ASA Jackson out with a Toe injury

[HotInHere]

To quote the great Ray Lewis, Bottom line, that's where I'm at too.

To be sure, the way the team is currently constructed, it would have been hard to bring in a guy above the minimum (although certainly not impossible).

But what Jab, myself and others are saying is that back during the first 2 months of free agency, there certainly were options out there...even at the minimum. I mean you can't say "you can't even give me one name of who we should have got" and then when we give you names, say "well, only 3 of those 15 named could have been legit options so there still is nothing they could have done".

I have acknowledged we could have gotten a better player (Cason.) But you guys aren't acknowledging the three that we did bring in (Ross, Franks, Cox) who are proven NFL players. I think it's indefensible for this team to have signed an expensive FA CB ($2-3MM) to be a 4th CB. I know we could have freed that money up in many ways, but it would have been irresponsible to do so.

So I reduce your list to the guys who cost a reasonable amount for that role on the roster -- like Cason. And Wilson, Cox, Franks, and Ross. My opinion is that apart from Cason, who has bounced back nicely this year, you could throw all the rest in a pile and pick one. There is just not that much difference in talent, and given how little a 4th CB plays, whatever difference there is simply won't have much impact. Ergo, the relative success we have had as a defense this year in spite of the CBs we have trotted out there.

Your 3rd corner is too important to just throw your hands up and say you can't do anything other than depend on Chykie Brown to fill it.

They were depending on Asa to be the 3rd corner. Jimmy = 1, Lardarius = 2, Asa = 3. This whole discussion is about how they handled the 4th and 5th CB spot, not the 3rd. Similarly, Tyrod Taylor is your #2 QB. If Joe goes down, you can't turn around and say we were counting on Tyrod to be our #1. We were counting on him to be our #2, while understanding an injury could bump him up to the #1 spot.

When the roster was constructed, the top 3 CB spots were filled. In fact, the 4th one was filled by the same guy who filled it in our Super Bowl year. So let's not move the goal posts. We were not in the market for a #3 CB.

[JustaslowZ06]

^ we WERE in the market for a 3rd DB. Hence the interest in flowers. But that's where it stopped. Than it went to the 4th and 5th which was a failure on the FO part. No FO is perfect. This was the "oh shit" of this year. Not sure why you're defending it or twisting facts to make your case. Oz and co screwed up. Period.

[HotInHere]

^ we WERE in the market for a 3rd DB. Hence the interest in flowers. But that's where it stopped. Than it went to the 4th and 5th which was a failure on the FO part. No FO is perfect. This was the "oh shit" of this year. Not sure why you're defending it or twisting facts to make your case. Oz and co screwed up. Period.

There were rumors about Flowers; there was contact with Flowers. I would assume that interest stopped when they found out he was going to cost $3MM plus another million or two in incentives.

From SB Nation:

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens have been in contact with Flowers and have a need for a reliable nickel corner. The team is trying to replace Corey Graham, who signed with the Buffalo Bills in March, but would prefer to do so internally. Wilson reports Chykie Brown and Asa Jackson will get first crack at the nickel spot, though the Ravens would like to bring in competition for them. Baltimore only has $4.742 million worth of available cap space, so signing a high-profile player like Flowers for the sake of competition doesn't make sense. If they lack confidence in Brown and Jackson, though, they might be willing to find the money.

From good ole Jamison at ESPN regarding signing Flowers:

One stumbling block could be money. The Ravens currently have $4.6 million of salary cap room, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Other potentially interested teams like the Falcons ($9.1 million under cap) and Texans ($8.9 million) have the flexibility to offer more.

The rumors had a third of the NFL interested in Flowers. I'm sure we would have signed him if the price was right. We are always interested in talent that becomes available. Right player, right price. That's how we landed Dumervil. If that's your criteria, then yes, we were in the market for a CB. And probably also in the market for every other position besides starting QB. But just like at RT, the FO clearly believed they had a player in house. If Duane Brown had been available cheap, I'm sure we would have contacted him. Does that mean we were in the market for a RT?

[wickedsolo]

There is also (or was) the fact that Flowers would have been the #3 guy on the depth chart. He may not have wanted to come here simply because he didn't want to sit behind Webb and Jimmy.

[Raveninwoodlawn]

Wait a minute...they were counting on Asa to be the number 3 guy?

Then why was virtually every report from mini camp and the first couple weeks of training camp pretty much exclusively having Chykie Brown running as the 3rd corner?

They were counting on Chykie...not Asa. Asa got more reps as it became more and more obvious with every burn mark left on him than Chykie just couldn't do the job.

And their interest in Flowers...that was for him to be the 4th corner? That's just silly.

Right now Asa is just a guy out there...and Chykie is terrible. It would have been very beneficial to pony up $2-3 million for a guy who would wind up playing up to 60+% of the snaps on defense.


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[JustaslowZ06]

Ok so we'll go with the coaching staff was HORRIBLY wrong in their talent evaluation of Chykie and Asa so Oz and Co didn't pony up for a 3rd corner. Per listed above that's exactly what happened. So it's not the FO fault. It's Harbs and Co not being able to properly evaluate the talent they had on the squad.