Way Too Early 2013 Draft/FA Thread: Fixing the Defense

[arnie_uk]

Yeah they do. JJ Watt is a FA after this year and they are looking to back the cash truck up.

is he not only in the second year of his deal?

He signed a four year deal, so has two years after this remaining. And wasn't it part of the cba that you can't renegotiate the new rookie deals?

[HoustonRaven]

is he not only in the second year of his deal?

He signed a four year deal, so has two years after this remaining. And wasn't it part of the cba that you can't renegotiate the new rookie deals?

You're correct. My bad.

They are up against the cap next year though. Not sure they are going to be able to afford Barwin.

[bmorecareful]

dont we have too many holes to release them both.

We nee two dline men, possibly an olb depending on Kruger. We will need at least one ilb, and one cb with Cary going. We will need IMO at least one oline man depending on what way they shuffle it.

If we let go of ed and ray that's another two positions we need to fill. That's a lot of holes.

First of all, Ed is an FA, so it's not "letting him go." He's gone, the question is does he represent the best use of the money we'll need to spend on a replacement (or is it better to use an early draft pick on a rookie starter?) I would contend he does not. If I'm wrong, I'd be happy to be wrong. Ed Reed is my all-time favorite Raven, but I just don't think he should be back next year.

Ray Lewis is under contract, but he doesn't come all that cheaply and he's not one of the best at his position anymore. I can see the argument for keeping him, and if he wants to come back the Ravens will probably have him back, but he's not the solution at the position, not at all. They need to address ILB one of these years and they're already a few years too late.

I really don't see a huge problem at CB. Webb should be back at full strength, and Jimmy Smith will surely be given at least another year. They like Chykie Brown, Corey Graham is locked up for a few more years as a solid #3 option, and they just drafted Asa Jackson. I don't see them doing all that much at CB.

[GOTA]

Yeah they do. JJ Watt is a FA after this year and they are looking to back the cash truck up.

Watt signed a 2 year deal as a rookie?

[HoustonRaven]

Watt signed a 2 year deal as a rookie?

see my correction .... arnie was right.

[arnie_uk]

First of all, Ed is an FA, so it's not "letting him go." He's gone, the question is does he represent the best use of the money we'll need to spend on a replacement (or is it better to use an early draft pick on a rookie starter?) I would contend he does not. If I'm wrong, I'd be happy to be wrong. Ed Reed is my all-time favorite Raven, but I just don't think he should be back next year.

Ray Lewis is under contract, but he doesn't come all that cheaply and he's not one of the best at his position anymore. I can see the argument for keeping him, and if he wants to come back the Ravens will probably have him back, but he's not the solution at the position, not at all. They need to address ILB one of these years and they're already a few years too late.

I really don't see a huge problem at CB. Webb should be back at full strength, and Jimmy Smith will surely be given at least another year. They like Chykie Brown, Corey Graham is locked up for a few more years as a solid #3 option, and they just drafted Asa Jackson. I don't see them doing all that much at CB.

I know he's a free agent, was just laziness on my part and said let go for them both, instead of not resigning ed and cutting ray.

No need to get picky...

I know they need to eventually replace both, I'd just like to have to put that off a year and do it next season. I actually thought that last year as I don't think we would have to many holes to fill this draft, funny how that works eh.

I thought Cody would step up and improve again, he hasn't, I thought we'd resign redding, we didn't, I then thought between McPhee and jones they'd do ok, they haven't.

I thought our biggest needs would be ilb, lt and fs this draft only a few months ago, and its hard to hit on a lt picking late. So that left me with truly believing if we someone managed to get a teo and Jefferson or Eric Reid and skov with our first two picks we'd be set on defence and ray and ed could be let go without much worry.

[BigPlayReceiver]

I think we need to rip the band-aid right the hell off.
If we have holes then just fill them with what you got and what you can get...2nd and 3rd tier FAs, UDFAs, and our 11 draft picks.
You waffle on hard decisions then hard times will surely endure.

[leachisabeast]

Safetys aren't hard to get in FA these days, I don't see us going early on a safety unless it's a guy the Ravens really like. I see the early part of the draft being nothing but reloading the front 7. Manti Teo needs to be the first guy on that board, but if he's gone, it has to be either NT or 5 technique DE and there are plenty of them in this draft, second round can be on a CJ Moseley type ILB. I think 3rd round, you need to invest in another Dlineman, who is more of a raw project.

Right now, I'm hoping for this kind of draft for the Ravens.

1st round- Manti Teo(ILB, Notre Dame, 6'2 255 lbs)
Alternative picks: John Jenkins (NT, Georgia, 6'3, 351 lbs), Sheldon Richardson (DT/DE, Missouri, 6'4 295 lbs), Kawann Short (DT, Purdue, 6'3 310 lbs), Louis Nix (DT/NT/DE, Notre Dame, 6'5 324 lbs).

2nd round- Jesse Williams (DT/NT/DE, Alabama, 6'4 320 lbs)
Alternative picks: CJ Moseley (ILB/OLB, Alabama, 6'2 234 lbs), Chase Thomas (ILB/OLB, Stanford, 6'4 245 lbs), Shayne Skov (ILB/OLB, Stanford, 6'3 243 lbs), Alec Ogletree (ILB, Georgia, 6'3 236 lbs), Larry Warford (OG, Kentucky, 6'3 340 lbs), Alex Hurst (OT, LSU, 6'6 340 lbs).

3rd round- Daniel McCullers (NT, Tennesee, 6'8 360 lbs)
Alternative picks: Kwame Geathers (NT, Georgia, 6'6 350 lbs), Kevin Riddick (ILB, North Carolina, 6'3 240 lbs), Michael Mauti (ILB, Penn state, 6'2, 339 lbs), Magnus Hunt (DE/DT, SMU, 6'8 280 lbs), Khaled Holmes (OC, USC, 6'4 305 lbs), Mario Benavides (OC, Louiseville, 6'4 300 lbs), Bacarri Rambo (FS/SS, Georgia, 6'0 218 lbs), Shawn Williams (FS/SS, Georgia, 6'1 217 lbs), Tyrann Mathieu (FS/CB, LSU but suspended for the year, 5'9 175 lbs), Duke Williams (FS/SS, Nevada, 6'1 200 lbs), Travis Howard (CB, Ohio state, 6'1 195 lbs).


Potential big FA signings:
Connor Bawrin (OLB/DE, Houston), Daryl Smith (OLB/ILB, Jacksonville), Cliff Avril (DE, Detroit), Jerome Bushrod (OT, New Orleans), Andy Levitre (OG, Buffalo), Lance Louis (OG, Chicago), Antoine Caldwell (OG, Houston), Sebastian Vollmer (OT, New England), Ryan Lilija (OG, Kansas city), Brandon Moore (OG, New York Jets), Jason Jones (DT/DE, Seattle), Henri Melton (DT/DE, Chicago), Glenn Dorsey (DE/DT, Kansas city), Erin Henderson (ILB/OLB, Minnesota), Anthony Spencer (OLB/DE, Dallas), Kenny Phillips (FS/SS, New York Giants), Jarius Byrd (FS/SS, Buffalo), Patrick Chung (FS/SS, New England), LeRon Landry (SS, New York Jets), Brent Grimes (CB, Atlanta), Michael Jenkins (CB, Dallas), Martellus Bennett (TE, New York Giants), Dwayne Bowe (WR, Kansas city), Greg Jennings (WR, Green Bay Packers), Mike Wallace (WR, Pittsburgh).

Basically I think this offseason is going to be all about the trenches and becoming a physical football team again.

[Carey]

Doestnt look like we will have much cap space so we'll likely have to fill thru the draft mostly and try to find some bargains. With Terrance Knighton no longer a starter in Jacksonville i wonder what his price tag would be like, i think he'd fit our D alot better but i also havent seen them this year so i'm not sure of his current level of play.

I think the biggest question would be who do we axe to get some breathing room, not sure of the cap ramifications but i know Mcclain's cap number is 4.2 mill, Birk's is 3.4 and Boldin's is 7.5...they'd seem like prime candidates imo.

[Carey]

Man Leach, you really nailed the draft!

[LouisianaRaven]

Connor Barwin is on my short list for FA pick ups next season.

Dude has one sack this year. I'll give you a guess who it came against

[LouisianaRaven]

I think our offseason may be alot like this offseason. We won't make any high profile signings, just minor tweaks. I think the Ravens will concentrate on locking up Joe and seeing who falls through the cracks for cheap. This team has a history of building through the draft. Being that rookie contracts are so cheap, I think that's the smart way to go. I whether take my chances with young guys than overpay for a guy who may not live up to the hype (see Mario Williams or Asomugha). This defense also has so many holes that even one great player couldn't fix our problems.

[leachisabeast]

I think our offseason may be alot like this offseason. We won't make any high profile signings, just minor tweaks. I think the Ravens will concentrate on locking up Joe and seeing who falls through the cracks for cheap. This team has a history of building through the draft. Being that rookie contracts are so cheap, I think that's the smart way to go. I whether take my chances with young guys than overpay for a guy who may not live up to the hype (see Mario Williams or Asomugha). This defense also has so many holes that even one great player couldn't fix our problems.

You add one great player on our Dline or into our LB corps, I'm pretty sure it would fix a lot playing him with Ngata and Suggs in the front 7.

[LouisianaRaven]

You add one great player on our Dline or into our LB corps, I'm pretty sure it would fix a lot playing him with Ngata and Suggs in the front 7.

Then what happens if he gets hurt, we're in the same situation we're in right now. I think depth and youth is the way to go. Look at what the Packers did this year. That defense was god awful last year. This year they've been much improved. I think they drafted defense in every single round.

[Raveninwoodlawn]

I also like Gerald Hodges LB out of Penn St...

[rharris1986]

If you keep both Ed and Ray you start each game with two holes on the field. Both Ed and Ray are a liability to the D. they will be gone - along with Kindle, Kemo, Williams (who will move on in free agency), and maybe Cody. The Ravens offense can be solved with a new OC. The defense needs bodies - and the Ravens 1013 comp picks will help fill that gap.



We nee two dline men, possibly an olb depending on Kruger. We will need at least one ilb, and one cb with Cary going. We will need IMO at least one oline man depending on what way they shuffle it.

If we let go of ed and ray that's another two positions we need to fill. That's a lot of holes.[/QUOTE]

[wickedsolo]

Maybe we can change this discussion to be more about 2013 FA defenders in general that the Ravens could have an interest in? Obviously Bowman is not one of them since he's not an FA at all.

There are two defensive players I think the Ravens would do well to pursue in 2013: Kenny Phillips and Daryl Smith.

Phillips is a center-field FS who would be a more than adequate replacement for Ed Reed, arguably an improvement over what Ed Reed can offer at this point in his career.

Daryl Smith has only ever played in the 4-3, but he is one of the best and most underrated LBs in the league, he is outstanding in every facet of the game and I think he'd play great at Mike ILB. Again, he would be a significant improvement on what Ray Lewis can offer at this point in his career.

Love Daryl Smith.

Don't love Kenny Phillips. He's a good player, but durability is a big concern with him.

[wickedsolo]

I also like Gerald Hodges LB out of Penn St...

Me too. He and his teammate Mike Mauti are solid players.

[bmorecareful]

Love Daryl Smith.

Don't love Kenny Phillips. He's a good player, but durability is a big concern with him.

Phillips had microfracture surgery and missed most of 2009, and yes he's missed some time this season with an MCL sprain, but he played in 31 of 32 games in 2010 and 2011. An MCL sprain is a freak thing, I'm not sure it's indicative of being a fragile player. The microfracture would be a concern if he didn't appear fully recovered from it over the past few years.

I agree he's a bit of a risky player, but he's the best of a bad crop. Safety is not a strong position in free agency this year. I strongly disagree that safety is not a valuable position in the NFL at this time; rangy athletes who can cover centerfield and also step up into the box and run with tight ends are more important than they've ever been. Kenny Phillips gives you that kind of player.

I think safety is a position they MUST address and they need a very talented player at the position if they want to continue to play the Ravens traditional Cover-1 scheme. If they don't land a talented FA, they will need to work magic to get a good player in the draft. I like Eric Reid, Tony Jefferson, and Kenny Vaccaro, but I don't really see any of those guys as difference makers at free safety. I did like what Kenny Vaccaro did vs. WVU.

[wickedsolo]

Ideally, I would like to see the Ravens looking into the following free agents (assuming they hit free agency):

I'd also like to point out that we aren't 100% on what the cap projection will be, so obviously that will impact any free agent shopping. I don't expect Ozzie to all of a sudden take a page out of Dan Snyder's playbook and sign every big name out there. These are just key guys who I think are reasonable projections (monetarily and logistically) who would sincerely help this team get better.

1. OT Will Svitek, currently with Atlanta. Did a solid job starting in Atlanta in place of Sam Baker last year. At worst, he'd be excellent back up and competition for Oher (or whoever) at LT.

2. OT Ryan Clady, currently with Denver. I'd be surprised if he made it to free agency, but apparently he and Denver aren't seeing eye to eye contractually and John Elway may decide to move on. Clady would be on my short list and he'd be worth it.

3. OG Evan Dietrich-Smith, currently with Green Bay. I think he is one of the more underrated guards in the league. He's no Allen Faneca, but he's a solid player. Probably wouldn't command too much money either.

4. OLB Connor Barwin, currently with Houston. I'm pretty sure every 3-4 defense out there is going to be looking at Barwin. I'm not sure if Ozzie would sign any FA OLB's right now considering they'll probably try to re-sign Kruger, they'll be getting McAdoo back and they, of course, used a 2nd rounder on Upshaw. Still, Barwin is a heck of a player and I don't see Houston being able to keep him, which is why they drafted Mercilus.

5. DT/DE Ricky Jean-Francois, currently with San Fran. Experienced 5-technique DE/DT. Average pass rusher, but decent player against the run. He probably wouldn't cost too much and he'd be an upgrade over Art Jones and would allow McPhee to go back to being a situational pass rusher, which suits him better IMO.

6. DT Henry Melton, currently with Chicago. I'm pretty sure the Bears will re-sign him, but if they don't he may be interesting. He was a DE in college, but bulked up into the 290's and has played well as an interior pass rusher. I'm not sure how he'd fit in a 3-4 scheme, but he does a nice job pushing the pocket and keeping Chicago's linebackers clean.

7. S Chris Clemons, currently with Miami. He's an under the radar type of guy, but he's been a solid starting safety for Miami. At worst, he'd be excellent depth and can play free and strong.

Draft: (I can only hope Baltimore is picking at spot 32, but I do realistically think that picking after 25 is probable)
Round 1 - Manti T'eo is the obvious buzz pick right now and he should be, but I'd be surprised if he lasted into the 20's. I think these guys are much more likely scenarios:

• Taylor Lewan, OT, Michigan (6'8" 310lbs)
• Dallas Thomas, OG, Tennessee (6'5" 311lbs)
• Louis Nix, DT, Notre Dame (6'5" 330lbs)
• TJ McDonald, FS, USC (6'2" 209lbs)
• Tony Eiffert, TE, Notre Dame(6'6" 259lbs)