Baltimore Ravens 2012 Free Agency Discussion

coordinator0 · Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 5873

DanFS#7 · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:47 am Post subject:

Apparently we gave one last contract offer to Ben Grubbs to keep him with us. Both camps confirms it, but I haven't found any details on the contract.
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diamondbull424 · Joined: 02 Dec 2007 Posts: 10018 Location: Baltimore, MD

Personally I'm a fan of resigning Matt Birk and then going after Steve Hutchinson as well. We have a cast that he's familiar with and really OL is all about continuity. He'd have that by joining the Ravens OL. I'm all for drafting youth along the OL and giving said youth the ability to start and start early, but at the same time, Hutch would give us an opportunity to shore up one of our biggest problems last season (Grubbs hurt), at a reduced price. This is Jason Brown- Matt Birk all over again.. only it's Ben Grubbs- Steve Hutch, this time around. He'd make a lot of sense as a stop gap.

He'd also reduce our need at the position. This is probably the strongest OL class I've seen in my years following the NFL draft and while I'd LOVE to get a high OL talent at the top of the draft, it also means that their will still be very good talents available during the mid-rounds of the draft that falls through the cracks.

And even if we draft a guy, he could see some time anyway. Hutchingson's body hasn't held up the past two seasons, so it's possible that whoever we select might get a chance to start some games anyway. Either way, we'd have one of the best guards to ever play and one of the better center to ever play being able to influence any IOL we decide to bring onto the team. I think it'd be a win signing tandem.

Either way, I'm hoping the Ravens can get a FA steal with what we have available left to spend.

I'd also add Moss to my list of FA's I'd hope we look towards.
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Blind arrogance sows the field of it's own destruction. - Commander Greil, Fire Emblem

RavensfanRD · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 2:32 pm Post subject:

If we can't re-sign Grubbs, my wishlist goes as followed...

1) Randy Moss
- Best WR to ever play the game. EVER.

2) Steve Hutchinson
- Could be a solid stop-gap while we still draft youth.

Then we make power moves in the draft to ensure we're the greatest team when it comes to drafting very well.
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Baltimore Pride · Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 2318 Location: Florida

Looks like the Rams released Jason Brown and Justin Bannan. Maybe we could bring one of both back fairly cheaply?
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wackywabbit · Joined: 20 Dec 2009 Posts: 3855

Stance Punk · Joined: 28 Apr 2007 Posts: 1565

gooselovechild · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 2204

Since the OP was made yesterday, I'm assuming that the cap figure doesn't include the $1.6M allocation from the cap space stripped from the Redskins and Cowboys. That would put us at approximately $7.3M available this season, which isn't a ton, but could be useful if we need to go get a veteran in training camp like we did with McKinnie and Gurode last year.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/12/league-strips-cowboys-redskins-of-millions-in-cap-space/

wackywabbit · Joined: 20 Dec 2009 Posts: 3855

The Cowboys' cap being squeezed helps the chances of my sleeper signing of Laurent Robinson. Pray

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Goon · Joined: 01 Dec 2008 Posts: 743

Stance Punk · Joined: 28 Apr 2007 Posts: 1565

Eric Winston but he's a RT. Doubt we go after a younger LT and we aren't in position to draft a LT where we're at. Wouldn't want to go back to Jared Gaither.
EDIT: Rumor is, Levi Brown will also be available.
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drd23 · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 8:49 pm Post subject:

Levi Brown wouldn't be any better than Bryant McKinnie is. I don't really see the point of pursuing him
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db424 on the sig!

coordinator0 · Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 5873

drd23 · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:10 pm Post subject:

I'm surprised Ellerbe got a 2nd round tender.

Maybe the FO wanted someone else besides Ray Lewis on the roster at ILB that knew the playbook?
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db424 on the sig!

coordinator0 · Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 5873

That's about the only reasoning I can come up with. I still like Ellerbe's talent and would rather have him than most of the cheap veterans we could replace him with but he didn't play well last season.

EDIT - McFarland (the salary cap guy at Ravens24x7) posted a really good article about restructuring today. It explains what it is and who the ideal candidates on the team are. Here's the link:

http://ravens24x7.com/columns/The-Money-Clip-Baltimore-Ravens-Salary-Cap-Analysis/Restructuring-could-create-more-cap-space-for-the-Ravens

He says the most likely guys we would have restructure are Suggs, Ngata, and Yanda and we could open up $7.217 million by doing so. Lewis and Boldin aren't good candidates to restructure since Lewis could retire and Boldin could be cut before the last year of his contract (well, after next season basically) which would leave us with quite a bit more dead money counting against our cap space in the future.