How much worse are Ravens in 2013?

**Raveninwoodlawn** · 04-13-2013, 10:18 PM

Hard to do any comparisons yet...but I think our run D will have to be better at least.

It'll be interesting to see how the back 7 play together since there are going to be so many new players with a couple guys coming off major injuries as well.

I think the offense needs to be addressed...we obviously need a LT and another starting calibre WR.

We'll see how the draft goes and how the guys look playing together on D during the preseason.

**Rxdoxx** · 04-13-2013, 10:31 PM

Better

Speed on D improved, have players to spell Haloti to keep him impactful in the 4Q.

O we do need some depth, I think 2 TE splitting one can cover for Boldin's loss.

Team still is in formation stage. Someone else mentioned another round of free agency after the draft. What wasn't stressed by this is teams releasing players that they have replaced through the draft, both quickly (immediate salary concerns) and late in camp (vet beaten out by a cheap draftee), so there are really 2 more rounds of free agents to go.
And Oz has made moves late in the past... so no major worries presently about things like a back-up C.

As far as leadership, I hear people tossing out names of stars, but I'm feeling that we have/will have strong locker presences from lesser names, like possibly Art Jones and others. I like things I hear Lardarius saying, and Torrey has also spoken well, so we could easily have leaders beyond the expected Big $$ stars.

I am pretty optomistic of our playoff chances because of the changes that are happening. Standing pat would have concerned me a lot more.

Ngata_Chance · 04-14-2013, 10:07 AM

Originally Posted by Dark&Stormy

Based on his experience after SB35 I think Ozzie's strategy for putting the team together is exactly right. This is the only way this team can stay relevant and young, unlike the black/yellow team. This team assembly thing is like hitting a moving target; chemistry, experience, injuries- they are all certainly going to impact this team in the next 5 months. And you know there will be another key guy out with injury for the 1st game.
That being said I feel really good about the team going in to the draft (but really miss having Boldin- that's a mistake), and their history tells me we'll be feeling even better after the draft.

I disagree to a point there. I will be forever grateful for what Boldin did for us in that playoff run. That being said looking at his 7 mil cap number where would we be with the cap right now ? I think if you keep Boldin we would have had to sacrifice some of our other acquisitions. I would rather have Huff, Doom, and McClain then just Boldin. It was a great move for the team imo. Ozzie was genius there because he took us from having about 5 needs in the draft (S, ILB, OLB, LT,WR) to having only two real needs (WR, LT) So he improved his flexibility in the draft. He can now take BPA and fortunately for us this draft is packed with WR's. The only problem is LT because I dont think we have the firepower to get one of the top3, however I think REid Fragel could be a very good LT and could probably be had in the 3rd. With 12 draft picks OZ has room to manuever in getting us depth at ILB and S. BUt he also can get some great guys at WR as well.

Again I think cutting Boldin was a necessary evil by virtue of what we could get with is cap number.

**Mista T** · 04-14-2013, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by Ngata_Chance

I think cutting Boldin was a necessary evil by virtue of what we could get with is cap number.

Disagree. Boldin could have been renegotiated to reduce his 2013 cap hit. You mentioned Huff & McClain. These are run-of the-mill guys whose acquisition doesn't come close adding talent to the team to offset the loss of Boldin. Dumervil was a good pick, offsetting Kruger's loss for less money, so I don't see his entering the discussion.

The biggest problem with using Boldin's cap space to lure a couple of average defensive guys is that we're losing our top WR without a decent backup in place. Doss & the Three Stooges behind him are below average for NFL WRs.

**HoustonRaven** · 04-14-2013, 10:19 AM

The Steelers and other cap killer teams negotiate / push money down the road for aging players.

Perennial playoff teams do not.

**Raveninwoodlawn** · 04-14-2013, 10:26 AM

I would have cut Leach to keep Boldin.

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Ngata_Chance · 04-14-2013, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by Mista T

Disagree. Boldin could have been renegotiated to reduce his 2013 cap hit. You mentioned Huff & McClain. These are run-of the-mill guys whose acquisition doesn't come close adding talent to the team to offset the loss of Boldin. Dumervil was a good pick, offsetting Kruger's loss for less money, so I don't see his entering the discussion.

The biggest problem with using Boldin's cap space to lure a couple of average defensive guys is that we're losing our top WR without a decent backup in place. Doss & the Three Stooges behind him are below average for NFL WRs.

Just because they were average in Oakland does not mean that is all they could be. I remember many Ravens fans had wet dreams about Rolando McClain pre draft. He has the same potential because we still got him young. So to write him off this early could be a little premature. He is only 23. He could still have some great football in him. And renegotiating is stupid imo. Look at all the teams who have tried that or "putting money on the credit card" as ozzie calls it. They are all sucking now and they have no room to do anything with guys who are aging but there is so much dead money cutting them would be almost pointless.

And being real, lets not act like Boldin is anywhere close to a star WR anymore. Was he great for us in the postseason ? Sure he was. I think it is hard to say that a guy who never notched 1K with us and only got over 900 is someone whose production can not be replaced in the draft. Torrey was right on par with Boldin his first year. And while his post season run was good there were also some pretty strong contributors.

So if anything Boldin was over paid. His cap number got players who were on a similar level and for much cheaper. This does not include the upside to guys like McClain who if he plays great we could Tender him and at the very least recoup a pick or resign him and have a good productive LB in his prime for another 7 years over a guy who has 2 or 3 years left max.

**TheSpiderWebb** · 04-14-2013, 10:34 AM

As far as the regular season is concerned we should be better across the board. Both passing and rushing offenses should be better with 16+ games with Caldwell calling plays. Pees has historically been phenomenal at calling redzone D so we should at least be as good there, while yardage wise it shouldn't be hard at all to improve.

Now maybe we don't win back to back championships, but I think we at least buck the trend of Super Bowl winners not winning a single playoff game.

**Haloti92** · 04-14-2013, 10:41 AM

Our defense could/should be better, especially considering our defense last year wasn't very good a lot of the time. It is younger, faster, and at least as talented. It is deeper on the D-line which was our worst performing level on the unit last year. The leadership issue could be a problem though, depending on Suggs (I think Haloti may be too quiet to fill the Ray role). As for a FA addition becoming a very vocal leader (like Dumervil, Canty, etc), that is trickier to pull off considering they are new and a lot of the younger guys bonded around the Lombardi last year without such newcomers.

If there is going to be a problem next year, it is going to be the offense. Obviously nothing is set, and the draft is a big opportunity for us, but our O-line right now has the potential to be worse than ever, unless we make a couple solid additions. And our offense lives and dies with the O-line. The playoff success we had was almost entirely due to the lack of pressure we faced in the passing game. Part of that was Caldwell's scheme, but not all of it. An O-line of Oher - ??? - Gradkowski - Yanda - KO is a very risky proposition. And we lost our duck-and-chuck-it-to WR in Boldin. Hopefully we can get some help at tackle and Gradkowski is up to the task.

**GaTechRavens** · 04-14-2013, 10:45 AM

Originally Posted by Mista T

Disagree. Boldin could have been renegotiated to reduce his 2013 cap hit. You mentioned Huff & McClain. These are run-of the-mill guys whose acquisition doesn't come close adding talent to the team to offset the loss of Boldin. Dumervil was a good pick, offsetting Kruger's loss for less money, so I don't see his entering the discussion.

The biggest problem with using Boldin's cap space to lure a couple of average defensive guys is that we're losing our top WR without a decent backup in place. Doss & the Three Stooges behind him are below average for NFL WRs.

I want to know how we sign Dumervil by keeping Boldin.

**Haloti92** · 04-14-2013, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by GaTechRavens

I want to know how we sign Dumervil by keeping Boldin.

We could have done any one of the following:

a) extended Boldin to reduce his 2013 cap hit
b) cut Leach
c) not signed Canty, Spears, Huff

But I also disagree with his premise that we traded Boldin to sign those run-of-the-mill guys listed in c). We traded Boldin to try to keep Ellerbe. The timing of events indicate, to me, that this was the thinking at the time (after Boldin nixed the idea of a straight paycut).

Ngata_Chance · 04-14-2013, 11:23 AM

We lost 4 guys. It is not the end of the world. We now only have 2 guys over 30. I will take that any day of the week. Considering one is a back up CB and the other is a FB. I much prefer to lose some of our vets to get younger and faster which we desperately need.

That and we get Webb back. To me if we get one starter at WR and depth across the board we are a much better team.