Money

The re-structure would have made sense if there was no doubt he was our guy until 2020. If they truly thought he was (with no doubts), they had a serious lapse in judgement. If they had any doubt, they should have ridden out this year with the $28mil hit which would have allowed them to eat up some of the guaranteed money and get on top of the deal a bit. You are correct, his original deal was set up with the 1st yr being ridiculously low, the next two being mild hits and then huge jumps the following years. The fact that they decided to gain the benefit of the first three years and then re-structure without even taking one year of a big hit was irresponsible in my eyes.

The brutal truth is that the re-structure of Flacco's contract (before they ever really suffered a large cap hit from the original deal) was fiscally irresponsible (cap wise) and probably the biggest mistake this organization has ever made. At the very least, they needed to ride out the $28 mil cap hit for 2016 to allow themselves to get on top of the deal a bit. Instead...they married the organization to Flacco for an additional 3 years in order to save freaking $6 mil this year against the cap. The game has passed Ozzie by (from a GM perspective). He needs to retire. The coaching staff needs to go (from Harbaugh down).

For good reason. You can't carry a guy like that if he can't at least contribute on ST. A guy like Laquan Williams was at least able to contribute every Sunday.

No, they couldn't develop one. The time for developing one is over. That's the whole point and reason for the signing of Hester.

We have other WRs. Butler would never see the field. We literally had nobody who could return kicks. Hell...if Butler could do it, he would still have a job with the Ravens.

Do you have a link for this?

You simply cannot trot out someone who is a turnover waiting to happen on special teams. If you don't like Hester, that's fine...but they 100% needed someone.

The latest in a long line of undrafted WRs that Ravens' fans fell in love with. Butler (like all the others) will never amount to anything in this league. He's simply not good enough. Hester over Butler makes complete sense.

He is obviously past the point of being "explosive", but his experience and dependability are much needed.

11-5...edging out a 10-6 Steelers' team for the division.

When they lose...it's all Flacco. When they win...it's anyone and everyone but Flacco. Same ole' max.

It would most likely be a one-year rental as he is a UFA next year. I would be in favor of it if they beat the Steelers Thurs night. Give him 10 days to get ready for the Browns.

The game has passed Pees by...much like with Cam Cameron.

Max doesn't understand the going rate for a franchise QB. Max also doesn't understand that a franchise that jumps from one cheap QB to the next is guaranteed to be a floundering franchise.

Nailed it.

So...I haven't posted here in a while. What other name(s) has "OneManCypher" posted under in the past???

Giving up 100 yards and 1 TD to Green while also picking a ball off isn't a horrible day. Jimmy Smith is far from the problem on defense.

Sadly, Gurley will be long gone by the time the Ravens draft. I'm still chuckling at the people who didn't want him at #26. I hope and pray that Shane Ray will be there when we pick.

BTW...this article lays out how I feel about Strong (it's a long read). The last paragraph sums it up though: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2421862-why-jaelen-strong-does-not-belong-in-the-first-round-of-the-2015-nfl-draft

Of course it's subjective. I've seen Gurley ranked as the #2 overall prospect in this class. If you are along the same line of thinking (I'm not saying the Ravens are), you don't pass him with 26th pick in the draft. None of this matters though...there is no way Gurley will be there at #26.

I agree their value has declined, but to state they "are going the way of kickers and punters" is ridiculous. We also haven't had a special talent like Gurley in quite a while. He is Jamal Lewis and would easily be a top 10 pick (if not top 5) were it not for his knee injury.

Everything I've seen has him as a 5th or 6th rounder.

Good lord...what an exaggeration. Gurley and Gordon are the 1st RBs in quite a while to have a 1st round grade. Gurley is a much better fit for us than Gordon. If we pass a special talent in Gurley (doubt he will there) for someone like Williams or Strong, I will be incredibly disappointed.

I have absolutely no problem with the play selection. It's not unusual to try and catch the defense off guard there. My issue was worst case scenario should have been 3rd and 5. I have been on the fence with Torrey all season. He is a maddening player to watch on the field. I'm not on the fence anymore. Time to move on.

Players will take a discount to get the guaranteed money sooner rather than later, but it's not a huge discount. On the flip side of that is the risk teams take, which is why I bring up Webb. We are playing elite CB money to a player that's basically 65-75% of what he was before his 2012 ACL injury.