Random Ravens Thoughts: New Forum Edition

[diamondbull424]

20 hours ago, DreamKid said:

No secret a deal is less likely at this point. Cleveland chose to give an overrated QB and serial predator a fully guaranteed contract, Lamar is stubborn and doing his own deal(with no doubt Hollywood in his ear telling him to never back down and secure a nuclear bag), and our FO(+Ownership) won't accept being robbed/played in this situation. 

The conversation around the whole thing is distracting and just genuinely aggravating too.

A player's value is what someone is willing to pay them, and Lamar like any other player has every right to pursue the most he can get. That said, this position some fans have taken of decrying us turning down any demand Lamar makes as some moral or spiritual failing is ludicrous. 

Lamar is coming off a season where he was not only injured, but also took a step back in performance. Yet if we're not willing to give him quarter or half a billion+(whatever number he has in his head)... fully guaranteed we're somehow inept scumbags.

Social media antics have already started(Lamar liking pictures of himself in a dolphins jersey), while the media has poured gasoline on the topic and will continue to do so until there's a conclusion to the situation. 

With no end to negotiations in sight, popular theory is that we'll be trading Lamar to some Florida team in the near future. The biggest issue with this scenario though, is fans of our club(and others) believing we'd be offered fair compensation for Jackson.....  Which is actually somewhat startling given the level of respect and interest Lamar has been shown on his prospect to player journey thus far. Anyone imagining us being offered 3+ 1sts or something is crazy. Lamar still has people around the league in high ranking executive and coaching positions that legitimately believe he can't consistently throw the ball at a high or even competent level and don't see his career lasting more than a couple years longer with his play style. Fair analysis or not, that's where he's at across the league with those people. Getting another club's owner, GM, and head coach all on the same page about Lamar to the degree where they're giving up a monster compensation package + giving him a max fully guaranteed deal + committing to him philosophically- really really doesn't seem like something that will happen. 

Truly unfortunate that it's getting to this point. Not like we haven't been here before though right? Flacco didn't want the deal we offered pre SB either, let's see what Lamar can do in his big year. 

I'd be interested to hear some current thoughts on the subject from you guys. 

 

I think the deadline thing was overblown anyway based off of the media’s obsession with Lamar’s contract- which I really think is because they’re waiting to pounce on the “Ravens made a mistake signing Lamar narrative” but I digress.

Based off the interview where the “deadline” was brought up, it sounded like the media member asked if there was a deadline and suggested like the start of the season and Lamar simply confirmed that he would want to get it done before the start of the season to concentrate on the season.

So IMO, I think the Ravens feel like they want to see more and see Lamar bounce back and Lamar wants the absolute bag and they need more time in-season to move closer towards a comfortable medium.

We saw Stanley signed mid-season and I think if a deal doesn’t get done by the start of the season, it could also be done on/around the bye week- as more information will be available to allow the Ravens to move towards a $300m commitment to Lamar, which is what I’m sure he is asking for.

[ThatJaxxenGuy]

However things play out, I’m not going to let Lamar’s contract effect my enjoyment of this season. 

[Ray Reed]

If he wins multiple games in the postseason this year I think he’ll get whatever he wants from the FO. If we get to a conference championship or even maybe a divisional round that he plays very well in but we still lose I think a lot of potential concerns fade away.

But if we go one and done again or maybe even win the first and lose the next round and he plays subpar I could see Biscotti/Decosta holding firm. And I wouldn’t necessarily blame them...it’s hard to commit that much $ to a guy if you’re still unsure you can win in the playoffs with him (whether that’s justified or not). If you’re not getting  as far as you expect to as a franchise - and Biscotti expects more than what we’ve done the past 4 years, make no mistake about that - with a particular guy at QB when he’s being paid relatively little, I can see the trepidation of giving him massive $ and just hoping that turns around when there’s less $ for the rest of the team.

[baltimoreRebel]

I'm genuinely getting worried. 

Are we going to sign any OLBs? 

[Boodgyman5220]

40 minutes ago, baltimoreRebel said:

I'm genuinely getting worried. 

Are we going to sign any OLBs? 

Honestly. I think we’ll see means elevated from the practice squad. I also think we’ll see Harrison playing some snaps outside as well as some looks with maybe chuck clark or hamilton playing some type of edge defender.

[baltimoreRebel]

5 minutes ago, Boodgyman5220 said:

Honestly. I think we’ll see means elevated from the practice squad. I also think we’ll see Harrison playing some snaps outside as well as some looks with maybe chuck clark or hamilton playing some type of edge defender.

I fully expect that as well but my God.. 

Get a JPP in here as some insurance. Something has to happen. 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

1 hour ago, Boodgyman5220 said:

Honestly. I think we’ll see means elevated from the practice squad. I also think we’ll see Harrison playing some snaps outside as well as some looks with maybe chuck clark or hamilton playing some type of edge defender.

yikes imo

[AngusMcFife]

Regarding OLBs, I think we'll just be running a a lot of 4-2-5.

Urban and Campbell are huge D-lineman who can clog up lanes throwing lanes, and Pierce, Madu, and Jones (when healthy) can push the pocked from the inside. There more than one way to disrupt the passing game without a twitchy edge rusher, but at least we have 2 in Oweh and Houston.

[baltimoreRebel]

I think it's time a lot of us fans need to get used to the idea that there's a decent possibly that this Lamar situation ends with Lamar leaving. 

Do I think it will happen? Likely no BUT. 

If he's insisting on a completely guaranteed deal? It's not happening. 

Edited September 7, 2022 by baltimoreRebel

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

1 hour ago, baltimoreRebel said:

I think it's time a lot of us fans need to get used to the idea that there's a decent possibly that this Lamar situation ends with Lamar leaving. 

Do I think it will happen? Likely no BUT. 

If he's insisting on a completely guaranteed deal? It's not happening. 

I don't think he is insisting on it, but I do think there's a pretty sizeable chance he leaves at this point. This shouldn't have been a hard thing to get done, tbh.

[SalvadorsDeli]

It's not like EDC hasn't built a good team but I can't help but feel a bit of frustration watching the Bills and just sort of contrasting the really deliberate and aggressive steps they've taken to build, brick-by-brick, an unmistakable Super Bowl favorite around Josh Allen and compare that to the sort of conservative, middle ground approach we've taken over the past couple of years. You look at some of the moves they've made and it really puts in perspective the fact that we spent a whole offseason hyping up hiring Keith Williams working to improve the footwork of our WR's as a possible gamechanger.  And look - there's obviously some luck involved in what worked and what didn't work, and some of the differences also just come down to Josh Allen's really incredible development as a quarterback -- but I don't think it's unreasonable to think we've shown less urgency than some of our peers. 

Especially given that there's a non-zero chance Lamar just ups and leaves in 1-2 years... it's going to bring into focus more the fact that there were all-in moves to make and we never really took a risk on any of them. That sort of self-sustaining, long-term outlook perfectly defensible route to take but I think we've sort of underrated the very real possibility that we took our Super Bowl window for granted and let it slip by in the interest of making a bunch of high floor, lower ceiling B+ moves. 

Edited September 9, 2022 by SalvadorsDeli

[Ray Reed]

23 minutes ago, SalvadorsDeli said:

It's not like EDC hasn't built a good team but I can't help but feel a bit of frustration watching the Bills and just sort of contrasting the really deliberate and aggressive steps they've taken to build, brick-by-brick, an unmistakable Super Bowl favorite around Josh Allen and compare that to the sort of conservative, middle ground approach we've taken over the past couple of years. You look at some of the moves they've made and it really puts in perspective the fact that we spent a whole offseason hyping up hiring Keith Williams working to improve the footwork of our WR's as a possible gamechanger.  And look - there's obviously some luck involved in what worked and what didn't work, and some of the differences also just come down to Josh Allen's really incredible development as a quarterback -- but I don't think it's unreasonable to think we've shown less urgency than some of our peers. 

Especially given that there's a non-zero chance Lamar just ups and leaves in 1-2 years... it's going to bring into focus more the fact that there were all-in moves to make and we never really took a risk on any of them. That sort of self-sustaining, long-term outlook perfectly defensible route to take but I think we've sort of underrated the very real possibility that we took our Super Bowl window for granted and let it slip by in the interest of making a bunch of high floor, lower ceiling B+ moves. 

Yeah, something that is super frustrating - to your point - is the FO's incessant insistence that mid round draft picks are equivalent to gold. Remember when the Texans asked for an additional 3rd or something for Hopkins and that was the back breaker for us?

This regime especially (based on draft track record) needs to understand that a large percentage of our mid round picks are not hits, and they need to be willing to deal those when the time comes if a proven, legit player becomes available.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Ray Reed

[M.10.E]

It just sucks we had to essentially waste a year last year. We’ve had our highest paid player and second most important player sit on the bench the last two years. 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

I hate this "Lamar betting on himself" sentiment.

he's already proven everything you can prove. This isn't Joe Flacco asking for $100M, us going "lol" and him betting on himself. This is the face of your franchise, a once-in-a-generation player who won unanimous MVP and your entire offense/franchise is based around. 

We're low-balling him, clearly. It's just ridiculous that we couldn't get this done.

[M.10.E]

Let’s ride