Lamar Jackson

[Oldfaithful]

I believe that is more likely to happen in 2020.

If we make the playoffs Joe is staying. Why break up a winning team? Especially since we have only three free agents next season we'd actually regret losing in CJ, and potentially John Brown. We aren't letting a talent like CJ leave. John Brown is a guy we are at risk of losing. Given the injury history of Jimmy and the fact that we've invested heavily at corner over the past three years(and look like we have two absolute slam dunks in Young and Humphrey). Suggs is also a FA, but given his age, even though he's a contributor I could easily see us retaining him. Collins is an RFA who we will probably assign a first round tender too so I don't see us being at risk of losing him. Same goes for Micheal Pierce, he likely gets tendered.

Jimmy will open up a sizeable amount of cap room next year alone. So would Brandon Carr. We can then address center, our only major need(no I'm not including FS right now. I think Weddle stays another year and isn't released and is at least servicable. I think we drafted Elliot, who looked way more athletic than he did in college, to be a heir apperant.. God the 2018 draft was awesome) through the draft. There's also a good chance Yanda retires though, which would piss me off, but the offensive line class next year looks good at an initial glance.

I'm not too worried. Defense has a lot of youthful talent. Lot of guys look like they have incredibly high upsides.

Next year we better go oline heavy though. We have our LT, RT, and LG for the future. Go find the heir apperant for Yanda(Jermaine does not count), and a starting C and I'll be a happy camper next offseason

 

[Deebo813]

If we make the playoffs Joe is staying. Why break up a winning team? Especially since we have only three free agents next season we'd actually regret losing in CJ, and potentially John Brown. We aren't letting a talent like CJ leave. John Brown is a guy we are at risk of losing. Given the injury history of Jimmy and the fact that we've invested heavily at corner over the past three years(and look like we have two absolute slam dunks in Young and Humphrey). Suggs is also a FA, but given his age, even though he's a contributor I could easily see us retaining him. Collins is an RFA who we will probably assign a first round tender too so I don't see us being at risk of losing him. Same goes for Micheal Pierce, he likely gets tendered.

Jimmy will open up a sizeable amount of cap room next year alone. So would Brandon Carr. We can then address center, our only major need(no I'm not including FS right now. I think Weddle stays another year and isn't released and is at least servicable. I think we drafted Elliot, who looked way more athletic than he did in college, to be a heir apperant.. God the 2018 draft was awesome) through the draft. There's also a good chance Yanda retires though, which would piss me off, but the offensive line class next year looks good at an initial glance.

I'm not too worried. Defense has a lot of youthful talent. Lot of guys look like they have incredibly high upsides.

Next year we better go oline heavy though. We have our LT, RT, and LG for the future. Go find the heir apperant for Yanda(Jermaine does not count), and a starting C and I'll be a happy camper next offseason

is hard for us to really determine our future till after this or during the season. Most of our guys are unproven ir havent showed real promise

 

[DeVito52]

I think if Brown has a good season we resign him. We NEVER have good young receivers, we might finally have one so I think we do our best to keep him. If he plays well he will command a pretty good price tag but he’d be worth it. Whatever we need to do to freaking solidify the WR group.

 

[Oldfaithful]

I think if Brown has a good season we resign him. We NEVER have good young receivers, we might finally have one so I think we do our best to keep him. If he plays well he will command a pretty good price tag but he’d be worth it. Whatever we need to do to freaking solidify the WR group.

Honestly... John Brown could be a #1 WR if he ever fucking stayed healthy. He's a great route runner, blazing speed, really good hands, underrated at making really tough catches. I said from the start that we got a good player. He was a high high end #2 for Arizona(even then Larry is still a clear cut #1 WR). Him and Crabtree are ideal compliments. And he and Flacco seem to have a good rapport too.

is hard for us to really determine our future till after this or during the season. Most of our guys are unproven ir havent showed real promise

Big reason for that is that the defense as a whole is a very young unit. If you really look at it, we have had a few veteran mainstays, but the majority of this talent has been acquired over the past three drafts or so. It's been a head to toe retooling of the defense. Thing is, a lot of these guys have a ton of upside and look like they're going to be good. Offense is a different story. But it's a good starting point. I'd much rather be here than Allen in Buffalo.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

I believe that is more likely to happen in 2020.

I agree, but I was laying out the possibilities in reference to decosta having a hard job, FA becomes a lot easier when joes money is off the books whether we get rid of him next year or the year after.

 

[RavensMania]

I agree, but I was laying out the possibilities in reference to decosta having a hard job, FA becomes a lot easier when joes money is off the books whether we get rid of him next year or the year after.

True

 

[RavensMania]

I think if Brown has a good season we resign him. We NEVER have good young receivers, we might finally have one so I think we do our best to keep him. If he plays well he will command a pretty good price tag but he’d be worth it. Whatever we need to do to freaking solidify the WR group.

It’s a very tough call with his injury history. Obviously will depend on the price. He and Joe have had some great chemistry all through training camp. It would be great to keep him

 

[Ellicottraven]

Lamar is looking the part, he’s settling in and I think he’ll be just fine when his time comes. He can’t hit a fade to save his life but those are low percentage throws anyway. With a clean pocket he can sling it all around the middle of the field and his improv releases are incredible, he sidearms between linemen with the same accuracy and velocity as his regular release, that’s rare.

My biggest worry at this point aside from his absolute refusal to slide, is his ability to hit those midrange throws where he’s gotta balance touch and velocity, like a 15 yard seam vs a cover 2, it’s gonna take a lot of work for him to discipline his arm for those kinds of throws. I also worry about him hitting out breaking routes vs zone because he had great decision making in college but quite a bit he failed to see linebackers and safeties trailing receivers from the inside. I’m loving his progress but I still think he definitely isn’t ready to start for those 2 key reasons, those are crucial weaknesses that can result in a lot of turnovers. A little bit of taming and training and those can be masked enough to make them a non issue

The one thing about Lamar that I noticed is he keeps on improving game upon game. I think a year or two behind Flacco with intermittent stints during regular season games on gadget plays is going to do wonders for his confidence and comfort. I honestly believe he'll keep on improving and by the time we're ready to play him full time I trust the coaching staff will be all in on him.

 

[Jacquouille]

I think if Brown has a good season we resign him. We NEVER have good young receivers, we might finally have one so I think we do our best to keep him. If he plays well he will command a pretty good price tag but he’d be worth it. Whatever we need to do to freaking solidify the WR group.

I'm willing to bet we're already trying to resign him before he explodes this season. With the way they've been talking about it in the media, the staff must already know what it needs to know about him and has to be active trying to keep him right now.

 

[Jacquouille]

The one thing about Lamar that I noticed is he keeps on improving game upon game. I think a year or two behind Flacco with intermittent stints during regular season games on gadget plays is going to do wonders for his confidence and comfort. I honestly believe he'll keep on improving and by the time we're ready to play him full time I trust the coaching staff will be all in on him.

I'll go even further and say he's kept on growing and growing for 3 or 4 years now. He was a lowly ranked run only QB as a high school recruit. His freshman year he played sparingly and basically only made plays with his legs. Then he learns to use his arm and gets the Heisman. Then he learns to be a QB prospect the next year. This year he's learning to be an NFL franchise QB, and he keeps on getting better. His arrow has been pointing upwards for 3 years without ever declining and it keeps on pointing upwards now. What we've seen on the field shows he's now uderstanding how he should use his skillset to win in the NFL. The learning curve is still important but the traits exhibited are extremely valuable and salivating.
Sure, we can only talk about potential right now, but there's really nothing to me that indicates that he won't reach that potential.

 

[RavensMania]

I'm willing to bet we're already trying to resign him before he explodes this season. With the way they've been talking about it in the media, the staff must already know what it needs to know about him and has to be active trying to keep him right now.

The problem with that is his injury history. Any other situation I’d want the front office to sign him to a 3 yr contract, but I’m torn with Brown.

 

[RL52TheGreatest]

The problem with that is his injury history. Any other situation I’d want the front office to sign him to a 3 yr contract, but I’m torn with Brown.

Exactly. Brown is a great player, but the front office should be cautious about giving him a contract right away especially after the Pitta situation.

 

[rossihunter2]

I'm willing to bet we're already trying to resign him before he explodes this season. With the way they've been talking about it in the media, the staff must already know what it needs to know about him and has to be active trying to keep him right now.

if im honest id imagine they'll be happy to pay him if he plays well enough for us to want to pay him - especially with jimmy's contract either getting reworked or cut and coming off the books

 

[cdp]

if im honest id imagine they'll be happy to pay him if he plays well enough for us to want to pay him - especially with jimmy's contract either getting reworked or cut and coming off the books

At least Bama has 3 sophomore WR's.

 

[Jacquouille]

The problem with that is his injury history. Any other situation I’d want the front office to sign him to a 3 yr contract, but I’m torn with Brown.

Didn't he say it was a kyste that AZ didn't detect that was responsible for all the fuss?

 

[RavensMania]

Didn't he say it was a kyste that AZ didn't detect that was responsible for all the fuss?

I didn’t hear that it was a cyste

 

[Ludy51]

While i appreciate the attempts to get him in the game, I do think the gadget play need to be put on hiatus until we get a better O-line.

 

[Militant X 1]

Bringing Lamar in and out of the game just to have him run with the ball was pissing me off! That was so predictable and it was killing the offensive momentum imo. I know they want to "give defenses something to think about" but it's not worth it at the expense of offensive continuity.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

The key to making the gadget work, is 1: not putting joe at wr, that makes it 10 vs 11 right away. And 2: let lamar pass, it’s not a gadget if they know what’s coming. Zone read with joe taking the snap and handing/faking to lamar, send lamar and Collins wide for a sweep option which should clear the opposite side of the field, the threat of that sweep/screen will draw defenders by the boatload.

 

[allblackraven]

The key to making the gadget work, is 1: not putting joe at wr, that makes it 10 vs 11 right away. And 2: let lamar pass, it’s not a gadget if they know what’s coming. Zone read with joe taking the snap and handing/faking to lamar, send lamar and Collins wide for a sweep option which should clear the opposite side of the field, the threat of that sweep/screen will draw defenders by the boatload.

Or, you know - you can call a RPO play in the red zone, with Lamar under center? Make it look like proper play call, rather than high school stuff they are trying to pull off. But I guess, you need real OC to do that.