Pitta not done

**trailhiker85** · 12-08-2014, 06:32 PM

It's encouraging news ... if true. I'll take it with a grain of salt and am not yet 100% convinced the injury isn't career-ending. Pitta's No. 1 priority has to be his own long term health and mobility. I don't think we'll know for quite some time how things are going to work out. In any case, the Ravens will need to address the TE position before next training camp. Daniels has performed well, but he's on a one-year deal and in any case I'm not sure how much he'll have left in the tank.

**CopRaven** · 12-08-2014, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by TheRockDoctor

You could be right, but unless you're a doctor, you're just speculating like everyone else. At least the info put out there by Harbs is based on something real...

Very true, and since I'm not a doctor, I'm not going to play an expert.

But doctors have already misjudged his risk of re-injury once. The info Harbs is getting may be based on something real, but apparently, that doesn't mean it is real.

**JonAB** · 12-08-2014, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by CopRaven

But they were also told that going into this year he wouldn't have an increased risk of dislocating it again.

After seeing him go down the way he did, I have zero faith that his hip is ever going to handle playing football again. But he might do it, after all, he will be on the roster next year no matter what.

I'm starting to think maybe pre-June 1 is a better option? Getting $8m after June 1 doesn't really enable you to bring in better players, and that way we could get rid of a lot of ugly contracts next year, before Flacco's cap hit spikes.

It's crazy, if we cut Ngata and Webb, we'll have almost $30m in dead money from them and Rice. That's ugly, but that might make things much easier down the road.

Pre-June 1 will only save $2 million but ya, you do have a point. I'm not real impressed with Ngata right now (like everyone else here) but I'd still be surprised if they don't come up with some kind of extension to ease that hit. Yanda is another likely candidate for an extension. Cap is also projected to jump big the next two years which should ease a lot of our cap tensions.

**HoustonRaven** · 12-08-2014, 07:18 PM

Surprised y'all are missing the coach speak. Harbs put a pretty big "if" in that statement.

**cbaywolf** · 12-08-2014, 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by moose10101

So you want the Ravens to take a cap hit that's double what they'd take if they bring him back and then have to IR him on Day 1? If he can't go, they could even deactivate him every week and let him coach the TE's, at half the cap hit.

Anyway, there was supposedly almost no chance of a second dislocation, so I'm not believing that we should count on him to contribute. But they can't afford to cut him.

Well it's obviously a huge *Cap Hit*- but there's something else to consider when you're Steve Biscotti- If they actually cut him, he doesn't have to pay him any more salary- I know Steve has a lot of money- but I think he'd have a hard time of paying someone $13 Million for the next 2 seasons if he can't run a pass route without blowing out a hip. So is it worth it for the team to be set back with a $12.8 Million cap hit (maybe less if he's a post June cap cut) without actually paying him 9 Million *real* dollars, or should he suck it up and pay him $13M so that the team can spend more money on free agents/salaries the next 2 years?

I don't know what all of the injury settlement options are- but I think the Biscuit won't want to pay Pitta $9 Million more real dollars next year (especially after giving him a huge signing bonus and getting no productivity). I guess we'll see- but again, maybe there are other injury settlement options that I don't really know about.

**Stone** · 12-08-2014, 07:38 PM

I'm no doctor, but I wouldn't even entertain the idea (much less mention playing and his name in the same sentence) until an extremely thorough physical evaluation before the start of next season. I hope he can come back, and I wish him well with that. But the way he went down, I just can't see it? Obviously this is up to the professionals and Pitta so we'll see? Until that point I'm focused on the Jags (and this season.)

**JustaslowZ06** · 12-08-2014, 07:47 PM

Honestly if I was the head shed I'd find out what kind of injury settlements there are. The way he went down AND the fact that he's played less than a full season the past 2 years makes me not even want him. Maybe there is a way to sue? I dunno.

Honestly if I'm the Ravens I want a for sure from the docs that he can even play again. Than I'm restructuring his horrible contract and he's getting paid far far less and being heavily incentive laden.

If I'm Dennis I want the docs to tell me I'm OK to play. Of not I'm taking a injury settlement off the books and salary cap, as I understand it they dint count against, and getting as much as I can and walking away while I can still "walk away" lol

Its interesting but I'm sure both sides are going in very cautiously. The best case scenario is that he plays and is somewhat back to normal. He restructures to a very cap friendly deal as its not like any other team is gonna touch him and we get 2 more really good years put of him and part ways at minimal cap impact.

**Greg** · 12-08-2014, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by Gabrosin

His dead money figure for cutting him this offseason would be basically the same as his cap charge for the next two seasons. Little choice but to bring him back and hope he can somehow stay healthy.

Would be nice to have him and Webb come back and live up to their contracts instead of forcing tough decisions on us.

That is not true, he has $8.8 million of his bonus left on the cap and that would accelerate into next year (instead of 2.2 mil per season over the remaining 4 years) and his cap hit is $6.2 mil for just next year (which includes the 2.2 mil) if he is not cut. We are cap wise still on the hook for another $6.6 million even if he is cut after 2015 if he is not cut. Cutting him this off-season will cost us the least against the cap.

That said, if he can come back and play I am all for it. If he can play then he is worth the cap expense.

Honestly if I was the head shed I'd find out what kind of injury settlements there are. The way he went down AND the fact that he's played less than a full season the past 2 years makes me not even want him. Maybe there is a way to sue? I dunno.

NFL teams ABSOLUTELY CANNOT sue players for getting hurt and then being unable to play.

**Rxdoxx** · 12-08-2014, 08:48 PM

Encouraging to hear him say he wants to come back.
AFAIK if he retires, we are full cap hit.... if he wants to come back now we can wait until after June first for the retirement and spread the hit?

According to our capologist Brian McFarland
http://russellstreetreport.com/2012/...alary-cap-faq/

The retirement of a player is treated the same as the release of a player.

If a player is released after the CBA mandated deadline of June 1st, the team gets the benefit of being able to spread the Salary Cap hit – or dead money – over two years. When a player is released after June 1, the team is again relieved of paying that player’s base salary for the year in which he is released (and all future years) and the only amount that counts against the team’s Cap in that year is the player’s bonus proration for that year. The remaining unaccounted-for bonus pro-rations accelerate against the Cap in the following year.

So it looks to me that Pitta wanting to come back gives us some upcoming flexibility that his retiring now would not, regardless of how things actually play out as next season approaches .... we are still on the hook for the full bonus hit, just can pro-rate some into the following year with post June 1st decision if he can't come back.

**alien bird** · 12-08-2014, 09:52 PM

Originally Posted by cbaywolf

Well it's obviously a huge *Cap Hit*- but there's something else to consider when you're Steve Biscotti- If they actually cut him, he doesn't have to pay him any more salary- I know Steve has a lot of money- but I think he'd have a hard time of paying someone $13 Million for the next 2 seasons if he can't run a pass route without blowing out a hip. So is it worth it for the team to be set back with a $12.8 Million cap hit (maybe less if he's a post June cap cut) without actually paying him 9 Million *real* dollars, or should he suck it up and pay him $13M so that the team can spend more money on free agents/salaries the next 2 years?

I don't know what all of the injury settlement options are- but I think the Biscuit won't want to pay Pitta $9 Million more real dollars next year (especially after giving him a huge signing bonus and getting no productivity). I guess we'll see- but again, maybe there are other injury settlement options that I don't really know about.

Bisciotti is worth over $2.1 BILLION. I doubt he's worried about a few million dollars in the grand scheme of things.

**HoustonRaven** · 12-08-2014, 10:01 PM

Originally Posted by alien bird

Bisciotti is worth over $2.1 BILLION. I doubt he's worried about a few million dollars in the grand scheme of things.

He's worth that much because he does indeed understand the value of a few million dollars.

**BillickFan** · 12-08-2014, 10:06 PM

I don't know if the Ravens do this with large contracts, but it's possible that there is a large disability policy that pays the Ravens if Pitta is injured. It would have no bearing on the cap, but it would help the cash flow. If there is one, they could put him on PUP to start, let him have half a season to work on it, and then IR him (and collect insurance proceeds) so in effect they stash him for a year to let the cap hit lessen, so they can absorb the Rice contract hit (& possibly Ngata), while not being "out of pocket" much in the way of salary. And, if he can come back and be productive, that's just icing. If they insured their asset, that would be a great business move. It buys a year, lessens the hit and has a not horrific impact on real cash flow.