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The 2024 Offseason Thread

drjohnnyfever

drjohnnyfever

Pro Bowler
SaltyDog said:
I’d be lying if I said I never did it. The problem with alcohol is that it deprives all people of common sense and better judgement. Sherman is a grown ass man with plenty of $$. Call a taxi, or Uber.
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Amen. And especially knowing the NFL promotes some kind of sanctioned taxi service for them. It's just a dumb decision.
 
Willbacker

Willbacker

Ravens Ring of Honor
rmcjacket23 said:
I'd recommend reading what Brian McFarland wrote, i.e. on the cap situation. It's improved with the cap set, but its not strong.
Effectively, we're in the range of ~$17M under today.
We will have ~$4M of earned incentive adjustments that still need to be included, plus any ERFAs we tender. And we also don't yet have the specifics on the Agholor deal.
So that ~$17M is, realistically, between ~$10-12M effectively.

So even on the high end, we're ~$10M short on even being able to FT Madubuike. And that would just to be in cap compliance. Wouldn't allow any wiggle room for other additions.

Note also they'll need ~$15M for draft picks, practice squad, in-season injuries and elevations, etc.

So we have a long, long ways to go. Obviously haven't made any cuts or known restructures. They're coming.
Still think Bowser gets cut.
Still think its very possible Moses gets cut
Still think there's a discussion about a paycut for Stanley
Still think either Ricard gets cut or extended
Still think Mekari gets extended

And I think you're going to see several contract restructures. Lamar, Marcus and Marlon being the three most likely.

I'll also be the guy to say it... I don't think tagging JM is a formality. I think there's plenty of scenarios where financially its just not an option. I think they'll push for an extension in the next few weeks, and if nothing is reached, may opt to let him hit the market and see what the price is. I think people are underestimating the impact of what a $22M cap hit for him does to the ability to construct a roster. There's no cap flexibility there until he gets extended, and you can't guarantee he gets extended. The only other viable reason to FT him is to tag and trade in the Summer if you can't reach an extension.
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Yup. Pretty much agree. I would throw Hill (2.5 mil) in there as a possible cut too. Restructure Lamar, Marlon and Marcus. Could save around 8-10 mil on just part of their salary. Cut Bowser for sure (5.5 mil). Ask Stanley for paycut of 4 mil or restructure 4 mil of his contract and you can still cut him in 2025 with lots of savings. With him and Moses right now I'm scared to cut either since both starting guards need to be replaced. Ricard cut (4 mil) or extended (possible 2-3 mil in savings for 3 yr extension. Same with Mekari on extension. Absolutely not cutting him. I'm also still interested in extensions with Bateman, Oweh and Stephens (possible savings of around 5 mil if you convert all salary into bonus and extend another 2 yrs). On this too many times we let it play out and get burned.

So you add it all up on the minimum side with the 17 mil that amounts to 42 mil total. 37 mil w/o the 3rd year player extensions which I'm pounding my fist for and in total I think thats enough capitol to go to war. Mads would be 22mil and hopefully we can get an extenion where he costs only 13-15 mil against the cap otherwise tag and trade for something better than a triple digit pick.

Now the main roadblock could be a very small increase or none at all in 2025 with this massive 30 mil jump in cap space. Gotta leave players cuttable somehow next year if need be like Stanley for instance.
 
QtR Nevermore

QtR Nevermore

Pro Bowler
rmcjacket23 said:
I'd recommend reading what Brian McFarland wrote, i.e. on the cap situation. It's improved with the cap set, but its not strong.
Effectively, we're in the range of ~$17M under today.
We will have ~$4M of earned incentive adjustments that still need to be included, plus any ERFAs we tender. And we also don't yet have the specifics on the Agholor deal.
So that ~$17M is, realistically, between ~$10-12M effectively.

So even on the high end, we're ~$10M short on even being able to FT Madubuike. And that would just to be in cap compliance. Wouldn't allow any wiggle room for other additions.

Note also they'll need ~$15M for draft picks, practice squad, in-season injuries and elevations, etc.

So we have a long, long ways to go. Obviously haven't made any cuts or known restructures. They're coming.
Still think Bowser gets cut.
Still think its very possible Moses gets cut
Still think there's a discussion about a paycut for Stanley
Still think either Ricard gets cut or extended
Still think Mekari gets extended

And I think you're going to see several contract restructures. Lamar, Marcus and Marlon being the three most likely.

I'll also be the guy to say it... I don't think tagging JM is a formality. I think there's plenty of scenarios where financially its just not an option. I think they'll push for an extension in the next few weeks, and if nothing is reached, may opt to let him hit the market and see what the price is. I think people are underestimating the impact of what a $22M cap hit for him does to the ability to construct a roster. There's no cap flexibility there until he gets extended, and you can't guarantee he gets extended. The only other viable reason to FT him is to tag and trade in the Summer if you can't reach an extension.
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I'm sure McFarland has all the numbers right, but he does tend to be on the pessimistic side.

For as long as he can remember, he has tended to underestimate what will be possible under the cap relative to what DeCosta (or Ozzie) has actually managed to get done in reality, year after year. Maybe that's a useful role in pouring some cold water on those fans who say "we've got to go and get Mike Evans."

I never expected any signings in the first wave of free agency, our additions will come late in the offseason, but nor do I expect the Ravens to lose many lower value FAs like Moses, Mekari, Ricard etc, that they want to keep. (Geno, Queen, Bowser and probably Zeitler are gone.)

It's definitely a belt tightening season and that's why I think the the Ravens might make further use of void years to mitigate the hit of last year's ones hitting the cap at a bad time.
 
QtR Nevermore

QtR Nevermore

Pro Bowler
Michael M. said:
So are the odds against resigning Gus? If so would Henry be any cheaper?
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I think Gus is a better fit for the Ravens than Henry. Henry needs a run up to get up to full speed, which basically eliminates all the mesh point/ threat of Lamar stuff that makes the Ravens run game so effective.

I know everyone is linking him to us, but I don't really know why, except that DeCosta does seem to like a big name, but aging, RB
 
Davesta

Davesta

Ravens Ring of Honor
QtR Nevermore said:
I think Gus is a better fit for the Ravens than Henry. Henry needs a run up to get up to full speed, which basically eliminates all the mesh point/ threat of Lamar stuff that makes the Ravens run game so effective.

I know everyone is linking him to us, but I don't really know why, except that DeCosta does seem to like a big name, but aging, RB
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Pass on Gus.

Pass on Henry.

Bring me Saquon or Jacobs!
 
rmcjacket23

rmcjacket23

Ravens Ring of Honor
QtR Nevermore said:
I'm sure McFarland has all the numbers right, but he does tend to be on the pessimistic side.

For as long as he can remember, he has tended to underestimate what will be possible under the cap relative to what DeCosta (or Ozzie) has actually managed to get done in reality, year after year. Maybe that's a useful role in pouring some cold water on those fans who say "we've got to go and get Mike Evans."

I never expected any signings in the first wave of free agency, our additions will come late in the offseason, but nor do I expect the Ravens to lose many lower value FAs like Moses, Mekari, Ricard etc, that they want to keep. (Geno, Queen, Bowser and probably Zeitler are gone.)

It's definitely a belt tightening season and that's why I think the the Ravens might make further use of void years to mitigate the hit of last year's ones hitting the cap at a bad time.
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Well with EDC, the only year he was really against a cap crunch was last year, and he started using void years, which was not something the franchise had historically ever done. If that's a part of his continued long term strategy, then it opens up more avenues in FA/trade market, as well as makes it easier to extend certain guys.

So truthfully, we don't really know a lot about EDCs cap strategy in terms of being up against it. Ozzie would just make veteran cuts and not sign any high-end players, which is certainly an option.

This particular offseason is pretty cut and dry. Do you tag JM or not. A long term extension is perfectly fine, because you can backload it a bit and use void years to stretch it out. A FT is monstrous straight cap hit with no wiggle room. If you don't use it, the world is really your oyster in terms of what you can and can't do with the roster. You just have to risk losing that player.
 
rmcjacket23

rmcjacket23

Ravens Ring of Honor
QtR Nevermore said:
I think Gus is a better fit for the Ravens than Henry. Henry needs a run up to get up to full speed, which basically eliminates all the mesh point/ threat of Lamar stuff that makes the Ravens run game so effective.

I know everyone is linking him to us, but I don't really know why, except that DeCosta does seem to like a big name, but aging, RB
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Think it would mostly be the idea that it was clear we were "in" on him at the trade deadline. So I'm not sure what would change to make us "out" on him now.
Granted, I have zero idea what the price tag for these guys will be, but I think I'd want to be one of the last movers in this market, not the first. There's like a half dozen or more respectable FA RBs this year. Couple that with the draft class, and you can get quality players for cheap just by waiting.
 
JO_75

JO_75

Hall of Famer
The RB free agency market will be deep as Schefter reports it's unlikely their respective teams use the Franchise Tag but will attempt to re-sign them. So that means.... Tony Pollard, Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Derrick Henry, and Austin Ekeler will all become free agents. We have our choice of who we want, and thinking Jim will try to sign one of them for the Chargers so we might be in a bidding war with Jim and the Chargers.

I'd much rather see us sign Josh Jacobs, Henry obviously would be a top choice as well but I think Jacobs is the type of closer we need in the 4th quarter to extend drives and close out the game.
 
rmcjacket23

rmcjacket23

Ravens Ring of Honor
JO_75 said:
The RB free agency market will be deep as Schefter reports it's unlikely their respective teams use the Franchise Tag but will attempt to re-sign them. So that means.... Tony Pollard, Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Derrick Henry, and Austin Ekeler will all become free agents. We have our choice of who we want, and thinking Jim will try to sign one of them for the Chargers so we might be in a bidding war with Jim and the Chargers.

I'd much rather see us sign Josh Jacobs, Henry obviously would be a top choice as well but I think Jacobs is the type of closer we need in the 4th quarter to extend drives and close out the game.
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I'd rather see us sign none of these guys, preferably. I certainly don't want to be the first mover in this group. I'd rather be towards the end and wait to see how the costs plummet.
 
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