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Welcome to B-More, John Brown & Michael Crabtree

JoeyFlex5

Hall of Famer
lolooolololol what a splash. Troll thread. Don't hate the players but don't love the numbers and just in awe of how lackluster we are after big promises at the presser
 

The Raven

Veteran
I'm actually cool with the players but pissed about the numbers. Two near-starter (maybe starter caliber) receivers in one offseason --before the draft, no less -- has to be a fucking record for this franchise.
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
it's not a happy haul...
we're somehow losing even more size from our receiving corps and adding yet more speed lol

at least these 2 guys are supposed to have good hands

grant is a good route runner who plays well out of the slot but has never broken out fully
brown is a really good player but just cant be trusted to stay on the field

that being said vince newsome and the pro-scouting department are incredible at this - so i will give them the benefit of the doubt on these players (we're normally pretty good with veteran receiver signings - maclin as the exception) - the thing that worries me is of course just how much money they have cost
 

Charm City

Pro Bowler
I don't know what you guys expected. We are near the bottom of the league in cap space and top end guys are getting paid 15+ mil. Watkins was the 3rd most productive receiver on the Rams and he got way more than anyone expected (Spotrac had a contract estimate around 7 mil iirc). With the contracts that are being handed out this offseason, these are the signings that are in our range. Just be happy that we have a guy in Ryan Grant who has one of the best hands in the league and a burner in John Brown who will make us less reliant on playing Perriman if we need a deep threat.
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
gonna post this here - i wrote it in the free agency thread but didnt realise how long it would be - feels more appropriate here...

"Ok ive gone and just watched a crap ton of ryan grant film so here's a few things ive noticed:
  1. He runs some slick routes - he has a nice hybrid of being sharp in his breaks as well as sudden but also having the nouse to find the soft spot and using his body and speed in the right way to get there - one of his more impressive plays was for a 20 yard td but he mostly jogged his way through the zone using slight movements to get himself wide open... that being said he does have a lot of quickness both in short-area burst as some decent looking top end speed (hard to tell how fast but on a few occasions he absolutely swallowed up the cushion of a covering safety and blew past them)
  2. He's taller than i expected given what i saw on the film - he's 6 ft which isnt huge but he seems to play smaller sometimes when he's running routes - but then he looks bigger when he's blocking in the run game - it's a weird dichotomy that i cant really work out at the moment
  3. He has good hands
for what ive seen on the film so far he looks a little underused by the redskins but that does make some sense given that they have jamison crowder already there so he was fighting for snaps out of the slot

here are some of my issues with the pickup (mostly systemic rather than the player himself):
  • im not in love with the amount of money we've given him - i can see why the ravens targeted him but we are banking on him ascending and continuing his upward trend while probably featuring him more than the redskins did
  • which leads me onto my other issue - part of the reason i was hot on moncrief is that he's a larger player out of the slot who's physical moving downfield which is traditionally what the ravens' most successful slot guys have done - we've never really featured inside routes on this offence so schematically i worry that he's a bit of a square peg in a round hole (that being said woodhead and campanaro towards the end of the year were featured more in the passing game in an effective way so maybe there's a more overt philosophy change going on in terms of the type of route concepts we run)
i do kind of wonder whether the ravens are taking a leaf out of the vikings book and realising that you can create an effective passing game out of smaller shifty guys and that you dont necessarily need size (which is inherently more expensive in the nfl)

and harbs wasnt lying i guess when he emphasised that we were gonna go and get guys who can catch the ball - ive only seen 1 drop from grant on the film ive seen so far and it was good defence tbh by the defender who swiped the ball out of his hands as he was bringing it in towards his body as he went to the ground...

this deal could be brilliant - i dont think its as risky as i first thought but there's certainly a decent enough chance that grant could fizzle and underachieve for the amount given his lack of targets and production - based on what ive seen though there's definitely a chance that this could turn into a really good deal

im not happy with the day's work from the ravens but having watched the tape i feel good about the 2 players we've added (even if im not happy with the money)"
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
Something doesn't compute - the most complete WR on Skins roster (according to his coach), with good hands and decent speed, runs all routes inside and out, yet doesn't have 1000y for his 4 year career.

he was stuck behind pierre garcon, desean jackson, jamison crowder etc. in his first couple of years
and given how much he plays out of the slot he was in direct competition even in 2017 with jamison crowder - im not saying im not worried but there are reasons for why

now im not convinced that he's the complete wr given that im not that sold on him as a full time outside receiver but as a slot receiver he's a very accomplished route runner
 

RavensMania

Staff Member
Administrator
he was stuck behind pierre garcon, desean jackson, jamison crowder etc. in his first couple of years
and given how much he plays out of the slot he was in direct competition even in 2017 with jamison crowder - im not saying im not worried but there are reasons for why

now im not convinced that he's the complete wr given that im not that sold on him as a full time outside receiver but as a slot receiver he's a very accomplished route runner
Kyle shanahan called him a very savvy route runner in his first training camp. Said he ran routes like a veteran back them.
 
I don't know what you guys expected. We are near the bottom of the league in cap space and top end guys are getting paid 15+ mil. Watkins was the 3rd most productive receiver on the Rams and he got way more than anyone expected (Spotrac had a contract estimate around 7 mil iirc). With the contracts that are being handed out this offseason, these are the signings that are in our range. Just be happy that we have a guy in Ryan Grant who has one of the best hands in the league and a burner in John Brown who will make us less reliant on playing Perriman if we need a deep threat.
Yup this basically sums up how I feel.
 

RaineV1

Ravens Ring of Honor
Grant is possibly better than any WR we had last season. Maybe better than Wallace. I'll gladly take him as a compliment to whoever we draft. Brown will be great if he's healthy. I don't mind a one year prove it deal for him.
 

DeVito52

Ravens Ring of Honor
Would have liked s team option on brown but besides that not too shabby. Just scared this might cause us to not go wr in draft
No way in hell this causes us to not go WR. I swear to god if we don’t draft at least one receiver in this draft you’ll never see me on this board again and I will ACTUALLY become a Browns fan.
 

DeVito52

Ravens Ring of Honor
he was stuck behind pierre garcon, desean jackson, jamison crowder etc. in his first couple of years
and given how much he plays out of the slot he was in direct competition even in 2017 with jamison crowder - im not saying im not worried but there are reasons for why

now im not convinced that he's the complete wr given that im not that sold on him as a full time outside receiver but as a slot receiver he's a very accomplished route runner
Well he’s played almost twice as many snaps outside as he has from the slot. So I think he will be fine.
 

Ravensnation5220

Ravens Ring of Honor
I found his draft profile from 2014:
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2014/profiles/ryan-grant?id=2543759
From the looks of him now it seems like hes really worked on his weaknesses and carved out a niche for himself in this league. He became a much better route runner from what @RavensMania posted earlier and from what @rossihunter2 scouting report emplifies. His hands have always been there according to Zeilein in this profile.

It really seems to me like the ravens are trusting the redskins coaching staff developed a reliable NFL reciever. I really like that Zeirlein mentions he might have the best hands in the 2014 Class
 

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
I found his draft profile from 2014:
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2014/profiles/ryan-grant?id=2543759
From the looks of him now it seems like hes really worked on his weaknesses and carved out a niche for himself in this league. He became a much better route runner from what @RavensMania posted earlier and from what @rossihunter2 scouting report emplifies. His hands have always been there according to Zeilein in this profile.

It really seems to me like the ravens are trusting the redskins coaching staff developed a reliable NFL reciever. I really like that Zeirlein mentions he might have the best hands in the 2014 Class

I posted in the free agency thread but by the looks of it his contract is incredibly affordable if Brian mcfarlands predictions are correct - might only have a cap hit of 3.5 million in year 1 and very little guaranteed money after year 2
 

Ravensnation5220

Ravens Ring of Honor
I posted in the free agency thread but by the looks of it his contract is incredibly affordable if Brian mcfarlands predictions are correct - might only have a cap hit of 3.5 million in year 1 and very little guaranteed money after year 2
Damn thats actually pretty damn cheap at 3.5M cap hit. Especially if he works out. The numbers look big on surface but the guaranteed money is pretty small so in a way its all incentive based. If he doesnt pan out we wont owe him much but if he does we have a good player at an affordable cost for the next 2 or 3 years. I like the signing, and im starting to like where this is going. Ozzie said he wants to change the WR room so no more wallace or maclin(?). Still expecting us to add at least 4 more pass catchers throughout the rest of free agency and draft.
 

Ravensnation5220

Ravens Ring of Honor
So now comes to question. Which recievers in the draft compliment Brown and Grant. I think Ridley or Moore would fit in perfectly. Add Jordy Nelson too and im feeling a hell of a lot better about our group
 
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