Debating defensive “improvement” with Hendrickson and genius of Minter

With the return of Nnamdi Madubuike feeling more likely, Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Ravens’ new defensive possibilities with Trey Hendrickson and what might’ve been with Maxx Crosby as rookie head coach Jesse Minter assembles his first full team mandatory minicamp for two days next week in Owings Mills.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ defense and upcoming mandatory mini-camp. They highlighted the uncertainty surrounding Nnamdi Matabike’s neck injury, with Jesse Minter optimistic about his progress. The conversation also covered the acquisition of Trey Hendrickson and the potential impact on the pass rush, contrasting it with the missed opportunity of acquiring Max Crosby. They noted the absence of key players like Marlon Humphrey and Rashad Bateman from OTAs. The discussion emphasized the importance of a strong pass rush and defensive line for the Ravens’ Super Bowl aspirations.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour at Sorrento of Arbutus on June 10 and promote the event (confirm logistics and sponsors)
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Finalize World Cup coverage plans and notify listeners when details are ready (prepare schedule and promotion)
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Produce an NBA Finals piece this week with Jerry Bembry and publish/promote it on the program channels
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Collect and schedule political candidate appearances/interviews before June 23 — invite candidates to email and coordinate equal-time slots
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Organize and promote the Maryland Crab Cake Tour stop at Greenmount Station on June 24 (confirm venue details and sponsorship)
• [ ] Attend and report from the Ravens OTAs in Owings Mills this week (cover player availability and coaching updates)
• [ ] Attend the two-day mandatory minicamp next week in Owings Mills and report on injuries, attendance, and key developments

Outline

Baltimore Ravens and Upcoming Events

• Nestor Aparicio welcomes listeners to WNST 1570 Towson Baltimore, discussing the excitement around the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, and the World Cup.
• Nestor mentions the upcoming election on June 23 and the importance of discussing the Baltimore Ravens.
• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the upcoming OTAs and mandatory mini-camp next week in Owings Mills.
• Nestor talks about the Maryland Crab Cake Tour and other sponsors, including the Maryland Lottery, GBMC, Farnham Dermer, and Pizza John’s.

Ravens Defense and Key Players

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Baltimore Ravens’ defense, focusing on the interior defensive line and the questions surrounding Nnamdi Matabike.
• Luke highlights the young outside linebacker group, including Trey Hendrickson, Mike Green, Zion Young, and Adisa Isaac.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of Trey Hendrickson and the leadership he provides to the young group.
• Luke mentions Jesse Minter’s comments about Nnamdi Matabike trending in a great direction, which raises optimism about his playing status.

Nnamdi Matabike’s Injury and Recovery

• Nestor and Luke delve into the details of Nnamdi Matabike’s neck injury and the surgery he underwent in April.
• Luke explains the sensitivity around Matabike’s injury, noting the critical nature of neck injuries in football.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ lack of significant moves to replace Matabike, indicating optimism about his recovery.
• Luke emphasizes the potential impact of a healthy Matabike on the Ravens’ defense, comparing it to the team’s game-changing developments.

Pass Rush and Defensive Line Depth

• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the pass rush and the depth of the defensive line.
• Luke mentions the potential for adding another veteran pass rusher, such as Jadavian Clowney or Kyle Van Noy.
• Nestor expresses his preference for Max Crosby over Trey Hendrickson, citing concerns about Hendrickson’s injury history and overall impact.
• Luke defends Hendrickson’s performance, noting his high sack totals in recent seasons and the Ravens’ need for a dynamic pass rusher.

Max Crosby Trade and Long-Term Impact

• Nestor and Luke revisit the Max Crosby trade, discussing the reasons behind the Ravens’ decision to back out of the deal.
• Nestor argues that the Ravens’ actions indicate a lack of commitment to Crosby, while Luke suggests health concerns played a role.
• Luke emphasizes the long-term view, noting the Ravens’ focus on winning a Super Bowl and the potential impact of Crosby’s knee issues.
• Nestor expresses his continued support for Crosby, believing he would have been a better fit for the Ravens’ defense.

Upcoming Mini-Camp and Player Attendance

• Nestor and Luke discuss the upcoming two-day mandatory mini-camp and the importance of player attendance.
• Luke notes the absence of Marlon Humphrey and Rashad Bateman from the first two OTAs, raising questions about their commitment.
• Nestor mentions the presence of Lamar Jackson at OTAs and the overall quiet offseason for the Ravens.
• Luke highlights the importance of the mini-camp in setting the tone for the season and ensuring all players are healthy and ready to go.

Ravens’ Offensive and Defensive Strategy

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ offensive strategy, focusing on the importance of protecting Lamar Jackson and the balance between run and pass.
• Luke emphasizes the need for a strong pass rush to complement the Ravens’ offensive game plan.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of new coaches and the development of young players like Mike Green and Zion Young.
• Luke highlights the importance of the defensive line in setting the tone for the entire defense, with Nnamdi Matabike being a key player to watch.

Ravens’ Expectations and Season Outlook

• Nestor and Luke discuss the expectations for the Ravens’ upcoming season, given the new head coach and the recent offseason moves.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of winning a Super Bowl, noting the team’s recent success in the regular season and the need for postseason success.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the Ravens’ defensive line and pass rush on the team’s overall performance.
• Luke highlights the importance of the mini-camp in setting the tone for the season and ensuring all players are healthy and ready to go.

Final Thoughts and Future Plans

• Nestor and Luke wrap up the discussion, reiterating the importance of the upcoming mini-camp and the overall health of the team.
• Nestor mentions upcoming events, including the Maryland Crab Cake Tour and other sports coverage.
• Luke emphasizes the need for the Ravens to navigate the new coaching staff and the expectations for the upcoming season.
• Nestor and Luke express optimism about the Ravens’ potential to be a strong team this year, despite the challenges and uncertainties.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Baltimore Ravens, mandatory mini camp, Nnamdi Matabike, Trey Hendrickson, defensive line, pass rush, Lamar Jackson, Jesse Minter, OTAs, training camp, Max Crosby, Rashad Bateman, Marlon Humphrey, Calais Campbell, Super Bowl.

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SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W N S T A M 1570 Towson Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively headed into the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals. Even the Knicks have a chance to win. It’s crazy, and the World Cup is coming to America this month we’ll be talking to lots of folks about lots of things, including the election on june 23 but nothing more important in our society, of course, than the Baltimore Ravens. Luke Jones is here, he will be out knowings Mills for when they let him come. Unlike me, they threw me out for not coming to the OTAs a few years ago. He will be at OTAs this week, as will Lamar Jackson. We think we hope. And then next week the whole neighborhood moves in for a new head coach, Jesse Minter, the rookie skipper of the Purple Group. We’re gonna be doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour next week at Sorrento of Arbutus. That happens on the 10th. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland Lottery in conjunction with GBMC, I’m wearing my Walk a Mile in Their Shoes gear, as well as Farn and Dermer, and Luke is wearing that gear, including the Pizza Johns hat, which, by the way, Pizza John’s thumbs up on the meatballs. I had not had the meatballs in the spaghetti, per your grandmother. I did have them last week, even my wife was like really good meatball, so way to go, Pizza John’s, that’s all I’m going to say, but football, and more football, is there any, is there anything we haven’t discussed? I mean, center, we’ve done Lamar, we’ve done contract, Lamar’s happy year, he said so last week, it must be true, we have new coaches, we have 29 year old offensive coordinators, we don’t have a center, we have a guard, we have a wide receiver going into a contract year, we have a tight end, it’s a little long in the tooth, but we drafted a couple guys, we don’t have a center, but other than not having a center, what else have we not centered up? Luke,

Luke Jones  01:54

yeah, I mean, I think we’ve talked about this, but I think it’s interesting, and it bears repeating, and I think there’s still some drama, I think. You look at the Ravens defensive front, meaning the interior defensive line, and the questions that persist about Nnamdi Matabike, and I look at the really interesting outside linebacker group right now, where obviously the big ticket item was Trey Hendrickson, and he’s been there. You know, Jesse Minter last week was singing the praises of his leadership in what’s an otherwise very young group. I mean, even someone like Tavius Robinson, who’s been around a few years now, he’s young, right? But then you have Mike Green, who was second round pick last year, Zion Young, who’s the second round rookie this year, Adisa Isaac’s still not healthy, right? It kind of, he’s feeling more like put him into the David Ajabo, uh, contain, you know, category at this point, but you have a group that obviously you’re expecting big things from Trey Hendrickson, you’re hoping for bigger things from Mike Green in year two, you’re hoping for bigger, you know, big things, or relatively big things, let’s say from Zion Young, because the Ravens talked about how they had a first round grade on him, all that, but there’s still a lot for those younger guys to prove in that group, and when you kind of look at the pass rush collectively, when you group in the defensive line and your edge rushers, you know what it, where is Nnamdi Matabike? I mean, Jesse Minter last week made an interesting comment, still they’re still doing the thing where they’re deferring to Matt Abigay, speaking about it, which we haven’t heard from him since before the injury. So, there, and he does have an Instagram.

Nestor Aparicio  03:30

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We’ve seen

Luke Jones  03:30

that, right? Right. And we’ve seen some, you know, cryptic posts here and there over the last five months,

Nestor Aparicio  03:36

man. The

Nestor Aparicio  03:37

modern off season is just.. it’s. it’s like real house wise,

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Luke Jones  03:41

exhausting. It can be exhausting, there’s no doubt. But

Nestor Aparicio  03:44

can the

Nestor Aparicio  03:45

Orioles just win a little this week, so we can talk more about them, please?

Luke Jones  03:48

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Hey, we’ll continue to talk about that, right? Because these look, we’re winding down here, there’s one more week of OTAs, and then two day mandatory mini camp next week, and then the Ravens are going to go away for a while, and I think from what I’ve gathered, nothing official, but from hearing and asking around a little bit, with it being a september 13 kickoff to the season, this isn’t going to be one of those where they start training camp on January or up January, july 19, or something like that. It’s going to be that last week of July, so they’re going to go away, go away for a while here, but you get an opportunity to see all this, but the interesting thing, you know, Minter said this was the quote, he said Matt a BK is quote trending in a great direction. Now that’s not definitive, I don’t want to say that that means, oh, he’s definitely

Nestor Aparicio  04:37

in a great direction, for the coach to even say that, it says I’m expecting

Luke Jones  04:41

him.

Nestor Aparicio  04:42

We’re optimistic about him playing,

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Luke Jones  04:43

so you would think so, right? And

Nestor Aparicio  04:45

why would he be selling that to you,

Luke Jones  04:48

right?

Nestor Aparicio  04:48

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Look, I don’t know, Minter. He made.. I mean, all I know is that he’s capable of cheating because he has, but I don’t know about the lying part, and where he would be on this, that he’s being deceptive. I the. Last guy that he worked for was incredibly deceptive, so much so that he deceived me into thinking I wasn’t a real media member, and tried to deceive the city into believing that, but just this guy, I don’t know, I, if he’s saying it, I’ll take it at face value, that says to me he thinks he’s playing,

Luke Jones  05:16

that’s what I would think, I mean, again, I don’t know this, and I don’t think there’s a 100% definitive yes, or certainly not a definitive 100% no. Right? I

Nestor Aparicio  05:27

also don’t

Nestor Aparicio  05:27

think that’s a leverage play to check his manhood, that if he’s gonna be.. that’s 30 years ago. I’m saying that’s the old football way of doing this. Think this is that.. if you’re being optimistic, it feels to me like that would be sincere.

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Luke Jones  05:42

I think so too, and I think it was different before the draft, right? Or earlier in free agency, where you don’t want to give it away that you’re either completely desperate for a defensive tackle in the draft or in free agency, or on the flip side, you don’t want to be in a position where you’re saying that he’s definitely going to play, because you might be trying to hire, you know, sign a depth guy, and you know you want to kind of have some leverage in that way, that you’re not, so it’s hard to say, it’s not 100% it’s a neck injury, right, we’re talking about a neck, this is not a knee, a shoulder, where you know there can be some question about a player’s vitality in terms of playing football, when you’re talking about the neck, like that’s life, you know, that can be life and death, and I’m not trying to be fatalistic, it’s just that’s how

Nestor Aparicio  06:30

critical it can be. There’s a reason he stopped playing football last,

Luke Jones  06:33

there’s a reason that what it is, there’s a reason Zach or stopped on a dime, never played again after having his late season neck injury, and they discover he had a spine condition. Right, so I think everyone has tried to do their due diligence. Of course, we know he underwent surgery not long before the draft. I mean, there was the Adam Schefter report, what, 10 days before the draft, whatever it was. So he clearly underwent a procedure at that point in time. I thought it was interesting at that point in time that that happened in April, that that neck injury was back in September, mind you, that was week two when that happened. So you’re talking about an extended period of time, you know. I don’t want to speculate on the type of neck injury, like we don’t know the type of injury, like what specifically with the neck, we don’t know what kind of surgery he had, you know. For all we know, this is something that’s more – I don’t want to say experimental, but maybe something that’s lesser known in terms of a procedure. We just don’t know. There’s been so little said about it, and I can respect that in terms of wanting, you know, a player to maintain his medical privacy to a degree, at the same time, at some point you’d like to know, like, is he going to play this year or not, because he’s that important. I mean, man, you talk about all the game-changing developments for this defense being better, right? We’ve talked so much about, okay, the fact that Jesse Minter is a defensive mind, the fact that they brought Anthony Weaver back to, to be the DC, even if he’s not going to call the defense on game days. The fact that they signed Trey Hendrickson, right? The fact that they added Hawkins as a safety, right? They brought back a woozy, a like all these different moves you could talk about, drafting Zion Young, right, but none of those in my mind would be other than Hendrickson. Let’s you know, I don’t want to sell that. I don’t want to undersell that, but the idea that you could have a healthy Nnamdi Matabike back in the picture, knowing what he meant to this defense a few years ago when he was an all-pro defensive tackle and led all defensive tackles and sacks back in 23 man, that would be a massive development for this defense, if you have him back and healthy, and let’s say he is at least close to his old self, right, in terms of workload, and you know that he’s feeling good and healthy, and there’s no risk for him to resume playing, man, that would be a huge development, so you know, even though Jesse Minter still was treading very carefully in how he answered the question about him last week, I did find that interesting. Now, the other question that you go into with Matt Abikay, let’s just say, for the sake of our discussion, he is going to play. He did have a neck procedure in April, so what does that mean in terms of just the general timetable for the recovery from that, right? Let’s say he’s trending that he’s going to be cleared, but is he going to be ready for training camp? Is he going to be ready for the start of the season, or is this a case where he has to recover from that, and maybe he won’t be ready until October, but if you get him back in October and he’s good to go, and there’s no more question about it, then once again that’s a huge development, so we still don’t know. Again, I don’t want to be.. I’m not trying to be reckless here, I’m trying to be cautious in how I talk about him, but I’m with you. When he said, quote, trending in a great direction, that lent that lends itself to some optimism that that they’re more positive about this than negative and. Terms of whatever his odds are of playing, it feels

Nestor Aparicio  10:04

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like they also haven’t gone to great lengths to replace him either,

Luke Jones  10:09

and that’s the other thing. Yeah, exactly. You know, they didn’t draft a defensive tackle in the first or second round, right? They didn’t go out and spend big money. They brought, they brought in Clayos Came Campbell, but I would, I would argue that if you can bring in Clayas Campbell, even if, even if that they had every expectation that Matt, a BK was going to play a couple months ago, even you’d still like to add Caleas Campbell to the mix, so it’s not as though they added, like, they didn’t go out and trade for Dexter Lawrence, right? They didn’t bring in someone of that magnitude. I mean, Kaleiks Campbell can still play. We’ve talked about it. We both, both you and I, signed off on the idea of bringing him in, but I didn’t view the Caleas Campbell signing as, “Oh, that’s the surefire sign that Nnamdi Matabike is not playing. No, I, to me, it was, you got a chance to bring in a guy like Clayas Campbell as a, you know, one of your leaders in your locker room, a guy that’s a grown-up, a guy that can mentor some younger players, you do it, you know, because, and he can still play, you know, even, even at his advanced age, which, hey, someone in his late 30s, good, good for you, still playing in the league, so, but yeah, I mean, I think you look at all of the pieces of the puzzle while still acknowledging, hey, there’s a sensitivity here with, with its neck, maybe he hasn’t been cleared yet, maybe some things still need to happen in order for him to be cleared, but it certainly, if you’re reading the tea leaves, it does feel, I mean, I know I feel better about it than I felt four months ago, right? Four months ago it felt like, man, it feels like we’re more likely to get a retirement press conference than him playing week one, but it feels like there’s optimism. We’ll see again, it could change something, he could come back and something else could happen, where you say, “Hey, okay, like you got to shut it down, like this is not going to happen, right? But it’s something you want to be sensitive to, you want to be mindful of, you know, me, man, I’m a big professional wrestling fan. If there’s an injury in pro wrestling that fans are very well aware of, there have been all kinds of spinal fusions and neck surgeries, and guys that have missed a year, guys that have missed two years, guys that guys and gals who’ve had career-ending injuries in that space,

Nestor Aparicio  12:21

and they’re only performing, they’re not playing football,

Luke Jones  12:23

they’re right, but they also, their bodies go through such, you know, they land on their heads, they land on their upper shoulders, like all that, where that those kind of things can happen. So, point is, in making that comparison, they’re right to be treading carefully, talking about this, and I’m with you. While there was a strategic element to that, there was a competitive element to that. When you’re going through free agency and the draft, and that process, when you’re at a point now where you say, okay, even though we’ve gotten to post june 1 now, where you say, all right, there could, you know, there could be some moves around the league. I mean, you know, this isn’t the same position, but AJ Brown’s been talked about a lot, right? Is he going to be traded to the Patriots, as has been rumored for a couple months now? But it does feel with Minter saying what he said this past week, that seemed like a good sign. So, again, we’ll see how it plays out. We’ll see when we’re going to hear from Matt Abigay, right? I mean, it might be that we don’t hear from him until suddenly he’s out there on the field at some point in August or September, or whatever it is. So, but that’s the big one, because you know, again, he’s a game-changing talent. I mean, he’s one of the guys, he’s one of the highest paid players on this team, right? And the idea that you almost felt like you had to write him off, I mean, you missed him most of last season, obviously, but not knowing if he was going to be back, man, that could make that entire pass rush picture look so much more formidable, especially with Jesse Minter now running this defense.

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Nestor Aparicio  13:52

Luke Jones is here, he’s Baltimore. Luke, you can follow his work anywhere the internet takes you. You’ll be out in Owings Mills for the OTAs this week, mandatory mini camp all of next week, Orioles on the road right now in the Boston and Toronto through the weekend, and of course, so we got World Cup happening, NBA, Stanley Cup finals, things that are keeping us going here, and you and I talk football once a week, you know, whatever, we had the schedule came out a couple of weeks ago, Lamar, whether he’s coming to OTAs or whatever, the mini camp is no longer five days of, you know, we give them off Friday, give them ice cream cones, it’s now two days, like you can run me through that a little bit, but defensively we just discussed the defensive line, and we talked so much about center, Lamar, Age, Derek Henry, how the offense is going to run, run versus pass, protecting Lamar, Lamar, Lamar, Lamar, all of that stuff. Dude, I don’t know that we’ve talked a lot of defense, you know, like in the way that probably should. It was a lot of Max Crosby, Max Crosby, then it was, who they going to draft? Oh, they drafted a guard, oh, they drafted a tight end, oh, they, they didn’t address. Just a defensive line, maybe Matt a BK is okay. They didn’t address pass rusher while they drafted Mike Green, and they signed Hendrickson, and they almost had Max Crosby. And you know, you’re still mentioning David Ajabo around here, right? Like amongst others. Oh, he’s he’s

Luke Jones  15:15

gone right now. I know, in Miami. I just wanted to clarify that

Nestor Aparicio  15:18

he’s in

Nestor Aparicio  15:18

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Miami. I can’t believe he’s not a Charger, but that’s just neither here nor there. We’re doing, you know, but for me, um, secondary number one picks in Starks and Wiggins that need to feel like Pro Bowl, please need to move into that Marlin Humphrey. They need to be Ed Reed, but they need to be noticeable. Roquan Smith, from the minute they signed him, we love the trade, we love bringing him in, we love the player, we love the person, we like.. I don’t, I don’t know where he is on the slippery slope of Father Time, let alone on the other side of the ball with Stanley and, and, and Andrews, and now Calais Campbell, you know, on top of it, and Marlon Humphrey, I mean, it really is a time for guys to shine, and I don’t even mean Hendrickson, who’s been imported into this, or Kaleus Campbell, who came back for this, I mean, like Eric’s picks, right, like in a general sense, and I think the collective of firing the coach, because the defense wasn’t good enough, firing everybody but the players, because the pass rush wasn’t good enough, knowing the pass rush wasn’t good enough, getting rid of OA in the middle of all of this when the pass rush wasn’t good enough, and where are they? Is the pass rush going to be good enough, Luke? That remains to be seen. I mean,

Luke Jones  16:40

it’s why I just spent five minutes, you know, 10 minutes talking about Namdi Matabike, because I think you know that he’s that rare interior pass rusher that can really be a force multiplier in terms of all the different things you can do with your pass rush in your front and what

Nestor Aparicio  16:56

that

Luke Jones  16:56

means in terms of how a team might account for Trey Hendrickson on the edge because you have Matt Abke lining up inside, right? I mean, there’s all different ways you can kind of view that, but I think it remains to be seen, right? I mean, look, I like the Trey Hendrickson signing, right? I mean, I didn’t like it as much as the idea of what a healthy Max Crosby would have been. I don’t think he’s as dynamic as what a healthy Max Crosby is, it’s why the, why the Ravens were at least initially willing to give up two first round picks for the guy, right? So, but, but he’s still going to be dynamic, you know? He better be, right? I mean, he’d be the first to tell you, needs to be dynamic for them, they paid him a lot of money to be dynamic, dynamic, but it is interesting, you know. What, what are they going to get from Mike Green in year two? How does Zion Young fit into this picture? Right, I think he, from day one, I feel like even as a second-round rookie, he should be someone that is going to be a heavy-handed physical player playing the run. I think you’ll see him play a lot on early downs, maybe that allows them to shift Mike Green into a little more of a situational role, where he’s maybe coming on the field more, so second and long, third down, which might be the best, you know, easiest way to develop, you know, a guy that’s considered a little green in terms of just as an overall player, but at the same time, it’s funny, I was having this conversation with someone recently, you know, someone that tied in with the team somewhat, and the name Jadavian Clowney came up right, and the idea of would the Ravens make a move like that, and I, I wouldn’t hesitate, right, I mean, I think there are enough edge snaps in terms of a rotation to go around, especially understanding, and this goes back to what I was saying about Trey Hendrickson. He is not – don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you’re never going to see him on the field on first down, like that would be hyperbole, but that said, he’s not considered the all-around complete game wrecker that someone like Max Crosby is that someone like Terrell Suggs was in his prime, and what I mean by that is not just picking up sacks, but someone that’s going to be an absolute monster, setting the edge and playing the run, and doing, you know, Hendrickson is much more of the, he’s got to line up and pin his ears back and go get the quarterback, which you need, and my goodness, they’ve needed it, needed it late in games for a long time, but he’s not a guy that is going to be their best run defender, setting the edge right. I’m not saying he can’t do it again, I don’t want to make it out to be too much of that. So, my point is, if you’re in a position where you can manage Hendrickson’s snaps on early down situations at times, right, and if you’re in a position where you can maybe earmark Mike Green to be a little more of a situational guy and not have to play as many snaps as he did last year, and you know that Tavius Robinson and Zion. Are going to be your early down edge setters playing the run, you know, they might be able to slide inside a little bit here and there when you go into sub packages. To me, I mean that sounds like a rotation that is ripe for another edition, if it’s someone you think is worth it, right? So, you know, whether it’s a clownie, whether it’s a Kyle Van Noy, you know, like, whether it’s some name that you and I haven’t even mentioned that would fit into that same kind of category, I could absolutely see an addition there, especially now as you’re getting later into the summer. Right now, you’re at a point where anyone who wants to play their contract demands aren’t going to be what they were on march 15, so could the Ravens add there? I absolutely, and because I kind of reject the idea, and I’ll be honest, I’ve been guilty of this in the past, but the idea that, well, we want, we want these young guys to develop. Yes, you want young guys to develop, but that doesn’t mean I just want to hand young guys snaps, right? I want guys to earn it. If you’re in a position where you bring in another vet and the young guys are are that much better, and Mike Green looks like he’s on his way to be in Terrell Suggs in year two, and he’s just taking this fantastic jump, or Zion Young is this absolute stud, and my goodness, you got to keep this guy on the field 80% of the time because he’s that good, then that’s a good problem to have, rather than being, oh well, I want so and so to, I don’t want to sign a veteran because I want this guy to develop, or I want that guy to develop, no, like if this team’s in win a championship mode, if there’s a player you can bring in to make yourself better, and if that means that some other young guys are gonna have to really earn their snaps, that’s a good thing to me. I embrace that idea. So, is there, is there a space for adding another veteran to that mix? I would say absolutely. I mean, I do, I think they absolutely need to do that. We’ll see, right? I mean, Hendrickson’s the biggest addition they’ve made from an edge standpoint in a long time, we don’t, I mean, it’s the biggest outside free agent signing they’ve had, right? We kind of, all the steam for that was lost in the in the drama of the Max Crosby deal falling apart, but they still gave this guy a massive contract. Well,

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Nestor Aparicio  22:17

that’s

Nestor Aparicio  22:17

what I was going to ask you. Yeah, you know, let’s reset this. By the way. Luke and I are talking some football here. If you’re on the WNSD tech service, you’ll get any breaking news first. It’s all brought to you by Cole Roofing and Gordian Energy. And, of course, we’re taking the Maryland Crab Cake Tour on the road next week. We’re going to be at Sorrento of Arbutus on the 10th of next week, and I’m putting some things together for World Cup too. So, let everybody know when I get all that to go. Oh, we’re at Green Mountain Station on the 24th of June, too, up in Hampstead. So, taking the show out on the road. It’s all brought to you by GBMC. Our dear friends, I’ve got my Walk a Mile in Their Shoes gear on. Luke’s wearing the Farnum and Dermer gear. They sponsor all of our sports coverage and our Audio Vault at a Baltimore Positive, as well as our friends at the Maryland Lottery. So, I just want to reset all of that, the Max Crosby thing, I spent some time in Vegas having JT the brick on for various reasons this week, including the rush tour. He and I are rush heads, and they begin to tour on Sunday night in LA, and I had him on right when I was going to Montevideo and Buenos Aires and Max Crosby was signing, and then he wasn’t, and, and I had JT, and you know, I went to Vegas right away and got my Vegas stuff, and I never undid it, I never went back to them after the thing fell apart. So, Brick and I haven’t even, like, talked about it at all, and he, of course, is one of the voices of the Raiders, I would think they’re happy to have Max Crosby back, and didn’t really need that pick. I guess Eric DiCosta is happy with the guard from Penn State and Hendrickson and the money, and having money back, and having the pick next year. I guess in the end everybody will be okay, and all of that. Where are you on this? Would you think when it’s all said and done, they would have been a better team and have a better chance of winning a Super Bowl with Max Crosby? I sort of love that trade so much the night it happened, and the day afterward, and the weekend, and Visions of Sugar Plums, and all of that. Don’t tell anybody, but I don’t love Trey Hendrickson in regard to, like, I think they have a Super Bowl defense now. In regard to maybe it’s his injury that kind of weirds me, maybe it’s the Bengals thing that kind of weirds me, maybe it’s all the money they gave him for literally a little bit more of a one-dimensional player that tends to play that way as they get older, in regard to not setting the edge and not being useful in run situations, if you can’t stop the run, so I don’t, you know, you don’t get into third long if you don’t stop the run, so no, like I would, I don’t, not being flippant, I’m just being one. Like I love them with Crosby, I don’t, you know, I need to see how the guard plays, and obviously the pick next year could be anything from, I’m not going to say one, but anything from 10 to 29 you know, I don’t know that they’re winning the Super Bowl next year, but I’ll give an AFC championship game at 29 you know, so to me I, I look at it, and say we’re going to be measuring this because of how sleazy Eric the Costa was in the trade deal, and just the impact of these players, and the impact of, hey, this is the way to Costa did it. The pass rush has to be better, dude, like, especially if they’re going to get in third long, if they can be effective enough to get themselves into a real pass rush, that they can get off the field, and that’s going to be so significant for them, and for Lamar, and for Jesse Minter in a big way. And I don’t know the last time I clowny was here, the last time I felt really good about them getting after the pass rusher with consistency, and they were a great team,

Luke Jones  26:05

and that’s fair. I mean, that was clowny, but also Van Noy that year, right? I mean, that was also Matt Abigay had a great year that year. So, no, I, I think everything you just said is, is fair in terms of seeing how this is going to play out, right? Because, and it’s there are different layers to it, right, because there’s there’s the element of two first round picks. What hypothetically, what were those players going to be? And we know what the first, you know, Vengo, you want a, and we’ll see what he is, whatever next year’s pick is going to be. But I think it’s, it’s, it’s more complicated than that, even, because I think even looking at it through the lens of why the Ravens ultimately backed out, which was concerns about Crosby’s knee and what that meant, and whether that was going to be worth two first round picks, but I would also say there are varying degrees to that. I mean, let’s face it, let’s say the Ravens never backed out of it, even if, even if, in the back of their minds, they weren’t quite as comfortable with the knee as they thought it was going to be, if Max Crosby is back on the field and healthy by training camp, right? I mean, and that’s kind of been the, I think that’s the expectation with with the Raiders, that he’ll be back for at least the bulk of training camp, I think. I think it is, it’s not something I’m following on a weekly basis, because I’m covering the Ravens, but, but there’s also the argument of even if Max Crosby wouldn’t have turned out to be an absolute stud for the next four or five years, if he’s so great that he hypothetically helps you win a Super Bowl in 2026 or 2027 do you care all that much? How the rest of the contract goes, you know what I mean, like, do you care all that much how those two first round picks play out? Because that’s what this team, I mean, this team is in Super Bowl or bust mode, and has been for years now, right? And I don’t say that, and that’s what makes

Nestor Aparicio  28:00

8

it so hard for new head coach coming into

Nestor Aparicio  28:01

fight, no

Luke Jones  28:02

doubt, and I don’t, and let me be clear, when I say that, that doesn’t mean I literally think, oh, if Jesse Minter doesn’t lead this team to a Super Bowl this year, that he should be fired, no, no, I just mean in terms of how the fans view this organization right now, in terms of how media should view this organization right now, I mean, they’ve been on the doorstep, how many times now? You know, they haven’t necessarily been ringing the doorbell, because they’ve only been to one AFC title game over that stretch. But, my goodness, they’ve been there when they’ve had a healthy Lamar. They’re playing in the divisional round, like it’s just that simple, you know? I mean, go back, not counting his rookie year, right? I mean, 2018 I mean, that, that was an eternity ago, but when they’ve had a healthy Lamar Jackson, there you can just default them to the divisional round, and, and that’s that. Now, it hasn’t gone well, other than the one year where they, you know, beat Houston, and then they’re hosting the Chiefs in the AFC title game, but that’s the space they’ve lived in for a long time now, and whatever you’re doing at this point is not about, well, you know, you, you, yes, you need to get back there, and yes, you need to win games, and yes, we all understand there’s a process to this that begins in the spring and goes all the way through December into early January, we all understand that, you know, so we don’t need to mince words about it, but I mean, that’s that’s where they are, so yeah. When you do look at the Max Crosby deal, or now, in the case of Trey Hendrickson, does it help you win a Super Bowl? I mean, I said that two years ago when you were over the moon about Derrick Henry, and if you recall, I’ll be the first to admit, I wasn’t like looking at that as, oh, that, that’s the final piece, that was the only thing they needed to win a Super Bowl. I like, I wasn’t against it, but I also wasn’t saying automatically, oh well, that’s it, they’re going to win a Super Bowl now, no questions asked, and it had nothing to do with Derrick Henry. But it also came back to just that’s everything.

Nestor Aparicio  30:04

Well, they gave the

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Nestor Aparicio  30:05

money to the running back instead of the guard in the right tackle.

Luke Jones  30:08

Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  30:09

that’s

Nestor Aparicio  30:09

8

really, I mean, and that was part of it. And the same, well, and I said, well, they’re gonna give him the ball 280 times, right? So, like, so, like, pay him, you know, he’s,

Luke Jones  30:19

and that’s fine. And, but, but I guess the point I’m trying to make, you know, you, you can allocate resources in any number of ways, and I mean, think about it, they, whatever money they were going to pay Max Crosby, inheriting a deal, whether they were going to rework it or redo it or extend it, or whatever, there was a deal that they were going to inherit there, well, that falls apart. You keep your two first round picks, and you go out and sign Trey Hendrickson, right? They pivoted, so.. but, but you just.. whatever happens. There’s there’s a long-term view to this, which I think is more interesting with Crosby, given his health and concerns there, and the Ravens concerns, and I mean the idea that they were okay with how it looked for the short term, but they really were uneasy about the long term. And again, we don’t have the 100% crystal. I’ll never

Nestor Aparicio  31:09

believe it had anything to do with anything medical ever. I’ll never believe

Luke Jones  31:13

you. Don’t think it had anything to do with the medical. I see, I 1,000% disagree with you on that. We can, we can parcel it out, but I think

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Nestor Aparicio  31:22

when he got on the plane to come here, they already made up their mind that they didn’t want him anymore.

Luke Jones  31:26

But why?

Nestor Aparicio  31:28

Because Hendrickson was available cheaper, and they had cold feet, and maybe because the owner was pissed off of all things assets, draft assets. Who knows what internal issues they have with the new head coach and an uppity owner who’s on his way out as an owner and wants to win again, and once, and now is fired his coach, and had to do a real press conference where they never wanted to do again, like I don’t know, dude, like I asked around, there’s nobody, if you ask, you ask him if you ask Max Crosby, the fact that they flew him into Dulles and made him drive up to the camp, and the coach didn’t say hello to him.

Luke Jones  32:10

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Oh, I’m not

Nestor Aparicio  32:11

all of that sniffs out that it had nothing to do with the actual scene coming in and them looking at him physically.

Luke Jones  32:19

Okay, I mean, I, I think, I think it’s, I think it’s frankly outrageous to say it has nothing to do with the medical, because why would you even do it like

Nestor Aparicio  32:28

they did it, knowing he was on crutches, but what’s the, but like, what, there’s so much sweat equity involved there, if it was just a 1,000% a ruse, like you know what I mean, like I mean, okay, that’s what Max Crosby thought I’m not speaking for Eric, who’s a liar, who is a confirmed liar. I mean, I will call Eric DiCosta a liar. I hope I see him at the next Pearl Jam concert to see him in his face and tell him he’s a liar. So I know he lies. So all of that being said, I just, everyone else thinks they’re lying. Max Crosby thinks that it was a ruse, it was a ruse, because he was treated as such. So,

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Luke Jones  33:07

well, you’re wrong, because not everyone else thinks that it’s not about health whatsoever. No,

Nestor Aparicio  33:12

no, no, no, no. I don’t listen. I’ll agree with that. He was on crutches, flew him in here, and you poked and prodded him and found something in the medicals you didn’t like the night you dealt for him. I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that that was the reason that they undid the truck to me. It just sounds like you wasted a lot of time and energy then, because well, they had to stay tried to sell it because that’s a cover-up organization. They’re not a, but they didn’t get, they’re not a, we changed our mind organization, they’re a cover-up organization, that even if they did change their mind, and it clearly changed their mind before they got here, that, that, that’s out, that’s how Max Crosby sees it. I will continue to see it that way, based on the fact that they were not celebratory from the minute he got to the door, from the minute he got

Luke Jones  33:59

to. I just, I don’t know, I, I continue to go back to, didn’t go look at what the contract projections were for Trey Hendrickson, they did not get him one like this amazing bargain or anything, like you know, if they had signed him for 20 million a year, like if it was like considerably less than what projections were, or then all right, I’ll hear that a little more.

Nestor Aparicio  34:22

8

Well, then, then, okay, it doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter, but we’re gonna rehash it, because we’re gonna rehash it. I mean, there’s no doubt about that, and I’m not gonna rehash the ethics of it. That’s for the other general managers of the league to deal with. When you have a handshake with Eric DeCosta, do you have a deal, or is he going to stab you in the back, like when he tells you that nobody’s taking your press pass, and three months later he never sees you again, then he runs from you. So that’s Eric, that’s the Eric the Costa. I know personally, so I don’t, whether it costs them long term or not, for having done this, I believe that they’re sleeping better than. Not because Max Crosby might be heard, but because they think they’re going to win the Super Bowl this year, and they have a guard and a pass rusher that they’re happy with, in contract terms they’re happy with, and they have their draft pick next year, which their owner is happy about, no matter what, and they’re going to play this way. Would they have been better with Max Crosby?

Luke Jones  35:19

We’re gonna find out.

Nestor Aparicio  35:20

I still could make an argument that I would feel better about them. That’s where this began, by the way. This is if we had Max Crosby, and they drafted a guard in the second round, or did something else to do a veteran this or that, or something beyond Ben Cleveland, right? Another Jenkins, I, you know, I don’t know, you know, that give me that Jenkins, um, the guard they brought back, I’m thinking defensive tackle, I’m thinking Johnson Simpson, um, by the way, I think I ran into John Jenkins with his kids the other day here in Baltimore, but nonetheless, because we had to figure out who he was, he’s a big man, um, but the Simpson thing, another Simpson to play guard, yeah, and have Max Crosby right now. If they had Max Crosby and Matt Abigay, the way we’re talking about it, and Roquan Smith, I would feel better than when you say Trey Hendrickson. And when I see Trey Hendrickson, and I think about Trey Hendrickson, I see sort of a question mark to me in more of a way than I would even with Crosby’s knee, and like all of that, I just..

Luke Jones  36:25

but why, that’s fine to say, but why?

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Nestor Aparicio  36:27

Well, because he’s had the injury issues, I’ve seen him play in Cincinnati. I don’t..

Luke Jones  36:33

I mean, it really.. it’s only we’re only talking one season. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  36:36

last year I’m hoping he plays, he’s a factor in the way that they’ve paid him to be, because you began this conversation saying really the lead story, which is well, the Max Crosby thing, that’s all eyewash, as you would say to me. They gave this guy more money than they’ve ever given anybody, so like right from the face of it, sure, there is a Pete Alonzo factor that comes with this for Trey Hendrickson that I don’t think he can live up to in the way that I don’t think Pete Alonso is going to be Eddie Murray, you know, like I just don’t, and in the way that I felt like Max Crosby could be, you know, I think Max Crosby’s going to the Hall of Fame, I think Trey Hendrickson’s going to the Hall of Good Pass rushers, that and and that the next three years would indicate whether Max Crosby’s really going to the Hall of Fame or not, or whether Trey Hendrickson’s going to the Hall of Terrell Suggs, which is, you know, the next step up to say, hmm, he’s not just a pass rusher, he’s a Hall of Fame worthy pass rusher, they’ve paid him like a Hall of Fame worthy pass rusher remains to be seen with the other moving parts that they have in this defense, because that’s important too, and this is where you get to talk about Mike Green and the rest of this, because having one guy something, but the minute I mentioned Clowney, you mentioned Vannoy, and I would have said that should have rubbed off on O Way, but it didn’t.

Luke Jones  37:57

8

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I, I just, I want to push back a little bit and say let’s not sell Trey Hendrickson short. I mean, this is a guy in 23 and 24 had 17 and a half sacks in each of those seasons, which is more than the Ravens single season franchise record for sacks. So we’re still talking about a high impact player here,

Nestor Aparicio  38:17

and also let me point out, okay, I saw those shitty defenses play. They were in third and 100 a lot because they stunk, and maybe they weren’t third and 100 a lot because they maybe they just gave up on first and second down. But to get a lot of sacks in that defense, where there was a lot of snaps and there was a lot of nobody else around, I’ll give him all the flowers in the world, I need to see him do it here for big money, and, and stay healthy doing it, and be there in January doing it, and when it’s third and seven, and it’s 12 degrees in Buffalo, in the new stadium that Jim, Jim Kelly sat in, and they’re playing a playoff game that he’s going to win battles with, and get to the quarterback, and like, and not get to the quarterback, doesn’t mean to do sacks, I mean, be a factor, because I don’t think sacking is the only game there, I mean, rushing, beating the ball out, getting the ball up in the air, picking the ball off, a lot of that has to do with Trey Hendrickson, and he has to be the man here, and I’ve never disliked him as a player, but I think they overpaid him, and I think if you give me him or Max Crosby, I take Max Crosby. Guard aside, I just do, and I will go back to that point, because I’m not wishy-washy, Luke. I mean, I’ve been doing this a long time. I mean, I felt that way that night, and there’s nothing june 1 that makes me feel differently, and if on Halloween, hit me Halloween, I’m gonna tell Brick that too, hit me on Halloween, be eight

Nestor Aparicio  39:48

months,

Luke Jones  39:48

don’t care about Halloween, I need to see what the end of the season looks like,

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Nestor Aparicio  39:51

but hit me on Halloween, and I’ll give you an update, and say we’re eight weeks into this, is Max Crosby on the field, is he back, is he not on the field at all, which would have been. Problematic here, for sure. And where’s Trey Hendrickson? And, and we’ll measure this, and I don’t.. I’m not knocking on Hendrickson. I’m certainly not knocking on the guard. I’m not even knocking on the owner, or the draft pick, or even Eric DiCosta’s decision making, and all of this. I just.. I was a Max Crosby guy. I will remain a Max Crosby guy. I think those sort of really weird exceptional players. I look at what happened with Dallas last year, the minute they get rid of their player, not that Green Bay went to the Super Bowl, because they didn’t, but and he got hurt. But it was instantaneous how much better Green Bay got and how much worse Dallas got in that deal. And we should hope that Cincinnati got that much worse, losing Hendrickson.

Luke Jones  40:41

Yeah, we’ll find out. I mean, again, this kind of goes back to what I said. There are different ways to judge this. I mean, you can kind of judge it in a vacuum, and that’s going to be how do these guys play over the next few years, and what do these first round picks produce in terms of how productive Venga Yuanya is, how productive next year’s first round pick is, but it goes back to the original point, which was this is all comes back to getting to a Super Bowl, right? Lamar Jackson’s going to be 30 years old in January. Now it’s not me saying that he’s in the November of his career, hardly, but he’s also moving further away from the guy that ran for 1200 yards early in his career, you know, 1000 yard rushing quarterback, in addition to what he did as a passer, and you know, we can go down the list of all their veteran players, you, you’ve talked about that more than I have, even in terms of some of these guys being longer in the tooth at this stage of their career, and what that means for them, but the point is, it still goes back to winning the Super Bowl. This team’s had regular season success in Pro Bowls, and they’ve set records and all that kind of stuff.

Nestor Aparicio  41:52

Damn you for setting the bar so high. You know, how dare you set the bar this? I mean, it comes,

Nestor Aparicio  41:57

8

put it

Luke Jones  41:57

this way,

Nestor Aparicio  41:58

but you are right. I mean, we sit here in June. Well, why in the second round playoff exit look like at this point, which smell okay for Minter? It wouldn’t smell good at all for Lamar or for

Nestor Aparicio  42:09

any exact

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Luke Jones  42:09

guy. This is the exact reason why John Harbaugh isn’t the head coach anymore. If you were perfectly fine with getting to the divisional round, why in the world would you fire John Harbaugh? You know what I mean, like that. When Lamar has been healthy, I already said it, that’s been their default. I mean, like, you can like snooze on the first four months of the season and wake up the second week of January, and that’s where they are, right? Well, it’s

Nestor Aparicio  42:33

hilarious watching Harbaugh up in New Jersey try to sort this out with black and white, and right and left, and right and wrong, and Schindler, and his quarterback, his pretty boy quarterback, running around, being a calendar boy with four wins, thinking he’s Joe Namath, and bringing in Schittler, because nobody else in the world will stand or play music for that guy, because he should be under a prison, and this guy’s going to go and do, and his defensive is under achieving defensive linemen after they’ve gotten rid of the other defensive linemen, is actually going to get uppity about, you know, human rights and shit like that in New York. Welcome to New York, Harbs. I’m sure it’s, you know, so hey man, the only problem we have here is whether Trey Hendrickson can rush the quarterback, and we won’t know that until September, and on Namdi Mata BK and Lamar is coming to mandatories next week, so I mean, as much as the pressure’s up here, you know, Justin Tucker’s not out rubbing down massage women this offseason for them. It feels like mini camp next week will be successful as long as nobody gets medevacked out, right? And, like, this is they feel good about themselves in Owings Mills right now, right?

Luke Jones  43:45

They should, yeah. I mean, like it’s been, it’s been a pretty quiet offseason overall in terms of understanding how much new there’s been. You know, Lamar has been there regularly. I think I think

Nestor Aparicio  43:58

8

he’s gotten arrested, nothing weird. They

Luke Jones  44:00

haven’t, they haven’t had any major injuries.

Nestor Aparicio  44:03

Yeah,

Luke Jones  44:03

you know, I mean, you, you know, you’ve got pre-existing stuff, you know, like Teddy Buchanan coming back from an ACO.

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Nestor Aparicio  44:08

The news

Nestor Aparicio  44:08

of Manabiki that we began the first 20 minutes of this would be very, very positive news to get back one of their 2020-dollar football players, right? So, like, they are trending up, as we would say, you know, they’re up with a bullet in the Billboard charts, they feel like, and the division stinks, and you know Cleveland’s going to let the Shawn Watson play, like it does feel like it’s sitting there for them to be an elite team this year, given all the pieces, but we won’t know that for three months, but I’m optimistic about them being a good team, but I would like them better with Max Crosby. How about that? If we’re just

Nestor Aparicio  44:43

gonna

Luke Jones  44:43

8

talk, and that’s

Nestor Aparicio  44:44

specifically about their defense, that’s

Luke Jones  44:46

all we’re gonna see. I mean, it still may come down to it that you know whether we’re talking about them or any other team, and let’s face it, you can say what you want about how the Ravens handle that, and I. Agree with you about how you know the day he came into the building, it was a weird vibe, and at best, I mean, like that’s the best way you could portray it.

Nestor Aparicio  45:08

That’s what told him they didn’t want him to begin with, that had nothing to do with the matter.

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Luke Jones  45:13

Said, where are all these other teams that came? You’re telling me, like, the Raiders wouldn’t have moved them for a first and a second, you know what I mean, like

Nestor Aparicio  45:21

I think it was a late in the game at that point, they’d stopped doing poker on Friday night, which,

Luke Jones  45:25

but it was, I mean, that was the night before free agency started, when you

Nestor Aparicio  45:30

8

carry

Nestor Aparicio  45:31

water for Eric DeCosta on this,

Luke Jones  45:33

I’m just for

Nestor Aparicio  45:34

his integrity, stop, come on, this is me, we’re talking,

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Nestor Aparicio  45:37

not

Luke Jones  45:37

gonna carry the integrity of anyone in the,

Nestor Aparicio  45:39

you sat there and watched him on the deck run for me with the shot, a couple years ago, instead of addressing me like a real man,

Luke Jones  45:45

8

but I’m also not going to sit there and carry water for any other general manager or owner or team, I mean, it’s the NFL, you know, I mean, it’s

Nestor Aparicio  45:53

dishonors the game,

Luke Jones  45:55

yeah, so, but, but to go back to the general point, the point of what matters now, as we’re talking about the calendar turning to June, and we’re not that far away from training camp. And before you know it, I mean, I think I saw what Monday morning Adam Schefter first thing rolling out of bed, I look at my phone and says we’re 100 days away from the start of the 2026 season, which it’s just like, man, dude, like don’t wish away the summer, but point is, it’ll be here before we know it, and expectations are high for this team, even with a rookie head coach, and that’s a lot to navigate, but yeah, look no further than all the sports, all the sports betting, Ravens are either first or right there in terms of win-loss total, Vegas once again can’t quit the Ravens in terms of how they feel about them, so we’re gonna see, but yeah, there’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic. That said, there are also some very real questions, like Center, like Mata BK, like the pass rush

Nestor Aparicio  47:00

goes to the Hall of Fame, then, and they win the Super Bowl this year. I would like them better as a football team with Max Crosby than I, than I do with Hendrickson to win the Super Bowl right here, right now. Eric disagrees with me, I mean, obviously, I mean, literally, I mean, and that’s cool. And let’s, they’re going to chin strap it up and go figure it out, and that’s what makes it fun. At least we have something to talk about in June, and you will go out there next week. What are you expecting in these two days of mini camp? Just to set this stage on that, and there’s a couple OTAs later this week, but next week’s really the story, right? Yeah, I mean, honestly, like there, there have been a couple guys who’ve actually been.. we’ve talked so much about Lamar, right, just because he’s the quarterback and he’s your franchise, and all of that, and we’ve talked about the fact that, okay, he wasn’t there for the first OTA, but he was there last week, all by all accounts, he’s been there regularly throughout the spring, so you know, two names that kind of have stood out that were absent, the first two OTAs open to media, and they’re two interesting names, Marlon

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Luke Jones  48:00

Humphrey, coming off of the worst season of his career, and Rashad Bateman coming off of a very disappointing season. I found that interesting. Now, it might not be that much to it at the end of the day, but I always think it’s interesting who’s there, who isn’t there. Class Campbell, my understanding is, told them when he signed, it’s like, I’ll see a mandatory mini camp. I’m not, I’m not coming out to OTAs. It’s 39 years old. Class Campbell doesn’t need to be at OTAs. Probably only a bad thing could happen if Clays Campbell’s out on the field on may 29 You know what I mean. So, but in the case of Humphrey, who we talked about the possibility of him being a cap casualty, that’s been interesting to me. He’s been around the building like he hasn’t been absent, from what my understanding, but it’s just.. it’s a.. he’s a.. he’s a.. an interesting individual, and that’s the night, you know?

Nestor Aparicio  48:53

If you’re keeping him, if you’re judging on personality and leadership, you get rid of him. If you. if you’re judging on that part of him, you, you wouldn’t have him around,

Luke Jones  49:04

so that’s been interesting, and, like I said, Bateman, I mean, especially considering they, they drafted two wide receivers, right? I mean, there, there’s a lot of interest in these two young wide receivers, I mean, look, this isn’t my first rodeo where I’m going to start going nuts over anything I’m seeing with players running around in shorts or anything like that, but they, they really like Jacobi Lane, and they really like Elijah Surratt, in terms of, you know, even their ability to contribute this year. We’re going to see, you know, I hear that every team loves their draft picks right after they draft them, you know, but I find it interesting that they drafted to those two guys, and Rashad Bateman, at least when the media has been invited out, has been pretty scarce. So, other than that, you see everyone next week, you see who’s healthy, you see who’s not. You hope you get through the week without any major injury. These, you know, you mentioned Harbaugh, the thing that I’ll throw out there, the Giants, they’ve had three players blow out Achilles the last two weeks. I mean, you know, kind of reminds you a little bit of where the Ravens were four or five years ago with their injuries. So I thought that was interesting, but just get through this respect, you know, respect the process of, hey, these are the next steps in terms of installing, getting to know the coaching staff, getting everyone acclimated, then you’re, you know, last day of school, you’ll have your five or six week break, and then

Nestor Aparicio  50:30

they’ll be out there on the back fields in late July, and then then you start to say, hey, it’s all about getting ready for Indy on September 13, so, but it’s been a pretty considering how the off season started and how free agency started, the new league year started. Since then, it’s been a pretty quiet couple months, and I think that’s a good thing when you’re trying to navigate as much new as Jesse Minter and this coaching staff is right now. Luke will be at Owings Mills, the Orioles will be in Boston and Toronto, this week we will be at Sorrento Barbudas on the 10th, that’s next week. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lottery in conjunction with GBMC and Farnham Dermer. It is the Maryland Crab Cake Tour. We’re back out in June. We’re going to be Greenmount Station on 24th Some new places, we got World Cup happening. I’m doing an NBA Finals piece this week with Jerry Bembry, my old buddy, who’s a Knicks fan, a longtime ESPN writer, really NBA aficionado and savant. We have the NHL Stanley Cup finals going on as well, so plenty happening, including democracy, which leads the story around here. We got a lot of political candidates coming on the program. If you are a political candidate or tied to somebody who has not been on, send me an email, Nestor Baltimore positive.com Certainly offering equal time as best I can with my time between now and june 23 but I am on it. Luke is on it as well. I am Nestor, he’s Luke. We are WNSD AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop arguing about Baltimore sports here at Baltimore Positive.