BrianS

It's either going to go down as our best pick ever, or we're gonna be taking another QB, with a new coach and GM in two years.

I know a lot of Huddlers think our drafting has been terrible pretty much always, but the truth is that we haven't been bad. The article is about a year old, but here it is from ESPN: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33297949/nfl-draft-which-teams-gotten-best-value-2012-rank-all-32 TL; DR - we ranked 11th. There are 21 teams who wish they had drafted as well as we have.

Too many needs, too few draft picks. Shoot your shot and move on.

That's flawed logic. You cannot inflate true accuracy by attempting more deep throws. First off, these QB's didn't know these stats would even be measured. They couldn't manipulate them. Second, what it's actually doing there is weighting passes that are more difficult to throw accurately higher. Think of it as a measure of how honest a QB can keep a defense. If a QB can complete downfield throws with a high degree of accuracy, it stress a defense vertically. NFL teams value that highly. TB5 would be the poster child for why this measure matters.

I know there has been a lot of negative press around Stroud, but man. Knock: His receivers are running wide open. Fact: Stroud threw just as many tight window passes as Young, and was the most accurate QB in the class when doing so. Knock: Stroud can't play under pressure or outside the pocket. Fact: Stroud has the highest accuracy in the class under pressure and outside the pocket and is pressured at just slightly below the average for the class this year. If a Huddler (good job OP) can dig these numbers out, you have to believe that teams have done the same. Looking at those numbers, I'd have a very hard time not taking the guy (Stroud). I wonder if all the hysteria around Young is a product of the highlights instead of the body of work. Does Stroud just make it look so easy that we gravitate toward Young who makes it look like a million bucks? It's an interesting discussion. Both QB's seem to have said all the right things and shown all the right personality traits. The mystery stops soon.

I think what S2 is trying to do is put numbers on mental ability (not intelligence). It's easy to measure physical attributes of potential NFL players. The rub there is that within those measurable attributes, there are outliers all freakin' over the place. High physicals, abject failures. Low physicals, HoF career. I think it's too early in the history of the S2 to tell us whether it's successful or whether it has tons of outliers and whether those outliers are at the high end, low end or elsewhere on the scale. As it relates to Stroud, it would certainly give me pause simply because the delta is so large. I'm a Stroud fan, for sure, but the test does give me pause. I'm sure the Panthers are in the same boat.

If Cam wants to actually retire, I'd be ok with him being an assistant to McCown. I just don't see him being interested in something like that.

Then you're being silly. He's actually made a remarkable turnaround in his life. Dude is actually quite insightful, often sitting in with and for Rich Eisen.

If you are running / going to run a heavy RPO offense, you don't get rid of Matt Corral. He was really good at that in college. That said, I'm not sure that's really Reich's system to date. He likes the play action. Maybe the influence of Thomas Brown will send us down a different path. In any event, ideally, if Corral isn't the guy we want, our best outcome is to showcase him and get something back. Even a fourth is better than nothing.

AR has a lot of commonalities with Smith. On paper just looking at college, Smith looks like a slightly better prospect.

Great? No. Good? Yes. Stroud gets compared to Joe Burrow, largely for his throwing. I also think he should get some Herbert comparisons as well. Those guys are PLENTY good enough to lead this team from an athletic perspective.

The Ravens have a franchise offer on the table. If he doesn't sign it, he doesn't play. That's what the franchise tag is all about.

Dear OP: I think your judgement may be something short of ideal. Labeling a guy with 35000 career passing yards a "bust" might give it away a bit.

Interesting you post that clip. Stroud did the same thing during his pro day yesterday.

Unfortunately. MHJr may well end up a better NFL receiver than his dad. Getting Stroud and MHJr would be like what Cincy did when they got Burrow and Chase.

Nothing to hate on. He looked like he was upset that they lost the game. Good. You want your QB to be upset about a loss. I don't want players who like to win. I want players who hate to lose.

Not sure what the intent of the video was. But in point of fact there is very little footage of Cam actually throwing the ball. A lot more footage of some guy catching passes with no clear indication of what types of routes or depth or . . . anything. It was more of a fan hype video than anything that will make a scout go "Oh, maybe I should go watch". Is it a shame that he had to take the beating he took and go out at less than his best? Sure, of course. But all indications are that he just isn't an NFL QB any longer. I'm afraid Cam may just be one of those guys who has real trouble letting it go. And yes, I think there is some truth to the thought that Cam is too big a personality to be a backup QB. Cam himself is the one who cultivated that over his career. It's not a bad thing when you are 2015 Cam. But in 2023 - eight years past his prime - he's going to have a very hard time being the quiet, humble mentor.

I dunno man, Hooker has looked good every year he's started except the Covid year. He also doesn't get enough credit for running the ball. He averaged 10 rushes a game. He isn't a spectacular runner, but the threat is there. I'm glad we're at #1 and don't have to worry about it, but at 9 . . . or better yet in the 20-30 range, I'd like him a lot.

Yes, and no. In our case, it won't be much less. The reason it is often viewed as less is because the rookies salary takes the place of another salary. For this team, the players who will be replaced by the rookies are bottom of the roster players. The lowest salaries we have - Deonte Brown, Arron Mosby, Sam Tecklenburg. You also have to consider that the deals for Theilen, McCray and Williams aren't factored into the 12 million of free space yet. Chances seem good that we're done in FA.

We can't afford him. Our remaining cap is 12 million . . . we need 12 million to sign our rookies, assuming no more trades. The only thing remaining is the Shaq extension which still hasn't been announced.

If I'm the Ravens I'm content to let Lamar play the next two years on the tag and then walk. He'll be 28 by then, which will definitely be in the downward trajectory that these heavily mobile / running QB's seem to hit around that time. He should have take 133 over 3 and called it a day. Let's face it, if you can't make 133 million take you into the sunset, something is wrong.

No, it wouldn't. Thomas is 5 million in dead cap. We only net about 1.5 million by getting rid of him. Next offseason, it looks better with only 1.5 million of dead cap against a 7 million cap number.

I'm glad that reporters can't agree on who various factions within our team favor. It means we've learned to properly smokescreen what we're doing. Finally. This is a Good Thing (tm).

Some of our fans are really tossing out some unreal expectations. A winning record this year would be an INCREDIBLE accomplishment. INCREDIBLE. Forget division titles. Forget playoffs. Just win more games than we lose. It's more likely we end up winning 7 games. Our offense and defense were bottom half of the league in the only stat that matters: scoring. Rookie QB. New staff. Completely new defensive system requiring different personnel. Come on. What we should be looking for in 2023 is a team that fights hard and improves over the season. In 2024, we should expect a winning team barring some sort of injury crisis or our rookie QB turns into Jamarcus Russell. We should be competing in the division. Playoffs as a wildcard at least.

The Rhule stink continues to wash away.