose him.
Dom McRaven
Hall of Famer
Josh Sweat is gonna get the paper. I wouldn't even count on it.
Kc doesnt target outside wrs.. i betted on eagles for the simple fact that i figured they would lock up middle and those dink and donks.. however, i didnt not expect their front 4 to play as crazy as they did.. i also agree with you on their window. I do think they will be able to replace kelce but its gonna get even tougher for them once spags leave.
QtR Nevermore
Pro Bowler
Madubuike's our best pass rusher. His contract AAV is high because it was signed recently - it'll drop down the rankings as time passes, as contracts do.
He may not be a superstar but I've got no problem with his deal. I think you've just got to pay those guys when you have them. We're hoping not to be in the position to draft them, so the only other way to get them are trades - costing picks and money.
It's good GMing practice to re-sign homegrown D linemen who rise to that level and I'd do it every time it happens.
Being the slightly not fattest kid at fat camp isn't an accomplishment. The Ravens are devoid of a true game wrecker in their front seven. It's weird to see that the Ravens generate as many sacks as they do because they just don't have a player upfront who you can point to that'll come up clutch consistently, ala Donald or Watt.
Regarding his contact, I think the Ravens were in a no win situation. You couldn't reasonably let Madubuike walk after the season he had in 2023, but any contract he was going to get was going to be an overpay and not something he could live up to. The ideal scenario would have been playing on the tag, but that wasn't remotely close to a viable option.
it was a laremy tunsil type situation where the questions came too close to the draft for those top 10 teams to feel comfortable taking the risk
but it meant a top 3 type talent ended up falling to around the top 10
Jalen Carter's incident occurred on January 15th, before the combine. Teams had time to dig in AND interview him and coaches.
Tunsil occurred within an hour of the draft.
Not comparable at all.
I will say, the Jalen Carter situation does highlight a very American aspect of life where celebrities are treated way differently than average people.
Normal person goes street racing with double the legal blood alcohol level and flees the scene of a crash that left a few people dead? We'd crucify them.
Jalen Carter football real good? Well, he's just a kid and we shouldn't punish him for being immature.
There's that famous scout quote about if Hannibal Lector ran a 4.2, he'd have an eating disorder, not be a cannibal. I used to laugh at the idea of that, but not so much anymore.
Normal person goes street racing with double the legal blood alcohol level and flees the scene of a crash that left a few people dead? We'd crucify them.
Jalen Carter football real good? Well, he's just a kid and we shouldn't punish him for being immature.
There's that famous scout quote about if Hannibal Lector ran a 4.2, he'd have an eating disorder, not be a cannibal. I used to laugh at the idea of that, but not so much anymore.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
So there's a couple things to point out here:
1. We treat celebrities differently because they are different. We literally pay time and $ to be entertained by them. And we do so voluntarily. Mean or otherwise, the "value" these people bring to me is via entertainment. If they aren't entertaining me, they have no value to me.
2. If a "normal person" did what he did, you wouldn't crucify anybody, because you wouldn't know it happened. What you described happens every single day in America. And I haven't seen anybody crucify anybody for it. You're only aware of it happening because it involved a "celebrity".
DUIs happen all the time in this Country and in many other Countries. So does domestic violence. It's only discussed when it happens to somebody who's famous. Otherwise, it's just another day.
ravenslord
Ravens Ring of Honor
This has to be changed next year .
ravenslord
Ravens Ring of Honor
Which D was better, our D against the Giants with Ray and Ed or the Eagles D we saw last night?
i just mean there was legal uncertainty around carter much later in the process - the incident happened further back but was also much more serious and there wasnt a ton of clarity about it until later
Teams still absolutely had time to dig into it and get clarification from him and coaches around him.
Like I said- I can't fault a team like the Raiders for not wanting to put him in Las Vegas. It's easy to say in hindsight that he should have gone higher, but I couldn't see him going top 4 and past that, the Eagles were the safest team in terms of a team that could risk taking him.
Baltimorican
Veteran
In the same category that's for sure. This was the only D that actually stopped Lamar this year.
Serious paddle to ass on the Chiefs last night, was fun to watch Mahomes get wrecked like that.
UPennChem
Hall of Famer
Don't get me wrong the Chiefs have been a dynasty, but I wonder if when all is said and done we'll realize they weren't quite as good as we thought they were.
To get it out of the way, I acknowledge the nearly unprecedented continuous post season success.
But like, it's just funny. They beat the 49ers with Jimmy G and Purdy for 2 of them. Both with Shanahan as the coach known to be the biggest choke artist in the league. And they scraped out a win against a very young Jalen Hurts Eagles team. They were demolished against Tampa and Hurts v2.
Ultimately, I think they've played extremely high floor football for a long time now. They stick the blade into undisciplined teams and find ways to win. But they've always seemingly been this team where if the opponent is truly better, they've got no shot. Maybe that's true of any team.
It just seems to me that maybe the boogeyman aspect of playing the Chiefs may begin to fade a little.
To get it out of the way, I acknowledge the nearly unprecedented continuous post season success.
But like, it's just funny. They beat the 49ers with Jimmy G and Purdy for 2 of them. Both with Shanahan as the coach known to be the biggest choke artist in the league. And they scraped out a win against a very young Jalen Hurts Eagles team. They were demolished against Tampa and Hurts v2.
Ultimately, I think they've played extremely high floor football for a long time now. They stick the blade into undisciplined teams and find ways to win. But they've always seemingly been this team where if the opponent is truly better, they've got no shot. Maybe that's true of any team.
It just seems to me that maybe the boogeyman aspect of playing the Chiefs may begin to fade a little.