The Offseason Thread

[Charm City]

I didn't get to see much of the game, but seeing as how Crabtree made some plays at the end of the game I think it's important to get another big body receiver this year, especially due to Jackson's accuracy problems. It'll be nice to have a guy who can grab some throws away from his body.

 

[allblackraven]

i went back and watched the last 3 drives to see how we ran them - and you're right - we literally only huddled when the clock stopped from about 8:30 left - until that point we'd had virtually no first downs in the game and then suddenly we have 2 drives for tds and we started that last drive before the strip sack with a first down on the first play

for as bad as lamar played for 3 and a half quarters he put the offence on his back in the 4th quarter with no huddle (and at most muddle huddle) and ran it almost to perfection twice and started well the 3rd (but got stripped by Nwosu) - in that space he overcame a complete lack of protection, penalties, 4th and long multiple times and got us in a position where we were driving to win

After all is said and done and settled for couple days, I can't shake the feeling that our staff sold Lamar incredibly short. To me, he looks capable of much more than he was allowed to do. Accuracy issues are there but there were numerous plays where he extended the drive with his arm, some pretty long passes, too. If we trusted him more, he would have done more and if we did, our running game would have become even more dangerous. Instead, our receivers and TEs were mostly blocking, making Lamar look indecisive and confused when in reality there wasn't too many places to go to with the pass. He also looks more natural if we play with more pace and it seems he'll either need new OC to teach other guys to fucking move and run to the line in 2 min offense or he'll have to teach them himself.

I understand the initial caution but they stayed with the same set of limited options all the way through to WC game, without ever trying to expand on them and, to make things worse, made it even tighter in the playoffs.

I don't buy for a second the explanation "they saw him in practice, he couldn't do it" because our staff apparently does not see much at all, as evidenced in games since Lamar started.

I really hope for Lamar's sake that we add some competency to our offensive staff and some weapons in the offseason.

With that, I'm finished with 2018, time to talk FA, draft and next season.

 

[rossihunter2]

After all is said and done and settled for couple days, I can't shake the feeling that our staff sold Lamar incredibly short. To me, he looks capable of much more than he was allowed to do. Accuracy issues are there but there were numerous plays where he extended the drive with his arm, some pretty long passes, too. If we trusted him more, he would have done more and if we did, our running game would have become even more dangerous. Instead, our receivers and TEs were mostly blocking, making Lamar look indecisive and confused when in reality there wasn't too many places to go to with the pass. He also looks more natural if we play with more pace and it seems he'll either need new OC to teach other guys to fucking move and run to the line in 2 min offense or he'll have to teach them himself.

I understand the initial caution but they stayed with the same set of limited options all the way through to WC game, without ever trying to expand on them and, to make things worse, made it even tighter in the playoffs.

I don't buy for a second the explanation "they saw him in practice, he couldn't do it" because our staff apparently does not see much at all, as evidenced in games since Lamar started.

I really hope for Lamar's sake that we add some competency to our offensive staff and some weapons in the offseason.

With that, I'm finished with 2018, time to talk FA, draft and next season.

im glad you're looking forwards lol - i am too - but one of the things i think ill enjoy more than any other year is being able to go back through lamar's ravens film in order to move forwards

 

[allblackraven]

im glad you're looking forwards lol - i am too - but one of the things i think ill enjoy more than any other year is being able to go back through lamar's ravens film in order to move forwards

Yeah, I'll keep watching but no more talk.

 

[allblackraven]

Tyler Ervin - RB - Ravens

Ravens signed RB Tyler Ervin, OG Kofi Amichia, OT Randin Crecelius, CB Robertson Daniel, FB Christopher Ezeala, S Bennett Jackson, LB Alvin Jones and TE Nick Keizer to reserve/future contracts.

Ervin has touched the ball just 19 times since the Texans made him the No. 119 overall selection of the 2016 draft. A 2017 torn patellar tendon certainly did not help. Even in run-heavy Baltimore, he will face long odds of making the 53-man roster.

 

[SaltyDog]

I'm only in favor of releasing him if we absolutely need those cap savings in order to sign an impact player at another position. Otherwise, we probably could survive without him, but I wouldn't be confident when looking at our injury history for the CB position.

Yeah or it could be the sum of the whole. We need upgrades on the O line, we need to get Mosley signed to a new deal, we need to re-sign Brown and maybe take a look at the FA market for another WR. I think Fitz is an UFA. We also need upgrades at our safety positions. There are some interesting FA available like Joyner from LA, Clinton-Dix from Washington, and Gilchrist from Oakland. I think all of this is doable keeping Smith here, but I think Carr and Weddle might be casualties.

 

[BaltRavens]

Lamar was NERVOUS as a 21 year-old mishandling balls. That is O.K. because he was so young in a playoff situation. I believe he was caught up in the situation. He will get experience under his belt and should feel more comfortable if a similar situation arises if we make the post season in 2019. Let's not forget that Harbs was on the hot seat in 2018. After all we HAD NOT been to the playoffs in about 5 years. I don't know if the organization is content with it's coaching staff although Newsome is in a different role in 2019 and from here on out.

 

[RavensMania]

He made 2 good throws, one was a blown coverage where he hit wide open guy and the other his guy was open because he scrambled around for awhile until something happened.

Those aren't how those plays are drawn up and you can't draw up "rum around for 6 seconds until someone is open enough for you to hit them"

I get we want to see the positive in the franchise QB but he was awful pretty much the entire game and garbage time yards do not change that.

No other qb on this team could have run around for 6 seconds and delivered that pass

 

[Tank]

but I wouldn't be confident when looking at our injury history for the CB position.

What you wrote right here, a lot of that concern goes away if we drop Jimmy, along with $9.5 mil. of cap hit. But it may be he is restructured/extended to a team friendly deal and I guess that would be determined by his value on the open market.

 

[Jacquouille]

I didn't get to see much of the game, but seeing as how Crabtree made some plays at the end of the game I think it's important to get another big body receiver this year, especially due to Jackson's accuracy problems. It'll be nice to have a guy who can grab some throws away from his body.

That's been my thoughts all the way for the last two months. The very good news is there is a plethora of such receivers in the upcoming draft class (to name a few for those who didn't start their draft season: JJ Arcega-Whiteside, Hakeem Butler, Nkeal Harry, DK Metcalf, Antoine Wesley, Anthony Johnson).

 

[RL52TheGreatest]

What you wrote right here, a lot of that concern goes away if we drop Jimmy, along with $9.5 mil. of cap hit. But it may be he is restructured/extended to a team friendly deal and I guess that would be determined by his value on the open market.

Does it though? Jimmy's injury history is well-documented, but Marlon was battling groin issues through a few games and Tavon didn't even suit up for our playoff game. I just think we're in a really good spot with our CB corps right now in that we can absorb multiple losses and still have depth to fill in for those guys. I'd prefer to just keep Jimmy and get at least one more year out of this group because we might not have this kind of depth ever again.

 

[cobrajet]

I worry about letting Weddle go without a plan. Even though his physical skills have degraded he's been the QB back there and a big reason our DBs have succeeded. Jimmy's cap hit this year is almost $16 mil. and it seems the $9.5 mil. in savings will be too tempting to pass up, thinking he's gone.
Not addressing the middle of the O line last off season killed this season, hopefully they learned the lesson.

I agree that the offensive line helped kill our season. It was my biggest worry before it started.

 

[balfan23]

No question he needs to stay. He definitely surprised more than a few and imo was the most improved Raven. It’s between him and Humphrey.

Right, but we had rightfully expected Humphrey to emerge. Peanut is the surprise performance of the year.

The question is what tender we will use to retain him. It could be argued that he's worth a 2nd round tender, but that's more costly than if we used a low-tender on him - just depends on whether we think some other team would come after him. He feels a little like the kind of guy that wouldn't attract too much attention from another team because his physical attributes don't jump out at you. Regardless, we would have the ability to match any offer.

 

[balfan23]

Why does everyone seem to think that we'll get rid of Jimmy? Having two borderline elite corners is a luxury that not many teams have and we shouldn't be in a rush to break that up.

People are speculating on getting rid of Jimmy simply because of his cap hit. Our defense has been awesome, so we need to be careful in how we do necessary revisions to keep lean and not allow that unit to age out all at the same time. It is a really tough call. He costs a lot, but he's pretty damn good - a lot better than some people seem to give him credit for.

I would be somewhat surprised if we moved on from both Jimmy and Weddle. Again, I think we need to be careful on how we move forward and revise this unit. No matter what changes we make on the other side of the ball, we're not going to be an offensive juggernaut and the D needs to stay dominant for us to compete at a high level.

 

[cobrajet]

People are speculating on getting rid of Jimmy simply because of his cap hit. Our defense has been awesome, so we need to be careful in how we do necessary revisions to keep lean and not allow that unit to age out all at the same time. It is a really tough call. He costs a lot, but he's pretty damn good - a lot better than some people seem to give him credit for.

I would be somewhat surprised if we moved on from both Jimmy and Weddle. Again, I think we need to be careful on how we move forward and revise this unit. No matter what changes we make on the other side of the ball, we're not going to be an offensive juggernaut and the D needs to stay dominant for us to compete at a high level.

I agree, I would keep Jimmy and Carr and as much as I am torn about Weddle, as I really like the guy and his leadership, I think it may be time to pick up someone that has more closing speed on receivers. I would like to pick up a free agent that has excellent skills, experience, and SPEED to lock down deep threat recievers. I would say this is a top priority after finding a quality Center and LG.

 

[cobrajet]

I hope Harbs truly considers making a change a OC and WRs coach. It is time to find some guys that can help our offense take the next step. I know.....wishful thinking.

 

[Charm City]

That's been my thoughts all the way for the last two months. The very good news is there is a plethora of such receivers in the upcoming draft class (to name a few for those who didn't start their draft season: JJ Arcega-Whiteside, Hakeem Butler, Nkeal Harry, DK Metcalf, Antoine Wesley, Anthony Johnson).

I'm hoping we can find one in the middle rounds since I want us to invest in the Oline early. Lil'Jordan Humphrey from Texas is a guy I am high on if he declares

 

[Jacquouille]

I'm hoping we can find one in the middle rounds since I want us to invest in the Oline early. Lil'Jordan Humphrey from Texas is a guy I am high on if he declares

He declared. I'm also starting to like his game, particularly his YAC ability.

 

[Charm City]

He declared. I'm also starting to like his game, particularly his YAC ability.

Since we all know Bobby Engram, our WR coach, is trash, we need to get a WR who will take the steps to develop on his own. I feel like he has the attitude to put in time off the field.

 

[Tank]

Does it though? Jimmy's injury history is well-documented, but Marlon was battling groin issues through a few games and Tavon didn't even suit up for our playoff game. I just think we're in a really good spot with our CB corps right now in that we can absorb multiple losses and still have depth to fill in for those guys. I'd prefer to just keep Jimmy and get at least one more year out of this group because we might not have this kind of depth ever again.

At $16 mi.? eh, I think they take their chances and part ways. Maybe a cap friendly extension.