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The 2021 Offseason Thread



heavily suspected but now confirmed

Low key one of my favorite Ravens. Fuck. At least we get to see (hopefully) the two MLB’s of the future in Queen and Malik play together. Get well soon Fort.
 
Updates guess at the 53:

QB (3): Jackson, Huntley, McSorley*
RB (4): Dobbins, Edwards, Hill, Ricard (FB)
WR (6): Brown, Watkins, Duvernay, Proche, Wallace, Bateman*
TE (3): Andrews, Boyle, Oliver
OL (9): Stanley, Cleveland, Bozeman, Zeitler, Villanueva, Mekari, Phillips, Colon, Bredeson
DL (5): Campbell, Williams, Wolfe, Madubuike, Washington
ILB (4): Queen, Harrison, Board, Welch
OLB (6): Bowser, Houston, McPhee, Oweh, Hayes, Ferguson
CB (6): Humphrey, Peters, Young, Smith, Averett, Westry
S (4): Elliott, Clark, Stone, Stephens
ST (3): Tucker, Koch, Moore

Of note, McSorley and Bateman go to IR at which point Levine and Ellis return to the roster.

Last 3 in:
  1. Jaylon Ferguson - Not much changes in the rationale here from last time. I don't think they're done with Ferguson yet and the new PS rules make it likely that we can go heavy at a position until we figure out the true 53 construction at a later date.
  2. Chris Westry - I'm still not 100% sure I see the value personally, but he continues to be in the game early and they're giving him every chance to make it.
  3. Ben Bredeson - I still am not sure that Powers is a legitimate option right now, but more on that below.

First 5 out:
  1. Shaun Wade - I'm not sure I see him making it based on his usage. Was the last CB option in yesterday, even after Warrior. I can't see why a 5th round rookie would only get 9 defensive snaps unless there was some serious risk of him not making it.
  2. Ben Powers - He started and played the first half but I'm still not convinced he's a viable option. I feel like it's much more likely that they try to flip him in a minor trade. Of course, Cleveland has to get healthy, but he and Phillips look like better options at LG.
  3. Ty'Son Williams - He's done well throughout the preseason so far but the ST contributions just aren't there right now. I won't count him out completely but Hill still seems to have a leg up pending health.
  4. Ar'Darius Washington - He's still not entering until the 2nd half but always puts up some good tape. He played a lot more slot CB than S last night and that's an obvious opportunity if Wade doesn't cut it.
  5. Chris Smith - As mentioned last night, we'd be talking a lot more about him in normal years. The numbers aren't in his favor but he's been getting early run in nickel and dime packages and doing well with his opportunities. But he's also playing deep into games so might just be filling a role for preseason.

One note: I left out Boykin this go around in all categories. He needs to get healthy and back into practice/the last game before I can try to figure out what they want to do with him.

Notable potential PS additions:
Ty'Son Williams, Nate McCrary, Ben Mason, Jaylon Moore, Deon Cain, Binjimen Victor, Tony Poljan, Foster Sarell, Aaron Crawford, Jovan Swann, Shaun Wade, Nigel Warrior, Ar'Darius Washington
Finally someone that agrees with me on wade
 
Finally someone that agrees with me on wade

Both our 5th rdrs will be cut imo. These guys would have been undrafted if the usual talent was there. Mason will go on PS as a possible replacement for Ricard and right now our CB depth is deep.
 
Both our 5th rdrs will be cut imo. These guys would have been undrafted if the usual talent was there. Mason will go on PS as a possible replacement for Ricard and right now our CB depth is deep.
I hope Pat is a Raven for life. He’s so valuable to this offense and is a proven commodity unlike Mason
 
I hope Pat is a Raven for life. He’s so valuable to this offense and is a proven commodity unlike Mason

mason should have started standing out when the pads came on and especially in preseason but he's been disappointingly out-physicaled and out-classed - if we're keeping a developmental fullback they'd better be crushing guys at the contact point or else why would we be getting rid of pat...

mason had some nice special teams play last night but that's it
 
Nice to not allow a single 1st down in the 2nd half, even if it is only the reserves on both sides.

Huntley did some good things and may be the perfect QB to play behind "no offensive line" due to his mobility, but have you ever seen a slower release than his? From when he decided to throw until the ball came out felt like an eternity. The DBs should have all the time in the world to adjust if he doesn't speed that up. Also really worried by his ball security when he scrambles, the ball is alway swinging around in a one hand. Surprised he hasn't funbled more than once already. Will probably suffice as a backup, but looks a lot like work-in-progress.
 
I dont think he's the answer but Powers definitely bounced back somewhat after week 1 where he looked awful...

i think he's a placeholder in the LG competition right now but that might be enough for him to hold onto his roster spot
 
In light of this news, I just found out Peanut Onwuasor is a free agent. Seems like a no brainer to bring him back. He already knows the scheme.

For the vet minimum id be interested. Problem is he can’t stay healthy anymore.


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In light of this news, I just found out Peanut Onwuasor is a free agent. Seems like a no brainer to bring him back. He already knows the scheme.

Honestly, seems like a solid veteran practice squad signing. Not sure I'd be jumping out trying to find someone for the 53, but some veteran depth on the PS would be nice. Onwuasor hardly played last year and hasn't had much interest, so you have to think his career is circling the drain and a PS might be his only option once the season gets underway.
 
Honestly, seems like a solid veteran practice squad signing. Not sure I'd be jumping out trying to find someone for the 53, but some veteran depth on the PS would be nice. Onwuasor hardly played last year and hasn't had much interest, so you have to think his career is circling the drain and a PS might be his only option once the season gets underway.

which is fine with this new practice squad rule. It’s easier to bring people up and maneuver around.
 
So with the roster at 82 now, just wanted to highlight the below because the competition is coming into focus

Guys likely going to an injury list (down to 79):
Otaro Alaka, LJ Fort, Ja'Wuan James

Obvious PS candidates/camp bodies (down to 64):
Kenji Bahar, Nate McCrary, Jaylon Moore, Deon Cain, Binjimen Victor, Devin Gray, Siaosi Mariner, Tony Poljan, Michael Schofield, Foster Sarell, Greg Mancz, Adrian Ealy, Aaron Crawford, Jovan Swann, Jake Verity

Leaves the following decisions:
  • QB: do you carry McSorley originally to get him to IR?
  • RB3: Justice Hill vs. Ty'Son Williams
  • FB: does Ben Mason fit for ST reasons?
  • WR: does Boykin make it or has his time run out?
  • TE: Eric Tomlinson remains as Boyle insurance, will we need to use him?
  • OL: Who is the odd man out - Colon, Powers, Bredeson?
  • DL: Do we need to carry Justin Ellis?
  • OLB: Is Ferguson worth hanging on to? Is Chris Smith a role player?
  • DB: Westry, Wade, Warrior, Stone, Washington, Levine - can likely only keep 2 or 3

Going to be one of the tougher cutdowns in recent history. Some easier decisions there but the secondary is going to be a tough call. The fact that we're questioning a 5th round CB (Wade) making it shows how well we've done in identifying and developing talent in the defensive backfield.
 
So with the roster at 82 now, just wanted to highlight the below because the competition is coming into focus

Guys likely going to an injury list (down to 79):
Otaro Alaka, LJ Fort, Ja'Wuan James

Obvious PS candidates/camp bodies (down to 64):
Kenji Bahar, Nate McCrary, Jaylon Moore, Deon Cain, Binjimen Victor, Devin Gray, Siaosi Mariner, Tony Poljan, Michael Schofield, Foster Sarell, Greg Mancz, Adrian Ealy, Aaron Crawford, Jovan Swann, Jake Verity

Leaves the following decisions:
  • QB: do you carry McSorley originally to get him to IR?
  • RB3: Justice Hill vs. Ty'Son Williams
  • FB: does Ben Mason fit for ST reasons?
  • WR: does Boykin make it or has his time run out?
  • TE: Eric Tomlinson remains as Boyle insurance, will we need to use him?
  • OL: Who is the odd man out - Colon, Powers, Bredeson?
  • DL: Do we need to carry Justin Ellis?
  • OLB: Is Ferguson worth hanging on to? Is Chris Smith a role player?
  • DB: Westry, Wade, Warrior, Stone, Washington, Levine - can likely only keep 2 or 3

Going to be one of the tougher cutdowns in recent history. Some easier decisions there but the secondary is going to be a tough call. The fact that we're questioning a 5th round CB (Wade) making it shows how well we've done in identifying and developing talent in the defensive backfield.
Qb: cut mcsorley, it’s just not worth it

Rb3: we can’t gauge because we haven’t seen hill really, but I’ve never been impressed with hill

fb: not worth a roster spot

wr: nope

te: tough question but if we already have Ricard, Andrews, and Oliver, do we need to carry him? He is a stud of a blocker

ol: I’d say powers likely because he’s done the most in live game action

dl: absolutely not, give me Washington to take his spot in the rotation and keep Chris smith as a mover deep in the rotation

OLB: nope

db: I’m keeping stone, Washington, and torn between warrior and westry
 
So with the roster at 82 now, just wanted to highlight the below because the competition is coming into focus

Guys likely going to an injury list (down to 79):
Otaro Alaka, LJ Fort, Ja'Wuan James

Obvious PS candidates/camp bodies (down to 64):
Kenji Bahar, Nate McCrary, Jaylon Moore, Deon Cain, Binjimen Victor, Devin Gray, Siaosi Mariner, Tony Poljan, Michael Schofield, Foster Sarell, Greg Mancz, Adrian Ealy, Aaron Crawford, Jovan Swann, Jake Verity

Leaves the following decisions:
  • QB: do you carry McSorley originally to get him to IR?
  • RB3: Justice Hill vs. Ty'Son Williams
  • FB: does Ben Mason fit for ST reasons?
  • WR: does Boykin make it or has his time run out?
  • TE: Eric Tomlinson remains as Boyle insurance, will we need to use him?
  • OL: Who is the odd man out - Colon, Powers, Bredeson?
  • DL: Do we need to carry Justin Ellis?
  • OLB: Is Ferguson worth hanging on to? Is Chris Smith a role player?
  • DB: Westry, Wade, Warrior, Stone, Washington, Levine - can likely only keep 2 or 3

Going to be one of the tougher cutdowns in recent history. Some easier decisions there but the secondary is going to be a tough call. The fact that we're questioning a 5th round CB (Wade) making it shows how well we've done in identifying and developing talent in the defensive backfield.

im leaning towards mcsorely getting some sort of injury settlement and being waived - and then when he's healthy he'll end up on the practice squad - i dont think any teams would be interested in him at all to give him a 53 man roster spot and im not sure the ravens need him enough to care that much with huntley on the roster

the further i get into this preseason the more i start coming around on ferguson making this roster - not sure who he replaces - maybe levine with a handshake agreement, bateman on i/r and then ferguson makes the roster that way... but he's played well and showed the kind of development this offseason that makes you want to keep him and see if he cant become what we thought he could be when we drafted him - and zrebiec made a great point that wink is a massive supporter of his

ellis would feel more like he was in danger if we had any other nose tackles on the roster - he'll make it unless the team thinks that broderick washington can do enough there in a pinch but im not convinced

in terms of OL i was sure last week that it would be powers but he bounced back in preseason 2 in a big way - he's never going to be a high level starter but he can definitely do a job at guard and that to me leaves bredeson and colon basically competing against each other for that final spot

the DB group is a nightmare to sort out - at the moment ive got westry, stone and levine making it but could definitely see the levine handshake scenario where he doesnt make the initial 53 but comes back after initially being cut - also could just as easily see wade over westry (or neither of them)

its interesting how little we've heard about boyle yet - no sign of him coming off PUP anytime soon and that would suggest that we're rocking into the year without him week 1 but not sure tomlinson's done enough for me even if Boyle misses and i wonder if we persevere with oliver and using ricard to replace some of boyle's role in this offence until he becomes available again... and that could be where i find the extra roster spot for jaylon ferguson...

if it werent for all the injuries at WR i'd be nervous about tylan wallace too, not just boykin...
 
im leaning towards mcsorely getting some sort of injury settlement and being waived - and then when he's healthy he'll end up on the practice squad - i dont think any teams would be interested in him at all to give him a 53 man roster spot and im not sure the ravens need him enough to care that much with huntley on the roster

the further i get into this preseason the more i start coming around on ferguson making this roster - not sure who he replaces - maybe levine with a handshake agreement, bateman on i/r and then ferguson makes the roster that way... but he's played well and showed the kind of development this offseason that makes you want to keep him and see if he cant become what we thought he could be when we drafted him - and zrebiec made a great point that wink is a massive supporter of his

ellis would feel more like he was in danger if we had any other nose tackles on the roster - he'll make it unless the team thinks that broderick washington can do enough there in a pinch but im not convinced

in terms of OL i was sure last week that it would be powers but he bounced back in preseason 2 in a big way - he's never going to be a high level starter but he can definitely do a job at guard and that to me leaves bredeson and colon basically competing against each other for that final spot

the DB group is a nightmare to sort out - at the moment ive got westry, stone and levine making it but could definitely see the levine handshake scenario where he doesnt make the initial 53 but comes back after initially being cut - also could just as easily see wade over westry (or neither of them)

its interesting how little we've heard about boyle yet - no sign of him coming off PUP anytime soon and that would suggest that we're rocking into the year without him week 1 but not sure tomlinson's done enough for me even if Boyle misses and i wonder if we persevere with oliver and using ricard to replace some of boyle's role in this offence until he becomes available again... and that could be where i find the extra roster spot for jaylon ferguson...

if it werent for all the injuries at WR i'd be nervous about tylan wallace too, not just boykin...

I think the thing with McSorley is that all it takes is one handshake agreement with a vet and then you have him on IR and on standby should you need him later on. I don't think anyone would take him either, but is it really worth risking it? I mean, we only have 2 NFL level QBs on the roster right now. We're going to need a 3rd and potentially a 4th, even though neither would likely be on the 53.

But yeah Ferguson's play has made it hard to cut him. He looks like a different person out there, both physically and from a play standpoint. Argue about his pass rush all you want but he's been incredible setting the edge so far this year.

Ellis is an interesting one. He could be a handshake guy as well. Maybe even one of those PS vets that gets elevated a couple of times and waits for a roster spot to open.

OL is whatever to me honestly. I think Colon is in a good spot as the backup C, assuming Mekari stays as the super sub type. But if we find a swing T somewhere and Mekari gets more work inside, he's in much more danger.

DB is definitely the hard one. I think Levine is oddly in a good spot even if he is one of those handshake guys. Richards gone. Fort on IR. Going to need some veteran presence on that ST unit and might as well be the captain.

As for Boyle/Tomlinson... Tomlinson might be a guy that does what I just described for Ellis. Chills on the PS for a couple of weeks if Boyle isn't ready and gets elevated. Not sure he requires a 53 man spot right off the bat in either case.
 
As of right now this is my initial 53:

Offence (23)
QB (2): Lamar, Huntley - McSorely to be waived with an injury settlement so that his season isn't necessarily over...
RB (3): JK, Gus, Justice Hill
FB (1): Ricard
TE: (2): Andrews, Oliver - Boyle starts on PUP and Ricard gets used somewhat to help replace him
WR (6): Hollywood, Watkins, Bateman, Duvernay, Proche, Wallace
OL (9): Stanley, Tyre, Bozeman, Zeitler, Villanueva, Cleveland, Mekari, Powers, Colon
Defence (27)
DL (6): Calais, BWill, Wolfe, Madubuike, Washington, Ellis
EDGE (6): Bowser, Houston, McPhee, Oweh, Hayes, Ferguson
LB (4): Queen, Harrison, Board, Welch
S (6): Chuck, Elliott, Stephens, Stone, Levine, Westry
CB (5): Marlon, Peters, Tavon, Averett, Jimmy
ST (3)
Koch, Tucker, Moore

I've got 39 locks and 44 near-locks which leave 9 spots up for grabs (on my accounting) but a couple of those will have to be for OL (that bredeson, colon and powers battle) and at least 1 or 2 will be DBs, 1 will be a RB, 1 will be a WR, 1 will be a LB (probably Welch)

so in reality ive got basically 2 (maybe 3) spots up in the air - boykin, tomlinson, mcsorely, ferguson, chris smith, mason and then the losers of the DB and OL battles will factor in here

for me the last 2 in are Ferguson, Westry

and the first guys out are Nigel Warrior, Ar'Darius Washington who just doesnt do enough on special teams to make the roster and Ben Bredeson who if he gets beat out it's because Colon's the better cover at C with Mekari at swing tackle
 
Last edited:
So with the roster at 82 now, just wanted to highlight the below because the competition is coming into focus

Guys likely going to an injury list (down to 79):
Otaro Alaka, LJ Fort, Ja'Wuan James

Obvious PS candidates/camp bodies (down to 64):
Kenji Bahar, Nate McCrary, Jaylon Moore, Deon Cain, Binjimen Victor, Devin Gray, Siaosi Mariner, Tony Poljan, Michael Schofield, Foster Sarell, Greg Mancz, Adrian Ealy, Aaron Crawford, Jovan Swann, Jake Verity

Leaves the following decisions:
  • QB: do you carry McSorley originally to get him to IR?
  • RB3: Justice Hill vs. Ty'Son Williams
  • FB: does Ben Mason fit for ST reasons?
  • WR: does Boykin make it or has his time run out?
  • TE: Eric Tomlinson remains as Boyle insurance, will we need to use him?
  • OL: Who is the odd man out - Colon, Powers, Bredeson?
  • DL: Do we need to carry Justin Ellis?
  • OLB: Is Ferguson worth hanging on to? Is Chris Smith a role player?
  • DB: Westry, Wade, Warrior, Stone, Washington, Levine - can likely only keep 2 or 3

Going to be one of the tougher cutdowns in recent history. Some easier decisions there but the secondary is going to be a tough call. The fact that we're questioning a 5th round CB (Wade) making it shows how well we've done in identifying and developing talent in the defensive backfield.

QB: I'd cut McSorely, I doubt he gets claimed off waivers and if he wants to sign on another team's practice squad over the Ravens, then good luck to him.
RB3: I like what Williams has shown over the past couple weeks. It would have been nice if Hill had developed into the receiving/scat back that I think the Ravens envisioned when they drafted him, but it just doesn't seem like it'll pan out that way.
FB: I also feel like Mason probably isn't getting claimed off waivers. I could see him try to land on another team's practice squad, but how many other teams even use FBs? like 4?
WR: I don't see value in keeping Boykin. He really looks like he needs a change of scenery/scheme.
TE: I think that Boyle probably starts the season on the PUP list. I liked what Tomlinson brought to the team last season and would like to see a way for him to stick around.
OL: I've liked Bredesen over Colon tbh, but Bredeson really only has value as a guard and he's not a candidate to start so he's probably the easiest cut.
DL: I like Crawford over Ellis anyway at NT. I'd be more interested in finding a way to keep Crawford around than Ellis. If I was the Ravens and I could go back in time, I'd probably pass on resigning Wolfe tbh - I think that Madubuike, Washington and Crawford bring enough potential to justify spending that money elsewhere.
OLB: I'd prefer keeping Ferguson around because he is cheap. I think Chris Smith just ends up on the outside. I'm not sure who would be coming off the field to get him in on passing downs.
DB: I view Westry and Stone as pretty safe because of their usage on ST (Westry) and as the only back-up "true" safety (Stone). I do really hate to see a lot of these guys go.
 
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