Free Agent & Other Player Moves from Around the NFL

[leachisabeast]

Again, all of a sudden Boldin is a washed up bum, and everyone else who got their contracts are all overpaid. This is who people are spinning this news while the team makes great signings like David Reed and Chris Johnson.

Nobody is saying Boldin is a washed up bum, can you quote people before wrongly accusing them of saying things? :grbac:

Boldin was clearly over paid, and is an ageing slot receiver who cannot get separation. He makes some good catches, but some of those throws were right on the money by Flacco, the money he was earning was quite simply not justifiable to pay. It was Torrey Smith who was the real match up nightmare in the play offs, teams were double teaming him, which allowed Boldin more room. Lets also not forget that he wasn't facing the best corners in the world. Torrey was beating HOF corners while Boldin was matched up with undrafted corners some of the time.

Wasn't the point of trading him to have the cap money to pay Ellerbe? Well, now we have neither. So now we have not one question mark on offense (oh yeah, other than the giant GLARING question mark that is LT), but a huge question mark at ILB since your other starter has a spinal cord injury and the rest of the pack are mediocre at best. Oh, but even though you knew Ray Lewis was retiring, and the rest of the ILB corps are subpar, paying Ellerbe the $7million you just let Boldin walk would be too much money. Because you can easily get a better young ILB for $2.5m, right?

No, I don't think the point of trading Boldin was to re-sign Ellerbe, they didn't even start negotiating till Tuesday morning. That to me, signals that the Ravens were clearly not prioritizing Ellerbe, and knew he was going to be severally over paid. Do you actually think Ellerbe is worth $7M a year? The same guy who a lot of people didn't even want back after the 2011 season? You would invest $7M a year for a player you can likely replace in the draft (maybe not quite as much to start with, but maybe said player would be able to stay healthy all year)...? If that's a yes, you are saying Ellerbe is worth just as much as Ray Rice is, a guy who's been to three pro bowls, and has been one of the most consistent and best backs in the NFL since 2009. Ellerbe has struggled to stay on the field, and only this year did he even look close to breaking the top 10 in his position. Signing Ellerbe to that amount would have been poor value, and would have probably cost us re-signing key players down the line, like maybe Torrey Smith.

Boldin was cut because he refused to take a pay cut to what he's worth, $4M a year. That cap room will be used to strengthen the roster in other areas, as seen with the Chris Canty signing, we have instantly upgraded an area of weakness from last year, the defensive line.

We got........30 year old Chris Canty. Ok.

Please just stop. Have you even bothered to check Canty's film from the last few years? Why don't you go watch the superbowl from last year to see what a force this guy can be? Have you even bothered to check his stats while playing for the Giants? He is a very good player, and will make a big impact on our team if he's healthy, and 30 years old really isn't that bad, comon man.

Somewhere, all this makes sense that we are a Super Bowl team that just outright gutted it's defense, while other teams made moves to get better, and I'm just missing how this is all "part of the plan to compete for the next decade".

They know how to build a team better than anyone here combined, because it's their jobs. Folk can sit here all day and speculate about crap, but at the end of the day, this is an organization that has got this team two superbowls in 12 years, countless winning seasons and play off appearances, and have proven time and time again that they are capable of proving us wrong.

[Marcel#52]

I wish I knew.



Again, all of a sudden Boldin is a washed up bum, and everyone else who got their contracts are all overpaid. This is who people are spinning this news while the team makes great signings like David Reed and Chris Johnson.

Anquan Boldin wasn't worth his mega-cap busting billion-dollar contract (despite being an big part of our SB year). Wasn't the point of trading him to have the cap money to pay Ellerbe? Well, now we have neither. So now we have not one question mark on offense (oh yeah, other than the giant GLARING question mark that is LT), but a huge question mark at ILB since your other starter has a spinal cord injury and the rest of the pack are mediocre at best. Oh, but even though you knew Ray Lewis was retiring, and the rest of the ILB corps are subpar, paying Ellerbe the $7million you just let Boldin walk would be too much money. Because you can easily get a better young ILB for $2.5m, right?

And why even bother to keep Pollard. He's a bum too, at least that's what I've more or less started to read here. And hey, it's ok. We have James Ihigidbo and Christian Thompson. I mean, you're not paying Ed Reed 6 million. Hell you're not even paying Pollard, who's 28 years old, $500,000. So what high-production safety are you bringing in on either the strong or free side that will cost less than that? I mean, it's not like we're not $11+ million under the cap since Ellerbe was obviously too expensive.

So ok, we've done all this and cleared all this cap space. For the moment I'll step back and be ok with it. Teams around the league are "overpaying" players that are upgrading their team. So........Denver signs Wes Welker to bolster it's already top offense that simply adds to a team that was the #1 team in the AFC last year. The Rams pick up Steven Jackson, and a Jake Long, which will improve their offense and help them win more games. Even the Browns start improving their defense getting Paul Kruger. We got........30 year old Chris Canty. Ok.

Somewhere, all this makes sense that we are a Super Bowl team that just outright gutted it's defense, while other teams made moves to get better, and I'm just missing how this is all "part of the plan to compete for the next decade".

Now I'll just go ahead and speculate on a lot of these moves here.

Now will start from Kruger who was given a 41 million dollar contract his season last year which was a decent season, however any one who watches tape can tell you he didn't do well until Suggs came back (I believe it was 1.5 sacks without Suggs). Why try and pay him that much when you have a Courtney Upshaw in the wings, who actually started as OLB in front of Kruger a lot.

Next will go with Ellerbe. Now I'll admit I wanted him to be resigned, but not for anywhere near 7 million a year. That's top-5 MLB money. Does anyone here think Ellerbe is a top 5 MLB? No. We got outbid plain and simple. Also in terms of trading Boldin away to pay Ellerbe, A lot of people just assumed that's what Ozzie and the gang were up to. No one every came out and said that.

Ed Reed has slowed and doesn't look all that great in coverage anymore. He can still make a play or two but Just watching him last year from a fan's perspective he doesn't have it anymore. Now just imagine what the coaches saw.

Pollard was a bit of a shocker to me. But I can understand the move, Look at it this way. How many times did his personal fouls extend a drive? how many times did he get burn covering someone this year? He can still create havoc against the run but obviously the front office wants better coverage for whats becoming a pass heavy league.

Now Boldin is a very soft spot for a lot of people. I told people all year that Boldin maybe getting cut at the end of the year but no one would listen. It was noticed by everyone that he wasn't creating separation making key catches early in the year.

In short I can understand all the moves and I wish that people would calm down and give Oz the time he needs, the off season isn't even close to over.

[wickedsolo]

Damn...Eagles sign Kenny Phillips AND Connor Barwin...bummer.

[pslholder96]

I was pretty sure we were under the cap not over the cap. I'm pretty sure the Ravens are supposed to improve the ball club, not gut it. If people want to stick their head in the sand and pretend that losing this many players who are starters from a championship team is just like other years, then there's nothing I can say to convince them otherwise. I simply refuse to be one of those.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

Talk about Pot meet Kettle. And you are not burying your head? You seem convinced that the Ravens are not going to make any moves to improve the ball club. It's only the 3rd day of free agency and the draft is still 4 weeks away. I guess the Ravens will just stand pat?

[Haloti92]

Steven Jackson to Falcons (not sure if mentioned already).

A lot of wear on his tires for only being 29, but I think a clear upgrade over Turner.

[Ravenous1]

I wish I knew.



Again, all of a sudden Boldin is a washed up bum, and everyone else who got their contracts are all overpaid. This is who people are spinning this news while the team makes great signings like David Reed and Chris Johnson.

Anquan Boldin wasn't worth his mega-cap busting billion-dollar contract (despite being an big part of our SB year). Wasn't the point of trading him to have the cap money to pay Ellerbe? Well, now we have neither. So now we have not one question mark on offense (oh yeah, other than the giant GLARING question mark that is LT), but a huge question mark at ILB since your other starter has a spinal cord injury and the rest of the pack are mediocre at best. Oh, but even though you knew Ray Lewis was retiring, and the rest of the ILB corps are subpar, paying Ellerbe the $7million you just let Boldin walk would be too much money. Because you can easily get a better young ILB for $2.5m, right?

And why even bother to keep Pollard. He's a bum too, at least that's what I've more or less started to read here. And hey, it's ok. We have James Ihigidbo and Christian Thompson. I mean, you're not paying Ed Reed 6 million. Hell you're not even paying Pollard, who's 28 years old, $500,000. So what high-production safety are you bringing in on either the strong or free side that will cost less than that? I mean, it's not like we're not $11+ million under the cap since Ellerbe was obviously too expensive.

So ok, we've done all this and cleared all this cap space. For the moment I'll step back and be ok with it. Teams around the league are "overpaying" players that are upgrading their team. So........Denver signs Wes Welker to bolster it's already top offense that simply adds to a team that was the #1 team in the AFC last year. The Rams pick up Steven Jackson, and a Jake Long, which will improve their offense and help them win more games. Even the Browns start improving their defense getting Paul Kruger. We got........30 year old Chris Canty. Ok.

Somewhere, all this makes sense that we are a Super Bowl team that just outright gutted it's defense, while other teams made moves to get better, and I'm just missing how this is all "part of the plan to compete for the next decade".

Lewis retired, Birk retired. Ellerbe and Kruger were gone and there was nothing Ozzie could do besides mortgage the future with restructures to get the money to pay those guys. Glad he did not.

I am not saying that Boldin is washed up but I am saying he is not worth 6 million in base salary. Welkers deal sort of emphasizes that point. For arguements sake lets say you kept Boldin and reduce our cap by the 6 million ...how are we addressing our needs. Its not all going to happen in the draft. Boldin was expendable at a salary of 6 million and it was the right choice.

Far as Pollard... the guy was good and fit a role on a team that had Kemo and Cody ...not so much on a team that has Canty IMO moving forward.

There is a price for success we are paying it and we have a GM who has shown he can bring in talent. Its early. Hell I might be bitching also in July if we have not addressed anything. Till then I will defer to Ozzie and let him have his shot at doing his thing. 2 Lombardi's say he has earned that leeway

[bmorecareful]

I feel as though I have to remind everyone on this thread that the biggest issue isn't that the Ravens allowed so many free agents to walk. There are perfectly plausible explanations for why that would happen--Kruger and Ellerbe got overpaid, Ed Reed didn't fit the desire to get younger, etc.

The real issue here is that the Ravens have made no efforts to REPLACE those players. They're down 7 players and counting, and most of those players have no logical replacements. In the case of ILB and S, the situation is actually so bad that we don't even have enough bodies to fill up the depth chart!

Meanwhile guys like Kenny Phillips, Philip Wheeler, Danny Amendola, etc. (young guys who could have been extremely solid replacements at team-friendly prices) aren't even being brought in for visits or otherwise considered. I'm not saying Ozzie should go out and blow his whole $12m worth of cap space or whatever but we gave up Boldin and hastened to re-sign Flacco to GET that space, and now it's not being used? Something doesn't feel right.

[leachisabeast]

I feel as though I have to remind everyone on this thread that the biggest issue isn't that the Ravens allowed so many free agents to walk. There are perfectly plausible explanations for why that would happen--Kruger and Ellerbe got overpaid, Ed Reed didn't fit the desire to get younger, etc.

The real issue here is that the Ravens have made no efforts to REPLACE those players. They're down 7 players and counting, and most of those players have no logical replacements. In the case of ILB and S, the situation is actually so bad that we don't even have enough bodies to fill up the depth chart!

Meanwhile guys like Kenny Phillips, Philip Wheeler, Danny Amendola, etc. (young guys who could have been extremely solid replacements at team-friendly prices) aren't even being brought in for visits or otherwise considered. I'm not saying Ozzie should go out and blow his whole $12m worth of cap space or whatever but we gave up Boldin and hastened to re-sign Flacco to GET that space, and now it's not being used? Something doesn't feel right.

There are still guys out there, its only the end of day 2 man.

[Bufflehead]

I wish I knew.



Again, all of a sudden Boldin is a washed up bum, and everyone else who got their contracts are all overpaid. This is who people are spinning this news while the team makes great signings like David Reed and Chris Johnson.

Anquan Boldin wasn't worth his mega-cap busting billion-dollar contract (despite being an big part of our SB year). Wasn't the point of trading him to have the cap money to pay Ellerbe? Well, now we have neither. So now we have not one question mark on offense (oh yeah, other than the giant GLARING question mark that is LT), but a huge question mark at ILB since your other starter has a spinal cord injury and the rest of the pack are mediocre at best. Oh, but even though you knew Ray Lewis was retiring, and the rest of the ILB corps are subpar, paying Ellerbe the $7million you just let Boldin walk would be too much money. Because you can easily get a better young ILB for $2.5m, right?

And why even bother to keep Pollard. He's a bum too, at least that's what I've more or less started to read here. And hey, it's ok. We have James Ihigidbo and Christian Thompson. I mean, you're not paying Ed Reed 6 million. Hell you're not even paying Pollard, who's 28 years old, $500,000. So what high-production safety are you bringing in on either the strong or free side that will cost less than that? I mean, it's not like we're not $11+ million under the cap since Ellerbe was obviously too expensive.

So ok, we've done all this and cleared all this cap space. For the moment I'll step back and be ok with it. Teams around the league are "overpaying" players that are upgrading their team. So........Denver signs Wes Welker to bolster it's already top offense that simply adds to a team that was the #1 team in the AFC last year. The Rams pick up Steven Jackson, and a Jake Long, which will improve their offense and help them win more games. Even the Browns start improving their defense getting Paul Kruger. We got........30 year old Chris Canty. Ok.

Somewhere, all this makes sense that we are a Super Bowl team that just outright gutted it's defense, while other teams made moves to get better, and I'm just missing how this is all "part of the plan to compete for the next decade".

Hyperbole much? Not sure who called Boldin a bum or Pollard. Of all the moves Pollard was the biggest shocker to me. But I'll get over it. We just won the Super Bowl and the team has one of the best record in the league over the past 10 years or whatever. I'd rather watch this play out and have fun with it than believe the sky is falling.

[pslholder96]

I feel as though I have to remind everyone on this thread that the biggest issue isn't that the Ravens allowed so many free agents to walk. There are perfectly plausible explanations for why that would happen--Kruger and Ellerbe got overpaid, Ed Reed didn't fit the desire to get younger, etc.

The real issue here is that the Ravens have made no efforts to REPLACE those players. They're down 7 players and counting, and most of those players have no logical replacements. In the case of ILB and S, the situation is actually so bad that we don't even have enough bodies to fill up the depth chart!

Meanwhile guys like Kenny Phillips, Philip Wheeler, Danny Amendola, etc. (young guys who could have been extremely solid replacements at team-friendly prices) aren't even being brought in for visits or otherwise considered. I'm not saying Ozzie should go out and blow his whole $12m worth of cap space or whatever but we gave up Boldin and hastened to re-sign Flacco to GET that space, and now it's not being used? Something doesn't feel right.

Has it occurred to you that the ravens simply were not interested in many of the players you mentioned and that the ravens are generally not early players in free agency? It seems like you need a reminder that the ravens always have a plan. You and the rest of us need to be a little patient. It's just the 3rd day of free agency and the draft is only 4 weeks away

[Bigfish]

Hell I might be bitching also in July if we have not addressed anything. Till then I will defer to Ozzie and let him have his shot at doing his thing. 2 Lombardi's say he has earned that leeway

I'll join you, but not before. Bitching now is way too premature. Someone needs to hang a zoloft dispenser at the door. Too many free agents out there, too many cuts to come.

[Ravenous1]

Hyperbole much? Not sure who called Boldin a bum or Pollard. Of all the moves Pollard was the biggest shocker to me. But I'll get over it. We just won the Super Bowl and the team has one of the best record in the league over the past 10 years or whatever. I'd rather watch this play out and have fun with it than believe the sky is falling.

Just to break the mood a little and provide a good laugh, I will share this post of Wes Welker taking a big giant crap on the Patriots by saying among other stuff

"“I was the one pitching to him (Elway),” Welker said, via the Denver Post.

Asked what that that pitch entailed, he replied: “That I want to win, that above everything.”

Enough said...that's priceless

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...-wants-to-win/