The Baltimore Ravens brass wrapped up their annual “State of the Ravens” on Tuesday afternoon in what can be considered the most open press conference that takes place all year.
Team owner Steve Bisciotti, president Dick Cass along with general manager Ozzie Newsome and head coach John Harbaugh fielded questions from the media regarding the season that was and the season that lies ahead.
Several topics were addressed at length including the potential re-signing of key free agents along with extensions to provide salary cap relief.
Ravens won’t overpay to retain Pernell McPhee and Torrey Smith
GM Ozzie Newsome along with Bisciotti spoke in detail about the importance of not overpaying free agents. Both Smith and McPhee fit the bill. Bisciotti explained:
“I’ve always said that’s the worst part of the job – the nature of this beast is living with a salary cap. Let’s be frank: Do you hope that Torrey doesn’t break the bank out on the open market so we can get him for our number? That’s a hard thing to say. I care about the kid.
“I want him to maximize his earnings, and at the same time, the more successful he is at doing that, the less success we have in retaining him.”
For the veteran wide receiver Smith, it’s likely as many have speculated over the past several weeks. that the Ravens would welcome his return if a deal can be struck on a reasonable contract. If not, the team will move on.
“I don’t like to stand up here and say I’m rooting against the guy [in getting a big payday], but we’ve got to find a number,” Bisciotti said. “And some of the numbers that are thrown out there, quite frankly, we can’t match. We don’t have that kind of space.”
McPhee’s fate is basically a done deal once the free agency period begins in March. A dominating player who is versatile and can line up at several positions. After a productive 2014 it’s likely he’s played his way out of Baltimore as he is certain to draw a hefty contract elsewhere.
“You have to look at it this way: If we were to go after the market on Pernell, how many other players would we not have on the Baltimore Ravens?,” explained Newsome. “And that’s kind of the way we look at this thing.”
“Do we pay market for some players? Yes, you can look at … We paid market for Joe [Flacco], Eugene [Monroe], [Marshal] Yanda. I can name names for years. But, we have to look at how we can’t pay everybody market value, because it would hurt our roster overall in trying to retain other guys and then go out in the market and get other guys.”
Expect McPhee to receive the same treatment from the team as both Paul Kruger and Arthur Jones when each of those players experienced free agency for the first time. The Ravens opted to not extend either player an offer.
Ozzie Hopes To Retain Forsett
After a spectacular year running the football in Gary Kubiak’s new offense, Forsett established career highs in rushing attempts, yards and touchdowns since entering the league in 2008.
The journeyman rusher will turn 30 in October but as Newsome pointed out, Forsett has less wear and tear on his body as a typical eight year veteran would.
“[Justin Forsett] doesn’t have the wear and tear, and Justin did a very good job of coming in, competing and then being our bell cow.,” said Newsome. “We would like to retain Justin, but I’ve learned something since the end of the season about Justin that I didn’t really know.”
The Ravens GM went on to describe a role Forsett could take on if he returns to Baltimore in 2015.
“He has mentored some very good, young backs, starting with Arian Foster, Marshawn Lynch, Maurice Jones-Drew when he was in Jacksonville. Having Justin here – and with the opportunity [of] also bringing in hopefully another young running back – to have Justin be around that guy would be an asset also. So, we will work to try to retain Justin.”
Baltimore is a probable landing spot for Forsett who’s been rumored to be drawing interest from a few teams including the Atlanta Falcons. If he does land elsewhere this offseason, the Ravens will have a chance to see if Forsett truly was a product of the Ravens revamped run game or not. Either way, with only two running backs under contract the Ravens will no doubt address the position in the draft.
Tough Love
Baltimore has long been a franchise that prided itself on doing the right thing. In 2014 though, the franchise was on the front page more often for the wrong reasons than the right ones regarding off the field issues. None was bigger than the Ray Rice’s domestic abuse case that took the nation by storm.
On Tuesday, the brass took a firm stance regarding the signing of players with a history of domestic violence now and in the future.
“Steve said this back during the season: The one area we will definitely take a hard look – and it will be tough for us to bring a player to Baltimore – is someone who has domestic abuse in their background,” Newsome stated. “Other than that, we’ll exhaust every character aspect of the player, but we believe in allowing the information to lead us to a decision when we deal with that.
“Our scouts do an unbelievable job of getting information when they are on the campuses. We will have good information, but just as our boss has already said, someone that has domestic abuse in their background, it’s going to be tough for them to be considered a Raven.”
Hindsight is always 20/20 but it seems all the attention that came from the Rice fall out has increased the focus of the organization’s desire to stay out of the press for the wrong reasons. Team president Dick Cass summed it up perfectly as to the teams failures regarding domestic violence.
“To borrow from what Steve said last fall, we were treating domestic violence the same way we did a bar fight. And that was a mistake, and that was wrong. And I think the league has recognized that. We’ve certainly recognized that, and that’s an offense that will be treated very differently going forward.”
Extensions are coming
If you’ve paid attention to the Russell Street Report’s Brian McFarland’s post over the last several months you are aware of the Ravens salary cap woes. Two of those biggest woes come in the form of Haloti Ngata and cornerback Lardarius Webb.
With Ngata’s $16 million dollar cap number for 2015 and Webb’s $12 million dollar cap hit, both are top priorities for contract extensions.
“Again, that’s Ozzie job to negotiate the nuances of those contracts that allow us to get some cap relief and give Haloti a chance to stay here,” said Bisciotti. “Twenty-eight teams don’t have Royal Farms stores in their area, so there is some incentive for him to want to stay here to close things out.”
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Ed Werder reported the Ravens have contacted Ngata and his agent with a “very good offer.” Zero information was provided at the State of the Ravens address however.
For Lardarius it’s expected he will face the similar scenario as Haloti. The oft injured corner battled injuries for the early part of 2014 but did improve as the season played out. However, Webb’s play suffered and the team took notice.
“I think what I tried to say at the beginning [is] we are going to exhaust every avenue to retain our players,” Newsome responded when asked about extending both Webb and Ngata. “We like to retain our football players, and we also like to be able to create some cap room.”
While the Ravens aren’t expected to completely overhaul their secondary this offseason as John Harbaugh alluded to in his season ending press conference, it’s safe to say they’ll address the issue in the draft and perhaps free agency.
If either Webb or Ngata fail to come to terms with the Ravens offers, both will likely be released.
While no major news was broken on Tuesday, the Ravens did provide some insight as to their plans for 2015. Things will remain quiet for now but all that will change when we flip the calendar to March.
Until then hang on to your hats as the rumor mills will be in full swing.
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