Will we re-sign Ryan Jensen?

**Cawtious** · 01-02-2018, 05:03 PM

Originally Posted by Goode05

I agree 100% maybe they did and he bet on himself? I'd like to think that they did.

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I don't think they did. Something would have leaked out of the Castle. We were aware of the offer to Wagner last year, so I get the feeling they made no attempt.

**Goode05** · 01-02-2018, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by Cawtious

I don't think they did. Something would have leaked out of the Castle. We were aware of the offer to Wagner last year, so I get the feeling they made no attempt.

This makes me sad

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**Jsmoove** · 01-02-2018, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by Cawtious

I don't think they did. Something would have leaked out of the Castle. We were aware of the offer to Wagner last year, so I get the feeling they made no attempt.

smh

**tnsmith90** · 01-02-2018, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by Cawtious

With the performance of Matt Skura this year, I can see him shifting over to fill Jensen's shoes. We draft a mid-round pick Center, and we also could work on Goose if he comes back healthy from that terrible knee injury. Lewis will return, Yanda, and keep Hurst if Jensen is out of the picture.

I also, gulp, believe that Hurst will go in FA. With the guys beneath him returning from IR, he may feel he's on the outside looking in. He's gonna get 5-7 M/yr potentially. People really disliked him and many still do, but he did a yeoman's work when we needed him this year. How do you make room for him, and who do you sit to keep him at G? He's no tackle and I wouldn't shift him back there.......ever.

Skura may be our answer to Jensen's exit. I agree if that is the case, we need to focus on WR. We've got to.

I agree completely with the entirety of your post. No way is Jensen's intrinsic value equal to what the market will value him at. If he's really looking at a deal north of $10 mil then good for him, but I hope he isn't in Baltimore any longer. This is the same guy that couldn't win a starting job here for years; even getting beaten out by the likes of Gradkowski and Zuttah. He's had exactly one good year in his career. It would be an overreaction to pay him the kind of money people are talking about. I even say that as a fan of his that was repping him hard before the season! You just don't pay good but not great centers $10+mil a year and expect to compete for championships.

Skura has played solidly for us, and he should be even better next year. We can slide him over, and only see a little bit of a drop off at center. That will more than be compensated for by getting both of our starting guards back, including one All Pro in Yanda. The line will be slightly better next year even without him in that scenario, and we can take the $10+mil and use it to go after a receiving threat since we have exactly 0 real receiving threats on the team.

**Cawtious** · 01-02-2018, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by Goode05

This makes me sad

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Gotta be making them a little sad right now, too. This kid is a throwback to an era of lineman that believed in fundamental aggression and downright nasty play. He's what a Raven team was looking for when they recruited him. I don't think what he did this year surprised anyone in that building. No excuses for not pursuing him earlier in the year. I was harping on it around week 5 after his performance against the Raiders, I was sold on his impending rise to being a solid player for the team.

Now I fear we're on the outside looking in, in regards to him re-signing. It's going to take a small miracle, in my estimation.

Now I'm going to get the bottle of Dammitall out and take a few......

**@SumthingObvious** · 01-02-2018, 05:20 PM

Frank Ragnow would/should be a priority in the draft if Jensen does walk

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**Cawtious** · 01-02-2018, 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by tnsmith90

I agree completely with the entirety of your post. No way is Jensen's intrinsic value equal to what the market will value him at. If he's really looking at a deal north of $10 mil then good for him, but I hope he isn't in Baltimore any longer. This is the same guy that couldn't win a starting job here for years; even getting beaten out by the likes of Gradkowski and Zuttah. He's had exactly one good year in his career. It would be an overreaction to pay him the kind of money people are talking about. I even say that as a fan of his that was repping him hard before the season! You just don't pay good but not great centers $10+mil a year and expect to compete for championships.

Skura has played solidly for us, and he should be even better next year. We can slide him over, and only see a little bit of a drop off at center. That will more than be compensated for by getting both of our starting guards back, including one All Pro in Yanda. The line will be slightly better next year even without him in that scenario, and we can take the $10+mil and use it to go after a receiving threat since we have exactly 0 real receiving threats on the team.

My belief is they shelved him last year. Saw what he was about to do, and didn't want to see him skate as an RFA with a six round tender attached. His first two years he was fighting a broken foot, and then apnea. He battled all the way back from the PS in his second year. He was young coming in, and needed time to build strength and better technique.

You gotta remember that guys don't get paid for what they've done. They get paid for what they are being projected to do. It's not retroactive thinking. It's forward thinking. If you don't think Jensen is capable of being a pro bowler next year, (better yet, All-pro) I would disagree with your assessment. His curve for development is off the charts right now.

Zuttah was getting paid 3+ M last year. You're not going to sit him in favor of a guy making league minimum, unless you cut Zuttah and eat the money. Jensen was mothballed for this season and they played it out with Zuttah. The resigning of Zuttah again this year was a smokescreen designed to 1) protect us in the event Jensen went down 2) to get Jensen's maximum effort.

Skura has been solid, and he will get better. Jensen walking isn't going to kill us........but we keep this dangerous and goofy trend of raising up good players and letting them walk because our finances are a clusterf**k.

We need to get a WR corps built up...totally agree.

Jensen's path to development was marred with injuries, and a little bit of financial situations, IMHO. He's proved everyone wrong and I am personally happy for the guy.

**tnsmith90** · 01-02-2018, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by Cawtious

My belief is they shelved him last year. Saw what he was about to do, and didn't want to see him skate as an RFA with a six round tender attached. His first two years he was fighting a broken foot, and then apnea. He battled all the way back from the PS in his second year. He was young coming in, and needed time to build strength and better technique.

You gotta remember that guys don't get paid for what they've done. They get paid for what they are being projected to do. It's not retroactive thinking. It's forward thinking. If you don't think Jensen is capable of being a pro bowler next year, (better yet, All-pro) I would disagree with your assessment. His curve for development is off the charts right now.

Zuttah was getting paid 3+ M last year. You're not going to sit him in favor of a guy making league minimum, unless you cut Zuttah and eat the money. Jensen was mothballed for this season and they played it out with Zuttah. The resigning of Zuttah again this year was a smokescreen designed to 1) protect us in the event Jensen went down 2) to get Jensen's maximum effort.

Skura has been solid, and he will get better. Jensen walking isn't going to kill us........but we keep this dangerous and goofy trend of raising up good players and letting them walk because our finances are a clusterf**k.

We need to get a WR corps built up...totally agree.

Jensen's path to development was marred with injuries, and a little bit of financial situations, IMHO. He's proved everyone wrong and I am personally happy for the guy.

You are probably right about his early years here, but I don't believe they would have sat him for Zuttah last season purely over contract situations. They would have played the best player they had, and did everything they could to win football games. The coaches and F.O will do whatever it takes to win because their own jobs are on the line. Last year he just wasn't all that good, and he got beat out. This year he improved tremendously by adding strength/weight, and being given a chance to play in a blocking scheme that suits his strengths better.

I really think we just ultimately disagree about what he will be moving forward. I don't see him as being more than a good, but not great center. I also think he carries a lot of risk in projecting him that diminishes his value a bit in my eyes. I'm not happy with the idea of losing him right after our team finally developed him into a good player. It sucks that we are constantly seeing that happen here. I just think we can better allocate the funds he would require to other areas of weakness, and I also think we have a viable replacement on board already in Skura. I think it sounds like you and I are on basically on the same page here, but we just disagree some on what Jensen will be moving forward. That said, I am happy for the guy, and I hope for his sake he proves me wrong by becoming an all pro.

In the end though we only have so much money, and we HAVE to spend the majority of that on finding some receiving threats. We don't have ANY good WR's or receiving TE's. It's not possible to consistently win in today's NFL with no receiving weapons on offense. I wish we could afford what it sounds like Jensen will get, but IMO we just can't. I guess we will see how it plays out!

**esmd** · 01-02-2018, 06:07 PM

Nope. With Yanda, Lewis, and Siragusa coming back next year, they'll move Skura to C and have those three plus Hurst at G. Hurst or possibly even Lewis might get bumped to RT. Then they'll sign some cheap depth or possibly draft a couple lineman. And that'll be okay, assuming they stay relatively healthy. I like Jensen, he did a nice job this year by all accounts, but he's not worth handing out a big contract.

**NCRAVEN** · 01-02-2018, 06:14 PM

Originally Posted by esmd

Nope. With Yanda, Lewis, and Siragusa coming back next year, they'll move Skura to C and have those three plus Hurst at G. Hurst or possibly even Lewis might get bumped to RT. Then they'll sign some cheap depth or possibly draft a couple lineman. And that'll be okay, assuming they stay relatively healthy. I like Jensen, he did a nice job this year by all accounts, but he's not worth handing out a big contract.

Agrred

**NestMinder** · 01-02-2018, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by esmd

Nope. With Yanda, Lewis, and Siragusa coming back next year, they'll move Skura to C and have those three plus Hurst at G. Hurst or possibly even Lewis might get bumped to RT. Then they'll sign some cheap depth or possibly draft a couple lineman. And that'll be okay, assuming they stay relatively healthy. I like Jensen, he did a nice job this year by all accounts, but he's not worth handing out a big contract.

Agree with this. Skura was a center at Dook. D'Alessandris did an impressive job of coaching 'em up this season. Howard still has 2 years left on his deal, so he'll be back at least as depth, but probably as the starting RT. Hurst is a UFA too though, and I think he goes.

They'll miss Jensen's mean streak for sure. Or at least, we will. Harbs is probably glad to lose it.

Stanley - Nico - Skura - Yanda - Howard

As long as they have all preseason together, they could be ready to roll by Week 1. Yanda has handled line calls before, right? Maybe have him start the season doing that again.

**rhapsody** · 01-02-2018, 06:40 PM

A lot of quality posts on this thread, covering just about all the angles.

My answer to the thread is 80 /20 no.

I thought Jensen was really coming on in late 2015, about when he should have, development-wise, when he had a strong game against Heyward in the Pitt game that Mallett won. And then in the summer 2016, Lewis gets off the bus and beats him and Urshel out for the LG job. The dumb coaches should have forced Jensen into the C job then, but no, they had to ride Zuttah into the toilet because they are afraid to evaluate. In any case, it took Jensen a long time to develop. I like him, especially at a 7-8M price, but I don't think his ceiling is much higher. Because of where he started and how long it took him to get here.

I like the following development: Jensen walks for big $$ and we get a 3rd round comp pick. We spend big money on a quality FA WR. We move back in the first round and draft Ragnow or Billy Price, move up in the second round and draft Moore of Maryland. Skura is a solid backup for Lewis-quality rookie C-Yanda.