Random Ravens Thoughts: New Forum Edition

[drd23]

1 hour ago, DreamKid said:

Wow it censored natch with an s in front of it, weird.

Eh, its not that surprising given the word is also a colloquial term for a particular part of the female anatomy

[DreamKid]

35 minutes ago, drd23 said:

Eh, its not that surprising given the word is also a colloquial term for a particular part of the female anatomy

For cab drivers in the 1970s.

[Mancunian Raven]

5 hours ago, diamondbull424 said:

Meh. Hindsight bias. Also we would still have been in need of an OT. Essentially this scenario might look more like a trade of:

1. Jalen Ramsey (23) X Garret Bolles (25)

2. Marlon Humphrey (21) X Ronnie Stanley (23)

Also the trade was for a 3rd round pick. At the time you have no idea what player that could be. And we still don’t know what Bronson Kaufusi might turn into. At the time SI rated the pick as an A- and that pick could’ve easily netted us a player like Kevin Byard (went only 6 picks before), Yannick Ngakoue (went 1 Pick before), Kendall Fuller (went a few picks after), etc.

In fact the bigger injustice might be passing up on a slam dunk pick like Kendall Fuller for Bronson Kaufusi. Knowing that we were pretty deep along the dline and Fuller outside of his injury, was a top notch player.

This is true. I desperately wanted Ramsey as well, and was very sceptical of Stanley. But OT was a greater need, because Monroe just wasn't interested in playing. And Stanley has worked out pretty well. Lord knows where we'd be without him.

Humphrey looks far better as a rookie than many thought he would, and still has plenty of scope to improve further. I think the Ravens did pretty well with both drafts. Sure, Kaufusi seems to be just another of the string of mid-round D-linemen the Ravens take, who don't always work out, but those are the odds you get with mid-round picks.

What frustrates me more is seeing players who are drafted not get opportunities, or who get utilised badly by the coaching staff. Like drafting an OLB then immediately trying to convert him to ILB, or using box safeties to cover. Things like that.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

9 hours ago, DreamKid said:

I remember the truth being that Dallas pulled out of the trade because they were afraid we'd take Elliot. I know we wanted one of Bosa or Ramsey bad though, the FO also tried to bump up and ****** Marshon Lattimore this past year, but I'm happy with who we got .

I'm happy with Marlon as well, but damn thinking back on the reality that we could've had Jalen Ramsey instead of Stanley/Kaufusi makes me really sad. Not that Stanley is bad, he's just not really lived up to the expectations of what a #6 overall pick entails. He was the 30th ranked OT this year by PFF. A decent player, but Jalen Ramsey is a future (if not currently) best CB in the league.

[diamondbull424]

11 minutes ago, Darth Pees said:

I'm happy with Marlon as well, but damn thinking back on the reality that we could've had Jalen Ramsey instead of Stanley/Kaufusi makes me really sad. Not that Stanley is bad, he's just not really lived up to the expectations of what a #6 overall pick entails. He was the 30th ranked OT this year by PFF. A decent player, but Jalen Ramsey is a future (if not currently) best CB in the league.

True. But at the same time Ronnie Stanley was playing through a decently serious knee injury during the second half of the season. I know he mentioned hearing something pop, yet he battled through. Before that he was having a top 10 OT season where he was graded as their #1 run blocker about halfway through the season and was like 22nd in pass pro.

What’s more, hindsight bias permitted I’d much rather keep our 3rd and use it on Kendall Fuller.

Stanley X Fuller X Humphrey

vs Ramsey X Bolles

That said hopefully with a better DC that utilizes his dlineman in more creative ways, Kaufusi will thrive to the level where this becomes a moot point.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

1 minute ago, diamondbull424 said:

True. But at the same time Ronnie Stanley was playing through a decently serious knee injury during the second half of the season. I know he mentioned hearing something pop, yet he battled through. Before that he was having a top 10 OT season where he was graded as their #1 run blocker about halfway through the season and was like 22nd in pass pro.

What’s more, hindsight bias permitted I’d much rather keep our 3rd and use it on Kendall Fuller.

Stanley X Fuller X Humphrey

vs Ramsey X Bolles

That said hopefully with a better DC that utilizes his dlineman in more creative ways, Kaufusi will thrive to the level where this becomes a moot point.

Even if we completely scratch the 3rd rounder, the biggest unknown is that if we took Ramsey last year, who would we have taken this year at 16, given that CB would've been a locked up position? Also, taking Ramsey last year gives us options later on in the draft for OL like you said with Bolles.

I completely agree with you about the DL depth though, it's being mostly wasted. I don't know why we took Wormley/Kaufusi in the 3rd if they were "project" players who couldn't step in and at least be depth guys. 

[Danand]

I am listening to a danish podcast, where they have fellow dane Hjalte Froholdt on the show. Froholdt plays LG for the Arkansas Razorbacks and talks about being a foreigner playing football in the US. He was among other things asked about, which player was the most talented he played with/watched at Arkansas. He specifically mentioned Alex Collins as 1 out of 3 players (the other being Hunter Henry and Frank Ragnow), and he explained, that in college Alex Collins was a player, who never more than he had to, to play/succeed. It was clear now though, that he had worked on some things this season, which could explain why they didn't want him at Seattle.

Froholdt also mentioned, that Collins greatest asset was his vision, which is different from what some in here have seen from him.

The best player Froholdt has seen is OC Frank Ragnow, which will enter the draft this year. He is rehabbing from an injury which sidelined him for most of the season, which means he might be able to get late in the draft this year.

[DontTazeMeBro]

So what I think I want to do is 

Cut: Jimmy Smith, Eric Weddle, Brandon Carr, Jeremy Maclin, Danny Woodhead

Sign: Jimmy Graham, Lamarcus Joyner, a cheaper WR who can just get open and catch the ball and isn’t afraid to get hit

Draft: Calvin Ridley or Anthony Miller, Ronald Jones 

Oh. And resign Jensen

Edited January 10, 2018 by DontTazeMeBro

[drd23]

I think one or two of those things might happen DTMB

[diamondbull424]

8 hours ago, DontTazeMeBro said:

So what I think I want to do is 

Cut: Jimmy Smith, Eric Weddle, Brandon Carr, Jeremy Maclin, Danny Woodhead

Sign: Jimmy Graham, Lamarcus Joyner, a cheaper WR who can just get open and catch the ball and isn’t afraid to get hit

Draft: Calvin Ridley or Anthony Miller, Ronald Jones 

Oh. And resign Jensen

Ronald Jones? The usc running back? I guess the good thing about him is that he’s orobably the best receiving back I’ve seen on tape. But given his skillset I think he’ll probably get drafted higher than more talented overall backs like Rashaad Penny. Just looking at both of their 2017 Stanford tape and I think it’s clear to see who the better runner is of the two though.

Do you want Jones more for his receiving ability then?

Edit: In terms of the rest of the post, I definitely think we should get rid of Woodhead as well. He didn’t really add anything to the unit, even when healthy, that we couldn’t get from the draft. Same with Maclin. I don’t think I would want to part ways with the corners though. We’ve had a lot of durability concerns there, that’s the one position where I’d rather we overpay a little bit.

Edited January 11, 2018 by diamondbull424

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

If we're parting ways with Jimmy, he's got to have some trade value.

[coordinator0]

Cutting Smith isn't happening. It only opens up $2 million in cap space before June 1st, and afterwards it doesn't really matter. He's worth far more to the team than any piddling move they can make by opening up that amount. When healthy of course, but that's the gamble. One worth making though.

Well, if you're assuming the team is going anywhere. 

[Mancunian Raven]

No thanks on Jimmy Graham. Another vet who appears to have all of his best days behind him. Talk to any Seahawks fan about his drops this season.

Cutting Carr, Weddle and Jimmy Smith would be a terrible idea. That would gut the secondary completely, and leave Jefferson as the only guy with more than a year of experience, unless you can get another expensive FA in.

[DontTazeMeBro]

2 hours ago, Mancunian Raven said:

Cutting Carr, Weddle and Jimmy Smith would be a terrible idea. That would gut the secondary completely, and leave Jefferson as the only guy with more than a year of experience, unless you can get another expensive FA in.

It’s putting Marlon Humphrey and Tavon Young out there which is what we’re going to end up with anyway when Smith gets injured like he always does and Carr gets benched. And Weddle can’t tackle and looks like he’s hurt every time he makes contact with someone. So far his football IQ has made up for it. But that isn’t going to last much longer. Even if Jimmy wasn’t a 30+ corner coming off an Achilles he still wasn’t worth the cap hit he’s scheduled to take. We have two young CBs we like. There’s no need to still be spending a fortune on these old guys 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

32 minutes ago, DontTazeMeBro said:

It’s putting Marlon Humphrey and Tavon Young out there which is what we’re going to end up with anyway when Smith gets injured like he always does and Carr gets benched. And Weddle can’t tackle and looks like he’s hurt every time he makes contact with someone. So far his football IQ has made up for it. But that isn’t going to last much longer. Even if Jimmy wasn’t a 30+ corner coming off an Achilles he still wasn’t worth the cap hit he’s scheduled to take. We have two young CBs we like. There’s no need to still be spending a fortune on these old guys 

Why not keep Carr at his price just for insurance if/when someone gets hurt? He's still a reliable #2/#3 CB. You can play Tavon and Marlon out there in base sets and then bring in Carr in Nickel packages. At least then you have some insurance in case someone goes down.

Also with Weddle, I think a better role will benefit him. He's still really good when he's playing centerfield and being asked to ballhawk - not when he's being asked to play around the LoS and make tackles, because we've all seen him try to tackle before. I think if we relegate him to a centerfielder (ala Ed Reed when he lost his ability to tackle) and relegate Jefferson as the box safety (ala Bernard Pollard) we should be fine there.

I'm still of the boat that Jimmy Smith should have some trade value, so if we're looking to cut him, just see if we can trade him for a 3rd or 4th round pick first before doing it. Everyone else, like Maclin and Woodhead, I'm totally okay with cutting. However, it's also kind of contradictory that you don't want to spend a fortune on old guys but you want to sign Jimmy Graham.