It’s been said that in the NFL’s era of the salary cap, the ebbs and flows of roster attrition forces teams to strike while the iron’s hot – win when you can still afford the high-priced veterans before they seek even more money.
Get it while the getting is good…BEFORE the window of opportunity closes.
Steve Bisciotti once adamantly stated how determined he was to not to allow such metaphoric windows to close. Years later, after the Ravens had successfully danced during five consecutive postseasons, I asked Steve how the organization managed to get it done…to keep those windows open.
His response consisted of two words: Joe Flacco.
Flacco at times has shown flashes of brilliance and there are other times when he leaves you screaming America’s most popular acronym: WTF!
Folks across message boards in town have labeled me a Flacco hater. The truth is Flacco by far is my favorite quarterback but when he doesn’t perform to the level of his contract, the criticisms will come.
The criticisms will be earned.
And while Joe once helped to keep the team’s window of opportunity open without interruption for 5 seasons, let’s not forget that he did that while playing under a rookie contract. If you can’t play to your contract in the salary cap era, windows WILL close.
Yes, Joe is my favorite quarterback and hopefully he picks up in September where he left off in January. But for me the name on the FRONT of his jersey will always be more important than the one on the back.
A TANGLED WEBB
Lardarius Webb has been one of my favorite Ravens since he joined the team in 2009. I’ve long admired his nose for the football, his explosiveness in short spaces and pound-for-pound he’s among the best tacklers in the NFL.
The problem with the player we once affectionately referred to, as Spiderman is that he seldom seems to play healthy. Two knee injuries forced him to miss parts of two seasons, he started slow during the seasons following those knee injuries and in 2014 he was hampered by a bad back.
Players don’t get faster as they age. Given Father Time and the knee injuries it’s safe to say Webb has slowed down – noticeably!
And now, with all of those injuries you have to wonder if he’ll ever be the same player.
Will he be as willing of a tackler?
Can he compete with younger, speedier receivers?
Some have suggested that the Ravens move Webb to safety but to do so would throw the team’s cap out of whack. You don’t pay safeties top-end cornerback pay and that’s what Webb earns today.
Webb is scheduled to earn $8M in 2015 and he carries a $12M cap figure, the 6th highest in the league among corners.
Some believe that Webb should refuse to take a pay cut and that he has all the leverage.
Does he really?
Webb’s cap figure is higher than that of Vontae Davis, Sean Smith and Aquib Talib who are ranked 2nd, 5th and 16th respectively by Pro Football Focus.
Webb’s ranking?
Try 78th which by the way is 70 notches below former Raven Corey Graham who by the way carries a cap figure over $7.5M less than Webb.
If the Ravens let Webb go, they’ll save $2M. That isn’t much to get excited about because even the 2015 edition of Lardarius Webb is hard to replace for $2M.
But on the flip side, if Webb hits the open market he won’t come close to the $8M he’s due to make in 2015 with the Ravens. An injury prone player with a declining skill set would be fortunate to make half that amount in free agency.
Compromise is in order here.
It’s time for Webb to be our friendly neighborhood Spiderman.
THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU
Ray Rice’s slap to the side of Janay Rice’s head in that casino elevator was despicable. It was the act of a Patron-fueled coward.
It was a HUGE mistake.
But since that unfortunate red-letter day in the lives of Ray, Janay and daughter Rayven, the couple has atoned, and as a forgiving society we should allow them a chance to heal, to recover and then through the recovery, teach us all an important lesson.
Rice deserves an opportunity to take an NFL field again provided he can deliver for the team that chooses to give him that second chance.
What he doesn’t deserve is a single cent of settlement money from the Baltimore Ravens. Instead he got $1.588 million.
The Ravens paid Rice $25 M in total from the day he signed his contract up to his Joe Frazier impersonation in Atlantic City.
Teams cut can and have cut players for less heinous offenses. Teams can cut players whenever they want assuming they are willing to accept the salary cap consequences.
The Ravens were willing to do that with Rice and they shouldn’t have had to pay him another nickel.
Period! End of story!
But Rice’s attorneys probably knew the Ravens and the NFL wanted the undesirable noise around Rice to go away. And in the end the grubby-handed lawyers probably walked away with over a half million.
Not bad work if you can get it.
It remains to be seen if that greed derails Rice’s comeback attempt.
You should never bite the hand that feeds you.
