Is Dennis Pitta worth 2nd round, or 1st round tender?/Other RFAs

[leachisabeast]

Since mid way through the 2011 season, Pitta has emerged into a very solid receiving TE, some may argue that he is one of the better receiving TEs in the game. He certainly has value on this team, and is very close to Joe Flacco, he is clearly a guy Flacco trusts in the clutch, and most of the time, comes up big. He made a tremendous catch in the divisional game against the Broncos, which was BTW, one of the best and most clutch throws Flacco has made in his career. If he misses that, or if Pitta drops that, I think Denver win because of the good field position they would have benefited from after the punt.

Pitta however is not a very good blocker, he is rarely used as one, it is Ed Dickson who comes in for that duty, and he isn't exactly good at it either. While athletic, he isn't really a mismatch nightmare, he isn't an elite quick twitch athlete like a Grontkowski is, I see Pitta as a Aaron Hernandez type player. He is going to beat LBs more times than not, but he isn't going to run deep and get past safeties and make explosive plays all over the field IMO.

With that said, it leads me to ponder on whether or not Pitta is worth a 2nd round or a first round tender. His contract is up, but luckily, he's only a restricted free agent this year. He will be an unrestricted free agent in 2014 unless a long term deal gets done sometime down the line (he may be a one of our priortiy FAs next season.). For those who don't know, there isn't all that much difference in the cap figure between a first round and a second round tender. According to bmoreraven a first round tender would cost roughly $2.879M against the cap, where as, a second round tender is around $2.023M. However, with Flacco's current contract negotiations status, every little bit of cap room is going to help.

Once tendered, this means a team can actually try to put in an offer for said player, but will have to give up the draft pick for him, and will have to outbid the Ravens for his services. So I'm pretty sure giving Pitta a first round tender seals Pitta to being on the roster for 2013, as I'm 99% sure that no team is going to give up a first round pick for Pitta. Would a team give a second round pick up for him? Maybe. I could see someone like the Buccaneers who were reportedly interested in drafting a TE last year with a high round pick, and have a lot of cap room, so they could outbid us to get him, or someone like Saint Louis who can afford to give up draft picks for proven weapons that Bradford needs. It would be risky giving Pitta a 2nd round tender, and losing him would create yet another hole on the roster that would need to be filled.

We have five other RFAs. Arthur Jones, Ed Dickson, David Reed, Ramon Harewood, and Morgan Cox. Morgan Cox will probably get a cheaper one or two year deal, as he's just a long snapper. There is no chance he even gets a ROFR/low tender (rights of first refusal) as that would cost $1.323M against the cap. Arthur Jones, IMO will get a 2nd round tender, I could easily see a team giving up a fifth round pick for Arthur Jones, he's got a lot of talent. Ed Dickson is a big question, and it depends on how the Ravens value him, but seeing as he was a 3rd round draft pick, I think they will give him a ROFR tender, because I can't see a team giving up a 3rd rounder for him. Then there's the two question marks on David Reed and Ramon Harewood. Do we keep them or let them walk? Both appear to be nothing more than depth players, but it would cost around $2.6M to keep them both.

I say we give Pitta a first round tender, Art Jones gets a second rounder tender. Dickson, and Harewood can come back on a ROFR tender. This would cost us around $7.548M against the cap if I'm not mistaken.

[Gabrosin]

I think we can afford the second-round tender for both Pitta and Jones, and an original-round tender for Dickson. I'm not sure we could easily replace Pitta for a fourth-round pick, but the truth is that Pitta is a nice TE but not a star TE. Other teams are not going to jump at giving up a second to sign him. A first would be an over-tender.

Same thing with Art Jones, I could see someone prying him away for a fifth, but not for a second.

[GOTA]

No other team was willing to sign Yanda at the 2nd round tender. I don't see anyone going after Pitta. He's a nice player but he's not a special TE. If a team was looking for a TE they have options that are unrestricted like Dustin Keller, Anthony Fasano and most likely Jermichael Finley. I see Ozzie sticking with the 2nd for Pitta.

[LukeDaniel]

I would bet a significant amount of money that the Ravens give Pitta a 2nd round tender.

I'm not sure what a "ROFR" tender is. Right of first refusal? I don't think it exists.

There are only three tenders right now.

1st round tender- $2.8 million- this is too high for Pitta. There is no sense in paying the extra $800k to give him a first round. In recent Raven history, I think only Webb warranted a first round tender. Of course, the Ravens got him under the long term deal before they had to issue that tender. Webb had to be given a first round tender, because quite a few teams would have gladly forfeited their 2nd round pick to acquire a 26 year old CB regarded as one of the ten best in the league. Pitta is not on that level as Webb.

2nd round tender- This makes the most sense for Pitta. He is a good player, but not a cant-live-without type player. The Ravens pay him 2.0 million next year, which is a very team-friendly amount for a player of his production, and buy themselves more time to decide on long-term contract options. I'd be shocked if any team gave up their 2nd round pick to acquire a soon to be 28 year old Pitta that is at his peak right now. He's a rock solid player, but he's reached his relatively limited ceiling.

Round-of-draft Tender- This is too risky because Pitta was a 4th rounder. Yes, the $1.3-1.4 million is attractive compared to the 2.0 million, but I do think there are teams out there right now who would give up a 4th round pick---particularly a late 4th round pick----to get a guy who they can bring in and instantly produce at a solid level. Yes, the Ravens have the ability to match the offer, but if some team oozing cap space gives Pitta $4.5 million/year over the next 4 years, the Ravens might have to pass and just take the 4th round pick. Frankly, the Ravens don't need more mid-round picks right now. They need to hang onto their productive sub-30 players like Pitta, particularly because Pitta never figures to be all that expensive at any point in his career.

[JAB1985]

I think we can afford the second-round tender for both Pitta and Jones, and an original-round tender for Dickson. I'm not sure we could easily replace Pitta for a fourth-round pick, but the truth is that Pitta is a nice TE but not a star TE. Other teams are not going to jump at giving up a second to sign him. A first would be an over-tender.

Same thing with Art Jones, I could see someone prying him away for a fifth, but not for a second.

Id agree with you on all accounts. I love Pitta, but theres a good many guys that can do what he does. We should be thinking about drafting another TE this draft regardless.

Jones may actually have a larger market than Pitta and the difference between his Orginal round vs Pitta is therefore that much greater, imo.

[leachisabeast]

Round of draft tender is what I'm calling a right of first refusal. I think there is no way we give Pitta or Art Jones that. I'm on the fence with Pitta between 1st and 2nd round tender. I think a lot of teams would be willing to give up a 4th for Pitta and a 5th for Jones.

[bmorecareful]

Nice post. I actually think my preferred action with Pitta would be to lock him up long-term right now. Either the 1st or 2nd round tenders are both in the 2m cap hit range for next year, and we could EASILY structure a 4 year extension that puts his 2013 cap number at or below 2m thus providing at worst no bigger cap hit and at best a bit of cap savings.

I think right around a 4.5m a year average is good for Pitta, say about 4 years/18m or 5/22 (best recent contract comparison is the deal Greg Olsen signed with Carolina after he was traded to them before the 2011 season). Pitta is going to be 28 at the start of next season, people forget that he came into the league much older than your average rookie, but locking him up through age 32 or so makes sense when you know you're going to want him around.

I see Pitta having a breakout year next year in Jim Caldwell's offense. We know Flacco loves throwing to him and we could be facing major uncertainty at WR, so he could really emerge into a Dallas Clark level role in the offense. Why not just buy low instead of high by locking him up now?

The other RFAs... I agree with everything you said. Cox, Harewood, and Reed are all going to be non-tendered. Cox will likely get a veteran minimum deal. Harewood is also a guy that it wouldn't hurt to retain if he'll take the vet minimum, we need OL depth next year and he's got some positional versatility. David Reed is gone if Jacoby stays. Art Jones gets a 2nd rounder, he needs to prove himself for another year but is too valuable to risk losing for a 5th.

If I were Ozzie I'd slap the ROFR tender on Ed Dickson and then go looking for a trade partner. I actually think he could have some value to other teams looking for a "slot" type of TE, the problem is that we already have Pitta filling that role to a T and there is no room for another of the same player on our offense. I would definitely give him up for a 5th rounder to Tampa Bay, St. Louis, or any number of other teams in need of receiving TE help.

[ursula]

Given our cap situation, Pitta is worth to the Ravens whatever the lowest tender is that will keep other teams from poaching him. Most likely that's a 2nd round tender. Giving him a first round tender would be the Ravens negotiating with themselves-which is not something that Ozzie does.

Hopefully this summer, or after the draft and free agency have died down and the Ravens can see their cap situation clearly again, they work on extending Pitta and Oher and Graham, signing at least one of them before they go into the next offseason with too many UFAs.

[leachisabeast]

Nice post. I actually think my preferred action with Pitta would be to lock him up long-term right now. Either the 1st or 2nd round tenders are both in the 2m cap hit range for next year, and we could EASILY structure a 4 year extension that puts his 2013 cap number at or below 2m thus providing at worst no bigger cap hit and at best a bit of cap savings.

I think right around a 4.5m a year average is good for Pitta, say about 4 years/18m or 5/22 (best recent contract comparison is the deal Greg Olsen signed with Carolina after he was traded to them before the 2011 season). Pitta is going to be 28 at the start of next season, people forget that he came into the league much older than your average rookie, but locking him up through age 32 or so makes sense when you know you're going to want him around.

I see Pitta having a breakout year next year in Jim Caldwell's offense. We know Flacco loves throwing to him and we could be facing major uncertainty at WR, so he could really emerge into a Dallas Clark level role in the offense. Why not just buy low instead of high by locking him up now?

The other RFAs... I agree with everything you said. Cox, Harewood, and Reed are all going to be non-tendered. Cox will likely get a veteran minimum deal. Harewood is also a guy that it wouldn't hurt to retain if he'll take the vet minimum, we need OL depth next year and he's got some positional versatility. David Reed is gone if Jacoby stays. Art Jones gets a 2nd rounder, he needs to prove himself for another year but is too valuable to risk losing for a 5th.

If I were Ozzie I'd slap the ROFR tender on Ed Dickson and then go looking for a trade partner. I actually think he could have some value to other teams looking for a "slot" type of TE, the problem is that we already have Pitta filling that role to a T and there is no room for another of the same player on our offense. I would definitely give him up for a 5th rounder to Tampa Bay, St. Louis, or any number of other teams in need of receiving TE help.

Great post. I agree that if we can lock Pitta up now, then we should do it. The good news is that the Ravens were willing to do it last year once they tendered Webb, it kind of surprised a few that they got it done so quick. I agree that Pitta would fit that type of contract too. If we let him play his tender out in 2013 and he has a break out year like you suggest, he may drive his price out of our range like Kruger has.

[LukeDaniel]

. I'm not sure we could easily replace Pitta for a fourth-round pick, .

Same thing with Art Jones, I could see someone prying him away for a fifth, but not for a second.

Took the words out of my mouth. Pitta is too good to afford losing a 4th round pick over. He's not good enough to pass up a 2nd round pick in exchange. If we lost Pitta and all we got in return was a 4th rounder, our team would be far worse in 2013. Even if we used that 4th rounder on a TE to replace Pitta, the odds are not in our favor that the TE who we drafted would ever be as good as 88 is right now. Even if he eventually did become Pitta's equal, it wouldn't be from day one.

I'd give Dickson and Harewood Round-of-draft tender. If any GM offered a 3rd rounder for Dickson, he should be fired immediately. Harewood is likely not going anywhere either, even for a 6th rounder. If we did get someone to give us their 6th rounder for him, I wouldn't lose a minute of sleep over it. Harewood is one of those guys who probably won't ever be any good for us, and even if he suddenly improved into a viable role 2013, he would likely be too expensive to bring back for 2014.

Right now, I'd just offer David Reed a veteran minimum contract and no tender. If Jacoby Jones is cut (looking less likely), then tendering Reed might make a little sense.

[Paintballguy]

Nice post. I actually think my preferred action with Pitta would be to lock him up long-term right now. Either the 1st or 2nd round tenders are both in the 2m cap hit range for next year, and we could EASILY structure a 4 year extension that puts his 2013 cap number at or below 2m thus providing at worst no bigger cap hit and at best a bit of cap savings.

I think right around a 4.5m a year average is good for Pitta, say about 4 years/18m or 5/22 (best recent contract comparison is the deal Greg Olsen signed with Carolina after he was traded to them before the 2011 season). Pitta is going to be 28 at the start of next season, people forget that he came into the league much older than your average rookie, but locking him up through age 32 or so makes sense when you know you're going to want him around.

I see Pitta having a breakout year next year in Jim Caldwell's offense. We know Flacco loves throwing to him and we could be facing major uncertainty at WR, so he could really emerge into a Dallas Clark level role in the offense. Why not just buy low instead of high by locking him up now?

The other RFAs... I agree with everything you said. Cox, Harewood, and Reed are all going to be non-tendered. Cox will likely get a veteran minimum deal. Harewood is also a guy that it wouldn't hurt to retain if he'll take the vet minimum, we need OL depth next year and he's got some positional versatility. David Reed is gone if Jacoby stays. Art Jones gets a 2nd rounder, he needs to prove himself for another year but is too valuable to risk losing for a 5th.

If I were Ozzie I'd slap the ROFR tender on Ed Dickson and then go looking for a trade partner. I actually think he could have some value to other teams looking for a "slot" type of TE, the problem is that we already have Pitta filling that role to a T and there is no room for another of the same player on our offense. I would definitely give him up for a 5th rounder to Tampa Bay, St. Louis, or any number of other teams in need of receiving TE help.

:word I would like it if they got a long term extension for Pitta done now. With Caldwell running the show, I could see Pitta having a 7-900 yard season.

[LukeDaniel]

We'll know in 15 days if Jacoby is going to be a Raven in 2013.