After Crosby addition, Ravens have already won free agency and traded the draft

It’s been a whirlwind two months since Tyler Loop’s kick sailed wide right in Pittsburgh and the Baltimore Ravens have made massive changes, including in the ideology of winning right now vs. making first round draft picks. Luke Jones and Nestor recap the wild early free agency transactions and comings and goings of the roster of Jesse Minter and the myriad of holes for Eric DeCosta to fill this spring.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Prepare and air a future WNST 1570 Towson Baltimore segment discussing Leonard Raskin’s upcoming visit and the impact of state income taxes on player contracts, including comparisons across states.

Free Agency Transactions and Initial Reactions

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Maryland crab cake tour and various local events, including the Harlem Globetrotters and the Maryland Art unveiling at the Home and Garden Show.
• Nestor mentions the recent free agency transactions involving the Baltimore Ravens, including the loss of several players and the acquisition of Max Crosby.
• Luke Jones joins the discussion to provide insights on the free agency moves, emphasizing the significance of acquiring Max Crosby and the structural changes in the defense.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the unprecedented nature of the past 10 weeks for the Ravens, including the hiring of a new head coach and the trades involving first-round picks.

Impact of Max Crosby and Defensive Changes

• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of Max Crosby on the Ravens’ defense, comparing him to past great players like Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs.
• Luke highlights Crosby’s past substance abuse challenges and his affinity for the Raiders, emphasizing the importance of the Raiders’ support in his recovery.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential benefits of having a player like Crosby, who commands attention and respect in the locker room, and how he can positively influence the defense.
• The conversation touches on the importance of having a high-impact edge rusher and the potential for Crosby to be a force multiplier, similar to Ray Lewis.

Challenges and Opportunities in the Offensive Line

• Nestor and Luke discuss the challenges faced by the Ravens’ offensive line, including the loss of key players and the need to upgrade the center position.
• Luke mentions the potential for Dwayne Ledford, the new offensive line coach, to make a significant impact on the team’s performance.
• The conversation highlights the importance of the center position and the potential for the Ravens to address this need through the draft or free agency.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the impact of Tyler Linderbaum’s departure on the offensive line and the need for the team to find a suitable replacement.

Personnel Moves and Future Plans

• Nestor and Luke discuss the departure of several key players, including Tyler Linderbaum, and the potential impact on the team’s performance.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of addressing the offensive line and other positions of need through free agency and the draft.
• The conversation touches on the potential for the Ravens to make additional moves to improve the team, including signing veteran players and drafting talent.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the overall strategy for the Ravens’ offseason, including the need to balance the defense and offense to achieve long-term success.

Financial Considerations and Market Impact

• Nestor and Luke discuss the financial implications of the Ravens’ free agency moves, including the significant contract given to Tyler Linderbaum by the Raiders.
• Luke highlights the impact of state taxes on player contracts and the financial advantages of playing in states like Nevada.
• The conversation touches on the broader market trends in the NFL, including the increasing value of certain positions and the impact of high-profile contracts.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the importance of making smart financial decisions and the potential for the Ravens to navigate the market effectively.

Coaching and Team Dynamics

• Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of the new coaching staff on the Ravens’ performance, including the hiring of a new offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
• The conversation highlights the importance of building cohesiveness and continuity within the team, especially with the departure of key players.
• Luke emphasizes the need for the new coaching staff to make a significant impact on the team’s performance, including improving the offensive line and addressing other areas of need.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the overall strategy for the Ravens’ offseason, including the importance of making the right personnel moves and coaching decisions.

Final Thoughts and Future Outlook

• Nestor and Luke reflect on the overall outlook for the Ravens’ offseason, including the potential for the team to address key positions of need and improve overall performance.
• The conversation touches on the importance of making smart financial decisions and the potential for the Ravens to navigate the market effectively.
• Nestor and Luke emphasize the need for the team to balance the defense and offense to achieve long-term success, including addressing the offensive line and other areas of need.
• The discussion concludes with a focus on the importance of making the right moves to position the Ravens for success in the upcoming season.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Baltimore Ravens, free agency, Max Crosby, Tyler Linderbaum, offensive line, defensive changes, roquan Smith, cap space, center position, draft picks, player contracts, coaching staff, offensive coordinator, salary cap, player departures.

SPEAKERS

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Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Hey, welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive. We are getting the Maryland crab cake tour out on the road, missonis on Tuesday night. Then we take a little break until we get through opening day. Here I have the Harlem Globetrotters. I saw the impressive new Maryland art that they that they unveiled at the Home and Garden Show. I They used to call it the Timonium race course. Now they just call it Costas. So we were over Costas over the weekend, we had some fun over there. We were Costas and Dundalk last week, we had some fun there. Alan joined me. Luke joined me. My pal Dennis O’Donovan. We talked to AI and we had winners, winners, crab cake dinners. My case maybe was shrimp cocktail dinner. Luke Jones joins me now. We are getting through this free agency thing, and all of it brought to you by our friends at farnand Dermer, the comfort guys doing all of our sports coverage, as well as our friends at GBMC keeping us alive. Crosby in late at night, on Friday night, if you know Chad steel were writing the script on how to sell this thing the right way. It wasn’t. We lost this guy, lost this guy, lost this guy, but we got this guy. It was we got this guy. And then everything else that you and I probably inevitably would have thought might have happened. Linderbaum included, given the money, the draft picks, the big story, the unprecedented nature of all of that. And then we’ll replace the Louhi Gilman. We’ll figure Isaiah likely out life goes on without our Darius Washington. You know, the hits keep on coming at that level, but they made a structural change their defense and leadership. I’ve had Marvin Lewis on at length, who coached Max Crosby. Two years ago, I had JT the brick on, who, you know, is family to me out in Las Vegas with the Raiders. He’s been with the Raiders 25 years. He and Max Crosby are friends, and they just speak really, really highly of you know, maybe the Ravens have won the free agency here without winning the free agency here, and they gave away two drafts. So I you know we’re gonna be talking about this for a long time, but it’s been a busy, busy week at Owings Mills after you and I waited for the purple plumes of smoke a month and a half ago. It’s just been an extraordinary let’s say, 10 weeks for the franchise. From the minute I was down in the bowl of the stadium and you were up in the press box and the ball sailed, there’s been a lot that’s going on in less than 10 weeks. Dude, like nine weeks,

Luke Jones  02:36

no question about it. I mean, you’re talking about some franchise altering moments, and not, you know, the backup safeties moving out of town or losing an offensive line. I mean new head coach, you bring in somebody in Max Crosby, who, first of all, you traded it. Traded not just one first round pick for him, which they had never done as much as that, but two you bring him in to not only be the most high impact edge rusher they’ve had since Terrell Suggs in his prime, but I think you’re looking for him to give you a little bit of a force multiplier quality that, dare I say, you’ve missed for the last 15 years without Ray Lewis. Right now, I’m not saying Matt Crosby is quite in that sphere, but

Nestor Aparicio  03:26

talk to people in Vegas, talk, I mean, Marvin. Marvin’s like, you’re going to double him on every single play. You’re going to have to Sure, and then that is, that’s wide open for Mike Green. That’s wide open for whomever really Hamilton, right? This makes Hamilton because he was already a guy you had to account for because of speed, because of his unique size, because of his intellect. And now this is getting this is getting complex. I mean, they, they might have two hall of famers in a hall of really good and roquan Smith on the other side of the ball. Now you start to get back to the ED reads and the Ray Lewis and the Terrell Suggs and said, no offense to your pal, Marlin Humphrey, but he ain’t that guy you know like, and I don’t that, but you and I know that so very few guys are. That is how you win championships. Though, we won championships when those guys were. We ain’t one without them.

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Luke Jones  04:27

Well, sure, sure, I don’t want to make what make make any less of what Max Crosby is. But yeah, I mean, you’re talking about someone who has been a great player, someone who had a reputation for, obviously, we touched on the fact that he had some substance abuse challenges earlier in his career, to the point where he checked himself in rehab. That’s why he had such an affinity for the raiders and Mark Davison and was felt so conflicted to leave. I mean, that organization stood by him. What was that six years ago at this point in time? But one. He got himself well in that way. I mean, the sky’s just been the limit for him. I mean, he’s been that kind of a game wrecker. He’s been a guy that you have to account for. We all can think back to NFL films when they had Brady and Belichick miked up. I was at 1516, years ago. At this point in time, they’re sitting in their meeting room, and what were they talking about at the time? Well, Ed Reed is going to blow up this, this play for us, so we got to identify number 20 on every play. And to your point, the Ravens haven’t necessarily had that kind of a player at any level. They’ve had great players, but there’s great players, and then they’re guys that are really great players that you have to account for, and you have to have a plan for,

Nestor Aparicio  05:43

and was that guy in 14 or 15, that’s what I’m saying. That after that they’ve had guys

Luke Jones  05:50

that have been good, you know, it’s not and this is where I’ll stick up for Eric Acosta a little bit from the standpoint of, go back and look at some of these pass rushes that they cobbled together with veteran guys like Justin Houston and jadavion Clowney and Kyle van Noy. I mean, they’ve even still had some years where they led the league in sacks, right? It’s not as though it was completely inept. However you get to the fourth quarter and you’re trying to close out a game, you get to January and you need to get Patrick mahomes off the field, or Josh Allen off the field in crunch time, Joe burrow, you know, not, not, not as much in the in the playoffs, although, certainly they played him once, but in the regular season, and they haven’t been able to do that as well. So you bring in someone like Max Crosby, who will absolutely solve that from that perspective, but I think it’s also the intangibles, being that guy that’s gonna be the first in the building, last to leave, the guy that commands that attention in the room, the guy that I think even the offense will respond to. You know, we talked about this. We touched on this a good bit when they acquired roquan Smith. And it’s not to say that roquan didn’t do that at all, but I think Max Crosby can do that to a much more impactful degree. You know? I think there’s a different degree of credibility there. When you’re talking about a guy who has been in that kind of space and can disrupt things up front, right? Can? I tried to touch on this over the weekend when we talked about this, yes, he’s a great, phenomenal pass rusher. He’s a fantastic run defender too. I mean, this is a guy that doesn’t come off the field. Now he’s going to be 29 he’s coming off of a knee surgery. I do wonder if he’ll have to come, if it’d be wise to have him take a series or two, right, rather than play in every single step.

Nestor Aparicio  07:39

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But brick came on and gave me the story of the last two weeks in the season. They had sat him down and really pissed him off, and they thought he was hurt, and as as brick was hurt that they rested him so he would have the value that he would have to the Raiders at anybody else at the end of the season. But he loves to play so much that he wanted to go out there and play banged up and meaningless football games, because that’s his motor. Yeah.

Luke Jones  08:07

I mean, keep in mind, this is a guy who signed an extension last year. It’s not as though this has been bubbling and he’s been disenchanted for two or three off seasons now, like it wasn’t that. It was very much, I’m with you, I’m with you. I’m with you. I love you guys. I believe in in winning here all that. And then that happened at the end of last season. And then, you know, obviously they’re firing a head coach again, and going to be starting over, drafting another quarterback and all that. And then at that point, he kind of looks at he reads the room, and privately they probably look at him and say, well, we love you Max, but

Nestor Aparicio  08:44

we haven’t won with you. You’re still extremely valuable. You haven’t won. We want you to win too. Is there something we can do here to kind of change the fate for you and change our long term fate? So I think that’s where it comes from. Well, they get the 14th pick. So they’re going to get a player, right, whatever, next year, yeah. And as Rick even said, that will forever be the max Crosby player. And you know, the assumption is the Ravens is going to win the Super Bowl and the Raiders going to pick 32nd but you’d like to think that that pick at least be in the 20s, right? Like, you know, and I said to them, if the Raiders didn’t already hate the Ravens because of the rich Gannon and Sarah Gustaf, they can hate on the rave ravens next year, because it’s going to affect the pick. But for their franchise, they’re going to replace the player with a premier first round player and put somebody on the field. And he wasn’t that guy, right? He was a fourth round player, like he was a self made came through it, the alcohol, all of that, to become the guy he’s become. I could see where he wouldn’t want to sit around and say, I’m going to wait on a rookie quarterback, which might make a nice transition to Tyler Linder bomb, because Tyler Linder bombs going basically to snap to. To the next touchdown. I was gonna say, Jesus, but touchdown strip, touchdown Davis in the desert, and Mendoza’s going out there, and Linder bombs gonna play with him. It’s, it’s weird how the ravens, ravens Raiders, they’re even similar. That this weekend there’s been a real swap. And as you pointed out, yeah, they traded lender bomb for Max Crosby, except we gave two number ones too. You know, in addition to this, that’s

Luke Jones  10:25

all, yeah, exactly, but it speaks to what they were valuing for their new franchise quarterback. I mean, Fernando Mendoza is a heck of a talent. I don’t know where I see him fitting in like it look. No one knows, right? I mean, well, Max

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Nestor Aparicio  10:40

Crosby didn’t want to hang around, right? Like, literally, right. Well, I

Luke Jones  10:44

mean, you get to the point you’re 29 and you’ve played with how many different quarterbacks, and you’ve been to the playoffs once, and you’re starting over again, and it’s a new head coach again, and you know, nothing against Clint Kubiak, but you kind of, from his perspective, it’s like, well, you know, this is an offensive minded head coach, and are we going to have a whole lot in common and all that, right? So I think it kind of greased the runway for him to leave. And, yeah, I mean, the Raiders go out and say, what are the best ways we can help our new franchise quarterback succeed? And we talked about this 17 years ago when Matt Burke arrived in Baltimore for a second year quarterback and Joe Flacco and and what that meant for him, right? I mean, we’ve talked about that at length. You’ve talked a whole lot about the center position. So they spent a whole lot. I mean, I don’t know if you saw the breakdown, that deal was basically fully guaranteed. I mean, it’s a three year, $81 million contract, and that the third, the first year, first two years of the deal are guaranteed in terms of salary and has a $20 million signing bonus, and the third year of that deal becomes fully guaranteed. I think it’s the fourth day of next year’s new league year. So unless they’re going to cut Tyler Linder bomb after one year, and that would guarantee, what, $60

Nestor Aparicio  12:04

million who’s ages, by the way, that’s, I want to call him. It’s what,

Luke Jones  12:09

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Neil corn rich. I think it is so but, but it’s, I mean, it’s an amazing deal. So it’s, it’s wild that they

Nestor Aparicio  12:18

really value him for the quarterback, clear? Yeah, clearly.

Luke Jones  12:23

So, I mean, it’s, it’s wild, it they’re

Nestor Aparicio  12:27

willing to pay a premium to have the center. They want that they feel they need to transition their quarterback. And somebody who’s played with Lamar Jackson is all,

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Luke Jones  12:35

yeah, well, and the other thing is, the Raiders had, I think, over a million dollars in cap space. So that’s part of it too, right? I mean, some of it is, you have the money to spend. You spend it, right? You go on a shopping spree. And the Raiders, I mean, they made a big, big splashes.

Nestor Aparicio  12:47

You said a million. You made 100 million, 100 million. Sorry, yeah, sorry, sorry, yeah, yeah, it’s 300 million. Now, it’s just, it’s gotten, centers are getting $28 million a year. It’s crazy, right?

Luke Jones  13:00

It’s, I mean, it’s, it’s wild. I mean, $27 million per year, and again, you look at the structure of that deal, there’s nothing phony about it. It becomes, it’s practically, well, I don’t, I don’t think it’s going to become standard. I think that that remains to be seen, right? We’ll see if that’s an outlet. Because, like we said, the average annual value went up by 50% going from creed Humphrey with Kansas City, which that deal was signed two years ago, and $45 million in cap space ago in terms of what, how the cap is increased, but you’re still talking about a 50% increase. It will be fascinating to see what that does now. Every center in the league right now should be texting Tyler Linder bomb and Neil corn rich and be like, dude, thanks, because that’s going to certainly bump it up. But that was pretty wild. I mean, there’s no question, let’s face it, man, let’s call a spade a spade. Tyler Linder bomb wants to win, yes, but when someone gives you that kind of a contract, I mean, you’re talking about setting up your kids, your grandkids, your grandkids, kids. I mean, that’s what kind of money that is when it’s just that crazy. I mean, a three year. And keep in mind, he’s he’s hope he’s getting ready to turn 26 he’s good. He’ll hit the market going into his age 29 season. I like he could get another really lucrative payday three years from now. So when Leonard

Nestor Aparicio  14:20

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Raskin comes on, inevitably, he’ll be here in a couple of weeks. He’s on vacation this week. We’ll talk about this because, like, Linda bomb made a lot more money signing in Nevada than he would have made signing in California or in Florida, where he would have made more money. So the Nevada, Florida, you know, Texas, there’s there’s states where it can be a tie breaker, or even wild advantage. It’s a wild advantage, if you’re talking about $70 million like a lot,

Luke Jones  14:51

I mean, it’s, yeah, at the very least, it very frequently serves as a tiebreaker. And yeah, it can be more than that. Sometimes the

Nestor Aparicio  14:58

tiebreaker $6 million Dollars over the life of the contract. That’s a $6 million house. Sure, that’s a lot of house no matter where your

Luke Jones  15:07

house is, no doubt about it. But, but what it’s like I said to you, as we were kind of recapping it in the immediate aftermath of it. I mean, look, the Ravens were never going to go that high. No other team in football was going to go that high, right? The Raiders were the team that went to that level, and it’s why we saw as much activity at the center position in the three or four days leading up to that because I’m guessing everyone caught wind of, yeah, like Vegas is they’re not just serious, they’re over the moon. Crazy about Tyler Linder bomb. So no, I don’t fault Eric Decosta for going anywhere close to matching that kind of deal. As I said, if you want to fault the Ravens for the handling of Linder bomb, I think you go back to last May, when they declined the fifth year option. At the time it was 2323 point 4 million. I think it was, and even that seemed really high for a center right, because we talked about it, how the the entire O line is kind of just a group together when you’re talking about those calculations. So for me, it wasn’t even necessarily the fifth year option itself, but I think you looked at the aftermath of that. To me, the sweet spot for what, when they needed to extend Tyler Linder bomb was last May through the end of the preseason, and especially when the Ravens. Do you think

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Nestor Aparicio  16:26

that was possible?

Luke Jones  16:28

Sure, sure, but because I guarantee you that it would have been way cheaper than 27 million per year to do it at that point in time. Now that said, what was Eric dicostal offering at that point in time, and what was Linda Linder bombs representation looking for at that point in time. My point is, if the Ravens wanted to sign Tyler, sign Tyler Linder bomb for 20 per year, 21 per year, which I’m guessing that’s kind of sort of where they were at the he would have taken that last June, he probably would, almost definitely would have, but it didn’t turn out that way. And I, and let me be clear, I don’t know the specifics of what they offered at that point in time, or what what he was thinking compared to what the Ravens were thinking, but you know, the numbers were lower than what they ended up being with the Raiders

Nestor Aparicio  17:17

signing in. So here’s the deal. I just I asked my clone, Tyler Linder bomb, three year $81 million market deal, if he had signed in Nevada or Florida. There’s no state income tax, the difference in take home pay compared to Maryland. And I put New Jersey in because the Giants, right? I didn’t put Ohio in to think if he had signed with the browns. But I put, you know, I I put the Giants in as an example that might be in on this. His taxes, the difference would be in Maryland, 7.2 million. If he had signed in New Jersey, higher tax rate, 10, seven, five, it would have been 8.7 million. So over the life of the deal as a raven, it cost him 7.2 million as a giant, it cost him 8.7 million for the 81 million over three years. Just over three years, he would literally lose $7 million and that’s if the Ravens would give him that number or match that deal. Yeah, yeah, which they weren’t. I mean, I Jeff, so I just want to really get people educated, because Leonard would want that, and you should want that, and everybody should want that. This isn’t about whether he likes silver socks or purple ties or Lamar Jackson or or Mendoza. This is it’s a business decision, as they all are. It’s time for pay, time for play. But more than that, that state taxes this, it’s an onerous thing. And as everybody knows, I’m a Democrat and I’m arguing Republican principles here. But when you’re talking about your football team, and I don’t care if you don’t want to talk politics or don’t want to talk taxes, 8,000,007 $8 million of difference over three years, for the rest of your life. People move to Pennsylvania, back to Maryland, over 100 bucks a month on their mortgage. So, like, it literally, it’s just, it’s all, I would say, no brainer, if you’re the financial guy, right? Like, it’s outrageous how much money he got. And on top of that, the tax situation in Nevada, making it even more delectable than it would have been if the Rams or the 49 Sure. I mean, it’s a this the time of year you get penalized if you’re if you’re in a state where the tax situation isn’t good, because agents will steer you the other whatever the agents cut of that is, it’s another $400,000 or whatever for the agent.

Luke Jones  19:44

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Yeah, but like we said, I mean, it didn’t even come to that because the Raiders offered so much more money than anyone else. I mean, Jeff Rebeck tweeted it later in the day on Monday that it seems like the Ravens were in the neighborhood of four years. 8822 which? I still would have blown up the center market, but not.

Nestor Aparicio  20:02

Hey, by the way, how about Tom Brady wanting a center for his young quarterback? How about that?

Luke Jones  20:06

Sure. But now we, you know, as much as we’ve talked about the Raiders, now we turn the page and for the ravens, it’s like, Okay, what’s next? I mean, the center, the center, the center market, has been pretty picked clean. I mean, it’s, there’s a, you know, Luke Fortner, Elton Jenkins, who was released by the Packers on Monday. But, you know, you kind of ask people around who’ve watched him play, they kind of think he probably is better suited as a guard. I mentioned there are some center prospects in this draft, like it’s considered to be a decent draft if you need to find a center, but you’re not picking the 45th you know, you have the 45th pick. You have the 80th pick.

Nestor Aparicio  20:47

If Eric’s got some guy from Nebraska he likes and feels like, you know, it’s gonna be a third, fourth, right?

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Luke Jones  20:54

Get them, you know, like that. It’s great to say that, but like that can’t be your, you know, that can’t just be your plan a when you’re not picking until 45th right? So, but that said, there is a trade market. The Ravens still do have a lot of picks. I mean, in fact, they were, they were officially awarded their comp picks on Monday, two fifths and two sevenths. So you

Nestor Aparicio  21:17

there’s a reason they use the one on Linder bomb to begin with for that need, right? Like how acute the need is, sure,

Luke Jones  21:23

and it’s why I said, if there’s any misstep that you want to talk about, it wasn’t, certainly wasn’t matching this deal. And I don’t think anyone’s arguing that it, for me, it wasn’t tagging him last week. I think if you want to talk about where did the Ravens slip up here, if at any point. I think it was last spring and summer. I think that was the that was the sweet spot to get a deal done, and once that didn’t happen, and especially when Hamilton got his deal right around Labor Day, you know, not that I don’t think at no point did I ever get the sense that Linder bomb was like ticked, right? But I do think he was probably a little bit hurt when they didn’t exercise the fifth year option, regardless of, regardless of what the circumstance was there, it’s still, you know, players that hurts when someone doesn’t pick, you know, when a team doesn’t pick that up, and then if the Ravens weren’t putting their best foot forward in terms of an extension, or, you know, however it works out, you get to the Last year of your deal, and you have another pro bowl season, and then your agent starts telling you, well, hey, the Raiders have a lot of cap space. They have over 100 million not see, I got it right that time, over 100 million in cap space, and they need a center, and they’re gonna be drafting one, one. They’re gonna be drafting Mendoza. They’re our cash cow. And, you know, you kind of look at it through that lens, and, you know, very rarely, and like I said this yesterday, I mean, in these negotiations, we tend to default to painting one side as being the white hat and the other guy being the bad guy. And it’s, it’s rarely like, how do you think the Costa really feels about this? I think they’re, I think they’re absolutely disappointed in losing the player. There’s no question about that. This really hurts. You know, you go through the other guys they lost on Monday, like, look, would I have liked them to be able to bring back our Darius Washington as a third safety option, especially when, you know, it sounds like the Giants only gave him one year, $3 million something like that. Sure, you know Jordan stout, you drafted it in the fourth round. He finally blossoms in his fourth year, and then leaves, right? I mean, that I didn’t really love drafting a punter in the fourth round to begin with, and then he ends up leaving the one after the one year that he was actually good.

Nestor Aparicio  23:39

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But Gilman always going to go anyway, right? Yeah.

Luke Jones  23:42

I mean, like, Gilman, Draymond Jones, I mean, like, I’m not saying these aren’t

Nestor Aparicio  23:48

decent players, but are they going to get any comp pick for they’re not going to get much for any

Luke Jones  23:51

of that, right? I mean, they’re, they’re in line to get comp picks. I mean, they’re going to get a third for Linder bomb next year, obviously. But, yeah, they’re in line to get a full slate of comp picks, but Linder bomb is the one that really hurts. Now that said, I don’t think Eric Acosta is losing sleep at all over the compensation price. I mean, you know, at some point in time you look at it and you know, you can say it’s your dream house, but if this the whoever’s selling it is asking for three times what you’re, what you think the market value is. And I’m using a little bit of hyperbole, but not, not as much as you think, but if they’re offering, or if they’re asking for double what you’ve assessed it to be, you’re not going

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Nestor Aparicio  24:38

to take you. And I were like, he’s going to get 20 maybe 21 he got 27 I

Luke Jones  24:42

mean, I thought he was easily going to get over 20 I was skeptical of some of the reporting that had been out there, you know, the the Albert brewers of the world that were kind of wondering, you know, is he going to get 2425 I was questioning whether he it was going to go that high. No one thought it was going to go to 27 I mean, again, Creed Humphrey, who I think is a better player than Linder bomb. And I don’t say that as a knock on him, as much as a compliment to creed Humphrey, he would. He was at 18, Linder bomb got 27 I mean, this is, this is, you know, Lamar makes $52 million and suddenly some other quarterbacks getting 77 million.

Nestor Aparicio  25:23

Do you have a vibe that there were three or four teams bidding in on this to get it to there?

Luke Jones  25:26

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I mean, there were other there were some other teams in on it. I mean, there had been a lot of talk about Washington, but I still think, I think everyone kind of caught wind of where the raiders were going to be, and I think that’s why you saw the movement you did over, you know, from about last Thursday through month through this past Monday, where other teams were, it was musical chairs. Everyone was looking, you know, but the Chargers needed a center. They they went out and signed the center that Washington had just let go. I mean, you look at what the bears did. Their center retired unexpectedly. They go trade for Bradbury with the Patriots. So it felt like everyone was kind of scrambling to say, doesn’t seem like we’re going to be the we’re not going to be the chair for linderbaum, so we need to go get a guy. So unfortunately, that leaves the Ravens where they are right now, which, as Ozzie Newsome would say, as Eric Decosta will say, inevitably, they don’t play a game for another what, six months here, but

Nestor Aparicio  26:22

some play with Jeremy zuda. I saw him play with Gina grat Koco’s key you know, like there was a real reason they drafted linderbaum And they wanted that position to be locked down. And all of a sudden, you know, all of their hopes and dreams are on the offense, and the offense and the explosion of the offense and the offensive line stunk last year, and now it’s, it’s almost doomed to be worse, right? Like, like, Let’s get after this and just be honest that you’re going to downgrade big time in the middle. You hope to upgrade at the guard position. And they brought John Simpson back, and I don’t know that we think that that’s like, I mean, I mean, it’s

Luke Jones  26:57

an up, it’s upgrade. But I mean, let’s not confuse this with Zeitler, like, when they, when they signed Kevin Zeitler, four or five years, you know, five years ago at this point in time. So I would have liked the John Simpson move way more had they kept Linder bomb, right? I mean, like, like, it’s kind of like how I felt about the Taylor Ward move, when the, when the Oriole signed Pete Alonso. I like the Taylor Ward move more as the second best bat, rather that like John Simpson’s not like, I’m not going to sit here and you’re not going to sell me on the idea that John Simpson suddenly going to be that the anchor, that Mr. Dependable of their interior line. So I’ll say this, and I’ve mentioned his name even before, the reality of losing Tyler linderbaum Now, Dwayne Ledford, their offensive line coach, who is highly regarded, was one of the more highly regarded assistants they brought in. You know, he was with the Falcons in recent years. He’s going to have to do some work here, because, look, let me be clear. I’m not trying to be panicking to a dramatic degree the first couple days of free agency, but whoever you get at center is going to be, at least on paper, a pretty sizable downgrade from Tyler linderbohm, like, I don’t know, I don’t think the chiefs are trading you Creek Humphrey, is my point, but so you look there, okay, John Simpson is going to be their left guard. We’ll see about right guard, they have Emory Jones, right? I mean, no matter how you slice this, they’re going to be counting on at least a young guy or two, whether it’s a second round pick or, you know, something like that, or even one of these guys that they already have on the roster, someone,

Nestor Aparicio  28:37

and you better hope the rose and gardens ascendingly

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Luke Jones  28:42

better. Have another year in them, right?

Nestor Aparicio  28:45

Stanley’s not slipping, yeah. And for that, I look at all of it, having watched it and said it’s problematic. I know what you and I are going to be talking about around here the next six months. I do.

Luke Jones  28:57

Yeah, it is. And like I said, Dwayne Ledford needs to do some heavy lifting for them. And I think he can, he can, I’m not saying he will. Not saying they don’t need to add some really serious talent here, but he’s a good offensive line coach that,

Nestor Aparicio  29:10

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and that’s been rough, right? I mean, what the death the sure, you know, har ball’s relationship there, the players bringing someone in new I mean, it was a very weird, emotional, not a great room, going from the Bradley bozeman’s to the Ben Cleveland’s, the try to get guys on the field, and the draft picks not working out, and the because the starters haven’t been very good, and it really tells me the backups there was, there’s been no depth there at all. And that’s really unfortunate for Lamar to some degree, even though that they’ve

Luke Jones  29:50

make it work, but they’ve made it work. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you don’t want to be in that position. And yeah, I know one of the prominent members of the Ravens offensive line. Late later last year. This wasn’t like week 18, but I know the question was posed to one of their veteran starters about the backups, and that was the Gen the general sentiment was, if we thought the backups were better, don’t you think one or two of those guys would have gotten a look by now. I mean, you know, and it wasn’t throwing any one individual under the bus, like they weren’t, like, saying, like, you know, shame on Daniel fall away, or shame on Andrew Voorhees. But we all saw it. I mean, they had two below average starting guards last year. I’m not even, like, that’s not even being a hater, like, I’m trying to I’m saying that in an objective way. They just they weren’t good, right? I’m not saying they’re the worst in the league, but that was a below average starting tandem at guard. And the point is, yeah, you kind of look at your backups and it’s hard to run the ball that way, even when you have Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson. And again, they made it work, right? I mean, they made it I mean favors in the backfield. Let me rephrase that. They made it work as best they could, right? But they need to be better.

Nestor Aparicio  31:05

And haven’t said that out loud much. They have two hall of famers in the backfield. We don’t, I don’t think I’ve ever said that out loud.

Luke Jones  31:11

They absolutely do. I mean two locks. I mean Lamar. Lamar could retire today and he’s going to the Hall of Fame. I mean, yes, the part of the narrative of never winning a Super Bowl would be attached to him in the same way it was for Dan Fouts or Dan Marino or, you know, go to go Jim Kelly. But, I mean, it’s, it’s there, but to bring it back to the O line, yeah, we’re going to be talking about this on the flip side. And this is where I’ll keep reminding Ravens fans for not panicking. We shouldn’t be talking about the pass rush in the same way that we have in recent years, right? Max Crosby better be the answer, the solution for that and and look, we’ll see about Matt ABK we’ll see who else they might add. They need to add some depth. I mean, there’s no doubt about that,

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Nestor Aparicio  31:54

but third guy should be a hell raise on it. Down for the right

Luke Jones  31:58

you’ve got an absolute dude that terrifies people coming off the edge, which, like I said, they haven’t had a guy like that since Terrell Suggs. Not just Terrell Suggs in 2018 I’m talking Terrell Suggs in his prime. So, you know, they’re, they’re, they have to figure out the O line. They’ve lost both. You know, elohiy gilman’s gone, our Darius Washington’s gone. So they do need to. They’re going to have to add another safety into the mix, though, I’ve said it, and I’ll continue to say it. I do wonder if Marlon Humphrey is part of that equation. If you start to see him move around a little bit more, because I think Humphrey’s best spot at this point is the nickel. Well, that’s Kyle Hamilton’s spot, right? I mean, that’s where Kyle Hamilton is going to be most of the time. So we’ll see there. Would it have been nice to keep Charlie Kohler sure was I shocked that he got $8 million a year? Not really. I mean, I remember Josh Oliver, who was, you know, maybe more anonymous than what Charlie Kohler was. Josh Oliver got $7 million a year from the Vikings. What was that, three or four years ago? So, you know, Raven’s tight ends news flash are pretty highly regarded, and that’s why likely still got a nice payday with the Giants. You know, yeah, there’s the hardball factor, but likely he’s 2626 years old, like he’s young, he’s he’s still a guy who has all things being equal, if you’re asking Luke Jones, who with, with my extensive General Manager experience in the NFL, who I would have rather have extended, I would have picked likely over Andrews, not, not that I think likely is the better. Is going to have a better overall career, necessarily, or anything like that, just based on where they are right now in their respective careers. Likely is four and a half years younger, but the Ravens chose Andrews, hopefully he bounces back. They’re certainly going to be much go to likely get about the same three years, 40. You know, he got a smidge more. I mean, just a similar deal. But, you know, the Ravens tried, I mean, they absolutely, it’s not a secret they were talking with likely last summer, big time, but he wanted more. He he certainly wanted more than he ended up getting from the Giants. Let’s put it that way. I mean, he from what I understand. I mean, he was, he’s looking for top five tight end money last summer, and the Ravens weren’t there, right? They, they were willing to give him good money like certainly, they were wanting to sign him, but they couldn’t agree. And then he gets hurt, and he misses the first three games, and he didn’t have a good year, and then they get too late in the year, and Eric dicostal pivots

Nestor Aparicio  34:28

doesn’t have a good year, and he got 40 million. That’s like, but that’s also the market. That’s the market. That’s where we are.

Luke Jones  34:34

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It’s It just is. I mean, I’ll say this for as crazy, as wild as stupefying as $27 million per year is for a center, at least Tyler Linder bombs a really good player, right? The Raiders are getting a very good player. I don’t say this to be overly disparaging, because I got along fine with the guy in the locker room. And I think at times, some people overstated. You know. That him being a bust. But Washington gave adafe away $25 million a year. They’re paying him 100 now, whatever the guarantee, full guarantee is, we know some of it’s silly money, all that, but the point is, they gave a guy that the Ravens absolutely considered a disappointment and dealt away last October. They gave, they gave him $100 million contract. If you’re going to give someone $100 million contract, whether you overpay or not, they better be a dude. I at least want an assurance that he’s a really good player. Linder bomb is at least a really good player for the Raiders. I don’t think the commanders necessarily know they, they have a I have my doubts they’re getting a really good player. I think, I think always okay, certainly not a guy. I’m given $25 million

Nestor Aparicio  35:49

I think about, like, where Matt judon was at that point in his career, where he went and got his bag of money, or Paul Kruger, or some of those guys.

Luke Jones  35:56

And it’s funny though you mentioned judon Judah was really good for the for the Patriots. That were just money. Yeah, in hindsight. And the

Nestor Aparicio  36:02

Dallas Thomas wasn’t so good and you know, so we go through all of these guys that got out of here. Ed Hartwell ran off to Atlanta a generation ago. You know, guys that talk about the center position. Ryan Jensen went down and played with Tom. Brady won

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Luke Jones  36:16

Super Bowl, so he was really good for a few years there. So, yeah, I mean, you’re going to lose players, but as we just alluded to, there’s a lot of stupid money thrown around the first day of free agency, right?

Nestor Aparicio  36:28

You don’t want to be the one giving stupid money. You want to give money to max Crosby, not to adafeo way.

Luke Jones  36:33

Now, I mean, some people, you know, crit, some critics, would say, well, the Ravens just gave up two first round picks for a guy who’s 29 and coming off knee surgery. Hey, that’s a fair that’s a fair way of looking at it. I think they needed to make that move. But I’m also not going to sit here and say it’s beta complete, that they’re going to win the Super Bowl, or that that moves going to end up being the greatest move that Eric Decosta ever makes. It might not work out. They might find out in a year and a half, two years that Max Crosby’s on the decline, right? I mean, we don’t know, right? I mean, no one knows.

Nestor Aparicio  37:06

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Well, the roquan Smith thing for the minute it happened in here, you were like, that’s a lot of money. Now it’s less money against the cap. And we, is he a special player? Is he not? I mean, we all believe in Kyle Hamilton, yeah, we certainly. I’m not at the point where I’m questioning Max Crosby, not certainly the first season like I think he’s in his prime, and I think this is a compliment to Lamar, you know, in the way that they can win a championship. But, and I’ll leave it with this, because we’re going to wind up, inevitably, talking more and more and more the center position. They got a leaky offensive line. I mean, all the way through, it’s not even leaky. It’s it’s a big cloud. It’s a huge question mark for it’s nice they’re going to get after the quarterbacks. Nice. They have a defensive coach. It’s not like all of that solve that. But they say bigger problem. This is a bigger problem on a play by play basis, to try to make the offense be electrifying the way you need it to be, the way you need it to be 3031 38 points. Not you know, we’re going to score 1720, points and run the ball with Derek Henry and Lamar is getting a little older. We don’t want Lamar running and getting hit, and all the things that you and I’ve been arguing about for eight years, about him running and how they want to do it less boy, offensive line just all the way around. I mean, this was built. This offense was built on second and three, second and two, second and one. I don’t know where this offensive line is getting six and seven yards on first down. It’s March, but I looked at it and I’m like, there’s a reason they use the one on Linder bomb. There’s a reason they took a high pick on Rosengarten. There’s a reason they keep scotch tape in a bubble, you know, wrapping Ronnie Stanley up, and they played with lackluster guards last year. Now they have a lackluster middle and the John Simpson thing to both are okay, that’s fine.

Luke Jones  39:08

He’s fine. Like I’m not. I don’t hate it, but I’m not gonna sit here and say I love it, right? I mean, three years ago we were talking about them, or two years ago, we were talking about them upgrading from John Simpson, and now suddenly we’re supposed to, well, Morgan

Nestor Aparicio  39:19

Moses played in the Super Bowl. Zeitler would have been able to help in the last couple the last couple years. So they broke that up over money, primarily because they gave Lamar all the money, and primarily because they were thinking, well, we got to have money for Linder bond. We got to money for zay flowers. Got to pay Hamilton all the things that have happened, yeah, the Linder bond thing, you and I have spent a lot of oxygen over a couple of years talking about him, his role in all of this, his health early on, and now he’s gone. And, you know, that’s cold shower. That’s all I’m going to say. On the top of the max Crosby thing, which is awesome, but they, you know, they better get a shovel. They got work to do.

Luke Jones  39:55

They do. But as it’s been in previous years, it’s a multi pronged attack. Back right. Declan Doyle, new offensive coordinator, scheme, scheme, it well. Dwayne Ledford, I’ve already talked about him, offensive line coach, coach these guys up, including guys that had been here, right? Talking about Emory Jones and Andrew Voorhees, right, yeah. Eric dicostia, you’ve got to go out, and you’re going to have to go replace Tyler Linder bomb, whether it’s via the draft or go on the trade for someone or signing someone, they still need another veteran guard, I think, to at least compete with Emory Jones. I’m not just handing Emory Jones a job just because he’s a third round pick. We saw how that worked out with Ben Cleveland for the better part of three years, right? So at the very least, you need a center. You need a really serious competition partner for Emory Jones at the other guard spot, whether that’s a vet, whether that’s going to be drafting another guard early. But that said, new offensive coordinator, new offensive line coach, you still have the Lamar Jackson factor. You still have the Derrick Henry factor. Those are guys that still should help, should help offensive line, right? So, no, I don’t think it’s going to be that you bring in a hall of fame center to replace Tyler Linder bomb. I don’t think it’s necessarily that you’re going to have to find the next Marshall yonda, but, yeah, you don’t want to be in a position that you fixed your pass rush only to let your offensive line get worse, and right now, and granted, it’s orange, trapped four or five offensive line, literally. Now they probably need to draft a couple tight ends also, right? I mean, and we know how they like to double dip with tight ends in rare in various drafts, so over the years, but,

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Nestor Aparicio  41:35

but yeah, Kohler got some money too, didn’t he? He did, yeah, and I wasn’t shocked by that. That was

Luke Jones  41:39

Ortiz, right? Yeah, Joe Ortiz and Charlie Kohler is a good blocking tight end. They’ve got to replace him. You know that? That’s another important factor. What’s going to happen with Patrick Ricard, right? I mean, how does Declan Doyle feel? My guess

Nestor Aparicio  41:51

is he’ll be a giant,

Luke Jones  41:55

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but, but, but Declan Doyle his offense? Does he value of a traditional fullback, or does he want more of an H back tight end that will kind of move around and do some different things? We’re going to find out. So the coaching factor is absolutely huge here. There’s no doubt about that, right? The idea that you parted with John Harbaugh and Todd moncken and the entire staff, other than a couple guys that were holdovers new quarterback coach, right? Yeah. I mean, you’re looking for all of those guys to make a difference. Now, they can’t be miracle workers. You know, this isn’t as simple as, oh, hey, we kept Corey Bullock last year. I mean, we like him. He’s a Terp. He’s a former undrafted guy. No, you’re not just going to plug him in at center and hope for the best you got. You better. Have a better plan than that. I think they will. But at the end of the day, yeah, Dwayne letford is going to be really important to coaching up this whole line, even if they bring in a couple more veterans. There’s also the matter of building that cohesiveness, right? You’re not going to have that continuity. You’ve had the same center. I mean, Linder bomb started all but two games the last four years. That’s, you know, we’ve talked so much about Ronnie Stanley’s lack of availability over the last six years or so. I mean, Linder bomb was plug and play, right? Regardless of how anyone thought about drafting a center in the first round. And there was, we had that discussion at the time, right? I mean, the Ravens had never really I loved

Nestor Aparicio  43:13

the pick. I remember loving the pick because I because I love Matt Burke, Mike Flynn, and I know what happens when Senator with things change, and

Luke Jones  43:24

we also know the history of the Ravens had generally been not to spend a whole lot or draft early at that position. That was just an observation. It worked out really well. Linder bomb was a three time Pro Bowl player. He got paid out the out the nose. Good for him. I’m happy for him. He’s a good guy. Probably not going to win a whole lot in Vegas for at least the next year or two, unless Mendoza ends up being a bigger rock star than anyone thinks. But good for him. Ravens have to replace him. Losing him hurts, regardless of the price. The other six guys that they lost likely. That’s I’ve been resigned to that for three months now, Kohler thought it was possible Draymond Jones, he was definitely gone when they signed Crosby, or when they traded for Crosby Gilman in Washington. I would have liked to have kept Washington Gilman, I think was fine. I wasn’t gonna pay him $8 million a year. And Jordan stout, you know, I didn’t really love drafting a punter in the fourth round to begin with. You know what? I I’m not all that interested in having the league’s Highest Paid punter. I’m hoping, I’m hoping, with a new coaching staff and changes that are made, I’m hoping they don’t need their punter quite as much this year as they did last year, right? That’s kind of the goal, right? So the other guys they lost now they have some money to wave around, right now. Right? A little bit of money. Well, they will based on Lamar right, based on whether it’s an extension or a simple restart.

Nestor Aparicio  44:46

Just wonder if we’re gonna get a wnst tech service, you know, like, what would they be in the market to sign at this point? I don’t know. I don’t know. You know,

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Luke Jones  44:55

I would say just, just to give you a because, you know, I know we don’t want to go too long here. But. So clearly center, I think you’re still looking at a guard, you know? I think the draft is going to be part of that equation, but I think you need at least one more grown up to add to that mix, like a real grown up, not just like some teams number seven offensive lineman that you’re signing for a million bucks. So, so there’s that, there are some names that are still out there, and, you know, it’s kind of a take your pick, guys that have upside but have injury histories, or guys that have a higher floor, but aren’t necessarily like a dynamic move the needle kind of option. But so we know the O line, they’re going to need another wide receiver in the mix. I mean, because, you know, unless, unless they’re bringing back DeAndre Hopkins on the cheap, which I don’t think is impossible, but not necessarily going to predict that that happens. So another wide receiver, they certainly need another tight end. I mean, maybe they draft two tight ends, but they’re going to have to address that, you know, because Mark Andrews is literally the only guy left from that group, you know, as the veterans go. So, you know, that covers the offensive side, defensive side. They need another outside corner. Now that might be resigning a Woozi A. I actually, I thought the Woozi a played pretty well last year, especially on the cheap, but they need another outside corner. They’re going to need another safety. I don’t you know, not that they have to go sign a starter, but they’re going to need to sign another, you know, either sign or draft another safety to kind of have in the mix behind Hamilton and Starks. They need another defensive lineman. I mean, we don’t know what the story is with Matt abigay, he’s been tweeting, you know, posting on social media, at least to an extent, where I’m it’s piqued my interest. You know, he hasn’t called a retirement press conference just yet, right? So we’ll see about that. But they definitely need some depth. There’s no question. I mean, I just, I just rattled off six or seven positions. They have a lot of work to do still, right? I mean, that’s why I said, I mean, I text will be coming courtesy of cold roofing. It might not be these splashy names. They might have to Google who it is, right? But, but they’re gonna make some moves. I mean, they have to, they better, right? I mean, they have to make moves on their own line. So the O line is the big one, though. I mean, there’s no question about that right now. I mean, no, there’s no way I would have given Tyler Linder bomb $27 million but as I said, if the if the Ravens had any missteps, it probably was last spring and summer to not have more urgency, then maybe drag their feet, maybe trying to save a few nickels at that point in time. And, you know, as is the case when you go to a contract year and a guy gets closer and closer to free agency, sometimes it doesn’t work out, and all it takes is one team to not just reset the market. I mean, this is the Raiders took an H bomb to the to the market. I mean, like, I mean, they 18 million to 27 million. Neil corn rich, well done. Well, absolutely. I mean, my goodness. I mean, he’s got to be in the early running for agent of the year in the least.

Nestor Aparicio  47:55

Tom Brady. Tom Brady’s thinking, Hey, I got a Pro Bowl center, so for my rookie quarterback, got a good player. Luke is a Baltimore Luke. You can find him out there. If there’s any breaking news, you will get it first. We’re doing the Maryland crab cake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery. I’ve had a very lucky batch with the Harlem Globetrotters. Batch had a 20 woman waving a $20 bill at me last week. It cost us. So I said, I can’t take your money, but I take a picture with you, so you find all that out on our social media as well, plenty of football ahead opening day around the corner. I’ve had Tim Kirchen on this week. I’ve had Marvin Lewis on this week. I’ve talked to JT the brick, about Max Crosby, Luke and I have been after it, all of it you can find at wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, where we never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. You.