To say that the current composition of the Ravens 53-man roster is odd would be an understatement. But that said, it has the look and feel of something temporary and screams for more engineering.
The Ravens' roster composition, always fascination, now has …
6 TE + fullbacks (including Kolar)
11 OL
5 DL
3 OLB
5 ILB— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) August 30, 2022
The Ravens are dangerously thin at edge and one would assume with a high degree of certainty, that the team will make some kind of move to add depth there. The current 53-man roster plus the restructure of Ronnie Stanley’s deal suggests as much.
The Ravens converted $8.465M of LT Ronnie Stanley's base salary into a signing bonus, creating $6.34875M in 2022 cap space, per source.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) August 31, 2022
Stanley’s restructure comes with some inherent risks and it also sheds some light on the Lamar Jackson extension saga. Stanley has barely played a game and a quarter since signing his new deal back on October 30, 2020. The aforementioned extension would seem to indicate that the Ravens are comfortable with Stanley from a health perspective otherwise, why kick the can down the road and place unnecessary future weight on the cap, right?
The additional space gives the team some needed breathing room, presumably to add an edge defender, amongst other things. However, creating the space by converting some of Stanley’s salary to bonus is unfortunately a sign that the team does NOT expect a Lamar Jackson extension anytime soon – one that would have triggered a 2022 cap savings of approximately $10M. Otherwise, why take the risk with Stanley?
Surprising Roster Moves
Of the roster moves shown above, the most surprising are:
• The retention of 11 offensive linemen
• Josh Oliver making the cut
• Daelin Hayes’ waive/injury designation
• Tyler Badie’s release
• Cutting loose Isaiah Mack
At training camp this summer, there were whispers along the sidelines during practice that the Ravens would retain 10 offensive linemen. On the WBAL TV broadcast of the Ravens preseason game against the Cardinals, PBP man Gerry Sandusky shared the same. Typically the team retains 9 offensive linemen. The Ravens did one better, opting to carry eleven.
Offensive linemen are treasured and maybe Eric DeCosta has something up his sleeve, particularly with the retention of Trystan Colon who seems to have fallen from the team’s good graces when Ben Powers played snaps at center during the preseason before Colon. Might the Ravens have some concerns about Tyler Linderbaum in New York for the opener? Concerns about left tackle if Stanley isn’t ready, potentially forcing Patrick Mekari to left tackle against the Jets?
Arguably as perplexing is the retention of Josh Oliver, who hasn’t been bad, but he had been rather invisible up to the preseason contest against the Commanders. Charlie Kolar will be moved from the active roster to IR and that will leave the Ravens with four tight ends on the 53. Does that speak to some lingering concerns about Nick Boyle? Does it mean that the Ravens will use Isaiah Likely at WR? Could Oliver draw some interest from other teams? Any or none of these scenarios could be influencing the Ravens retention of Oliver, but for my money, keeping Mack would have been a better move if the goal is to retain the best 53.
Mack pushes the pocket and when given the chance to compete, he shows up on tape. He’s a disrupter and while the Ravens are pretty well set at defensive tackle, Mack would seem to have more trade value than a tight end that once cost the Ravens a 7th-round draft pick.
On the surface, the departures of Hayes and Badie are arguably the biggest head-scratchers for fans. Some will question the logic moving on from Hayes while the team needs more production from the edge, not less. The truth be told, Hayes hasn’t done anything since he opened eyes during the summer of 2021, when some thought, myself included, that he was a Day 3 steal. He has failed to build upon that. He’s only regressed. Plus, murmurs have surfaced around team headquarters that call into question Hayes’ determination. That notion seems like a safe bet. Why would the team quit on a once promising edge player with such a dearth of talent at the position unless something else was awry?
As for Badie, he looked like the best back during training camp before the team took the field during the preseason. He navigated traffic between the tackles and showed a burst when spotting daylight. But when the pads came on, the results were different. Badie has potential and his skill set feels like a good fit for the Ravens. But with so many running backs with better resumes available as street free agents, the Ravens appear to be taking a calculated risk that the 2022 6th-round pick will be available to add to the team’s 16-man practice squad.
[Ravens Cuts: What Do You Think?]
Around The League
Tavon Young was apparently surprised by his “IR” designation yesterday. However, Ravens fans probably were not. In Tavon’s defense, when healthy, he was pound-for-pound the Ravens best tackler – the operative term being “when healthy”. Some players are regularly hurt. Tavon, unfortunately, is one of them.
The Bears have placed CB Tavon Young on Injured Reserve and cut TE James O'Schaughnessy.
— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) August 30, 2022
In a since-deleted Tweet, @ChicagoBears CB Tavon Young appeared to dispute that he’d been placed on IR ahead of the 53-man roster cutdown deadline.#DaBears #BearDown pic.twitter.com/I2wCwpjMWa
— KMack Sports (@KMackSports) August 31, 2022
Off The Record
In a business that rewards breaking stories and/or inside information, it can be tempting to publicly post details of interest even when the info is shared in confidence. And then there are other times when a journalist just uses bad judgment and shares for-your-ears-only insight when he or she shouldn’t. Such was the case recently with NFL Network’s Cynthia Frelund who let the world know that Baker Mayfield plans to F-somebody up.
Baker Mayfield reportedly told a Bills sideline reporter he has revenge on his mind for Week One. 😳🤬 pic.twitter.com/gMNN2NR3sn
— theScore (@theScore) August 30, 2022
Baker Mayfield's "We're gonna f**k them up" comment has gone viral.
Baker said that to @cfrelund , who joined the show this morning to clarify exactly what happened and why it's being overblown #Brownshttps://t.co/bor1E1wvki pic.twitter.com/qvmPr2jnwG
— Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show (@ultCLEsports) August 30, 2022
Clearly some have taken liberties with Frelund’s remarks and applied them specifically to the Panthers upcoming game against the Browns. That September 11th showdown in Charlotte will be interesting, if not very entertaining. And I doubt that the prickly Mayfield will get away with something as he did in the video below against the likes of Myles Garrett & Co.
Mayfield is such a douche bag. That said, I’ll be rooting for him on September 11. And the odds are, he will succeed!
Baker Mayfield out there trucking folks 👀😅#Panthers pic.twitter.com/FnlUlQNTCa
— TimeoutSPORTS__ (@TimeoutSPORTS3) August 27, 2022
