• Welcome to PurpleFlock! Sign up here so that you can chat with your fellow Ravens fans.

The 2023 Offseason Thread

I think Ricard's spot is relatively safe. He's good as an extra blocker to handle big interior rushers that get through, and Ricard is a big reason we can convert so many third and short as both a blocker and a shockingly reliable check down option. That second part alone makes him pretty valuable to any offense. Even if we don't run out of big sets as much in this new offense any coach will happily keep someone that can practically guarantee us two or three yards in short yardage situations.
 
QtR Nevermore said:
On the Ravens defense? I think you're the first and only person who has ever tried to argue that.

I don't hate Stephens but I don't think he's ever looked good enough to see the field on defense in the NFL, not yet anyway. If he is hated, it might be because he was vastly over-drafted. However, his versatility was touted as a reason they picked him so (relatively) high, so I'm not sure it can also be an excuse.

I think he's looked a little better at CB than S, so the switch helped him, if anything.
Click to expand...

Dudes looked like a starter at times
so not looked good enough to see the field is a wild statement to make…

In terms of his versatility… that wasn’t how he was touted as a prospect - he was touted as a conversion - he’s becoming more versatile

He’s inconsistent but absolutely worthy of being noted as part of a quality nfl secondary
 
cdp said:
One position we haven't talked about is FB. I like Ricard and what he's done for the Ravens but I'm not sure if he plays as much as he did in Roman's scheme.
Click to expand...

I imagine he’ll take some of the blocking TE role in the offence now that Josh Oliver is elsewhere and we haven’t replaced him with anyone

But monken’s also adaptable - he’ll adjust to who his best players are
 
UPennChem said:
Stephens played games last year where there were flashes of actual top tier play. Then there were games where he got picked on a lot.

Stephens has the body and athleticism you want, he just hasn't been consistent. Which isn't crazy considering he was a RB 4 years ago and a Safety 2 years ago.
Click to expand...

Strikes me as someone a little like Anthony averett

Shown flashes, has got a poor reputation with some in the fanbase but has the traits and flashes of play that suggest he’s going to put it together and become someone you don’t mind starting for you
 
UPennChem said:
Patrick Queen retweeted that
Click to expand...
Can’t tell if Queen is going to ball out and find himself a large deal in the off-season or act like a little bitch when something goes wrong and be a pain in our ass all season
 
Simba said:
You didn't watch last year. Inconsistent? Absolutely. He never really stacked those performances week after week. But he had games here and there where he played incredibly well. Plenty of receipts in the post-game threads.
Click to expand...
You could sell me a lot of players were the best player on the field at various points (Smith, Queen, Houston, Marlon, Williams) but I struggled to see Stephens as anywhere near that conversation.
 
Adreme said:
You could sell me a lot of players were the best player on the field at various points (Smith, Queen, Houston, Marlon, Williams) but I struggled to see Stephens as anywhere near that conversation.
Click to expand...
Well this is a massive shift in tone in our conversation, 1 page back the discussion is “Stephens has never looked like he belongs on the field” to “Stephens has never looked like the best player on the field”
 
For me, its a total yawn with the fan reaction.
You knew all this already. The very second that we called Zay Flowers name, and chose him over somebody like a Porter Jr., you knew guys like Stephens, mid-round draft picks, etc. were going to have to play well. We can sign both MP and Rock and there's a good chance Stephens will still play a lot. And if he doesn't, its because one of the recent draft picks we made, who's also highly inexperienced, is playing better than him.

When your entire offseason is centered around WRs and getting your QB to sign a FMV deal, this is what happens. Other position groups don't get the attention they need.

I can't wait for the mid-season pettiness too. Our offense won't sustain four quality pass catchers, which means somebody like Flowers or Bateman probably won't produce, and we suffer injuries at Corner and lack playmakers there. And people will blame Eric for exactly what they wanted.
You can see this coming from a mile away.

If nothing else, its shaping up a lot like 2019, where maybe we get into the season, realize we're a Corner away from being great, and decide to swing a trade for a good one. But can't always hang our hats on that.
 
rmcjacket23 said:
For me, its a total yawn with the fan reaction.
You knew all this already. The very second that we called Zay Flowers name, and chose him over somebody like a Porter Jr., you knew guys like Stephens, mid-round draft picks, etc. were going to have to play well. We can sign both MP and Rock and there's a good chance Stephens will still play a lot. And if he doesn't, its because one of the recent draft picks we made, who's also highly inexperienced, is playing better than him.

When your entire offseason is centered around WRs and getting your QB to sign a FMV deal, this is what happens. Other position groups don't get the attention they need.

I can't wait for the mid-season pettiness too. Our offense won't sustain four quality pass catchers, which means somebody like Flowers or Bateman probably won't produce, and we suffer injuries at Corner and lack playmakers there. And people will blame Eric for exactly what they wanted.
You can see this coming from a mile away.

If nothing else, its shaping up a lot like 2019, where maybe we get into the season, realize we're a Corner away from being great, and decide to swing a trade for a good one. But can't always hang our hats on that.
Click to expand...
The only one's who are going to do that are the ones who don't think adding MP/RYS (which will happen) is not enough. But there's really not a good argument to be made that that isn't enough.

Stephens has been fine and if he's outside CB3 that's amazing. Slot has so much depth it's crazy. And outside has depth too just not upper echelon depth.

You just project the fanbase as extremely stupid when it's a handful of people that have a certain bias or just don't know what they're talking about.

I bet you 99% board would say post RYS signing, that if the team fails this year its their own damn fault not EDC
 
UPennChem said:
The only one's who are going to do that are the ones who don't think adding MP/RYS (which will happen) is not enough. But there's really not a good argument to be made that that isn't enough.

Stephens has been fine and if he's outside CB3 that's amazing. Slot has so much depth it's crazy. And outside has depth too just not upper echelon depth.

You just project the fanbase as extremely stupid when it's a handful of people that have a certain bias or just don't know what they're talking about.

I bet you 99% board would say post RYS signing, that if the team fails this year its their own damn fault not EDC
Click to expand...
I mean... are Peters or RYS special players at this stage? The whole offseason we've been saying how we wanted upgrades over Peters, and now we're saying we're content to have him back as a CB2?
If Marlon gets hurt, is adding Peters and RYS enough?

I would bite my own dick off if I ever saw a consensus on the boards that fans were actually to blame for decisions that went wrong. There is zero accountability among the fanbase. And I can't even say that's a Ravens problem.
 
rmcjacket23 said:
I mean... are Peters or RYS special players at this stage? The whole offseason we've been saying how we wanted upgrades over Peters, and now we're saying we're content to have him back as a CB2?
If Marlon gets hurt, is adding Peters and RYS enough?

I would bite my own dick off if I ever saw a consensus on the boards that fans were actually to blame for decisions that went wrong. There is zero accountability among the fanbase. And I can't even say that's a Ravens problem.
Click to expand...
Pot calling the kettle black. There's no accountability for yourself either. Every time you're proven "wrong" on an argument you just disappear.
 
rmcjacket23 said:
I mean... are Peters or RYS special players at this stage? The whole offseason we've been saying how we wanted upgrades over Peters, and now we're saying we're content to have him back as a CB2?
If Marlon gets hurt, is adding Peters and RYS enough?

I would bite my own dick off if I ever saw a consensus on the boards that fans were actually to blame for decisions that went wrong. There is zero accountability among the fanbase. And I can't even say that's a Ravens problem.
Click to expand...
Idk I've personally consistently and uniformly been advocating for MP not an improvement. It's basically impossible to get an improvement in FA without trading. Your other alternative is to draft early. EDC chose WR early and given that he did, MP / RYS (who we clearly at least like in theory) are as good as it's gonna get.

What's funny is your bait about Marlon getting hurt. You're the one (and rightfully so) that constantly talks about the fact that it's impossible for teams to have extremely high quality depth at all positions.

Last year we didn't have starting level talent let alone depth at WR. Now we have both. And at CB, once we sign MP/RYS we're also going to have both albeit the depth might not be the absolute highest quality.

Yeah there's not gonna be true consensus on here. Some people think Stephens doesn't belong on the team. Some people think Pepe and Stephens play the same position. But for all intents and purposes, the moderate fan here is gonna be very happy with what EDC has done this year from a roster construction perspective.

In the past we've complained about complete inattention the the OL or WR rooms. Here we're fucking quibbling about 1 CB2/CB3 depending on how you think about it.

Call me out if later in the year I blame anything this season on EDC
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top