Offseason In Review: Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens narrowly missed the playoffs last year, blowing a golden opportunity to put themselves in the driver’s seat for a divisional title in Week 16 before allowing the Steelers to drive the length of the field in the game’s waning moments. That was essentially the story of the season for Baltimore, as missed opportunities and fourth quarter collapses turned what might have been a successful campaign into a disappointment.
Depending on who you ask, the offseason has not been much better. The Ravens focused most of their attention, both in free agency and in the draft, on the defensive side of the ball when the offense sorely needed help. While Jeremy Maclin surprisingly falling into their laps late in the spring helped to mitigate that somewhat, the offensive line is still a major question mark. It’s also fair to wonder how wise it is for the team to depend so heavily on third-year wideout Breshad Perriman considering that he missed his entire rookie season with a knee injury, had an up-and-down 2016, and is currently being held out of training camp with hamstring soreness (thus halting the momentum he had built in spring and in the early stages of camp).
The Ravens have a fair amount of talent and could make some noise in the AFC North, though their recent spate of injuries is threatening to derail the season before it starts. One might also ask whether the conservative and predictable play-calling of offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg and defensive coordinator Dean Pees will get the most out of their talent, and whether a mixed bag of an offseason will be enough to get Baltimore back to the postseason.
Notable signings:
- Brandon Williams, DT: Five years, $52.5MM. $24.5MM guaranteed.
- Tony Jefferson, S: Four years, $34MM. $19MM guaranteed. $3MM available via incentives.
- Jeremy Maclin, WR: Two years, $11MM. $6MM guaranteed. $3MM available via incentives.
- Brandon Carr, CB: Four years, $24MM. $4MM guaranteed.
- Danny Woodhead, RB: Three years, $8.8MM. $3.25MM guaranteed.
- Anthony Levine, S: Three years, $4.2MM. $1.3MM guaranteed.
- Lardarius Webb, S: Three years, $6.3MM. $1.2MM guaranteed. $1.4MM available annually via incentives. Had previously been released.
- Michael Campanaro, WR: One year, $1.2MM. $250K guaranteed. $800K available via incentives.
- James Hurst, T: One year, $1.2MM. $250K guaranteed.
- Austin Howard, T: Three years, $16MM. Guarantees unknown.
- Ryan Jensen, G: One year, $1.797MM. Signed original round RFA tender.
- Terrance West, RB: One year, $1.797MM. Signed original round RFA tender.
- Brandon Boykin, CB: One year, minimum salary benefit.
- Larry Donnell, TE: One year, minimum salary benefit.
- Thaddeus Lewis, QB: One year, minimum salary benefit.
- Bobby Rainey, RB: One year, minimum salary benefit.
- Trevin Wade, CB: One year, minimum salary benefit.
- Griff Whalen, WR: One year, minimum salary benefit.
The Ravens landed two key offensive pieces late in the offseason in Maclin and Austin Howard, but until that point, they had invested the vast majority of their assets into the defensive side of the ball. One of the most curious moves of the offseason was the massive payday Baltimore doled out to Brandon Williams. Williams is a terrific player to be sure, but he’s not a generational talent, and Baltimore has a quality defensive tackle in Michael Pierce that might have filled in capably for Williams at a fraction of the price. Plus, the Ravens have always been able to find quality defensive linemen. It has been more of a struggle to find quality offensive pieces, and the fact that Baltimore spent so lavishly on Williams and Tony Jefferson while letting right tackle Ricky Wagner walk in free agency and ignoring free agent wideouts like Alshon Jeffery and Terrelle Pryor — who both signed relatively inexpensive deals — certainly raised some eyebrows.
Luckily for the Ravens, it may have worked out anyway, though it’s hard to say it was by design. No one expected a receiver like Maclin to become available when he did, and while Howard could be a solid replacement for Wagner, he is coming off an injury-plagued season in which his performance took a noticeable dip. Danny Woodhead, who for a long time was Baltimore’s big offensive acquisition, offers a nice complement to the bruising running style of Terrance West, and if he can stay healthy — a big “if” for players wearing purple and black these days — he should be a big contributor as a receiver out of the backfield and will surely line up in the slot a fair amount.
Jefferson will join last year’s big free agent splurge, Eric Weddle, to form arguably the best safety tandem in the game, and the Ravens also signed Brandon Carr to bolster its cornerback corps, which has been thin in recent seasons and which has really suffered when No. 1 corner Jimmy Smith has been forced to sit out due to injury. Unfortunately for Baltimore, sophomore corner Tavon Young, who was excellent in his rookie season, tore his ACL and will miss all of 2017, which precipitated the Brandon Boykin signing. Maurice Canady, another sophomore corner who enjoyed a terrific spring and a strong start to training camp, was the favorite to replace Young, but he, too, went down with a potentially serious knee injury, so it looks as if Smith and Carr will man the perimeter while Boykin or stalwart Lardarius Webb will line up in the slot (though first-round draft choice Marlon Humphrey could replace Carr later in the season). That sounds like a decent enough group of CBs, but one more injury could lead to the same problems in coverage that the Ravens have experienced of late.
Nonetheless, the defense looks strong as a whole, and with the influx of young athleticism that the team added to that side of the ball in the draft, the only thing holding that unit back (outside of injury) is Pees. Wideouts Maclin, Mike Wallace, and Perriman offer considerable talent and complementary skill-sets on the offensive side of the ball, and if the Ravens can find some production from the tight end spot — see below — and if Joe Flacco can overcome his back injury, Baltimore should be in pretty good shape.
NFC Notes: Bucs, Norwell, Cowboys
Buccaneers nickel corner Jude Adjei-Barimah will have surgery to repair the patellar fracture in his right knee and will be placed on IR, as Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. When we first learned of the injury, we heard that it could sideline Adjei-Barimah for roughly four months, meaning he would miss most of the 2017 campaign. Stroud’s report suggests that the 25-year-old DB will in fact miss the entire season.
In other bad news for the Bucs, linebacker Devante Bond, who was expected to open the season as the starting strongside linebacker, has a sprained PCL in his right knee, per Jenna Laine of ESPN.com. Bond could still be ready for Week 1, but it may be four to six weeks before he plays again. Meanwhile, Laine adds that QB Ryan Griffin has a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder that will take a few weeks to heal. The team is not expected to sign another quarterback, which means that Ryan Fitzpatrick will likely win the backup job.
Now let’s take a look at a few more NFC rumors:
- Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com tweets that the Buccaneers are expected to bring in another kicker in the wake of Roberto Aguayo‘s dismissal, but the new signing will be used for camp/preseason reps. That suggests that Nick Folk, and not a new acquisition, will be the team’s starting kicker.
- Panthers guard Andrew Norwell is playing under a one-year RFA tender worth $2.75MM this year, but he hopes to get a long-term deal before the end of the season, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes. Norwell graded out as the league’s No. 11 guard in 2016, per Pro Football Focus, and has started 29 games over the past two seasons, firmly entrenching himself at left guard opposite Trai Turner. Turner, of course, recently received a lucrative extension from Carolina, and Norwell wants in on the action. He has even hired Turner’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, to help him get paid.
- Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliot has until Wednesday to appeal his six-game suspension, and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets that Elliott will likely file the necessary paperwork on Tuesday.
- Cowboys tight end Rico Gathers was hugely impressive in Dallas’ preseason game against the Rams last night, posting four catches and a touchdown. That builds upon the solid showing he had in the team’s first preseason matchup last week, and it is clear that he is the most explosive tight end on the roster. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Gathers has come a long way in a short time — the Cowboys selected Gathers, a collegiate basketball player, in the sixth round of the 2016 draft — and makes the fairly obvious point that Gathers has a legitimate shot to make the team.
- The Redskins are very thin at outside linebacker following Trent Murphy‘s season-ending ACL tear, so they are moving ILB Pete Robertson outside to give themselves another pass-rusher, as Master Tesfatsion of the Washington Post writes. Robertson, a UDFA in 2016 who has yet to play a regular season snap, did lead the Big 12 with 13 sacks as an outside linebacker for Texas Tech in 2014.
AFC East Notes: Brissett, Ajayi, Bills
We heard last week that Jacoby Brissett‘s place on the Patriots‘ roster may not be safe, and Ben Volin of the Boston Globe doubled down on that report this week. Volin reiterated that Brissett’s performance in the spring and in training camp has left much to be desired, and he says it is fair to wonder whether the Patriots refused to deal Jimmy Garoppolo because they believe Garoppolo represents their future, or because they have no faith in Brissett should Tom Brady be forced to miss time (in truth, it is surely some combination of the two). In any event, Volin opines that New England may have to keep Garoppolo next year, even if that means putting the franchise tag on him (at an estimated $25-26MM cost). After all, the team will still be loaded with talent and should be a championship contender in 2018, but a Brady injury could waste all of that talent if the No. 2 QB cannot adequately replace him.
Now for more from the AFC East:
- Dolphins RB Jay Ajayi is still in concussion protocol, but he did practice today and the team is excited about his progress, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets. Ajayai left practice early with a trainer, but that was due to a hydration issue, Jackson notes.
- Dolphins second-round draft choice Raekwon McMillan, who was expected to see significant time at middle linebacker this season, tore his ACL while playing on the punt coverage team in Miami’s first preseason tilt Thursday night. He will now miss his entire rookie season, and head coach Adam Gase has been predictably criticized for using a player of McMillan’s importance on special teams. Roy Cummings of Florida Football Insiders believes such criticism is unwarranted, writing that a head coach cannot field kickoff, kickoff return, punt coverage, and punt return teams without playing first- or second-year guys. Likewise, you cannot expect those players to perform well on special teams in the regular season if they do not see live action in the preseason.
- Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News offers his take on which wide receivers will make the Bills‘ roster after the team dealt Sammy Watkins and acquired Jordan Matthews. Skurski says Matthews, Zay Jones, and Anquan Boldin will make the club, which is a given, and he adds that Rod Streater is likely to earn a spot due to his excellent camp. Skurski says he currently projects Andre Holmes and Brandon Tate to round out the WR corps, but the fact that cutting Holmes could help the team land a high compensatory draft choice next season certainly works against him. If Holmes should be cut, Walter Powell could find himself on the 53-man come Week 1.
- Christian Hackenberg played fairly well in the Jets‘ first preseason game last night, thereby creating more fodder for Gang Green’s starting QB discussion. But as Laura Albanese of Newsday writes, there are other competitions worth watching. For instance, the battle for the team’s starting center position is tighter than originally anticipated, as Jonotthan Harrison is putting pressure on presumed starter Wesley Johnson. Likewise, Albanese writes that Brent Qvale and Brandon Shell appear to be neck-and-neck in their race for the Jets’ right tackle job.
Latest On Jamaal Charles
It was said earlier this offseason that Broncos RB Jamaal Charles may only have a 50-50 chance to make Denver’s roster, and no one seems to know when he will make his preseason debut. He did not participate in the team’s first preseason matchup Thursday night, and head coach Vance Joseph said, “I’m not sure yet,” when asked if Charles would play against the 49ers next Saturday, as Nick Kosmider of the Denver Post writes.
If Charles did not have a history of injury problems, his not participating in any preseason games would not be a big deal. After all, he is entering his tenth professional season and his track record of production (when healthy) speaks for itself. But he has undergone multiple knee surgeries over the past several years, and he has seen limited practice time this offseason as he continues to recover.
That reality, combined with Charles’ fairly modest contract, helped generate the earlier reports that Charles’ roster status was up in the air. But the fact that Joseph said several weeks ago that the team would continue to proceed cautiously with Charles even though he was fully cleared from a medical standpoint indicated that Charles was going to make the club, and as Kosmider reports, his full-team repetitions have been elevated during the past week. Devontae Booker‘s recent injury has also given Charles a little job security.
Nonetheless, Joseph did say that he would “probably” need to see Charles participate in a preseason game before he makes a final decision. While it currently seems as if Charles has a good chance to make the team and be a significant contributor to boot, it’s fair to wonder if injuries and age have caught up with him, especially given that his game is predicated on speed and elusiveness.
For his part, Charles said he has had no setbacks, even though he has made a concerted effort to test his knee as much as possible. He said, “I don’t think I have to prove anything. People know what I can do. I feel confident. Whatever Coach Vance and the trainers say, that’s their direction. I’m just out here every day just getting healthy and getting my craft ready and preparing to play whenever.”
Jay Cutler To Sign With Dolphins
Jay Cutler has come out of retirement to sign a one-year deal with the Dolphins, the team announced on Monday. The deal was first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). Schefter tweets that Cutler will earn $10MM, plus incentives, in 2017, and Jay Glazer of FOX Sports tweets that the incentives could raise the total value of the contract to $13MM.
Cutler’s base salary will be $5MM, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reports. With incumbent Fins backup Matt Moore making $1.75MM in base salary, this suggests Adam Gase expects his former pupil to become the starter and also suggests that Ryan Tannehill will miss an extended period of time.
Salguero reports Tannehill, again, has a partially torn ACL. The sixth-year passer suffered the same injury late in the 2016 regular season. It’s uncertain if the Dolphins’ franchise passer will undergo surgery this time to repair the damage or opt for more non-surgical treatment, but he will be out for a while.
Tannehill, 29, spent the past several days consulting with experts about continuing to delay a surgery instead of going under the knife and ending his season, per Salguero. The Miami-embedded reporter adds Tannehill is likely to need surgery, because Cutler didn’t want to step into a situation where Tannehill would come back this season. As of now, Tannehill is almost certain to miss the season, with Salguero tweeting the start of the 2018 campaign is in question.
In Cutler, Dolphins managed to sign a quarterback who possesses high-end physical tools (even if other aspects of Cutler’s game have been scrutinized) and knowledge of Gase’s system. The 34-year-old, who retired from football in May after receiving limited interest as a free agent, has a good relationship with Gase from their time in Chicago in 2015. Then the Bears’ offensive coordinator, Gase helped Cutler to one of his best seasons, in which he completed 64.4 percent of passes, averaged 7.58 yards per attempt and threw 21 touchdowns against just 11 interceptions.
This saga went in a different direction than an ESPN report indicated it probably would on Saturday. Cutler will pivot away from the FOX job he secured earlier this year. And, after piloting some lower-profile Bears teams during his final few seasons in the Windy City, the former first-round pick will become a key component in the AFC playoff race.
The closest Cutler came to a post-Chicago landing spot was with the Jets, who had some interest but did not want to pay franchise-passer money and opted for ex-Cutler teammate Josh McCown instead. Now, Cutler will be thrown onto a playoff-contending outfit. And the skill-position cadre of Jay Ajayi, Julius Thomas, Jarvis Landry, Kenny Stills and DeVante Parker stands to double as one of the best in Cutler’s now-12-season career.
Cutler has one Pro Bowl to his credit, with the 2008 Broncos, and has guided a team to one playoff berth (2010 Bears). His salary will place him in a barely explored middle ground between backup quarterbacks and franchise starters. Cutler’s $10MM in 2017 places him 22nd among quarterbacks, in between the previous gulf that existed between Mike Glennon and Tyrod Taylor in this hierarchy.
Tannehill will earn $20.3MM in 2017, making the Dolphins more committed to two passers financially than any NFL team.
Sam Robinson contributed to this report.
Saints Sign K Patrick Murray
The Saints have signed kicker Patrick Murray, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Rapoport says Murray will compete with incumbent Wil Lutz, but Josh Katzenstein of the Times-Picayune tweets that Lutz has looked great in camp, so New Orleans may have signed Murray simply to allow Lutz to save his leg. Nick Underhill of the New Orleans Advocate, meanwhile, says there is a kicking competition, though he still thinks Lutz is pretty safe (Twitter links).
Regardless, Murray is more accomplished than a camp fodder kicker that is often brought in just to spell the presumptive starter before the regular season begins. In 2014, Murray was the Buccaneers’ kicker and converted 20 of 24 field goals. He spent all of 2015 on IR before winning the Browns’ kicking competition last summer. Unfortunately, he played in only two games for Cleveland before landing on IR for the second consecutive year. He made one of his two field goal attempts and three of his four extra point opportunities.
Lutz originally signed with the Ravens as a UDFA last year, but he never had a chance to beat out Justin Tucker and was cut in late August. He caught on with the Saints a week later and spent the entire year as the club’s kicker, connecting on 28 of 34 field goal attempts and 49 of 50 extra points. He was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in Week 6 and Week 8.
AFC Notes: McCown, Cutler, Brissett, Ochi
Regardless of what head coach Todd Bowles says, the Jets‘ QB battle is not an open competition, according to Brian Costello of the New York Post. Costello writes that Josh McCown has taken about 99% of the first-team reps in training camp, while Christian Hackenberg has worked almost exclusively with the second unit. Unless Hackenberg excels during New York’s first two preseason games, Costello expects McCown to be under center come Week 1, which is what we expected all along.
Now let’s take a look at a few more notes from the AFC:
- Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald says Dolphins brass hopes to resolve the Jay Cutler question soon, and that resolution could come as early as today (Twitter link).
- Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola accepted a pay cut to remain in New England for the third consecutive season, but as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes, the 31-year-old Amendola (32 in November) never considered retirement, nor did he consider suiting up for anyone other than the Patriots. He again projects as the team’s fourth or fifth option at wide receiver, but he has grown comfortable with his limited role and at this point in his career he appears content to get a little burn while playing in a winning environment.
- Jacoby Brissett, the Patriots No. 3 signal-caller who got two starts last season in the wake of Tom Brady‘s suspension and Jimmy Garoppolo‘s injury, is in danger of being cut, as Ben Volin of the Boston Globe writes. Brissett did not have a strong spring, and with Brady showing no signs of slowing down and Garoppolo back as the No. 2 QB, New England could look to use Brissett’s roster spot on a linebacker, receiver, or defensive back.
- Titans LB Victor Ochi tore his ACL in Friday night’s practice, per Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com (via Twitter). Ochi is a small school (Stony Brook) product who has spent time with the Ravens, Jets, Chiefs, and Titans in his brief career, appearing in two games with the Jets last season. He has a great deal of raw pass-rushing ability, but it seems he will have to wait until 2018 to put that ability back on display.
- Dan Graziano of ESPN.com says Tyler Ervin, whom the Texans selected in the fourth round of the 2016 draft, could fill in for Will Fuller while Fuller recovers from a broken collarbone. Ervin is a running back by trade, but he has tremendous speed and the club was already planning to use him in multiple roles to utilize his athleticism (he returned 27 punts and 14 kickoffs last season). With Fuller out for awhile, Houston could give receiver reps to Ervin with an eye towards making him a full-time slot receiver.
Latest On Jordan Matthews
Eagles wide receiver Jordan Matthews was mentioned as a trade candidate before free agency opened, but since he remained on the roster even after the team signed Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffery and drafted Mack Hollins and Shelton Gibson, those trade rumors all but disappeared. Recent developments, however, have led to renewed whispers that Matthews could be dealt.
For one, Matthews is dealing with knee tendonitis that kept him out of a good portion of spring practices, and though he is yet to miss a practice in training camp, Tim McManus of ESPN.com says that Matthews has struggled to “get right” since sustaining a bone bruise last August. Plus, the team has made no effort to engage in substantive extension talks, which, as McManus writes, is pretty telling given that executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman has a history of re-upping homegrown players early if they have been identified as part of the team’s core. Of course, it’s difficult to properly evaluate what an extension for Matthews would look like anyway, as he has performed well to this point in his career but he is a fairly unexplosive slot receiver who profiles as a No. 3 wideout on a contending team.
Then there is the fact that Nelson Agholor, the former first-rounder who was all but written off a few months ago, excelled when filling in for Matthews during the spring, and he has carried that strong performance into training camp. Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network recently said, “[Agholor] has had a total rebirth. He’s in the slot. He’s going to live in the slot. He’s going to be their slot receiver. I’ll be shocked if he’s not. I don’t know what that means for [Matthews]. Agholor is a lot more dynamic.”
Marcus Johnson, who signed as a UDFA last year, has also been impressive, as has Hollins. And while it would be foolhardy to put a lot of faith in Agholor at this point, not to mention a former UDFA and mid-round draft choices who have yet to prove anything, Roseman would certainly be justified in dealing Matthews now and getting some sort of draft pick compensation in return instead of letting him walk away for nothing in 2018.
For what it’s worth, McManus says trading Matthews would be unnecessarily risky, though it looks like more of an option now then it has in some time.
Jaguars Sign Jeron Johnson, Cut James Sample
The Jaguars have cut safety James Sample and signed safety Jeron Johnson to take his place on the roster, as John Oehser of Jaguars.com tweets. Jacksonville selected Sample in the fourth round of the 2015 draft, but he has struggled with shoulder and forearm injuries over his first two seasons in the league and has appeared in only four games as a result. All four of those games came in his rookie campaign, as he was placed on IR prior to the 2016 season.
Johnson is entering his seventh season in the league and has suited up for the Seahawks and Redskins in his career. He has been deployed primarily as a reserve defensive back and special-teamer and has just two starts to his credit. He performed well enough for Seattle from 2011-14 to land a two-year pact with Washington in 2015, but the Redskins cut him loose after just one year. He returned to Seattle last December and was part of the club’s playoff push, but the Seahawks did not re-sign him this offseason. He worked out with the Giants in June but left without a contract.
Barry Church and Tashaun Gipson make up Jacksonville’s starting safety tandem, but Johnson will have a chance to compete for a reserve role with the likes of Peyton Thompson, Jarrod Wilson, and Jarrod Harper. It is more likely, however, that he was signed for the contributions he could make to the Jags’ special teams unit, which was sub-par in 2016.
Harbaugh: No Definitive Date For Joe Flacco Return
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said yesterday there is no definitive date for Joe Flacco to return to the field, as Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com writes. Flacco, of course, has been dealing with a back injury, and we heard at the end of July that he was preparing to miss three to six weeks, though more optimistic reports had him returning within one week.
Harbaugh said, “We know he’s getting better every single day. Obviously, we have a plan for him, football-wise, when he gets back. But we haven’t been told when yet.”
Harbaugh’s statement should not be surprising in light of Baltimore’s highly-publicized dalliance with free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick. If the Ravens were truly convinced that Flacco would only be out a short period of time, it is unlikely they would be entertaining the notion of signing Kaepernick as seriously they have, as Kaepernick would not compete with a healthy Flacco for the team’s starting job.
The Ravens have been ravaged by injury in the early stages of training camp, and while they may yet have enough talent to make a playoff push with the talent they currently have at their disposal, they need Flacco to be 100% to have a real chance at being competitive in 2017.
In his only public comments about the injury, which he made on July 28, Flacco said he was unsure of when he would return to practice. He said, “It is just one of those things where you have to be patient and not let your competitive nature get the best of you. I am talking about everybody — myself and, really, everybody.”