Grade the Ravens off-season so far

[Shas]

How can you judge a draft before the players have a couple of seasons in the NFL?

Grades made before any results are always going to be heavily based on opinion and gut feeling. The name of the thread is grade the off-season so far and so far is before the draft.

But with the draft they have at least committed to a decision.

My point is at this juncture of the offseason their decision making is incomplete.

They brought back Bowser, McPhee, Ellis, Wolfe, Fort and Levine. Those are actual decisions.

We've seen half-decisions to allow players to leave, like Ingram, Griffin, Judon, Ngakoue, Judon, Levine, Thomas, Harris, Bonds, Skura, Fluker, Bryant, White, Wesley, Bond, Moore.

Other than adding Watkins and Zeiter, what's the other half of these decisions? Who takes these roster spots? That's a lot of, "to be determined" unlike after the draft when they 100% determined players they are adding.

That's 14 roster spots still to be determined. Half will be draft picks, at least. My feeling is that we need to see how these decisions shake out and then I'll be happy to apply a gut feel on how well I think they did.

[GOTA]

I like the Zeitler addition. I like bringing Bowser back for what they paid but I'm not convinced he can actually rusher the passer. I also am happy with some of the lower end guys who were cut then coming back once they missed out on some of their free agent targets. EDC is always active and doesn't seem to be someone to just sit out on anything. If plan A doesn't work he's going down the list. I really appreciate that.

Now for the negatives. The big one is not bringing a wide receiver worth a damn. Watkins is garbage. He's going to be the latest in the Lee Evans, TJ Houshmanzedah, Jeremy Macklin list of horrendous signings at the position. The Raiders signed Snead for a little over $1 million on a 1 year deal. I would have paid him $1.5 to stay vs wasting a dime on Watkins.

That's my big criticism. I wouldn't have paid the pass rushers we lot and do think we'll add a veteran. I would have been all over the Rodney Hudson trade but I understand how tough that is to pull off. So far the big miss is at WR and I see that as a very big problem for this team in 2021.

[BcRaven]

Not premature at all I said "so far". Basically in reference to what we lost and gained in free agency. Of course the draft will change things. But we all know you can't even grade a draft til a few years out.

I really started the thread to gauge how most Ravens fans are feeling about the team right at the moment.

I gotta tell you, Cleveland has me a little worried. I know it's the Browns but they've kicked ass so far. And they may still trade Beckham and get a haul.

rf55, I don't blame you for feeling the way you do. We're all anxious to see how the end of April and May unfolds. I'm certainly not knocking you for this thread, only to me it's like going to a baseball game and asking how a fan feels after the 3rd inning.
Anyway, the Browns are on everyone's radar as they seem to be building a solid roster. I'm not going to be cynical and say "OK we've seen their act before, and it's always ended badly."
To me they're another competitive team in our division and we're up to the challenge... Bc

[GOTA]

But with the draft they have at least committed to a decision.

My point is at this juncture of the offseason their decision making is incomplete.

They brought back Bowser, McPhee, Ellis, Wolfe, Fort and Levine. Those are actual decisions.

We've seen half-decisions to allow players to leave, like Ingram, Griffin, Judon, Ngakoue, Judon, Levine, Thomas, Harris, Bonds, Skura, Fluker, Bryant, White, Wesley, Bond, Moore.

Other than adding Watkins and Zeiter, what's the other half of these decisions? Who takes these roster spots? That's a lot of, "to be determined" unlike after the draft when they 100% determined players they are adding.

That's 14 roster spots still to be determined. Half will be draft picks, at least. My feeling is that we need to see how these decisions shake out and then I'll be happy to apply a gut feel on how well I think they did.

Would you receive a grade on a test in school before you finished it? That's what's going on here. Even after the draft and the day before game 1 we can't actually grade the offseason moves of the team. If we are looking for accuracy now is when we should really grade the 2020 offseason moves of the Ravens. That's what the management did when they brought certain coaches and players back and let others go.

Both the media and the fans always want to grade and evaluate as things are going on. We're going to get draft grades and each night of the draft which is really silly. However, that's what everyone including me likes to do so I'm adding my opinion based on prognostication and gut feeling to the rest of them. Take it for what it is.

[QtR Nevermore]

How can you judge a draft before the players have a couple of seasons in the NFL?

Grades made before any results are always going to be heavily based on opinion and gut feeling. The name of the thread is grade the off-season so far and so far is before the draft.

Exactly.

My grade so far is D+. (C is a pass in America, isn't it?) I'd have it just below a pass. The team has got weaker so it can't be a pass but there have been some good moves.

The best moves were the re-signing Bowser, McPhee and Fort so cheaply.

I'm mostly positive about the Zeitler deal. He's been good but he's older and coming off the worst season of his career. It looks like a decent deal now but I'm worried it might look more expensive if we only get one decent year of play out of the 2 year contract, a bit like the Ingram deal.

I'm slightly positive about retaining the 2 comp picks. I like the picks but I worry that it paralyzed the Ravens while the free agent market passed them by.

I'm negative about the Watkins deal. The price for the player is fairly reasonable but I'm disappointed that the Ravens came out of the FA WR market with only a slight upgrade on Snead.

I'm worried about the Edge position. Any available free agent is a big downgrade from Judon or Ngakoue but if they add either Houston, Ingram or Kerrigan (in that order) I'll be a little happier.
It's hard to look at this phase of the offseason as a win for the Ravens but adding one of those players would push it up to a C-.

[Shas]

I like the Zeitler addition. I like bringing Bowser back for what they paid but I'm not convinced he can actually rusher the passer. I also am happy with some of the lower end guys who were cut then coming back once they missed out on some of their free agent targets. EDC is always active and doesn't seem to be someone to just sit out on anything. If plan A doesn't work he's going down the list. I really appreciate that.

Now for the negatives. The big one is not bringing a wide receiver worth a damn. Watkins is garbage. He's going to be the latest in the Lee Evans, TJ Houshmanzedah, Jeremy Macklin list of horrendous signings at the position. The Raiders signed Snead for a little over $1 million on a 1 year deal. I would have paid him $1.5 to stay vs wasting a dime on Watkins.

That's my big criticism. I wouldn't have paid the pass rushers we lot and do think we'll add a veteran. I would have been all over the Rodney Hudson trade but I understand how tough that is to pull off. So far the big miss is at WR and I see that as a very big problem for this team in 2021.

That's all fair. I do think you can judge those two free agency signings, and if you want to say those are the two "big moves" and the rest is window dressing, so grade them on that, "so far," I guess that's fair, but I tend to think about it more broadly. If the question was, grade those two signings (instead of grade the offseason, so far, I wouldn't have objected).

If we're only looking at broad brush strokes, I do think you still have to include whatever they end up doing with one of the edge rushers.

I think the Zeitler signing, in isolation, was pretty much an A. I agree that Watkins probably won't amount to much, not much more than a cheaper Snead. I agree with you that better to go cheap on an off brand than do what the Giants did.

Funny thing about Watkins, do you want him to live down to your expectations, so he's one and done, without long term damage to the roster. Or do you want him to have a somewhat successful (or just, healthy) season, and risk them giving him a long term deal? Which do you root for?

[Shas]

We're going to get draft grades and each night of the draft which is really silly. However, that's what everyone including me likes to do so I'm adding my opinion based on prognostication and gut feeling to the rest of them. Take it for what it is.

Hey, it's cool. I am not trying to be a dick. I am just saying it is doubling down on the silliness when we are grading them based on players they let go without even knowing who they added to replace them.

[brown2RAVEN]

I like the Zeitler addition. I like bringing Bowser back for what they paid but I'm not convinced he can actually rusher the passer. I also am happy with some of the lower end guys who were cut then coming back once they missed out on some of their free agent targets. EDC is always active and doesn't seem to be someone to just sit out on anything. If plan A doesn't work he's going down the list. I really appreciate that.

Now for the negatives. The big one is not bringing a wide receiver worth a damn. Watkins is garbage. He's going to be the latest in the Lee Evans, TJ Houshmanzedah, Jeremy Macklin list of horrendous signings at the position. The Raiders signed Snead for a little over $1 million on a 1 year deal. I would have paid him $1.5 to stay vs wasting a dime on Watkins.

That's my big criticism. I wouldn't have paid the pass rushers we lot and do think we'll add a veteran. I would have been all over the Rodney Hudson trade but I understand how tough that is to pull off. So far the big miss is at WR and I see that as a very big problem for this team in 2021.

I don't feel quite as strongly about Watkins as you do, but agree about keeping Snead instead risking it with Watkins. Even if he plays all season I don't see him moving the needle enough to justify the $$. Curious which of this years WR contract you wish the Ravens would have made. I'd have been happy with Juju or Hilton contracts for instance, but they opted to stay where they are. Beyond that I can't think of any deals I wish the Ravens had been the ones making off the top of my head.

My biggest knock is they aren't ready to go into the draft without holes and pretend to take the BPA.

[QtR Nevermore]

My biggest knock is they aren't ready to go into the draft without holes and pretend to take the BPA.

I like that. That's all it ever is. They always take a player at a position of need in the 1st and usually in the 2nd and 3rd too.

[Terpsfan82]

C

[InigoMontoya]

My biggest knock is they aren't ready to go into the draft without holes and pretend to take the BPA.

That's my issue, too. They was supposed to be moving away having obvious holes coming into the draft. That was one of the things DeCosta was supposed to fix.

[Captain Silver]

Not sure enough people here are being realistic. The team let player who got overpaid walk. The FA market to me did not scream there was a must have at any price. I give them a B. The moves you do make can be far more costly than the ones you don't.