Teams other than the Ravens are going to pluck the shiniest diamonds from this draft class, the players who allegedly can’t miss.

Someone else is going to win the offseason while the Ravens hum along, methodically putting their 2012 team together.

The Philadelphia Eagles won the most recent offseason, the one truncated by labor strife. They signed a handful of free agents, including cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, the biggest name on the market – an acquisition many Ravens fans envied. They called themselves the “Dream Team” while their front office took bows for fitting everyone under the cap.

When the season began, the Eagles won four of their first 12 games. Their big win in the offseason was exposed as fraudulent.

That’s usually what happens.

The Washington Redskins are famous for winning the offseason, investing huge dollars in big-name free agents such as Albert Haynesworth. But they’ve only had two winning seasons since 2000.

What the Ravens do in the offseason isn’t so exciting. They score in the draft’s nooks and crannies, the end of the first round, the second and third (and even later) rounds. They manage the cap, refraining from piling debt onto their credit card.

They turn their lineup over in the places where they can get younger, plugging in young guys they’ve drafted and developed, with the occasional well-placed, mid-market free agent such as Vonta Leach or Bernard Pollard mixed in.

They do indulge in the occasional splashy move. They actually traded for Terrell Owens once upon a time. They traded for Steve McNair, envisioning a Super Bowl run that almost happened.

But mostly, they just hum along, rebuilding as they go.

Where the Eagles had Asomugha in 2011, the Ravens had Lardarius Webb, their 2009 third-round draft pick, young and hungry and completely unknown outside of Baltimore. He couldn’t match Asomugha’s hype, but he was just as good on the field this season, if not better.

Who would you rather have now?

You don’t win the offseason with guys like Webb. You just win when it matters.
http://www.baltimore..._Offseason.aspx

4. RAVENS: Billy Cundiff took a step back from his Pro Bowl season of last year, missing 10 field goals on the road. Sam Koch produced a career- and franchise-best 46.5 yards per punt, but he placed 21 punts inside the 20-yard line -- his fewest since 2007. The coverage teams allowed three touchdowns (two on punts and one on a kickoff). David Reed's strong average as a kickoff returner (29.7) was overshadowed by his three fumbles. Lardarius Webb ranked last in the division with a 10.0-yard average. What could change: The Ravens need to bring in another kicker -- perhaps Shayne Graham -- to compete with Cundiff, especially after that miss in the AFC championship game. Baltimore needs to improve its coverage teams. Three of the team's top four special teams tacklers are free agents.
http://espn.go.com/b...s-special-teams

3. Ray Rice might be disappointed. I'm hearing Rice wants an Adrian Peterson-type of contract; Peterson signed a seven-year deal worth up to $100 million last September, with the major provision that he'll make $40 million in the first three years. I don't see the Ravens doing that for Rice. I see them, if they can't do a new deal, using the reasonable franchise tag of $7.7 million for running backs on Rice. I'm sensing the Ravens really want Rice back, but the Ravens have too many great players to sign to go nuts on him. Even though they paid Haloti Ngata $12.2 million a year on a five-year contract in September, I don't see them going anywhere near that for Rice -- and certainly not in the Peterson league. Baltimore usually finds a way to sign the players it really wants to sign, and I know it wants to keep Rice.

There are two things you should remember about General Manager Ozzie Newsome as you read how the Ravens could nab receiver Mike Wallace away from the Pittsburgh Steelers:


First, Ozzie covets draft picks.
Second, he lives by the mantra, “Right player, right price.”

That said, the Pittsburgh Steelers are in “big trouble,” says ESPN’s Adam Schefter, because they have a “potential real problem” in keeping Wallace, who many consider one of the most complete wide receivers in the game today.
The Steelers, who are already trying to find ways to get under the cap, will likely franchise or tender Wallace with a first-round draft choice, says Schefter. This year, teams cannot tender a player for both a first and a third.

Thus, a team that is eyeing Wallace could send Pittsburgh a first-rounder, and then to ensure Kevin Colbert and Co. can’t match an offer to keep him, the said team can propose a roster bonus that the cap-strapped Steelers can’t afford.
“So if you’re the Baltimore Ravens or Cincinnati Bengals or San Francisco 49ers, what you do is you structure a contract with a roster bonus that’s paid right away,” said Schefter. “If there’s a roster bonus of $20, $25, $30 million, Pittsburgh would have to pay that right now. Pittsburgh is way over the cap. They’re struggling to get under the cap. That would be a very difficult thing to do.”

The officer conducted a traffic stop and saw that Lewis' license had been revoked, and placed him under arrest, police said. Lewis was issued citations for driving with a suspended license, driving with a revoked license and failure to secure a child by a safety belt. He was being held on $50,000 bond.

According to the police report, during the traffic stop the officer asked Lewis why he was driving when his license was suspended.

"He advised that he was driving because his wife was in jail and that he needed to get food for his son and something to heat his home," the report states. "Defendant Lewis then pointed to a fire starter log in the front passenger seat of the vehicle."

Lewis was charged in August with driving recklessly and resisting arrest after Baltimore County police said an officer had to use a Taser to subdue him. He is scheduled to go to trial on those charges in May, according to court records.

In that incident, county police said Lewis was seen swerving and had run over a volunteer fire company sign, and officers found him inside his Reisterstown home smelling of alcohol.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-co-jermaine-lewis-arrest-20120216,0,4930252.story

For Ravens, replacing Ricky Williams is simple: bring back Le'Ron McClain

Shortly before free agency opens on March 13 , Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome should send linebacker Ray Lewis on another recruiting trip and tell him to welcome back running backLe'Ron McClain.

McClain and the Ravens are a marriage waiting to happen again.

The Ravens need a backup to starting halfback Ray Rice, and McClain is about to become an unrestricted free agent after spending a season with the Kansas City Chiefs. All we need now is a pastor, a contract and couple of witnesses to make it official.

The Ravens have the opening because former backup running back Ricky Williams announced his retirement even though, according to a team source, the possibility remains he might return.

But if that doesn't happen in reasonable time — like by March 13 — the Ravens and McClain's agent should start trading cell phone messages.

Newsome's motto in free agency always has been "right player, right price." With McClain, the Ravens can get a two-for-one deal. They sign McClain as the backup to Rice, but they also have him as an insurance policy if starting fullback Vonta Leach gets injured.

Sounds like an easy game plan, right?

Of course, we don't know McClain's salary demands, but you can bet they won't be too high. McClain left Baltimore because he wanted far more carries than the 28 for 85 yards he had in 2010 with the Ravens.

He thought he could become the featured runner in an offense, but it didn't happen in Kansas City, where he had only 15 carries for 51 yards last season, mostly playing fullback.

I assume his eyes have been opened and his ego humbled.

Yet, I don't fault him for leaving. McClain is a fierce competitor, and he got a taste of at least sharing the lead role with Rice in 2008 when he started 16 games and had 232 carries for 902 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Running backs and receivers are all the same. They all think they are great. They all want the ball. McClain was no different, but now he has probably figured out that he is either a role-playing halfback or a starting fullback.

In Baltimore, he could almost do both.

Around town, there is already talk about the Ravens signing New York Jets running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who has a history with Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron when they were together in San Diego.

Tomlinson is too much like Rice. The previous set up of last season was better: the Ravens had Rice for early in the game and a downhill, change-of-pace closer like Williams for the fourth quarter.

McClain can play that role, which he did part time in 2008. He could certainly bolster the Ravens' short-yardage running offense which struggled late in the season. Imagine the 260-pound McClain running behind the 260-pound Leach on third and 1 .

Or better yet, imagine Rice in a full house backfield running behind Leach and McClain as lead blockers. McClain gives the Ravens a lot of options because he also has good, soft hands as a receiver out of the backfield.

It's a win-win situation for both the player and the team. McClain still lives in Baltimore, where he does a lot of offseason charity work. He knows the offense, is familiar with Cameron and gets along well with Rice. You put him together with the other two members of the starting backfield, and Rice has two, big, ornery Southern dudes as body guards.

That's major league protection.

McClain never fit in with Kansas City. The Chiefs talked about being smash mouth, but that was just lip service. McClain knows the situation in Baltimore. This is a tough town with a team that has a tough personality.

When McClain used to come out of the tunnel at away games with the Ravens, he'd run to the opposite end of the stadium and flap those wings, taunting opposing fans and letting them know the Ravens had arrived.

There were times when he went a little overboard, like the spitting incident with Miami linebacker Channing Crowder in 2010, but he worked as hard as Rice during the offseason in his last two years here, and he always had swagger.

He intimidated people.

He was — and still deserves to be — a Raven.

Ravens: $6.18 million.