-
Welcome to PurpleFlock! Be sure to sign up here so that you can chat with your fellow Ravens fans.
The 2022 Offseason Thread
- Thread starter rossihunter2
- Start date
wow, where did you hear that?
Davesta
Ravens Ring of Honor
That’s a BS quote imo. Nah GRo, your playcalling just sucks. Don’t put it on Lamar
airconteka
MVP
Says he could, bet he doesn't.
JAAM
Hall of Famer
Wow what a jackass
Tank
Hall of Famer
Yeah, if he can get some pop on the out route throws it opens up the playbook a lot.
allblackraven
Hall of Famer
Fuck Greg Roman.
Davesta
Ravens Ring of Honor
All my homies hate Greg Roman.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
It'd be a long shot for him to not make the 53 as a third round pick from a year ago, BUT, if his conditioning is really that big of a problem, and he doesn't impress in camp, he could legitimately fall behind as like the 4th or 5th guard. Powers played over him last year, and I would think Phillips and Mekari could be ahead of him in the rotation.
If you're the 5th guard, and you can't play multiple positions, I don't see a path to a 53 man roster spot. Between Cleveland, Phillips and Powers, I think one of those guys ain't making the 53. And he's the only one not practicing at the moment, and he's not injured. Its early, so I'm not saying it'll happen, but it's not a good look for sure.
UPennChem
Hall of Famer
Little bit nervous about LG. Roman is out here saying right now Ben Powers is in the lead. If that's the case, that's not great from a Tyree perspective and certainly awful from a Cleveland perspective.
Also makes me think Mekari isn't really in line for a starting job. I kinda refuse to believe Mekari wouldn't be a better LG than Powers.
Also makes me think Mekari isn't really in line for a starting job. I kinda refuse to believe Mekari wouldn't be a better LG than Powers.
Grim
Ravens Ring of Honor
Eh could also be just to drum up some interest in Powers but it could also be legitimate too. Seems strange that we would claim anyone had a lead right now because I don’t think Ravens historically did that unless it’s very obvious.
Not that it means much at this stage, but the 1st team OL in pictures and videos has been…
James - Powers - Linderbaum - Zeitler - Moses
So Roman isn’t wrong but we’ve also seen how quickly things can switch from what it appears to be.
UPennChem
Hall of Famer
Totally agree. Its just if Powers really is the best guard, you've gotta think one of Tyree or Cleveland doesn't make this team
It’s an interesting one because all backups sans Mekari are more 1 position guys. James and Faalele pure Ts. Powers, Cleveland, and hopefully Phillips finally pure Gs. Colon is really the only other guy that can play multiple positions but he’s probably on the outside looking in. So with that, you might see us carry 10 this year just because the flexibility isn’t really there
that's also how it was all through OTAs and minicamp - doesnt even look like they've done any rotating at LG at all yet
that said... we havent had any contact practices or padded practices yet (as far as im aware) which means the OL haven't really had any real chance to really compete anyway which as you say is probably why things in the past have changed so quickly
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
I mean, Powers is basically the incumbent starting LG, so if you were assigning a depth chart, it's logical that he would start there. It's been basically one week of camp, so I wouldn't expect him to be supplanted either.
With Mekari, I think it does make some sense that he's basically the top backup at Tackle and at Center, primarily, since those are the positions he's played the most of AND the fact that most of our better depth seems to be on the interior, with Cleveland, Phillips, and Powers.
Another thing I'd note is that, in recent years, the team has primarily tried to avoid swapping two Oline spots when an injury happens. So if Mekari is your starting LG, and then an injury to a Tackle or Linderbaum happens, you now have to move Mekari over to those spots and move a backup LG in. So you've changed two positions instead of just one.
So it would seem that the idea, for now, is that Mekari is a Tackle and a Center, but maybe not a Guard. Maybe that changes as camp goes along, but that's what it looks like to me at the moment.
The other large question mark I have is James. If he's really "back" and looks good, does he make the team, and if he does, is he the top reserve Tackle perhaps (or at least in the left side)? If so, then I think it does make sense to have Mekari work as LG mostly.
In an optimal world, if you've got Stanley/Mekari/Linderbaum/Zeitler/Moses as the starters, and then have a solid James as your top reserve Tackle, with others like Powers/Cleveland/Phillips as interior reserves, I think you've got a super strong unit with solid depth. You can have an injury or two at any time and probably not lose too much.
Also possible that they're showcasing both James and Powers as trade bait, since if they're both healthy, they could probably start elsewhere.
Feels like at a summary level that Stanley and James are the keys for me. If they're healthy and playing well, it creates ton of flexibility. Linderbaum/Zeitler/Moses seem to be locks for those spots, so focus is just on health and competition on the left side.
coming back to all this because ive finally actually seen the whole quote...
think this is more of a case of a ton of people being hoodwinked by a shit ryan mink tweet - roman literally responds to the question of does that open up the offence/playbook more with a no lol
also dumb from mink because he literally asked the question and then misrepresented the answer