While Baltimore Ravens fans fret the loss of Cory Redding, Jarret Johnson and Ben Grubbs – all of whom will be missed for their contributions on AND off the field, the criticisms of Ozzie Newsome after 2+ days of the new NFL year are ridiculous.
Do people actually think they just sit around The Castle and play solitaire on their computers?
C’mon man!
There’s a plan.
BUT, being the fans we are we want to know now…we want it all and we want it now.
Thankfully The Castle is equipped with cooler heads and a level of patience that almost always eludes their customers.
Next man up!
Sure it’s a cliché but it is appropriate nonetheless.
Influenced heavily by the salary cap, teams must draft well and the coaches must be willing to have confidence in the scouting department’s vision and let the young guys play no matter how uncertain it may seem.
Paul Kruger stepped up his game in 2011 and in limited action proved that he can be a formidable pass rusher. Now he’ll have to show the team he can hold down the edge in the running game. But this won’t be all on Kruger. In situational packages other youngsters like Art Jones and Pernell McPhee will be asked to pick up the slack left behind by Double J. The same pair will also be asked to take snaps previously assigned to Cory Redding.
As for Ben Grubbs, it’s difficult to spend so heavily on the interior of the offensive line. Somewhere along the offensive front the team needs to find value because eventually they will pay dearly for a left tackle. Value helps to make that happen and it can come in the form of a draft pick at center and a left guard like journeyman Evan Mathis who is visiting with the Ravens today.
Another O-lineman said to be visiting Owings Mills is tackle Eric Winston. Winston is a heady, hard-nosed right tackle very familiar with the zone blocking schemes the Ravens employ. But Winston is a right tackle and with Michael Oher and Jah Reid both better suited for right tackle, who might be the odd man out if Winston is brought in?
Answer >>> Bryant McKinnie.
McKinnie was often criticized in 2011 but for my money, the guy provides value for the price the Ravens pay. He’s set to earn $3.7M in 2012.
If the interest in Winston is genuine then the question is, “Are the Ravens better with a bookend combination of Oher (LT) and Winston (RT) than McKinnie and Oher?”
One source had previously explained to me that the team believes that Oher can play better than he has at left tackle if paired up next to a smart player who can consistently make pre-snap reads and help Oher with his. That’s not a knock on Grubbs but rather an acknowledgment of Mathis’ potential value.
So in a nutshell if the Ravens can land both Mathis for less than what they offered Grubbs and Winston for what they would pay McKinnie, pick up a center in the draft and bring Birk back for another season, the Ravens could be better across the offensive front and save money in the process.
I wonder what the Ozzie critics would say then?
