Ray Reed Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 OTC projects us getting a 4th round comp pick for Ben Powers this year. We need all the draft capital we can get this year with the mass exodus of FAs we're about to have 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFlaccoSeagulls Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 4 hours ago, Ray Reed said: OTC projects us getting a 4th round comp pick for Ben Powers this year. We need all the draft capital we can get this year with the mass exodus of FAs we're about to have Are we projected picks for any of them outside of Queen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Reed Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 (edited) 36 minutes ago, AFlaccoSeagulls said: Are we projected picks for any of them outside of Queen? Those projections won’t be out until they all sign their contracts, but would imagine Queen gets a 3rd, Clowney if we let him go may fetch something relatively substantial, same with Geno Stone. I’m operating under the assumption we tag Madubuike and Zeitler retires. Edited January 26 by Ray Reed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coordinator0 Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngusMcFife Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 I've been thinking, next year we need to chuck the ball all over the field. Forget Harbaugh and his run-first mentality. Lamar needs as many reps being a pass-first QB as possible, even if there are some short term lumps. Because in the end, he'll have to make a bunch of pressure throws to win in the playoffs. Of course in the playoffs, do what you have to do to win the game. But in the regular season, expose Lamar to as many pass defenses as you can and make him diagnose as much as possible. I want to see at least 4300 yards and 32 TDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngusMcFife Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 If, as a coach, you know you have a gameplan that calls on the QB to throw 37 times to win in a playoff game, then you need to prepare for that by executing that gameplan often during the regular season. The Ravens threw 37 or more times only 2x during the regular season (@PIT and vsLAR). Next highest was 35, then 33. There was a 5-game stretch where the highest attempts per game was 27. It just makes no sense not to play that way during the regular season and then expect to execute against a good defense in cold rain in the playoffs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diamondbull424 Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 11 hours ago, AngusMcFife said: If, as a coach, you know you have a gameplan that calls on the QB to throw 37 times to win in a playoff game, then you need to prepare for that by executing that gameplan often during the regular season. The Ravens threw 37 or more times only 2x during the regular season (@PIT and vsLAR). Next highest was 35, then 33. There was a 5-game stretch where the highest attempts per game was 27. It just makes no sense not to play that way during the regular season and then expect to execute against a good defense in cold rain in the playoffs. I disagree. If the Ravens lean into their strengths, they win. The roster had big physical OL that could’ve easily pummeled the KC front, they chose to go pass heavy. If anything they should have leaned more into the Greg Roman playbook in that particular game. The point was to not be pigeon holed into a specific offense. Lamar is never going to throw with the accuracy of Tua or Stroud. He’s never going to throw off leverage and anticipation like Brock Purdy. He’s never going to be as cerebral as Mahomes. Neither will Josh Allen to the above. But what these guys can do is make plays with their arm and feet. I’m all for Lamar being around 3800-4000 passing yards (play 17 games and have a couple 300 yard performances), but he needs to not get to a point where he’s TOO passive with running the football. He was already thinking too much in that AFCCG about whether to stay in the pocket or run. Just tell him to go out there and be a playmaker. I want to see him calling more audibles and hot routes based on blitz packages. As if he knows he’s being blitzed at an 70-80% clip, he needs to get the ball to his hot routes and if the routes are long developing, then he needs to shift to having our WRs run a slant, curl, etc. I want Lamar to continue to build his fundamentals, but focus this offseason with looking at Brock Purdy tape, look at how he uses defensive player leverage to determine HOW to throw with anticipation. Thats his biggest weakness at this stage, if he can keep his mechanics tight and improve his understanding of what to attack, I think that will allow him to keep a similar amount of passing attempts, but increase his efficiency. Purdy might be a game manager, but he’s an elite game manager. And while Lamar has made strides in that regard, he can still improve. But I think our “normal” run/pass mix should look to stay roughly the same as this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diamondbull424 Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 That said due to cap concerns and what we have on the roster, utilizing more 21 and 22 personnel than this past season. Though not as much as under Roman that should be the reality as the most cost effective offense to build. I would like this offense to keep with a similar balance. Perhaps increase the tempo to accomplish more volume, go more no-huddle in games to give Lamar additional mastery for playoff games, but out of our normal huddle, I’d like to keep a similar balance personally, especially with our TEs having such a talent pool to exploit vs that of our WR pool. My offseason list would be something like: 1. Veteran pass rush to compliment Oweh and Ojabo, Clowney would be the most ideal as he’s still decently young but he probably goes to get paid as a mercenary, but KVN likely costs a lot less and might appreciate the camaraderie. Clowney probably goes to the Commanders with Macdonald. Ojabo would hopefully replace what Clowney gives if Clowney is looking to get paid. 2. Madubuike give him the non-exclusive tag. Let him negotiate with other teams and see his market value. If they choose to sign him we get the two 1st round picks or can trade him for a little less. He’s a terrific talent that I’d rather not let go, but we also have to be smart. We can build an elite defense without Mads in the middle. And if he’s trying to get paid $24-30m then it’s better to let him go find that on the open market and we cut our losses. Get that draft compensation and move in another direction. 3. Draft a clear cut deep threat that knows how to adjust his routes to scramble drills, that isn’t Rashod Bateman. Xavier Legette being able to play and adjust with Spencer Rattler and play with the physicality has him as my favorite option. Honestly if the team can trade Bateman for a 2nd round pick at this point (unlikely) then I would shop him, he’s just not an optimal fit with Lamar. If not, then keep him and hope that changes. 4. Build up the corners. We got by with quality coverage, if we can grab an elite cover talent that would go a long way. 5. Draft a RB upgrade. With our TE strength, we should have them on the field more often. Considering that we should run the football more often too. As it currently stands our RB room only has Hill and an injured Mitchell. RB room should be upgraded. This draft likely has the #1 RB coming off the board in round 2… which means really good backs could be had into late day 2 and into day 3. 6. Beyond that another RT option as depth should be considered as Faalele seems to be the weakest link. Mekari can man either spot and we should have enough along the IOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngusMcFife Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 2 hours ago, diamondbull424 said: I disagree. If the Ravens lean into their strengths, they win. The roster had big physical OL that could’ve easily pummeled the KC front, they chose to go pass heavy. If anything they should have leaned more into the Greg Roman playbook in that particular game. I respectfully disagree. The Chiefs filled every gap with blitzers and slowly constricted the pocket. Running into a front like that will get nowhere. The ONLY solution is to pass them out of that defense. The Ravens OL is not good enough to impose their will on a D. You have to burn them with quick passes and YAC. Quote The point was to not be pigeon holed into a specific offense. Lamar is never going to throw with the accuracy of Tua or Stroud. He’s never going to throw off leverage and anticipation like Brock Purdy. He’s never going to be as cerebral as Mahomes. Neither will Josh Allen to the above. But what these guys can do is make plays with their arm and feet. I’m all for Lamar being around 3800-4000 passing yards (play 17 games and have a couple 300 yard performances), but he needs to not get to a point where he’s TOO passive with running the football. He'll never get there if he never gets the reps in a pass-first offense. But who knows what his ceiling is? Lamar will never get to the point where he forgets how to run. But he could get to a point where his passing is limited because he isn't challenged enough as a pure passer. Quote He was already thinking too much in that AFCCG about whether to stay in the pocket or run. Just tell him to go out there and be a playmaker. I want to see him calling more audibles and hot routes based on blitz packages. As if he knows he’s being blitzed at an 70-80% clip, he needs to get the ball to his hot routes and if the routes are long developing, then he needs to shift to having our WRs run a slant, curl, etc. I want Lamar to continue to build his fundamentals, but focus this offseason with looking at Brock Purdy tape, look at how he uses defensive player leverage to determine HOW to throw with anticipation. Thats his biggest weakness at this stage, if he can keep his mechanics tight and improve his understanding of what to attack, I think that will allow him to keep a similar amount of passing attempts, but increase his efficiency. Purdy might be a game manager, but he’s an elite game manager. And while Lamar has made strides in that regard, he can still improve. But I think our “normal” run/pass mix should look to stay roughly the same as this season. All fair points. I just think something needs to change because this is 2x now we've had an regular season team flame out in the playoffs. I think the coaches should have Lamar chuck it in the regular season to be prepared for the games in the playoffs where all the gaps are plugged and he needs to spray the ball around. Because it happens too infrequently in the regular season for him to have to turn it on in a playoff game. After doing it 2 or 3 times in the regular season? Makes no sense. I trust him to continue to build his mechanics and work on his mental game. And I think more passing in the regular season will reinforce those aspects of his game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diamondbull424 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 6 hours ago, AngusMcFife said: I respectfully disagree. The Chiefs filled every gap with blitzers and slowly constricted the pocket. Running into a front like that will get nowhere. The ONLY solution is to pass them out of that defense. The Ravens OL is not good enough to impose their will on a D. You have to burn them with quick passes and YAC. It’s 11 on 11 football with them blitzing every gap. We know with Roman he used motion to get a numbers advantage on one side with the run game, but even if we assume we just ran the plays straight up, we saw HUGE success on plays where we went 11 on 11 and went power with our strength against their blitz… the Lamar 20+ (near TD) on 4th and 1 as well as the Gus Edwards 9 yard run were 2/8 designed run plays that both went for big gains when we went power and ran straight at KC with our sized front vs their small front. On both plays we dominated. KC had success when we tried to run them to the edges where their speed and instincts were able to overwhelm our size, however the few plays where we legitimately utilized our strength advantage, we dominated. What’s more had we doubled down on that and utilized more 12, 21, and 22 personnel sets against KC, we would have obliterated them. Can you imagine Snead and McDuffie having to take on blocks from Andrews, Likely, and Kolar head on? It would have been a bad day for them at the office. Maybe if this were the NY Giants front with Dexter Lawrence and them boys or the Jets with Williams and Mosley and those guys, the Patriots have a big front 7, the Steelers. You wouldn’t want to run right at those guys… but then those defenses would have other weaknesses that we could’ve exploited. But this KC defense was small and legitimately were not strong enough to bang within a phone booth with our guys and we went with a foolish gameplan. There’s absolutely no way around it. 6 hours ago, AngusMcFife said: He'll never get there if he never gets the reps in a pass-first offense. But who knows what his ceiling is? Lamar will never get to the point where he forgets how to run. But he could get to a point where his passing is limited because he isn't challenged enough as a pure passer. I don’t disagree and I’m not saying we should avoid passing the football, but a couple things. From a roster construction standpoint, unless we move on from Mads, we won’t have the cap space to invest in the WR position with the veteran WR options as we did this last offseason. That was sort of an all in maneuver FTMP. Perhaps we could double down on this team and push money off into future years to try and retain as much of it as possible, but that’s not our typical way of operating. So from a roster construction perspective, we’ve got 3 average to really good TE options and we also have the best FB/TE/extra OL in the league at a very good salary who is outside of Patrick Mekari our most versatile offensive piece in Pat Ricard. Then we look at the fact that Duvernay is gone, OBJ is going to be WAYYY too expensive to retain for what he provided, and that Aghalor dropped countless critical passes (while also having some other clutch receptions), and the best we can hope for is returning Aghalor and drafting a rookie WR option. But in the event of that likelihood, you don’t have to placate a $13m WR option with getting him on the field over a potentially more productive TE option… and so you’d naturally seek to run more 12, 13, 22, and 23 personnel sets. It wouldn’t prevent us from still running 11 personnel with Aghalor, but we wouldn’t have to be as WR heavy in our formations and thus running the ball at a high clip would be a natural result of bigger formations. So while you don’t ever want to run as frequently as Roman, I think the most you’d want to get into would be a 60/40 pass-run split if you can help it. 6 hours ago, AngusMcFife said: All fair points. I just think something needs to change because this is 2x now we've had an regular season team flame out in the playoffs. I think the coaches should have Lamar chuck it in the regular season to be prepared for the games in the playoffs where all the gaps are plugged and he needs to spray the ball around. Because it happens too infrequently in the regular season for him to have to turn it on in a playoff game. After doing it 2 or 3 times in the regular season? Makes no sense. I trust him to continue to build his mechanics and work on his mental game. And I think more passing in the regular season will reinforce those aspects of his game. I think more than just slinging it around the yard he needs to actually BE in high pressure situations more often. He’s not often in them. So when he IS down, he's more likely to press on throws like the one to Likely into triple coverage (granted Likely was tackled before the ball got there and that wasn’t called by those fraud refs but still). But besides that, we win and win big so often that him facing actual pressure is more difficult to simulate. The closest thing would IMO be executing a hurry up offense where we continue to vary the pacing of the no-huddle. Simulate varying speeds of offense to simulate the speed of a high pressure offense. If we run more offensive possessions based on utilizing more no huddle and a higher tempo offense, that could afford more passes (as well as runs), while forcing Lamar to speed up his decision making process. But its risky… because we can’t just assume that we will roll over teams and make the playoffs, let alone finish as a top seed… like we do when we play to our strengths and aren’t experimenting quite so much. I like the idea of passing more, just not the idea of having a more pass heavy (as in higher pass split) offense. But that’s JMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngusMcFife Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 I'll be okay if Mike MacDonald leaves, but if he poaches Anthony Weaver or Chuck Smith I'm gonna be pissed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFlaccoSeagulls Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 40 minutes ago, AngusMcFife said: I'll be okay if Mike MacDonald leaves, but if he poaches Anthony Weaver or Chuck Smith I'm gonna be pissed. We need to promote Weaver ASAP to DC and retain Chuck Smith at all costs as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coordinator0 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Weaver has the assistant head coach title. So unless he really wants to go the Ravens can decline Seattle asking for him since it wouldn't be a strict upgrade in title. Or something. His one season as a defensive coordinator for Houston wasn't exactly inspiring. Neither was their defensive roster but if Weaver is the replacement not sure I'm holding high hopes for that side of the ball with him and all of the expected roster turnover there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamKid Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 After letting the season and our exit fully soak in, I have to say I'm growing really uncomfortable with the current coaching situation. How many playoff collapses is John Harbaugh going to be afforded during the Lamar era? Monken folded with one of the strongest teams in franchise history, at home, in the AFC title game, with his MVP QB on a hot streak- with inevitably less favorable circumstances on the horizon what level of faith and security does he truly deserve? What are the chances we don't regret letting Mike McDonald leave the organization? A hard loss should bring hard questions. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Reed Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 1 hour ago, coordinator0 said: Weaver has the assistant head coach title. So unless he really wants to go the Ravens can decline Seattle asking for him since it wouldn't be a strict upgrade in title. Or something. His one season as a defensive coordinator for Houston wasn't exactly inspiring. Neither was their defensive roster but if Weaver is the replacement not sure I'm holding high hopes for that side of the ball with him and all of the expected roster turnover there. Yup. I’m getting out ahead of this early, but i’d MUCH prefer to promote DB coach Dennard Wilson as our next DC over Weaver. We've seen a ton of Weaver the past year on mic’d up and there’s something i’m not thrilled about. Seems soft, almost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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