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Ravens’ Loyalty to Webb Remains Puzzling

A Plan to Clear Up The Ravens Cap Mess!
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When discussing Lardarius Webb this week, new secondary coach Leslie Frazier made it sound like his transition to safety was going well. Frazier referred to Webb as “a smart football player, a savvy football player with great instincts,” according to the Ravens official site.

“That gives us hope, as far as him making the transition,” Frazier said after minicamp workouts. “Everything he’s done up to this point has made us all realize he can get it done. The next step will be when he can get the pads on and he has to make some of those tackles that safeties have to make.”

The biggest problem, however, is that despite Frazier’s optimism, Webb has done very little on the field to instill confidence or to justify his hefty salary.

[Related: Webb’s Move to Safety is Not a Safe One]

Webb is currently the fifth-longest tenured player on the Ravens roster. After being drafted in the third round in 2009 out of Nicholls State, Webb showed flashes of evolving into a shutdown corner. After a very solid 2011 campaign the Ravens locked him up with a six-year $50 million dollar contract. The hope at the time was Webb was trending up, and pairing him with Jimmy Smith – who was drafted that same year – would give the Ravens two lockdown corners for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately things didn’t play out that way.

Webb tore his ACL halfway through the 2012 season and has never really regained his form. He’s never lived up to the expectations the Ravens had for him when they signed him to such a lucrative deal. He took a pay cut last season but still carries a hefty contract into 2016, as he counts $9.5 million against the cap. That type of contract reflects a player who has been making recent trips to the Pro Bowl, not one who’s making a position change and has struggled to create turnovers and produce consistently. Webb has had one good season that would justify that type of salary, and it was five years ago. It’s hard to understand why the Ravens remain so loyal to him at such a high price tag.

Webb is making the position change because he was no longer playing corner at even an average level. His play in recent years could be viewed at best as inconsistent, and it seems like every offseason since 2012 the Ravens have held out hope that the upcoming season would be the one he bounces back. Now, since that hasn’t worked out, they’re hoping a position change will finally make things click again for Webb. But for a team that ranked last in interceptions in 2015, turning Webb into their full time ball hawk is a risky move.

Webb had five interceptions in his breakout season in 2011, but has a total of five combined over the four seasons since. The Ravens will be counting on his transition to be a key part of forcing more turnovers this year. But talking about Webb’s football smarts and savvy won’t magically produce game-changing plays. He’ll have to show more – a lot more – for the Ravens to justify paying a below average corner a salary indicative of a top-five safety.

Maybe the Ravens coaching staff really believes he can make a successful transition…or maybe they just don’t have any better options. Either way we will find out quickly whether or not it works.

If it doesn’t, the revolving door of safeties since the departure of Ed Reed will continue.

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