Can/Will John Urschel Take Over at Center?

**Bhcforlife** · 01-13-2015, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by TL24x7

At this point I'm told that the team see Urschel as the successor to Yanda. Me, I'd rather they work out a long-term deal with KO now, extend Yanda and eventually hand center over to Urschel following the 2015 season.

That's interesting to me because Yanda is only 30. You could probably figure on another two or three years of great play and then a couple more years of above average play after that from him. Unless they are planning on letting him walk when his contract is up? I agree that C would make a lot more sense given their current personnel.

**Bhcforlife** · 01-13-2015, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by TL24x7

At this point I'm told that the team see Urschel as the successor to Yanda. Me, I'd rather they work out a long-term deal with KO now, extend Yanda and eventually hand center over to Urschel following the 2015 season.

That's interesting to me because Yanda is only 30. You could probably figure on another two or three years of great play and then a couple more years of above average play after that from him. Unless they are planning on letting him walk when his contract is up? I agree that C would make a lot more sense given their current personnel.

**Justlovemybirds** · 01-13-2015, 01:44 PM

Should Urschel take over Yanda they'd make the O-line a pretty young unit with Zuttah being the oldest guy(29).

**lobachevsky** · 01-13-2015, 01:52 PM

Originally Posted by houstonravensfan

Just how good can Hurst be? TV announcers raved about him during Pats game. Some on here were very critical.

Hurst was clearly the weak link on the OL vs the Stealers but to my untrained eye he did well vs the Pats. An offseason in the weight room & another year with Castillo & who knows?

IMO, as the line shapes up they'll need an 8th man next season to back up Wagner, probably an inexpensive FA, but everything else is nice-to-have. If Oz can ink Yanda to a cap-friendly deal & then re-sign KO, they buy at least 2 years to draft & develop raw prospects, particularly ones who might fall in the draft due to injuries (cf. Hurst, James).

**lobachevsky** · 01-13-2015, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by houstonravensfan

Just how good can Hurst be? TV announcers raved about him during Pats game. Some on here were very critical.

Hurst was clearly the weak link on the OL vs the Stealers but to my untrained eye he did well vs the Pats. An offseason in the weight room & another year with Castillo & who knows?

IMO, as the line shapes up they'll need an 8th man next season to back up Wagner, probably an inexpensive FA, but everything else is nice-to-have. If Oz can ink Yanda to a cap-friendly deal & then re-sign KO, they buy at least 2 years to draft & develop raw prospects, particularly ones who might fall in the draft due to injuries (cf. Hurst, James).

**AirFlacco** · 01-13-2015, 01:59 PM

The team roster lists him as G/C.

www.baltimoreravens.com

**AirFlacco** · 01-13-2015, 02:09 PM

Here's an old article from this site with DeCosta saying Urschel will
provide depth at G and C.

Ravens Address Offense on Day 3 of 2014 NFL Draft | Russell ...
russellstreetreport.com/2014/05/11/nfl-draft/ravens... Cached
... Baltimore assistant general manager Eric DeCosta said. The Ravens did not take a ... Hortiz said. Urschel will likely provide depth at guard and center.

**ursula** · 01-13-2015, 02:13 PM

It would make sense to extend Yanda this offseason and lower his cap hit.

In case some were wondering, Zuttah ius uncuttable this offseason. Next offseason if we cut him we save $2.1M on the cap and have the same amount of dead money. Each of the two offseasons after that gets easier to cut him.

**lobachevsky** · 01-13-2015, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by houstonravensfan

Just how good can Hurst be? TV announcers raved about him during Pats game. Some on here were very critical.

Hurst was clearly the weak link on the OL vs the Stealers but to my untrained eye he did well vs the Pats. An offseason in the weight room & another year with Castillo & who knows?

IMO, as the line shapes up they'll need an 8th man next season to back up Wagner, probably an inexpensive FA, but everything else is nice-to-have. If Oz can ink Yanda to a cap-friendly deal & then re-sign KO, they buy at least 2 years to draft & develop raw prospects, particularly ones who might fall in the draft due to injuries (cf. Hurst, James).

**CopRaven** · 01-13-2015, 02:22 PM

I can't see how we can keep both Yanda and KO beyond next year.

Lol, our offensive line is actually a luxury problem. Too many good players, have to decide whom to keep. Who would have thought that after last year?

**tnsmith90** · 01-13-2015, 02:41 PM

I bet that we keep Yanda as he will be cheaper than KO at their respective ages. Then, we put Urschel at LG. Next season he continues to be excellent depth at the three interior positions for us.

My reasoning is that we can't afford to put a bunch of resources into the OL with the blocking scheme we run. In the past I have always been big on investing heavily in the OL, as it is the most important unit outside of QB. However, with our new blocking scheme, I don't think we need to put that many resources into the OL to get plus performance. So, we are better off investing our cap space, and draft picks at other places. We can probably excel at OL just by drafting tough, rugged linemen somewhere in the mid rounds every year, and letting them play for us for cheap on their rookie deals. Since we are best off going going the cheap route, I would bet that we resign Yanda as opposed to KO, and let Urschel take over at RG when KO's contract is up.

**ursula** · 01-13-2015, 02:44 PM

It would make sense to extend Yanda this offseason and lower his cap hit.

In case some were wondering, Zuttah ius uncuttable this offseason. Next offseason if we cut him we save $2.1M on the cap and have the same amount of dead money. Each of the two offseasons after that gets easier to cut him.