Who to keep

[GirlsKickButt]

Here's how I see the priorities:

1) Flacco (show him the money)
2) Ellerbe (we lack depth at ILB - draft ILB in rounds 1 - 3)
3) Boldin (I predict a contract extension)
4) Reed (need that leadership in the defense now that Ray is gone - but needs to be a reasonable deal)
5) Jacoby (Another contract extension)
6) McKinnie (1 - 2 year deal - draft replacement LT)

Gone:

1) Kruger
2) Cary Williams
3) Bobby Williams (cut)
4) Birk (retirement)
5) Leach (really hate to see him go but too much money for a FB - hopefully, he takes a cut)

[NC Raven]

I'm quite sure the tag guarantees a 20% raise even if it is yoru first tag...

Did not know that.

Kruger, will get paid... May not be 5/45 like he wants, but doubt it will be lower then 4/30 which is still double what we can afford. Indy is sure to be in on it, amongst others.

Yeah I think that's realistic. And having read today that Oz isn't going to re-do the cap-heavy Ngata and Suggs deals (though I had read elsewhere they would, but I think that was all just speculation) then there really isn't even a theoretical way to get close to even this discounted (from what he's talking) deal for Kruger. And I agree, Indy is probably the leader for him.

I really jsut don't see Ed being offerred more then MAYBE $4m a year, nor him taking under $7m....

Sounds about right. It'll probably be like Ray where he comes back without the offers he's hoping for, and we end up paying him above and beyond the market, just to keep the peace.

[Bigfish]

When Oz says shoring up the middle of the defense (DT/NT, ILB, FS) is the priority for next year, I think you can pretty well assume that Ellerbe will be the priority over Kruger. This year's draft is reputed to be fairly deep in DL & safeties tend not to be sexy picks so...

I think they'll make what they consider fair offers to Kruger & Ed & let them test the market. I think both of them can get more elsewhere but rings are like Fritos, you really can't have just one. If they leave they'll go somewhere with a realistic shot at a ring.

Hopefully we can find some gold for the defense this year in the draft by getting a starter or 2. We could potentially lose Lewis, Kruger, Reed, Wiliams and Ellerbe(all starters); plus no one is mentioning Art Jones is a RFA and Kemoeatu is a UFA(who started much of the year). Kemoeatu wasn't great but he was cheap. I don't have any confidence in Cody after this year. Obviously Ellerbe is the most likely to resign a CAP friendly deal.

This is a challenging year for Ozzie and with a little luck we'll contend next year. I think we'll go after a ILB, safety or NT early (depending on if Reed is back). Sounds like there's some decent MLBs out there. Do we move up to get someone who is capable of starting?

[NC Raven]

Here's how I see the priorities:

1) Flacco (show him the money)
2) Ellerbe (we lack depth at ILB - draft ILB in rounds 1 - 3)
3) Boldin (I predict a contract extension)
4) Reed (need that leadership in the defense now that Ray is gone - but needs to be a reasonable deal)
5) Jacoby (Another contract extension)
6) McKinnie (1 - 2 year deal - draft replacement LT)

Gone:

1) Kruger
2) Cary Williams
3) Bobby Williams (cut)
4) Birk (retirement)
5) Leach (really hate to see him go but too much money for a FB - hopefully, he takes a cut)

Agreed as to all points, and would add Ayanbadejo to the likely/possible list of retirees, even though he does have a year left on his deal. Would save us around 800k.

[LukeDaniel]

While I have been talking about moving on from a few RFA's(Dickson, Harewood, David Reed) I can't see any reason not to offer an ERFA contract to each and every one. There is nothing guaranteed about the smallest contracts you can pay out. It's basically a camp invite tied to an absolute minimum contract. They always all get contracts, from what I can tell. Sure many or most could find themselves looking for work week 1, but they'll get contracts.

This is correct. There is zero sense in not tendering a ERFA. They typically have no impact on a salary cap, as their $500-$600k salaries are right towards the bottom levels of the "Rule of 51".

[LukeDaniel]

Out of the ERFA's, I'm guessing.

Definite tenders

1. Bynes
2. Adrian Hamilton

Likely tenders

3. McClellan
4. Rainey


Maybe??

5. Anthony Allen (because of his ST's work)
6. Omar Brown
7. Bryan Hall (we lack depth on DL, not sure what he gives us or what his tender would be)

Not So Much

8. Damien Berrry
9. Levine

McClellan a likely? He's been an occasional starter for us the past two years, so there is no way we wouldn't pony up the $500-$600k to keep him around...

Bryan Hall is a valuable guy as well.

Of those 9 guys you have listed, I would think that 6-7 make the 2013 roster. These aren't toss away players. I think one out of Brown/Levine make it and at least one out of Allen/Rainey/Berry make it. McClellan, Bynes, and Hall are locks for the 2013 roster IMO, barring injury. Hamilton is not a lock, but close.

[LukeDaniel]

The Ravens have a bunch of young, unproven safeties in Christian Thompson/Cook/Levine/Brown. Thompson is all but certain to make the team given he was a draft pick while the other three were undrafted (just the Ravens' track record). Assuming that Reed is back or we draft Elam/Vaccaro/Reid/Rambo, that leaves 3 safety spots taken and Cook/Levine/Brown fighting for one, mayyyybe two, spots. Also, if the Ravens don't bring back Reed, I wouldn't be shocked to see Ighedibo back as a veteran insurance policy.
So our safety situation looks like

Pollard
Elam/Vacarro/Rambo/Reid
Ighedibo
Christian Thomspon
1 or 0 out of Levine/Brown/Cook

or

Reed
Pollard
Christian Thompson
Draft Pick/Ighedibo
Levine/Cook/Brown

[LukeDaniel]

Safety will be the biggest position to watch this year. Probably even more than LB.

The Ravens have a bunch of young, unproven safeties in Christian Thompson/Cook/Levine/Brown. Thompson is all but certain to make the team given he was a draft pick while the other three were undrafted (just the Ravens' track record). Assuming that Reed is back or we draft Elam/Vaccaro/Reid/Rambo, that leaves 3 safety spots taken and Cook/Levine/Brown fighting for one, mayyyybe two, spots. Also, if the Ravens don't bring back Reed, I wouldn't be shocked to see Ighedibo back as a veteran insurance policy.


So our safety situation looks like this:


Pollard
Elam/Vacarro/Rambo/Reid
Ighedibo
Christian Thomspon
1 or 0 out of Levine/Brown/Cook

or

Reed
Pollard
Christian Thompson
Draft Pick/Ighedibo
Levine/Cook/Brown

[LukeDaniel]

Most players go bankrupt within 4-5 years after their career is over.

Aside from a few Sports Illustrated stories and ESPN pieces, this has never been proven to be true. Their research methods that they use to determine this type of info are highly questionable. It's always easy to pick out 8-10 former NFLers (like C-Mac or J-Lew) and use them as the poster children for athletes who are stupid with their money and go broke. You then mislead your audience into thinking 80% of the football population is like that.

If that was the case, where's the stories about Testaverde, Dilfer, Grbac, Boller, Heap, Mulitalo, Ogden, Mike Flynn, Kelly Gregg, Boulware, Sharper, Woodson, Siragusa, Sam Adams, etc????


We hear the extreme cases of people being knuckleheads with their money and it's easy to think that's the norm, when it's not. I'm pretty sure if you looked into Testaverde's or Woodson's or Ogden's or Boulware's or Heap's accounts/assets, you'd see millions, if not tens of millions.

If anything, the 4/5th or 3/4ths that you hear about are NFLers who play for 1-3 years and make no more than $1.5 million over the course of their NFL journey. Reed has probably made over $50 million.

[LukeDaniel]

Out of the RFA's I think we have to tender

1. Pitta
2. Art Jones

We probably should/will tender

3. Morgan Cox
4. Dickson (not my preference, but falls under "likely" -- who knows, Caldwell may make better use, we can hope...)
5. David Reed?????

Then probably non tender (I hope)

6. Harewood
7. Emmanuel Cook

I don't see us RFA tendering Cox. Paying a long snapper $1.3 million is a bit much. I think the better option is just to negotiate something like a 3 year/$1.8 million contract with him. In our history, I don't think we've ever tendered a long snapper.

[Haloti92]

I think the minimum salary for a 4th year player is like $715,000 in 2013.

[LukeDaniel]

I think the minimum salary for a 4th year player is like $715,000 in 2013.

Okay, 3 years/ $2.2 million. You get my point though. I don't think the Free Agent market for long snappers is much of anything. If Cox can get employment for 2013 at the league minimum, that's probably enough to entice him back.

[Haloti92]

Okay, 3 years/ $2.2 million. You get my point though. I don't think the Free Agent market for long snappers is much of anything. If Cox can get employment for 2013 at the league minimum, that's probably enough to entice him back.

I get your point and fully agree. You don't spend more than a small fraction above the minimum (if at all) for your long snapper, imo, no matter how good he is.

I actually was somewhat surprised by the league minimum figure, when I checked. I haven't been keeping up with the slow upward adjustments over the years.

[Ravenous1]

If they get Flacco done and say restructure or extend Boldin, Jones, Suggs and maybe Ngata then release Leach and Birk (if not retire) if I were the Ravens F.O my very next priority before I even consider bring back Ellerbe, Kruger, Williams or Reed is to address LT.

Bottom line is that if your investing 100 million in your franchise QB then you make damn sure he is protected and will have the time to be as effective as possible. That has to be priority number one. Whatever is left over you use to bring back who you can.It will be hard to move up high enough to get a guy like Fisher or Joeckel and I am not sure the Ravens trust McKinney to be effective over the course of a 16 game schedule and playoffs. His track record outside these playoffs has frankly kinda sucked. I have to believe they have seen enough of Oher to know he is not the answer there either. Way I see it you either have to be bold and make a big deal to move up and get one in the draft or sign one that you feel can hold it for a few years while you develop someone. The last thing you want is to have a revolving door of aging vets and project players protecting your franchise QB's blind side.

[bt12483]

I read Brendon Ayanbadejo is due $940,000. He is 36 and almost exclusively a special teamer.

Being so tight to the cap, I could see him being cut to save a few bucks.

Especially since he had that stupid Twitter outburst and his gay marriage stance. I don't care much for mixing football and politics.

[lobachevsky]

I read Brendon Ayanbadejo is due $940,000. He is 36 and almost exclusively a special teamer.

Being so tight to the cap, I could see him being cut to save a few bucks.

Especially since he had that stupid Twitter outburst and his gay marriage stance. I don't care much for mixing football and politics.

Fortunately, all indications are that the Ravens make decisions based on a player's value on the field & in the locker room--not whether the organization (much less some of the fans) care for his freely-expressed personal political beliefs. Last fall BA said his piece supporting same-sex gay marriage, Birk published an op-ed in Minneapolis opposing it, & for all that it affected the team they might as well have been debating where to get the best steamed crabs in Bawlmer. (And "that stupid Twitter outburst" didn't seem to keep the team from handing the Pats their tukhises the following Sunday.)

IIRC the minimum NFL salary for 2013 is something like $715K. One might ask if at his age & with his skill set Dejo is worth the extra quarter-mil, but let's be realistic--letting him go wouldn't make much dent in the cap. Maybe not any, since a serviceable replacement might cost as much, or more.

[leachisabeast]

Fortunately, all indications are that the Ravens make decisions based on a player's value on the field & in the locker room--not whether the organization (much less some of the fans) care for his freely-expressed personal political beliefs. Last fall BA said his piece supporting same-sex gay marriage, Birk published an op-ed in Minneapolis opposing it, & for all that it affected the team they might as well have been debating where to get the best steamed crabs in Bawlmer. (And "that stupid Twitter outburst" didn't seem to keep the team from handing the Pats their tukhises the following Sunday.)

IIRC the minimum NFL salary for 2013 is something like $715K. One might ask if at his age & with his skill set Dejo is worth the extra quarter-mil, but let's be realistic--letting him go wouldn't make much dent in the cap. Maybe not any, since a serviceable replacement might cost as much, or more.

Cutting BA would save roughly 400 k in total if you replace him with a rookie. Worth it? Probably not.

[bt12483]

Cutting BA would save roughly 400 k in total if you replace him with a rookie. Worth it? Probably not.

$400k this year will matter much more than in year's past.

All of the talk about Ray Lewis' age...BA is right behind him. Dude is straight chiseled though.

I would hope the special team's unit wouldn't fall apart without him. He could easily return, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him released.

[Paintballguy]

Here's how I see the priorities:

1) Flacco (show him the money)
2) Ellerbe (we lack depth at ILB - draft ILB in rounds 1 - 3)
3) Boldin (I predict a contract extension)
4) Reed (need that leadership in the defense now that Ray is gone - but needs to be a reasonable deal)
5) Jacoby (Another contract extension)
6) McKinnie (1 - 2 year deal - draft replacement LT)

Gone:

1) Kruger
2) Cary Williams
3) Bobby Williams (cut)
4) Birk (retirement)
5) Leach (really hate to see him go but too much money for a FB - hopefully, he takes a cut)

That's really how I see it. I have a feeling Reed might just hang it up though. He says he wants to play now, but you never know with Ed.

[LouisianaRaven]

Here's how I see the priorities:

1) Flacco (show him the money)
2) Ellerbe (we lack depth at ILB - draft ILB in rounds 1 - 3)
3) Boldin (I predict a contract extension)
4) Reed (need that leadership in the defense now that Ray is gone - but needs to be a reasonable deal)
5) Jacoby (Another contract extension)
6) McKinnie (1 - 2 year deal - draft replacement LT)

Gone:

1) Kruger
2) Cary Williams
3) Bobby Williams (cut)
4) Birk (retirement)
5) Leach (really hate to see him go but too much money for a FB - hopefully, he takes a cut)

Mannnn, I hope this is how things go... I have a hunch that either Jacoby or Boldin is gone though. I think the FO likes what they see in Doss and so do I.