The Ravens LoungeReaction to Patrick Ricard Staying & First 24 Hours of Free Agency
Welcome into Lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Mink here with Garrett Downing. We have some breaking news on the free agency front. The Ravens have agreed to terms on a contract with fullback Patrick Ricard. So very good news there, the Ravens five time Pro Bowl fullback staying in Baltimore. It's a reported one year deal according to athletics Diana Rossini. And so, Garrett, you know, the Ravens have not added any new players. They're the only team in the league that have not added any of The Philadelphia Eagles made a trade for one. But again, Baltimore makes a big important move by retaining one of its own free agents.
Yeah, the significant I mean, Patrick Card is a Pro Bowl fullback and he's been a player here who has been a really important player of this offense before Todd Monkin arrived in after and I think this is a testament to him. And we kind of said at the outset of the offseason that we felt like it was just going to work out that the per carr was gonna end up in Baltimore. I think we all felt that way.
Well, he said it himself, he said he wanted to retire a Raven and Eric Costa said, yeah, I'm down for that plan, and so it felt like it was a foregone conclusion that this was going to happen. But the fullback market did change, you know, with the San Francisco forty nine ers releasing Kyle Yuscheck and you're like, all right, well, how does that impact things? And for the Ravens and Pat it was still, you know what, we're better together. This is a marriage here, and let's keep a good thing rolling. And I think he's obviously been a great fit in this offense. Just generally speaking, you talk about the Ravens physicality, you talk about, you know, what they want to be on both sides of the ball, including on offense, and how they want to smash you in the mouth. Patrick Ricard in many ways is kind of the spearhead to that, and Derrick Henry brings it right behind him. And so I think that you have a three hundred pound full back blocking for a two hundred and fifty pound running back. Opponents last year had a very hard time stopping that. And let's keep a good thing rolling.
I think you talk about the identity of the Ravens, Riccard has been here throughout Lamar Jackson's career. He's been a huge piece of this historic running game throughout past tenure here as a full back. They've had some of the best rushing attacks of all time during his time, some of the best offenses, including last year. So you want to keep that intact.
Yeah, he's a part of the Ravens offensive identity. He absolutely is. He will punch you and Lamar Jackson will gash you, and that's kind of been the formula around here.
Yeah, and so you're able to like when you look at what the Ravens have done and keeping Ricard and re signing Ronnie Stanley, those two guys, they've been able to maintain their core offensive identity and key players, Pro Bowl players, bringing them back to the fold. These are players who have been here a long time, developed here and I think that's massive. And so Pat is just a player who I think is it's great to have him back. Personally, he's a big time Fordo the Lounge. Pat. We've said the story before on the Lounge and this a he's a go to guy. There was a time last year where we had another interview lined up, fell through it like the eleventh hour. We went to Pat in the locker room five minutes before recording, like, Pat, you got to help us out, you got to help us out. And he came through in the clutch, no heads up, came down here, did the interview. Awesome conversation as always with him. So I don't think there's anybody happier than us two to get Patriback.
Absolutely, he's a very good dude. So yeah, I think that this just speaks to the way the Ravens operate in free agency, and first and foremost it's, you know, try to keep a lot of your guys as many as you can, and especially core pieces to this team. And Patrick Riccard it's a testament to him, a former undrafted defensive lineman who's become a core part of what this offense is. Yea, and so pretty cool to keep him in the fray. And you know, moving on to breaking down the past twenty four hours in free agency, as I said at the top, the Ravens have not been active in shopping for outside free agents, or at least haven't brought any in. And uh, but again that kind of speaks to what they do here in Baltimore.
Well, I go back to what Eric Tacosta laid out at the start of this process at the combine when he told everybody at that point, you know how the Ravens operate, draft twell, develop players, sign your own players, used free agency as a way to augment the team that's already in place.
I call it. You know you know Dungeons and Dragons, right, you call it you never played I've never played either. To be honest, I'm a board gamer, but I've never played Dungeons and Dragons called D and D. If you're if you play to develop, draft and develop. The Ravens this is their version of D and D.
Yeah, they draft and develop and then and then They're not historically speaking, a team that goes out in the early part of free agency and spends a ton of money. And the constant made that point multiple times at the combine, and he kind of explained what was going to happen, and at this point that is how it's gone out. And even if you go back when we did a podcast yesterday and we laid out how this thing could go over the course of the next few days, both of us made the point that the big move for the Ravens, they made it They made a big move that happened on Saturday night when they agreed to a contract with Ronnie Stanley and they get their left tackle signed. That was a massive move. And so like the Ravens already were a team that was tied against a salary cap, they resigned their franchise left tackle. They don't have many holes to fill on this team, and so that was the move that the Ravens made. And so I am not surprised to see them sitting out some of the crazy spending early in free agency.
One. Generally speaking, you look around the league, the teams that typically spend the most money in free agency are the ones that you know, end up near the bottom of the standings. Yeah. Right, there's a reason why they have a lot of salary caps face, and that's because they haven't drafted well and developed well. They're not typically signing resigning their own players to big deals like the Ravens have. And so, you know, I feel like we have this conversation every single every single offseason, and in March, it's just like, this is how the Ravens do business. You look at the players that the Ravens have lost in free agency, and let's recap it. There's offensive lineman Patrick McCarry, there's cornerback Brandon Stevens, inside linebackers Chris Board and Malik Harrison, and then offensive lineman Josh Jones. There's the five mckerry going to Jacksonville, Malie Harrison going to Steelers. Don't like that, Chris Board going to the Giants, Brandon Stevens to the Jets, and then Josh Jones is going to Seattle, thank you very much. So, you know, the Ravens. I don't think any of these are surprising. We certainly talked about, hey, would you like to have some of these guys back if they go test the market and don't get really what they're looking for? Sure, Yeah, you know, would have liked to have him back. They all got healthy contracts. I mean McCarey and Brandon Stevens each averaging twelve million dollars a year. Yeah, it's a pretty nice contract for those guys. And Lee Harrison two years ten with the Steelers joining Patrick Queen out there. By the way, they're just Baltimore linebacker you now in Pittsburgh. So none of these are surprising. But you look at each one of them and it's a clear case of draft and develop Brandon Stevens late third round pick, Chris Board undrafted, MALIEK. Harrison, third round pick, Patrick McCarry undrafted, Right, I mean, like you go across. Josh Jones was a one year pick up last year for the Ravens. So you're getting these guys in the middle to undrafted rounds in air quotes, you're developing them, and some of them signed a second contract here in Baltimore, McCarey being one of them, Chris Board two stints here in Baltimore, and Malie Harrison had signed a contract already. And then ultimately other teams just decide they're going to open up their wallets and pay your guys because your guys are good. You draft well and you developed them well, and now they're paying your guys because you just can't afford to keep all of them.
Yeah, there's a lot to unpack there. The Ravens are tied against Salar cab because they have some really good players on a contract. They have Lamar Jackson, they have Nomini Matabik, they have Roquan Smith, Mark Andrews, Marlon Humphrey. Like, there's a lot of really good players who are under contract for this team. They also have players who they're going to pay in future heres Kyle Hamilton, Tyler Linderbaum, Say Flowers after that, like, they have future players who they're going to want to pay as well. And so when you're tied against salary cab, you can't keep anybody. That's just the economics of the game. The other part of it, too, is that when you draft and develop players, well, like we're talking about, other teams are going to look at what you're doing and saying, all right, we want to bring in some of your guys. Like the Ravens have been really good the past couple of years, Let's go get their players, Let's go see what they've got going on. And that's part of what's happening here. And so that's not a surprise to me either. There's always been interest in Ravens free agents, I think, but I just with how good the team has been in recent year, there's going to be more of that. And then the other element of it is the compensatory pick strategy. The Ravens have received more comppicks than any other team in the NFL, and just as a refresher for our listeners, out there. The way the comp pick formula works is that when your own players hit free agency and get contracts from other teams, you get rewarded the next year with a draft pick that corresponds with the size of the contract and the playing time that that player receives with a new team. So the bigger the contract somebody signs elsewhere, the better comp pick you get in return. So Brandon Stevens Patrick McCarey both getting.
Right now according to over the Cap, they are both projected to be fifth round picks, could bump up to there on the cusp of fourth versus fifth round compensatory picks. And this is in twenty twenty six, as you mentioned. And then Malie Harrison right now is a projected seventh rounder.
Yep, So you get those copicks back, and so that's part of the the Ravens look.
You don't sign other guys free agents, and then which all sets those picks. Now, the Ravens are the only team, as you mentioned, you have not signed any street free agents. So I don't think we have too much to worry about there in terms of negating those compenser picks.
The other the only other mention on that that factors into the formula. Is if you sign a player who has been cut by another team, that doesn't impact the free agency or the Coppick formula because you're signing a player who was cut, not one that just hit free agency. So that's like, I don't think that the Ravens set out at the beginning of every offseason saying like we want to just get the most compicks, Like that's not the end all, be all goal, but I think it's an important component of rebuilding your team every single year.
It's definitely part of their free agency strategy. It is, but it's just the byproduct of what we've been talking about, draft and develop. When you draft and develop and you can't resign everybody, then you have this machine that generates comp picks. And the Ravens play that game better than any team in the league. And you know, it's it's no coincidence that the Philadelphia Eagles or the other team who have not signed any street free agency the Philadelphia Eagle's any good Their front office do a good job. Howie Rosemond. Eric Katsa has talked about how much respect he has for Howi Roseman. So like, these are two of the best gms in the business and they're doing their business. And uh so I think that Ravens fans who are concerned and saying, what's going on? You know already saw the memes. The gifts are out the older what's going on? Are you awake over there? They're out And no surprise, I knew they would be. Don't worry about it. The Ravens know what they're doing.
Yeah, And like you look at a player, you look at a player like Brandon Stevens, who was the third round pick for the Ravens four years ago. He was a compick. He was a comppick when the Ravens drafted him, and so you he plays here for four years. He was a bit of a developmental player who played safety in cornerback and running back in college. And so he comes to the NFL, he finds his spot at cornerback. He starts every game pretty much for the last two years and plays well. And now he goes out there and gets a decent contract on the open market and the Ravens get a COMPIC in return. So they had they used the compic to get him. They had four years of him, including two years as a clear cut starter. Now he leaves and they're going to get a compick in return. It's kind of like playing with house money the whole time to a certain extent, and so like that's that's good business. And just when you look at it from a holistic standpoint, as you develop your team, and the Ravens are expected to have eleven draft picks this year. They use the draft to restock the team every single year, and so that's just how they want to.
Go now, projective for ten next in twenty twenty six. That's so.
And I've said this before a lot of times when when DaCosta will do press conferences in the offseason, he'll he'll lay out how things are going to go. We talked about it at the combine and how he talked about the approach of free agency. He said, back when the Ravens sign Lamar Jackson, like now they're going to have less salary cap space because you have a quarterback under contract, and so that that only increases the important of the draft every single year is as the vehicle to repleash your team. And that's the way that the Ravens are going to continue to operate, especially while they have a quarterback on their contract one.
You also look at it to the Ravens kept their big ticket item that was said to be hit the free agent market. They kept Ronnie Stanley. That was the big move. That was the big move. I mean, we talked about Philadelphia in just kind of making comparisons and looking around the league. Here, Well, Philadelphia lost Milton Williams, a big time defensive tackle. They lost Josh Sweat, big time pass rusher, edge rusher, They lost Isaiah Rogers, and they traded one of their biggest pieces on their defense, Gardner Johnson. So there's some significant losses the Ravens. You know, of course you would have liked to keep these players. But and Patrick McCarey was a starter, Brandon Stevens was a starter. You know, Stevens was coming off a tougher year last year than the year prior. Patrick McCarey, he's a really valuable piece in terms of his versatility and his ability to start. Obviously, but the Ravens have the right tackle of the future and the president in Roger Rosegarden, and I think they feel good about their options. That left guard with Andrew Wore. He's probably being the leading contender there. Andrew bore. He's won this the job coming out of training camp last year, so you know, and he needs to continue and get to get better. But like none of these losses and the inside linebacker death, none of these losses are are crippling losses for the Ravens. They kept their their biggest free agent and Ronnie Stanley.
A couple of things I'll say about the players that the Ravens have lost, so Brandon Stevens. To be honest, I think I'm higher on Brandon Stevens and a lot of Ravens fans. I think he's in a lot of flack last year, which I thought he gave up some plays, but I thought he was far better than like Twitter did, and I think that he.
Was everybody's better than Twitter thing like.
I think he was. He was generally in the right spot. I thought he's a pretty good player, reliable, and this guy's been a starter for the last two seasons, and over that stretch, the Ravens have had one of the best defenses in the league, especially last year, and then the second especially in twenty three, and then the second half of last year. So I think a pretty good player. With that said, the Ravens drafted a first round pick in Nate Wiggans, and they're gonna have They're going to go into this year with Martin Humphrey and Nate Wiggins as their top two quarterbacks, and I would expect them to add to that position in the draft and maybe they still pick up a free agent and add there as well. So like they're in good position at that spot. The one move that, honestly, so I get how we're going to say, like, what move surprised me the most in terms of these reported departures. Malik Harrison of going to the Steelers surprised me the most. And credit to him. He got a nice contract, two years, ten million, Like he's been a quality player, and I thought that I just kind of thought he might get a contract in line with what he's received here previously, where it's a smaller contract, a one year deal. He plays valuable special teams reps core special teamer, but then also spot duty on defense. That's what he's done up to this point. Now. I've always felt like he's a pretty good, pretty good player and someone who the Ravens get good value out of. But clearly the Steelers felt that way as well. They probably saw the game last year that he stepped in and started for rokwand Smith and thought, hey, maybe we just go back and put him next to Patrick Queen. And the Ravens drafted those two guys together, if you remember, they drafted those two guys together, and thought it had potential of kind of being that thunder and lightning approach. And now maybe the Steelers are going.
To Tillie Kerrison kind of screamed Steelers. You know, he screams north. He's a rugged, tough, big guy, rugged tough guy. They've been looking for that kind of player, and especially next to Queen. I think that he'll be a good compliment for them. So let's talk about what what the Ravens kind of new needs are because of the free agency losses that they've had so far. And you know you talked about cornerback Jaalen Armor, Davis, TJ. Tampa would be kind of the number three guys in terms of outside cornerbacks. You still have your slide question now. Obviously Kyle Hamilton's gonna play in the slot, sum Marlon Humphrey can play in there, but then you need that outside corner. So corner is one of the Ravens' highest needs. Obviously, I wouldn't be surprised if they addressed it in the early rounds of this year's draft. So I think that that certainly is kind of you underline cornerback after you lost Brandon Stevens. Then offensive line, I think, get tackle and interior. You know, keeping Ronnie, as we talked about yesterday, was a huge piece of the puzzle. You have four of your five starters returning and you don't have to undergo this offensive line rebuild, but there's still a fair amount of work I think that the Ravens are going to do on this line. I mean, you need a third tackle for sure, because Patrick McCarey was the backup on both sides, and you lost Josh Jones, who was also one of your top reserve offensive tackles. BNK Cleveland's still a free agent sitting out there, so you need your number three tackle, which is an important job. The Ravens were really healthy on their offensive line, that was it. They were atypically healthy on their offensive line like that number three tackle often gets work. That's how Patrick mccrey played in so many games before he became a full time starter last year. So you need a tackle and you still need I think guard, you know, I mean right now the backup guards.
Do you need to add a guard though, yes, you not necessarily a starter. I mean you could draft not a starter, but you need guard depth. Sure you the Raves draft a guard at some point they've.
Got absolute I think like they're going to draft a tackle in a guard and so like you you need guard depth on this team right now, you.
Do need guard death, which again the Raves have eleven pain.
And they're gonna want to give Andrew Woarhi's conversation like like like I said, I think Andrew Vorhees is a good player, and he won the job last year at out of camp, but he was pushed for that job, and they're gonna want to you know, John Harball. It's competition everywhere, so they're going to add more competition, certainly in guard.
I think they will. I think that they'll add that there will be better in pieces that they add to the equation. I think for Hies, certainly at the stands right now as a leader in the clubhouse for the left guard job he won again. He wanted out of training camp last year, so I think that he will probably be the starter. I just don't. I don't think that like this the offensive line is a big time they're going to add death, like but I think that.
Depth is offensive line death is really important.
It is. But like if you were ranking priorities of the team, just building the roster composition, where would you rank back, backup, guard, and your probably the team I mean certainly cornerback, safety or higher immediate needs.
We haven't talked about inside linebacker. I mean you need inside linebacker death too. Right now you have Rokwand and Trenton and so you need that as well after after the departures of Malik and Chris Boards. So corner and safety are at the top of the list right now.
I think. I think thee again, I think it's depth. They want to add depth, and.
We talk about safety. You have your starters, two starting safeties, so it's really depth kind of all everywhere right now. I mean you kind of have you can almost pencil in the Ravens projected starting lineup right now.
Yeah, you you basically have as a stands today, like your starters returning.
At Nichol's the biggest probably question mark if Kyle Hailton's one of your two safeties that you're penciling in. He's not penciling in it, Nickel. Yeah, that's kind of your spot. Yeah, and so really you have to get depth pieces.
Uh.
I think add more certainly to the secondary, so you're more versatile and you can move these guys around. You can move Kyle around, you can move Marlin around.
Yep.
That like you need a high end player there, early draft pick in my opinion. And then really it's kind of building out the depth of this team. And as we were talking about draft and develop, it's kind of feeding the pipeline of all, right, who's going to be the offensive tackle, the next offensive tackle down the road, who's going to be the next guard down the road? Right? And obviously provide key depth right now.
Yeah, Like I said, I think the rate the pennsyl in a mid round guard, like that's that's going to happen. They've done that many times, Ben powers Dan Like, there's going to Ben Cleveland. Like they're gonna draft who was the other one?
Bredison?
Yeah, Ben Brettison.
That getting traded. But you just got a nice deal in free agency.
They're going to draft a mid round guard. You you can bock it right now, Yeah, exactly, like as we're doing our tipping my hand here for my eventual seven round mock, and so I think that I think that will be the case. But man, it's like it's a good spot to be when like we're talking about the biggest knees and you're talking about back.
Back of spots.
Yeah, backup guard, backup linebacker. I do think ye.
Look at that that deserves mentioning. I mean, Chris Ward and Emily Harrison were too key special teamers and so that is an area you know, the Ravens had did not get as much from their return game. They had some coverage issues at times last year, Like they want to make improvements on special teams and they just lost two veteran players that really have been that. Now you know, they they still could add veteran special teamers. Usually that's not going to come at a high cost. Right Kristin Welch is still a free agent of the Ravens that's out there, maybe he returns. Like so if you're saying, all right, we're going we need to sign a backup inside linebackers slash special teamer, you're generally not breaking the bank for that. I do like that is an area where they've lost some players and they want to improve.
I do think that inside linebacker has kind of become a need with both Chris Board Emily Harrisonto partying those guys while they were, you use in spot duty like they were playing, they were splitting that starting job the second half.
Of life exactly. Malie Harrison was a starter.
Yeah, they were splitting that job the second half of the year and playing important role in an important role, especially both of them. And so I as we've said previously, I'm not like closing the book on Trent and Simpson being a really good player, and I think that he's got a lot of talent. He's going to work hard, and I think there's potential for him to to seize that opportunity. But I think that they're going to want to add competition. Maybe that's a rookie, or maybe that's maybe Campbell.
You come around to my Joha Campbell argument that it's don't rule it out first rounder from Alabama.
Maybe I don't know that I'm completely there, but but maybe I think that there may be another player like Chris Board was for the Ravens last year where they signed him last year he came in and ended up playing in a really important role. Is there somebody out there like that who they could sign? It wouldn't surprise me. And then and they just going back to the offense line.
What other former Ravens linebackers are out there? Went elsewhere?
Welch was an example and ran back, So they've they've done that before. And then on the offensive line too, like the backup tackle. I expect to add as somebody to this line from a veterans standpoint, like Josh Jones last year was on a one year deal one point eight million. Could there be somebody in that mix who's, like, you're not talking about getting a big time contract, but you're talking about he could come in and.
Somebody who has starting experience. Yes, that's ideal.
That's what they did with Josh Shones. The year before, they did that with John Simpson and cash the players. John Simpson got a bigger contract because he had earned a starting job here, but both of them end up leaving for contracts and free agency, and so I think that they'll they'll be able to find somebody who has starting experience can come in, compete for a spot and potentially back up if needed.
Yeah, I would agree with that. I think it's the Ravens aren't going to sit out free agency completely. Like there there will be additions made to this team. And I do think that some key it might not happen in the second wave of free agency, might be the third or the fourth wave, right, it might be closer to training camp, might be a mini camp, whatever it might be later. But like they're going to make some additions, some veterans that probably make the fifty three man roster, and so you know, but I do think that primarily they're going to fill in this depth via the draft.
As we said at the start here, free agency has been used as a way to augment the roster, not build. That's correct, the roster. And that's what we're seeing so far for the Ravens. And that has been a strategy if you look around the league that has served teams well, teams that historically speaking are playing deep into the playoffs, competing for Super Bowls. That's generally been how they build their team and it's worked well for the Ravens and I think it will again this year.
All Right, we're going to take a break and when we come back we'll dive into Ronnie Stanley's contract details which has been released and are enlightening, as well as some of the other moves around the NFL and buzz about potential fit for the Ravens offense.
You're listening to the Lounge podcast. We are coming to you from the Sea Geek Studio. We also want to mention our partners at Draftking Sportsbook. They are an official sports betting partner of the Baltimore Ravens Draft King Sportsbook. The Crown is yours. So let's start with Ronnie Stanley. The Ravens again reached that contract extension, that new deal with him, three year contract that he agreed to over the weekend, a three year, sixty million dollars reported contract, and the numbers have come out on the specifics of what that deal looks like.
Right, So year one salary cap hit of five point eight million, Year two nine point eight million. So those are certainly numbers that the Ravens you can handle those numbers and leaves them still with the ability to make some other moves this year. It's not like Ronnie Stanley twenty mili just hit the cap and you're like, oh man, we got to restructure some people just to make room for this, right, Like, that's a number that you can certainly work with. And then the Ravens have shown in recent years that they're going to use more void years on these contracts. Ronnie Stanley's reported deal, according to over the Cap, has three void years included. There's no guaranteed money after year two.
Can you just explain void years how they work, what the impact of those years are in terms of a contract.
Yeah, Basically, void years or years at the end of a contract that a player will never play, they're kind of placeholders for signing bonus money that's pro rated, and so some of that a chunk of that signing bonus money gets paid out in future years that the players isn't here, So it's kind of spreading out the costs of the player over a bigger period of time.
Yeah, I think you have to have a you have a dead cap hit in those future years. So basically you're like, you have a cap hit for Ronnie Stanley even if he's not on the team. Like for example, this year, Odell Beckham Junior is gonna cost the Ravens against the salary cap, even though of course he's not on the team this year because they use void years when they did that deal. So that's the way that it works. This is something that teams have used around the NFL, and so and you.
Knowed down the road, right the rising salary cap, like, yeah, that you can absorb some of those because you're pushing it off to we're gonna have a bigger slice of the pie down down the road, so some of that will be covered by the larger salary cup.
So based on the reporting from over the Cap and the way that Stanley's deals reportedly structured, that gives the Ravens some flexibility still for this year to we're not talking about a big time signing, but they still have a little bit of money to.
Play with exactly. And so I mean that's interesting. You know, I think that that means we've talked about offensive tackle and the need that it is. Certainly bringing back Ronnie means all right, you don't have to draft one in the first round, probably not round two, but like you kind of want to. A you need more depth at offensive tackle as I was talking about, and B you know, hopefully Ronnie plays out all three years. The third year salary cap hit is right around twenty million, which by the time you get to that point and seeing all the money that offensive tackles are getting around the league, I mean you might say, hey, twenty million if Ronnie's still healthy and playing at a really high level, like, yeah, we want him for twenty million. I mean, just to look around the league. The Jalen More deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. I mean, the guy has not started many games in his career. He got a two year, thirty million dollar deal. Yeah, I mean Dan Moore junior for the Steelers, who gave up maybe the most sacks in the league or near it. He got a four year, eighty two million dollar deal from the Titans. And so Morgan Moses former raven three years twenty four million from the Patriots, and so offensive tackles don't come cheap. I think like the more I saw those other deals happen with those other offensive free agent offensive tackles, the better I felt about the deal that the Ravens got with Ronnie Stanley. And and also then once I saw the contract details and what the salary cap hits for the next few years, I liked it even more. That contract's just you know, it's two days old, and I like it more and more, and so you know, I think that you look down the road and say, well, maybe hopefully Ronnie plays out all three years. If he doesn't, like you want, you need to draft an offensive tackle still in the middle rounds this year, like you need to start thinking about the future there as well as having your reserve.
I think they're always going to restock there exactly, and you want to have depth, as we talked about earlier about replishing that offensive line.
And then there's more buzz about Cooper Cup and the possibility that he is released. I think it's widely expected that he's going to get released from the Rams, especially after they added DeVante Adams, they have Pookinakua, and they resigned to two at well to a pretty sizable one year deal. And I would you know, I'm watching NFL Network trying to get the news like everybody else, and Mark Ross of the NFL Network says he feels like the Ravens are the best potential fit for Cooper Cup. Any thoughts on that one, Garret.
Well, what happened to the whole talk of drafting developed and not bringing in any big time, big name. Well, if he.
Gets cut, right. It's like, as a Ravens fan, you always look at guys who get cut because the compensed story pick formula.
Look, Cooper Cup's an awesome player. Would there be a role for him? Sure? Like that'd be great. He's he's awesome. I wonder how that would have worked from a salary cap standpoint.
I don't see him getting a five million dollar average deal out there that what wide receivers go for.
No, And I know that he's dealt with injuries in recent years and has not put up the kind of production he had a few years ago when he was a Triple Crown winner and was the best receiver in the game. But I also think that he still is a really good player, and so I just feel like he's going to get a bigger contract than the Ravens would have space. That's just the way it feels now in some ways, like it feels like a classic raven signing. It's a veteran player. They've done that with other I mean Derek Henry last year as a Hall of Fame player, and they end up getting him not the very first wave of free agency, but kind of a couple of days later at a bit of a discount in comparison to those early deals. So on one hand, it fits what the Ravens do. On the other hand, I still feel like the market for Cooper Cup would be probably too expensive for the Ravens to get in on.
And don't forget that the Ravens are really set up well at wide receiver with their two starters Zay Flowers and Rashot Bateman. And you know I was talking about seeing these offensive tackle deals go down, you see some of the wide receivers deals go down, you feel even better about the situation the Ravens are at from a salary cap perspective at wide receiver.
Yeah, Like in past years when the Ravens have gone that route at wide receiver, they haven't had their top two guys in place. They've been looking for a potential starter and they have their tops.
It's kind of like Odell Beckham, you know, to a degree. Yeah, And the Ravens ended up signing him to a one year higher It.
Was Legodell, but the Ravens didn't have Zay Flowers when they signed right now. They drafted Zay Flowers a few weeks later that year, and they still had a shot Batman but we're Shot Bateman at dealt with injuries and so, like you still had a big question mark wide receiver, they certainly have.
Yeah, you don't have question marks about Zay Flowers and Shot Batman going into next season.
Correct, those guys proved themselves last year. So it's just a different It's just a different situation now. Like what does a contract look like for Cooper Cup I don't know. Clearly, the Rams are making the decision to go in a different direction. They're resigned to till that well and bringing in Devanta Adams, so like they're going in a different direction. There well other teams as a result that not give him, you know, a decent deal. I just expect there's still to be a market for him. It was like the best receiver in the game a couple of years ago, and so I think they'll still get paid pretty handsomely.
Yeah. Well, this is just the beginning of free agency and there are a lot of moves still left to be made. I'm sure the Ravens will be making some, so make sure you uh check back in. I'm sure we'll be having more podcasts soon. As always, you can reach us at the Lounge at ravenst NFL dot Net. Talk with you soon.
