Baltimore Ravens 2018 Offseason Tracker

[DreamKid]

37 minutes ago, Boodgyman5220 said:

with the kick return slowly dying

It isn't dying. Awful people are trying to murder it. Big difference. 

Professional Football like many other professions in the world will never be safe. Luckily though, like with those other professions, people aren't forced against their will to play the game. If they choose to participate and are of a high enough skill level to make it to the league, they will then be compensated to a ridiculous degree to incur the risks the game holds. There's trade offs down every avenue of life, and football has it's own set of them.

The indulgence for these straw arguments pushing to strip and nerf the game of football is pathetic. 

1 hour ago, Boodgyman5220 said:

somebody in that corner/receiver group has to have some return skills.

Of the bunch likely to make the roster Chris Moore would be that guy, he just isn't a plus player at the position. 

[coordinator0]

18 minutes ago, DreamKid said:

Of the bunch likely to make the roster Chris Moore would be that guy, he just isn't a plus player at the position. 

And to be more specific, as a kick returner. He doesn't return punts. The latter is probably the more important aspect of returning now too with the recent past and possibly future changes to the kickoff rules. 

With Webb gone the only defensive back on the roster to have returned punts in the NFL is Weddle, his last coming back in 2012 and has only 8 career attempts. Maurice Canady, Anthony Levine, and Bennett Jackson had a handful of attempts each back in their college days. Robert Nelson a bit more so. The last two definitely aren't making the roster though so they're irrelevant.

On offense John Brown (17 attempts in 2016-17, 11 FC) and Willie Snead (1 career attempt) have returned punts in the NFL. Jaelon Acklin (3), Jordan Lasley (1), and DeVier Posey (6) each had a small attempt of punt returns in their college careers.

Then there's Tim White and Janarion Grant. Unless someone else is brought in I don't see how one of these two guys doesn't make the roster.

[berlin calling]

why oh why do they keep doing this???

 

it has really become a habit for the Ravens to restructure any contract of note, only to increase cap hits to unreasonable heights.

Jefferson will have a cap hit of 12m for '19 and '20... wtf? how should he ever be able to play up to this? beside everything else i find it kind of unfair to burden the players with such albatross cap hits, only few can play up to imo.

 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

37 minutes ago, berlin calling said:

why oh why do they keep doing this???

 

it has really become a habit for the Ravens to restructure any contract of note, only to increase cap hits to unreasonable heights.

Jefferson will have a cap hit of 12m for '19 and '20... wtf? how should he ever be able to play up to this? beside everything else i find it kind of unfair to burden the players with such albatross cap hits, only few can play up to imo.

 

The only way this would've made sense is if we had Derwin James and could cut Jefferson next season.

Without that insurance policy, we're banking that we're going to cut and re-sign him or....eat the massive capt hit?

[wackywabbit]

2 hours ago, Darth Pees said:

The only way this would've made sense is if we had Derwin James and could cut Jefferson next season.

Without that insurance policy, we're banking that we're going to cut and re-sign him or....eat the massive capt hit?

Huh? This type of move means that we aren't planning to cut him. We are giving him more money now, and he's actually cheaper to keep later on.

 You guys are looking at it backwards. He doesn't need to play up to his cap hit to be kept, just his salary/bonuses for that year. Spotrac added a yearly cash column. That's what you want to look at to see what figure it will cost to keep him on a given year.

As this type of move shows, the timing of cap charges are whenever you want them to be. They probably won't even spend this money and it'll rollover to no net effect, just like the last couple times they did this before a season.

[sp6488]

9 hours ago, coordinator0 said:

And to be more specific, as a kick returner. He doesn't return punts. The latter is probably the more important aspect of returning now too with the recent past and possibly future changes to the kickoff rules. 

With Webb gone the only defensive back on the roster to have returned punts in the NFL is Weddle, his last coming back in 2012 and has only 8 career attempts. Maurice Canady, Anthony Levine, and Bennett Jackson had a handful of attempts each back in their college days. Robert Nelson a bit more so. The last two definitely aren't making the roster though so they're irrelevant.

On offense John Brown (17 attempts in 2016-17, 11 FC) and Willie Snead (1 career attempt) have returned punts in the NFL. Jaelon Acklin (3), Jordan Lasley (1), and DeVier Posey (6) each had a small attempt of punt returns in their college careers.

Then there's Tim White and Janarion Grant. Unless someone else is brought in I don't see how one of these two guys doesn't make the roster.

FWIW, he did it pretty extensively in college (the Cards had Patrick Peterson for punts):

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2014/profiles/john-brown?id=2543847

Quote

Has a daughter. From Miami-Dade County in Florida. Began his college career at Mars Hill in 2008, when he played all 11 games (two starts) and caught 27 balls for 619 yards (22.9-yard average) and seven touchdowns. Added 29 kickoff returns for 718 yards (24.8), including an 87-yard score, and 15 punt returns for 117 yards (7.8). Did not play in 2009 (academics). Redshirted at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College in 2010. Signed with Division II Pitt State for 2011. Started 12 of 14 games and had 61 catches for 1,216 yards (19.9) and 12 TDs. Also returned 24 kickoffs for 616 yards and one TD, including a 100-yard score and returned 27 punts for 369 yards (13.7), including two scores. Started all 10 games in 2012, with 63 catches for 973 yards (15.4) and eight TDs. Also returned 28 punts for 430 yards (15.4) and one TD and 16 kickoffs for 395 yards (24.7). Started all 12 games in 2013 and posted 61 catches for 1,198 yards (19.6) and 14 TDs. Returned 12 kickoffs for 389 yards (32.4) and one TD and 23 punts for 264 yards (11.5). Was PSU's leading receiver three-straight years. Three-time captain. Did not lift at the combine because of a left A/C joint injury.

First line of "has a daughter" is a little odd (to include as the first item), by the way.

[sp6488]

2 hours ago, wackywabbit said:

Huh? This type of move means that we aren't planning to cut him. We are giving him more money now, and he's actually cheaper to keep later on.

 You guys are looking at it backwards. He doesn't need to play up to his cap hit to be kept, just his salary/bonuses for that year. Spotrac added a yearly cash column. That's what you want to look at to see what figure it will cost to keep him on a given year.

As this type of move shows, the timing of cap charges are whenever you want them to be. They probably won't even spend this money and it'll rollover to no net effect, just like the last couple times they did this before a season.

Yea, with the current CBA, this doesn't really affect much one way or the other because of the rollover.  

The real takeaway here IMO is that they likely intend to tag Moseley next offseason, or show his camp that they are willing to, rather than negotiating an extension that would lower his 2018 hit for the cushion they need/want going into the season.

[coordinator0]

2 hours ago, sp6488 said:

FWIW, he did it pretty extensively in college (the Cards had Patrick Peterson for punts):

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2014/profiles/john-brown?id=2543847

First line of "has a daughter" is a little odd (to include as the first item), by the way.

Ah, I didn't delve too deep into Brown's college stats since they didn't list them on his ESPN page (yeah, I got lazy). Really don't think he's much of an option to return kicks or punts for the Ravens though. Not with his health issues. If they aren't a problem, then he makes sense there if a roster spot doesn't want to be kept open for White or Grant. 

[sp6488]

Just now, coordinator0 said:

Ah, I didn't delve too deep into Brown's college stats since they didn't list them on his ESPN page (yeah, I got lazy). Really don't think he's much of an option to return kicks or punts for the Ravens though. Not with his health issues. If they aren't a problem, then he makes sense there if a roster spot doesn't want to be kept open for White or Grant. 

To clarify, that's not me pounding the table to give him the job, just pointing it out as something that might be considered as our roster looks like it's going to have a bunch of tough decisions to be made coming out of preseason (i.e. getting down to the final 53).

[DreamKid]

Moron. 

 

[BareYourTeeth]

If Dez doesn't with to sign with Baltimore then I say they should turn their attention to and use the rest of the cap on two of the most underrated options left on the market, Jonathan Hankins and Navorro Bowman.

[Danand]

2 hours ago, BareYourTeeth said:

If Dez doesn't with to sign with Baltimore then I say they should turn their attention to and use the rest of the cap on two of the most underrated options left on the market, Jonathan Hankins and Navorro Bowman.

Navorro Bowman is more a name than a good player nowadays. I would rather see if we can develop what we have on the roster. We don't need to get slower on defense

[DreamKid]

Bowman was fine last year.

I'm more worried about center now though. Projected conversions from Alex Lewis and Nico Siragusa are interesting talking points but our only two real centers are Bozeman and Skura. Three if you count UDFA Alex Thompson. I was a fan of Boze throughout the draft process but I'm not delusional, he isn't a plug and play starter. Skura performed admirably last year as a what sixth option after all the injuries, but he can't survive as a starting center. His anchor just won't hold up, watch any footage of our line last year and it's him who was the weak link. We can't have our center living in the backfield again.

The extra Pre Season game will help figure out who the top dog is but I'm meh on what we have in the chamber.

[coordinator0]

What does Hankins bring to the team that Williams and Pierce don't? Nothing, and there really isn't room for three of those guys on one roster/rotation. If you like any kind of explosiveness from your defensive line at least. So Dean Pees would like that actually. Chris Wormley is sorta the DE/5-tech version of that kind of player too. Baltimore has absolutely no need in that regard.

Still don't buy Lewis at center. Especially in regards to this upcoming season. Same goes for Siragusa with all the time he has missed and probably won't be quite full-speed by training camp either. If the Ravens don't sign or trade for somebody the opening day starter at that spot will be Skura, Bozeman, or Thompson. I'm definitely not one opposed to gambling on the unknown.... but that's scary. 

Not really concerned about ILB. If a lack of talent there just means more dime being played that's a good thing. As long as their health holds up the secondary has a lot of players that should be seeing the field consistently. Utilize that. Bring Jefferson up. Bring Weddle up. Levine did well there last season and Clark was interesting. If Nacua makes the team he's the guy we actually want back at FS. That is the type of defense you want in the NFL right now. Not sets with two ILBs on the field 95% of the time. 

[BareYourTeeth]

Hankins rushes the passer better than Williams and Pierce and those three together would be damn near impossible to run against. Bowman is still really good at defending the run too and would allow Mosley to cut weight.