Random Ravens Thoughts: New Forum Edition

[DreamKid]

12 hours ago, Danand said:

I listened to the latest Ken McKusick podcast, and he mentioned that the other Dlinemen had a sack rate per unit on 3-6 % off their snaps, while Henry was an outlier with a sack per unit on 20 % of the snaps with him on the field. That says something about the disruption he was able to create when on the field.

Something sneaky I've noticed about Willie Henry is that he seems to step over the line quite frequently with QB hits. Enough so that I believe it won't take long for him to be labeled a dirty player. A story line that went under the radar last year was Judon earning that label with many of the oppositions' fans. With those two seeing significant time, we should see some fireworks lol.

I won't care either. We already saw defenders stepping over the line with Lamar last year.

[Danand]

There is a little nugget on the athletic about the Ravens process regarding drafting Lamar Jackson.

It can be read here: https://theathletic.com/1088122/2019/07/24/how-lamar-jackson-became-the-ravens-starting-quarterback/

But for those without subscription I can summarize in short what the article concerns.

 

1. Jackson was first on the teams radar by februar-march after a local scout voiced his very positive opinions about Lamar Jackson – the Ravens then chose to get a closer look at Lamar

2. Ravens tried to keep their interest in Lamar hidden at the combine and during the draft process. DeCosta managed to keep a local media member silent, after he had seen Lamar in Baltimore

3. Urban seems like the primary guy who had to interview Lamar. He was impressed with Lamars ability to pick up on plays and scheme during an interview and his ability to process a west coast play.

In general the team is very impressed with and intrigued by Lamars personality – they view him as a humble and hungry player who other players like and he wants to prove doubters wrong. He has a “business like” mentality.

During the draft process some teams were concerned with Lamars choice not to run the 40, not to assign an agent but keep his mother as “manager”, and Lamar refusing to convert to WR because he wanted to play quarterback and finally his 13 wonderlic score. The Ravens didn’t view any of those things as red flags and actually considered the decisions a strength – wonderlic scores is not something they care that much about as they have their own tests to determine if a player – especially a quarterback – can handle a playbook and on field adjustments.

4. Come draft day the team with Harbaugh in front was committed to pick Lamar at the right spot, they were also very interested in Baker Mayfield but recognized he was out of draft range. Lamar was rated in the Ravens top 25 players, but they believed they could get him later.

5. The OTA’s had Lamar focus on very basic things like hand placement when receiving snaps under center, how to make drop backs etc. His pronounciation – aka verbiage – was something he had to focus on as well. Seems like his dialect was something he has to change to make everyone understand him.

6. The part of the article describing the season with Lamar is a well known story – scaled down offense, playing to Lamars strength, Snead voids some frustration not being able to go more downfield with passing but acknowledge that was the circumstances with a rookie QB

7. The playoff game against the Chargers, after two drives in the second half and the offense continued stalling, Harbaugh asked Roman and Mornhinweg “which QB”, they said Lamar, Harbaugh then asked Flacco who also pointed towards Lamar. Harbaugh himself refers to the oline not being able to pass protect very well, which wouldn’t suit Flacco, and Lamar was beating at escaping pressure.

8. In the offseason Harbaugh viewed Roman as a better fit for OC due to his experience with Kaepernick and simply asked Roman and Mornhinweg to switch responsibilities – Mornhinweg declined. Roman builds the new offensive scheme with input from Lamar. All training seems focused on Lamars fundamentals as he has never really trained those before.

[drd23]

 

[sp6488]

Pretty cool that Leach and McGahee wanted to retire as Ravens.

[DreamKid]

I agree. I think the Jaguars' FO is vulnerable, and we could swing a favorable deal.

https://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/2019/7/24/20708287/baltimore-ravens-trade-for-yannick-ngakoue-nfl-training-camp-jacksonville-jaguars-eric-decosta

 

[berlin calling]

if there ever was a time for this team to pay a PR 20m/year it is now while the QB and most skill players on offense are still on their rookie deals.

i'd offer 2021 1st and Bowser.

 

[Danand]

Yannick Ngakoue could actually be one of those big signings, that I would be an favor for. I would like to see if Bowser and Williams can raise their level of play and run with a Judon, McPhee, Ferguson, Bowser and Williams, but if we would go for Ngakoue, that could be a sign they won't extend Judon.

Ngakoue should have been a Raven, but the Jaguars were wise to pick him right in front of us, and instead we had to suffer the Bronson Kaufusi experience. 

[DreamKid]

If we do trade for him I think Judon would have to be part of the deal. Jag brass gets another young pass rushing talent, with a more acceptable price tag in their opinion. It would essentially be us paying for an upgrade to Judon and using him to pay part of the bill.

Middle of the road and lower tier teams are going to be more willing to ship out high end talent with dreams of Trevor Lawrence's doberman head ending up inside their club's helmet. They want future 1st Rounders, badly. 

30 minutes ago, Danand said:

Ngakoue should have been a Raven, but the Jaguars were wise to pick him right in front of us, and instead we had to suffer the Bronson Kaufusi experience.

That 1-2 sticks out so much when you look back over the 2016 NFL Draft. Our dealings with the Jaguars in that draft were interesting. The 5th Round pick they gave us to secure a move up for Myles Jack, we used to pick Matt Judon. And the FO also talked about how we tried to move up for Bosa and then Ramsey.

[Danand]

1 hour ago, DreamKid said:

If we do trade for him I think Judon would have to be part of the deal. Jag brass gets another young pass rushing talent, with a more acceptable price tag in their opinion. It would essentially be us paying for an upgrade to Judon and using him to pay part of the bill.

Middle of the road and lower tier teams are going to be more willing to ship out high end talent with dreams of Trevor Lawrence's doberman head ending up inside their club's helmet. They want future 1st Rounders, badly. 

That 1-2 sticks out so much when you look back over the 2016 NFL Draft. Our dealings with the Jaguars in that draft were interesting. The 5th Round pick they gave us to secure a move up for Myles Jack, we used to pick Matt Judon. And the FO also talked about how we tried to move up for Bosa and then Ramsey.

We really lost out on some talent early in that draft. For what its worth, it seems like our front office had figured out the great players in this draft, besides the pass rushers early they completely missed on (and used wrong)

[drd23]

1 hour ago, DreamKid said:

If we do trade for him I think Judon would have to be part of the deal.

May as well because you just know that in the scenario where the Ravens trade for Ngakoue and given him a big contract that Judon will sulk/kick up a fuss because it would basically guarantee he wouldn't get a contract he liked in Baltimore

[DreamKid]

18 minutes ago, drd23 said:

May as well because you just know that in the scenario where the Ravens trade for Ngakoue and given him a big contract that Judon will sulk/kick up a fuss because it would basically guarantee he wouldn't get a contract he liked in Baltimore

100%. Honestly, our relationship with Judon has never looked like it would outlast his Rookie contract. 

[sp6488]

4 hours ago, DreamKid said:

100%. Honestly, our relationship with Judon has never looked like it would outlast his Rookie contract. 

He's a perfect example of the Ravens ideal cycle: late round pick -> outplays draft slot with tons of surplus value -> Paid $$$ as FA -> comp pick (higher than original draft position)

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

5 hours ago, DreamKid said:

100%. Honestly, our relationship with Judon has never looked like it would outlast his Rookie contract. 

 

41 minutes ago, sp6488 said:

He's a perfect example of the Ravens ideal cycle: late round pick -> outplays draft slot with tons of surplus value -> Paid $$$ as FA -> comp pick (higher than original draft position)

Both of these are spot on.

[SalvadorsDeli]

I just got around to reading that piece about Lamar Jackson in The Athletic linked above and I found it super super interesting. Found this quote to be particularly noteworthy: 

Quote

“I expect this to change the way offensive football is played in the National Football League,” Harbaugh says. “Not that everybody is going to take on this style. But I expect us to create something that hasn’t been seen before. It’s elements and concepts that aren’t new to football. But the way we apply them and put them together and decide how much we use in the course of a game or a season — five step, three step, seven step, play action, RPOs, double options, triple options, downhill runs, all the audibles you can run, directional runs — all of that is part of it. I think we’re going to be in more elements than any team has ever been.”

 

As with a lot of things Lamar-related this is basically a Rorschach test for what you already think of him. If you're a Lamar skeptic, you see that and you probably come away even more convinced that this is not going to work out because you think it sounds like the Ravens are basically trying to build a gimmick offense to make things work for him (in particular, I think the mention of the option plays is going to cause some people to roll their eyes).

But the positive reading of this is also legitimate: that Lamar really is a unique talent and it's important and encouraging that the Ravens have recognized that and embraced it rather than trying to do something conventional with an unconventional/new kind of talent. At the very least it's exciting and interesting to see what they're going to do - given how generally low-key/coach-speaky Harbaugh is about things like this, I find it fascinating how much he is going out on a limb and promising on this front in terms of offensive innovation/creativity. 

Edited July 26, 2019 by BaltimoreTerp

[sp6488]

On that note, I think we are going to scheme serious mismatches that put defenses in no-win situations.  It all starts with Lamar, but then I think our TE group is the next most important differentiator in that mix.  Hurst, Boyle and Andrews are going to give us the versatility to either run with 2 TE sets with 2 runners (QB and HB) or split them out wide for a 4 WR/TE look.  If a defense adds extra DBs, they might get run over, if they keep 7 up front, then they might get lit up in the passing game.