The Good, the Bad, and The Ravens

[Sandtown]

I too was ok with Wagner going, although I wanted him over bwill, but now we have Zeus who I expect to become one of the better RTs in the league, top 3 potential if he works and stays focused. Wagner was just solid, he was an absolute stonewall in pass pro but essentially worthless in run blocking, no push what so ever, he was the Alex Lewis of ravens RTs.

Now with that offseason, I would’ve been much happier letting both walk, and signed a guy like Larry warford instead of Tony Jefferson and bwill. Take the comp picks, save the cap space, address the OL further, and we would likely be seeing a Levine or Clark playing at SS and if I had to guess they would be performing relatively well, and in relation to their cap figures they’d bring way more value than Jefferson.

Plus, pierce > bwill and we all called that 2 years ago

It seems some like to say that Pierce is better than BWill when Pierce isn't a starting.I'm not a big football expert but I like to say that Pierce disappointed last year as The Ravens starting nose tackle. He's looks better this year but I think that has alot to do with him staying fresh since he isn't a starter.

 

[rossihunter2]

It seems some like to say that Pierce is better than BWill when Pierce isn't a starting.I'm not a big football expert but I like to say that Pierce disappointed last year as The Ravens starting nose tackle. He's looks better this year but I think that has alot to do with him staying fresh since he isn't a starter.

starting means literally nothing at this point - only one of our DL has played over 50% of the defensive snaps and that is Brent Urban
and Pierce, despite missing 2 whole games (and i think he basically missed 3) he still only has 100 fewer snaps than B Will across the whole season

they basically play the same number of snaps per game
in fact the top 4 DL Urban, Williams, Pierce, Wormley all play roughly the same number of snaps each game - depending on the gameplan 1 of them each week seems to get slightly fewer on occasion

 

[Charm City]

I know that people are lamenting that we lost Jensen and that he's all we need to fix our O-line, but per PFF, he's been the 26th best center in the league and Skura is 18th. There was no way the FO was going to make him the highest paid center when he only had one good year in the league.

 

[Grim]

I know that people are lamenting that we lost Jensen and that he's all we need to fix our O-line, but per PFF, he's been the 26th best center in the league and Skura is 18th. There was no way the FO was going to make him the highest paid center when he only had one good year in the league.

I don’t always buy PFF stats but has anyone watched him? I’m curious to hear how he is doing. Could be a good thing you’re right but OL is also dependent on the other guys around you sometimes. He could be better here but nice find regardless.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

It seems some like to say that Pierce is better than BWill when Pierce isn't a starting.I'm not a big football expert but I like to say that Pierce disappointed last year as The Ravens starting nose tackle. He's looks better this year but I think that has alot to do with him staying fresh since he isn't a starter.

Bwill looked like an average player as well, both are big guys with low stamina and they weren’t being rotated by Pees and both looked bad because they burned out badly. Since the rotation philosophy kicked in both have looked better, and specifically pierce has looked like the better overall player from what I’ve seen

 

[TheCity5]

I’m guessing it may have to do with the weight gain but when did that start? I felt he was solid last year and maybe not spectacular but solid. He was phenomenal his rookie year and then downhill.

I only wonder if we plan to keep Pierce. If so then yes Williams is likely gone but I’m not yet convinced despite loving Pierce. I just don’t trust the FO to do it

He had issues with weight last year and was coming off an injury and wasn’t much of a scheme fit so we gave him a pass. That doesn’t apply to this year.

As far as Pierce goes, he has to stay. The Ravens haven’t had a guy they couldn’t afford to allow walk in a while and that’s the type of guy Pierce would be, losing him would be a big loss.

 

[Tank]

When Jensen left many spoke about how easy it would be to replace him.

 

[Tank]

I know that people are lamenting that we lost Jensen and that he's all we need to fix our O-line, but per PFF, he's been the 26th best center in the league and Skura is 18th. There was no way the FO was going to make him the highest paid center when he only had one good year in the league.

Jensen steadily improved while here last year. How did he grade out the second half of of last season while playing center for the Ravens? Thinking he would be ranked much higher if still playing here.

I completely understand the reasoning of thinking he should not have been made the highest paid center, but the sparse market pushed that number up. What’s most frustrating is that they didn’t make replacing him a high priority and are paying for that decision now.

 

[Charm City]

I don’t always buy PFF stats but has anyone watched him? I’m curious to hear how he is doing. Could be a good thing you’re right but OL is also dependent on the other guys around you sometimes. He could be better here but nice find regardless.

Yeah, I figured the Oline play around him might be reducing his grade, but Ali Marpet next to him has scored pretty well too. I don't think the rest of the Bucs Oline is very good though

 

[Charm City]

Jensen steadily improved while here last year. How did he grade out the second half of of last season while playing center for the Ravens? Thinking he would be ranked much higher if still playing here.

I completely understand the reasoning of thinking he should not have been made the highest paid center, but the sparse market pushed that number up. What’s most frustrating is that they didn’t make replacing him a high priority and are paying for that decision now.

We probably hoped Skura would make the same jump that he did when he was here. The depth behind him is what we should have been worried about. Siragusa blew out his knee last year so he should have been an afterthought.

 

[TheCity5]

I mean I guess you’re already forgetting we have Orlando Brown? He has potential to easily be better than Wagner. Don’t miss him at all. I think we should’ve let both walk.

I like Brown and he might be a better fit so we'll see what happens there before I make any judgment. I can't get mad at letting Jensen walk, I just wish we had him for one more year.

 

[TheCity5]

I’m guessing it may have to do with the weight gain but when did that start? I felt he was solid last year and maybe not spectacular but solid. He was phenomenal his rookie year and then downhill.

I only wonder if we plan to keep Pierce. If so then yes Williams is likely gone but I’m not yet convinced despite loving Pierce. I just don’t trust the FO to do it

Pierce has wrecked havoc on opposing OLs and next year coming into a contract year he might be dominant. We badly need players who can play at a near elite level and we've sorely lacked in that for years.

TJ had issues with weight last year that had to do with surgery and he also had issues with the scheme and fitting in as well as rust. So we let him off the hook with that. This year according to him he has no issue with his injury from last year, has gained his weight back, and has adjusted to the scheme and yet he still looks lost in coverage. He's not a bad player by any means but for the price we're paying him we expect better play.

 

[Grim]

Pierce has wrecked havoc on opposing OLs and next year coming into a contract year he might be dominant. We badly need players who can play at a near elite level and we've sorely lacked in that for years.

TJ had issues with weight last year that had to do with surgery and he also had issues with the scheme and fitting in as well as rust. So we let him off the hook with that. This year according to him he has no issue with his injury from last year, has gained his weight back, and has adjusted to the scheme and yet he still looks lost in coverage. He's not a bad player by any means but for the price we're paying him we expect better play.

TJ is Tony Jefferson or CJ? Just want to be clear here as I think I may be confused

 

[TheCity5]

I couldn’t care less that we let Wagner go. I feel like we’ve done fine without Wagner.

I'm more so upset about Wagner because we chose BW over him and in the long run that may have looked like a worse decision. I think K.O and Jensen made sense because you couldn't justify K.O's payday with his injuries and Jensen didn't have the consistency on a season to season basis to make him the highest paid C. Even now I haven't heard much about Jensen like I do in reguards to K.O and Wagner.

 

[TheCity5]

TJ is Tony Jefferson or CJ? Just want to be clear here as I think I may be confused

Tony Jefferson

 

[TheCity5]

I think in hindsight letting Jensen go was the worst mistake we’ve made on the O line in recent memory. Was he worth the money he got? Maybe, maybe not. But it took 4 years for the Ravens to put a viable center in place and now again it is a big hole that is killing the offense.

It took us four years but that's because we've passed on the opportunity to add a viable C far too many times. I don't recall the last time we drafted a pure C early or even taken an interior OL early. It's just that the team was far too content for Zuttah for too long before Jensen finally was an adequate replacement. It's kind of similar to how the team has treated skill positions. FWIW, teams don't typically take a pure C all that high in the draft anyways.

 

[Grim]

It took us four years but that's because we've passed on the opportunity to add a viable C far too many times. I don't recall the last time we drafted a pure C early or even taken an interior OL early. It's just that the team was far too content for Zuttah for too long before Jensen finally was an adequate replacement. It's kind of similar to how the team has treated skill positions. FWIW, teams don't typically take a pure C all that high in the draft anyways.

Maybe not in the first but there’s a pretty decent list of C taken on the first two days. Eiflein, Kelly, Frederick are a few I can name off my memory alone but I know where you’re going with this. I think most C can play G but not vice versus which makes it even stranger we don’t target these guys

 

[TheCity5]

Maybe not in the first but there’s a pretty decent list of C taken on the first two days. Eiflein, Kelly, Frederick are a few I can name off my memory alone but I know where you’re going with this. I think most C can play G but not vice versus which makes it even stranger we don’t target these guys

I think it's stranger that most teams don't. The Ravens are just a part of a large majority who don't take Cs highly. Even the Cowboys were taking heat for picking Frederick even though he was a pretty safe prospect because they took him too high according to some people.

 

[DeVito52]

TJ is Tony Jefferson or CJ? Just want to be clear here as I think I may be confused

TJ is Jefferson

 

[Grim]

TJ is Jefferson

Yeah I see that. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t a typo.