The last time the Ravens had such a blood-letting ....

[SC_Raven_Fan]

They gotta bring back Heap. What will we yell if Dickson catches a TD.

DICKS!!!!!!!!!

That just doesn't work

DEEEEEEEEEEE!

[AirFlacco]

I agree on all those signings especially Gaither. Need him back at LT so we move Oher back to RT and Yanda
back to RG. What a line. Beast on run blocking. McClain wants more carries and is probably outta here.

[The Excellector]

I'm pretty sure the guys bitching about this are the same bitching that "Harbuagh's doghouse includes all rookies" and "The Ravens have to get rookies on the field!" Specifically talking about Cody, Reed, Dickson and Pitta last year. Who, by the way, will all have a ton more chances now if you noticed where the cuts were.

This is what I am saying as well. Harbaugh has been criticized for not giving the younger players more time and for being too slow on the trigger when he finally does, usually waiting until injuries force his hand.

Now, they are making room for those younger players to get an opportunity, and it seems that posters just want to put more veterans in front of them.

[Teavo]

They gotta bring back Heap. What will we yell if Dickson catches a TD.

DICKS!!!!!!!!!

That just doesn't work

I doubt it will be a problem because Dickson probably won't be catching many TD passes. :D

[Corey]

I agree on all those signings especially Gaither. Need him back at LT so we move Oher back to RT and Yanda
back to RG. What a line. Beast on run blocking. McClain wants more carries and is probably outta here.

With McGahee out, we are in a position to make him that offer.

[Rxdoxx]

The OP Mista T is right, it feels like years ago, but as others have drawn out, it is not. 2 FA and I really believed that Oz was praying Houston would claim Jermaine Lewis' salary. I remember we also had to do an Alabama-two-step to keep Sharper the extra year. Houston helped our cap greatly and shielded Oz from being seen as Axman.

Not this year, with the circumstances the ax fell 4 times in one day, and we as fans react because we have a ton of good memories.

But we know there has been a plan, we have TEs on the roster (sorry Edgar Jones), we have WR draft choices (sorry Stall and Housh), we have a next man up DL with a year of grooming. RB is the only major question and we won't have a great handle on that till we see how the McClain chips fall, and that is not starter but depth and injury insurance.

OL is critical, and money is now freed, fortunately well beyond the little chippies of cutting player X and saving $375,000 against the cap.

It is exciting. Get ready, the roller coaster is starting, and Oz has just pulled up to the poker table with a load of chips we didn't know he was bringing. Yes, we can mourn some great favorites, but the ride is starting. Yanda! Yanda!

[mindless lemming]

If this is a blood-letting, then it is a New England style blood-letting, which I will take every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Much as I hate to see these guys cut, I can't find more cons than pros in letting them go at this point. All are sadly past their primes and we have ample depth to replace them.

[moose10101]

Unlike 2002, the Ravens should have players who can step up and replace the guys who were cut (except at RB). If they drafted well, this shouldn't hurt, and may help. If they didn't, and Dickson/Cody/D. Reed/Doss/etc. don't work out, they're screwed. But now is the time to find out.

[B-more Ravor]

Sharper and Lewis were not released they were taken by the Texans in the expansion draft and Priest and Starks were a free agents

Priest also left after the 2000 season. He was not part of the 2002 purge.

[psuasskicker]

Not really. Heap & Mason were the steady hands of our passing attack.

These two guys combined:
101 rec
1,401 yds
12 TDs

That's nothing to sneeze at but let's not pretend that it's irreplaceable, especially for less than the multi-millions we were spending on them this year.

More to the point, both guys are near the end of their careers. This, to me, really smells of a Donovan McNabb type move. i.e. The Ravens maybe know something about the likelihood of how much gas these guys have left in the tank that other teams - and especially the fans - do not. Heap is gonna be 31 and hasn't broken 600 rec yards for four years. Mason is gonna be 37 years old and has seen a decline in receptions and yards each of the previous three seasons.

Whether or not these guys are in fact toast is still TBD. But their risk at this point is certainly high, and while these guys may at one time have been able to be called "the steady hands of our passing attack," the reality is that going forward, it's highly likely they'd be even more diminished than they are now. I think it'd be safe to project them as getting somewhere in the range of 80 catches, 1,100 rec yards and 8 TDs this season if they were still with us. If we can't find that for a LOT less money than what we were paying Heap/Mason, we should be ashamed of ourselves.

The flip-side is, we now could have cap for one big acquisition. If, for instance, we bring in Santonio Holmes or Sidney Rice, we significantly upgrade our passing game (Holmes or Rice > Heap + Mason and it's not close), and McGahee and Gregg were non-entities on the cuts.

- C -

[houstonravensfan]

Good moves, but given the arcane mysteries of capology, More cuts might be necessary. The real issue (IMHO) is not who we cut, but who we sign to replace them. I think we'll do very well.

[ravenwoman]

Look, this team was getting long in the tooth. They had too much money tied up in guys that weren't performing up to their contracts.

For far too long this team has held onto aging and expensive vets.

Meanwhile the Ravens have been mapping out a plan and are now executing it.

It comes as a shock initially but it's something that needed to be done for not only this season but for the future. They have freed up a bunch of cap room that will enable them to address critical team needs.


PP

It is better to let go of a player a year too soon than a year too late.