Money

Well...the Seahawks just lost their big offseason pickup. Percy Harvin needs surgery and is most likely out for the year. This after giving up a 1st, 3rd and 7th round draft pick and signing him to a 6-year, $67mil contract (with a $12mil signing bonus that has to be paid by the end of the year). Ouch!

Thanks OS. Glad to see you on here!

I definitely get what you are saying Nado. Pitta is a loss no matter how you slice it. I would just be a lot more concerned if we were coming back this year with Cam's offense.

I think they have been playing McClellan inside which I like a lot. It is ridiculous how versatile this D is shaping up to be.

With what looks to be a dominant DL that will eat up blockers, Brown's sideline to sideline speed promises to be a disruptive force.

Doss was a star in the Big 10. The Ravens have groomed him with this year in mind and will give him every chance to succeed.

I have more confidence in Doss than most. I also really, really like Deonte Thompson. Thompson actually reminds me a lot of Victor Cruz. People can take this for what it's worth, because I was also a huge Demetrius Williams fan. I still have no idea how he didn't become a star.

Okay there RastaMax... You might want to do a little research on what "Pitta is definitely a loss" means. Every team will have players that are missed. BTW...not sure the moderators here will put up with the name-calling and trolling. I hope you decide to become a productive member of this board.

I'm actually very okay with our depth at ILB. Besides the players already mentioned, I really like McClellan as well.

Pitta is definitely a loss, but I think he would have been a much bigger loss to Cam's offense than he is to Caldwell's. The Ravens have all training camp and preseason to adjust. I'm not sure it will take until the 2nd half of the season.

If they release Ngata after this year, they would have $15mil in dead space against the cap. Ray Rice would be $14.25mil in dead space. Webb would be $10mil in dead space. With Suggs, it would be $4.6m in dead space...which means he's the one the Ravens can most easily part ways with.

They drafted Upshaw two years ago. Signed Dumervil. Drafted John Simon (and Kapron Lewis-Moore) and are converting McPhee to play more like a rush end (which I actually love). The cap hits next year: Ngata $16m Flacco $14.8m Suggs $12.4m Webb $10.5m Rice $8.75m Yanda $8.45m That's obviously a lot of cap space. I know there are rumors of "significant growth" for the 2014 cap, but I don't know how much. I'm sure Suggs' performance this year will factor greatly into their decision.

Again...do you honestly think people aren't intelligent enough to read your posts and figure out your agenda??? You just brought your tired, old, useless act from the ESPN boards to here. When are you going to start a "It's all Flacco's fault" thread?

This is exactly what you said and everyone can see what your agenda is. You have always been pissed because the Ravens signed Joe to a lot of money and said goodbye to Boldin. The funny thing is the two have nothing to do with one another, because Joe's cap hit this year is minimal. If you want to place blame on current players being the reason Boldin is not here, then cast your stones at Suggs and Ngata. Tell me which one of those guys you would have wanted the Ravens to discard so they could afford Boldin. Boldin actually would have been a $7.5 mil cap hit this year which would have put him 3rd behind Suggs and Ngata and right ahead of Yanda.

Everyone can see your agenda. I'm sorry Boldin is no longer on the team and I'm sorry you are distraught about it. You're going to have to move on though dude. It's very clear to see that Ozzie believes very strongly that it's better to get rid of a player a year too soon than a year too late. He has made very tough calls in the past and he will need to do so again in the future. Of course (in a cap-less NFL world) it would be great to still have Boldin on the team. I'm sure the Packers would still love to have Greg Jennings. The Patriots would love to still have Wes Welker. It just doesn't always work out. Have you not been watching the progression of Arthur Jones? The guy is developing into a heck of a football player. Do you not know this organization (or Ozzie) at all??? They have repeatedly stated they would not mortgage the future for a chance to repeat. Here is some good reading material for you: When was the first time after Sunday’s Super Bowl victory that the word “repeat” crossed their mind? Owner Steve Bisciotti, President Dick Cass, General Manager Ozzie Newsome and Head Coach John Harbaugh looked at one another and each shook their head. “I haven’t thought about it yet,” Harbaugh said. “The word repeat means nothing. You go back to work.” What the Ravens want is multiple Lombardi Trophies. And in order to do that, they want to be in the hunt for as long as possible. After winning the Super Bowl in 2000, the Ravens were in a similar salary-cap crunch as they are today. They restructured numerous veterans’ contracts in an effort to retain as much of the championship team as possible to make a run at another title. When the Ravens fell short in the divisional round, they were forced to drastically slash the roster. Baltimore made the playoffs just once in the following four years. Newsome and the rest of the front office learned their lesson. “We will not repeat what we did in 2001 because we’re trying to deal where we can win Super Bowls more than just one more time,” Newsome said. “We’ve got a great nucleus of young players, players that are just heading into their prime that we are going to build this team around. We are not going to be restructuring contracts, doing all those different things to be able to just maintain this team to make another run. We’re not doing that.” The Ravens made a quarterback switch after their last Super Bowl win, going from Trent Dilfer to Elvis Grbac. That won’t happen this season, as Newsome said their offseason priorities start with getting quarterback Joe Flaccosigned long term. But behind Flacco, there are other free agents such as cornerback Cary Williams, outside linebackerPaul Kruger, linebacker Dannell Ellerbe and safety Ed Reed. The Ravens won’t be able to afford to keep all of them, and they won’t get crafty shifting money around to do so. Instead, they'll rely on their younger players who got valuable playing time this season due to the team's rash of injuries. Newsome said the Ravens only restructured two contracts over past two years, including guard Marshal Yandalast season. He would only do so this year if there was a player available that presented “great value.” “We’re not going to get caught up in the moment and do things to our salary cap and make decisions in the euphoria of winning that could hurt us in 2014 and 2015 like we did in 2001,” Bisciotti said. The Ravens’ Super Bowl run this season proved that any team can win once they reach the postseason. Baltimore had the No. 2 seed last year, a defense that was ranked higher and a team that was healthier. Yet it lost in the AFC championship. This season, the Ravens had the No. 4 seed and had lost four of five games heading into the playoffs. But they got hot and healthy at the right time and rode that to a Super Bowl victory. The Ravens have been consistent in getting to the playoffs, making their fifth straight trip this season. And they finally broke down the door. “That’s our job, to keep on winning, to get us a chance to win,” Bisciotti said. “Get in the tournament. We say that and other people take that as not being good enough. But you have to be there. We don’t want to repeat. We want to be one of the 12 teams that have a chance to win every year.” Newsome said Harbaugh talked to the team’s coaches about their decision to focus long term instead of pouring everything into next season. He stressed that it “doesn’t mean that we don’t want to try to go and repeat.” But the Ravens are in it for the long haul. Why win three when you’re in position to possibly win four or five? “If you think that we can build this up to try to repeat, it’s fool’s gold,” Bisciotti said. “We’re not the favorite to win next year. We’re not even one of the top four teams favored to win next year. We want to make sure that in 2015 we have as good a chance to win as 2013.” http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Ravens-Aim-For-Consistency-Over-Repeat/def10a1c-1079-4b3e-b408-f7203ca063e4

I didn't miss any point. What you said made absolutely no sense. They could have cut Williams, McPhee, Tyrod and Chykie Brown and replaced them all with undrafted rookies to save enough and still would then have nothing left as a cushion in case they had to sign someone else. Is that worth it for keeping Boldin one more year? You actually want to throw a very promising player away (Arthur Jones) who is just beginning to enter his prime in order to hang on to a veteran for one more year? Sorry, Ozzie isn't going to sell out and destroy the future of this team to keep a "fan favorite". If he didn't do it with Heap, he sure as hell wouldn't do it with Boldin.

I have to say that the Pitta injury deflated me quite a bit. This news couldn't have come at a better time.

https://twitter.com/vleach44

Geronimo... Are you actually suggesting that the Ravens go with only 52 players this year? $555,000 is the league minimum salary for a 3rd year player. Even if you sign a rookie free agent to replace Williams, the Ravens would have play him the league minimum of $405,000. I'm not sure about you, but I prefer the Ravens actually go with a 53-man roster.

Per Brent Harris twitter account: Leach is currently going through workout with Ravens. If all goes well, he will be signed shortly.

Agreed. This should have been wrapped up on Friday. I'm a little surprised (and concerned) that it's still not done.

"The money would have been cut from somewhere else". Really? From where??? If you want to disagree with how Ozzie does things, that's fine, but you are going to need to be a little more detailed in what you would do if you want people to take you seriously.

If we had kept Boldin, Dumervil would not be a Raven right now and there would be no talk of bringing back Leach.

Do you just not understand the concept of a salary cap?

Crav...you know what my stance was all offseason with re-signing McKinnie. This is not surprising to me in the least and I can't believe anyone else would be surprised. His track record speaks for itself. I will bet anything that he misses at least half the games this year (for whatever reasons). I love our front office, but LT is far too important to gamble on and that is exactly what they have done with McKinnie.