Late for Work 2/24: Two Vastly Different Takes on State of the Ravens

Article: Late for Work 2/24: Two Vastly Different Takes on State of the Ravens

Source: Social Media

1. [+306, -3] As much as we can all debate the Lamar - Ravens situation. It still would/would have be/been nice to see Lamar with one year of Monken. As the days go by, the more positive news and comments come out about the Monken hire. Sounds like that is atleast 1 win in the offseason so far!

2. [+302, -1] It is a shame would love to have seen Lamar in a nuanced offensive scheme but we look dead set at moving on from now I don’t see a way this can be resolved which to me which is sad day.

Hopefully for Monken, the recent trend of great young qb’s coming into the nfl continues and we don’t end up in qb purgatory and ruin his chance to show what he can do.

We need learn from our mistakes from this saga of not taking advantage of a great talent on the cheap and stock up on weapons to support them when we have the finances to do so

3. [+297, -3] I dont believe for a second that at any point has the team been dead set on moving on and trading him.

It's very apparent they have tried diligently to extend him both of the last off seasons.

Unfortunately for them, if the player is unwilling to negotiate, or come down from what they believe to be unrealistic demands, they are gonna be forced to make a move.

No player will be allowed to hold the franchise hostage.

4. [+293, -2] I’m not saying we haven’t tried or he hasn’t budged I’m just saying whatever it is I don’t think it’s going to resolved which is sad.

5. [+289, -9] Great talent is never going cheap - those days have passed. Salaries escalating too quickly.

Agents are advising every one of their clients to wait until free agency unless it sets the record for the position.

6. [+283, -3] You are making an assumption that they did not reach out to make a deal. Seems a big leap. The weapon part has merit but I think we need to remember they went all in to enhance his gifts ie Roman, Dobbins, etc. Mistakes were made. Sure. Hollywood..Oweh. Every team makes mistakes.

7. [+277, -11] I never made any assumptions I know we made offers all I said is it looks like it can’t be resolved and unless we pay a fully guaranteed deal north of the Watson deal it won’t be resolved.

As for bringing in weapons- Roman was here before we drafted Lamar, jk is a running back and although I do not deny he’s great our running game would still have been great even if we didn’t draft jk.

You can’t deny that in the last 4-5 years we’ve seen young qb’s with question marks about their game get top end (high cost) WR’s brought into their franchise and they have taken off. The best we could provide Lamar in 5 years was Demarcus Robinson.

8. [+268, -7] This is interesting take Ted.

You have arguably the best running QB ever whose a below AVG passer (your opinion), wouldn't you get a dominant receiver who can elevate a weak passer & easy (ala Baker) passing options with 1/2 field reads rather than a roman/Dobbins/ etc to elevate a dominant rush attack & just expect said QB to elevate one of the worst receivers room?

In my business I try to give help where employees struggle on their own.

9. [+266, -3] Not diving into this. Read Preston today. We will only go back and forth. I ran quite a few businesses too. Sure you try to help people. Absolutely. But to maximize the goal of succeeding you must optimize what you do best. Sorry. Have a good day sir.

10. [+256, -4] Not asking ted to debate. Can any team win Lombardi without passing. Havea nice day. Never read Preston for at least 20 years. Hack. Opinion not reporter.

11. [+254, -4] On the bright side, because we drafted Queen (and traded for Roquan), we aren't being inundated with articles explaining why Bobby Wagner would be a perfect fit in Baltimore again. 😁

12. [+250, -5] Draft redos....quite possibly the dumbest thing ever.

Absolutely 0 value in writing up a fictitious re draft of who teams would/should have taken, with the benefit of knowing how those players have performed the last couple of seasons.

Even worse then the fascination media and many fans have with power rankings, and predicting winners and losers.

13. [+247, -3] There's a million real and relevant topics that could be discussed. Rule changes, safety advances, chips in balls to eliminate the grey area of whether or not the ball crossed the plane.

Advancement of female refs and coaches. Better hiring procedures to eliminate the good ole boy network. On going NFL/NFLPA disputes and topics.

Alternate uniforms, expanded seasons and playoff fields.

Like I said, millions of things. Draft redos, don't even make my list. Ridiculous waste of the alphabet and an exercise in futility IMO.

14. [+245, -3] One thing you do notice. The ravens hate making new coaching hires. They just seem to like to shuffle assistants around within the organization. I don`t like that. It`s kinda like shuffling the deck chairs on the titanic. Particularly when it comes to an offense that appears to have some glaring deficiencies.

The harbuagh way.

15. [+243, -3] Two schools of thought on that. The first is what you're saying: if it's broke, replace everything. The second, which the Ravens subscribe to, is that there's value in retaining some continuity even when you have to replace parts of the whole. Retaining assistants & promoting from within holds value in that the coaches know the players and, more importantly, the players know the coaches.

Neither method is inherently right or wrong, it all depends on the individuals being retained (or replaced).

16. [+243, -2] It's going to be interesting to hear Jalen Hurts comments after he signs his mega contract with the Eagles. He has already come out saying he needed to be flexible so the organization can retain and sign key pieces around him. "I'm all about winning. That's the priority". Hmmmmmm.

17. [+240, -2] The difference is Hurts is on an uber cheap deal and whats the team to RETAIN top weaponS. The Ravens had Lamar for 5 years/ 33 million dollars. What top weaponS do the Ravens need to retain? That's part of the problem. Philly did it right, they went all in with Hurts rookie contract. The Ravens did not and now they are hitching a fit because they are ready to make the shift but ran out of time. If I am Lamar, I am not leaving money on the table to help this team acquire offensive talent. He made less than 10 million dollars total the first 4 years of his deal and they kept going after also rans and undrafted free agents. There is no guarantee that the money Lamar leaves at the table is going to help him and since we are talking about the Ravens there is a good bet that it wont.

18. [+239, -3] The Ravens did try to bring in more weapons on offense: we made stabs at Julio Jones & JuJu, we tried to get in on the DeAndre Hopkins sweepstakes before he wound up in Arizona, and of course we spent a lot of draft capital on offensive skill positions. We just weren't able to get any of those veterans at a price we felt was fair...up for debate whether our idea of "fair" was legitimate at the time.

I don't blame Lamar one iota for trying to get every dollar he can on this deal, nor do I blame the Ravens for sticking to what they feel a fair & realistic price is. A lot of Ravens fans point to other teams which did bring in veteran receivers (at high cost) to help their young quarterbacks, but while those additions did help out statistically & provide some postseason wins, none of them have led to a Lombardi recently.

19. [+235, -2] I understand both sides of the issue. For me, I want Jackson to stay put. Main reason for me is that he is good, and I want to see him perform playing under the new OC and perhaps better WRs and a healthy Bateman. Just have a deal that is equitable for Jackson and the team. We have to have some wiggle room to keep and acquire players that improve the overall team.

20. [+234, -1] Fair take, and probably the root of any disagreements here.

One camp: If you're lucky enough to actually find an elite MVP, hold on to him at all costs (literally), do your best to build around him with the cap room you have left, and rely on that QB to elevate the team.

Other camp: QBs are critical, but not to the point of weakening the roster at the other 52 positions needed to compete and win. A QB can only do so much, and putting too much win expectation on one player amplifies the risk to the team if that player’s skills decline or he’s unavailable to play (injury or otherwise).