A freak May Achilles injury has left the Ravens’ defense without one of its standout secondary members for this season. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the loss of Ar’Darius Washington and what it means for the defense that wants strength and depth on the backside.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the impact of Ardarius Washington’s injury on the Baltimore Ravens’ defense. Washington, a key player in the secondary, was set to start this season but suffered a significant injury. His absence will force the team to adjust their defensive strategy, particularly their three-safety looks. The Ravens will likely need to sign a veteran safety to fill the void. The conversation also touched on the importance of player health, referencing Ronnie Stanley’s comeback from a severe ankle injury. The Ravens’ offseason plans and the upcoming NFL schedule were briefly mentioned.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ardarius Washington, Ravens defense, injury impact, Malachi Starks, Kyle Hamilton, safety position, NFL draft, veteran safeties, player health, Ronnie Stanley, ankle injury, depth chart, offseason training, free agent options, positionless defense.
SPEAKERS
8
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, AM, 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. We’re positively in the freak this week, we are into Orioles home stand that has been weather dissed. I don’t know. We’ll see how it works out for the pitching. We’re gonna be doing the Maryland crab cake tour on the 28th of the month. But this weekend, we’re going to be in Las Vegas, Nevada. No, we’re not going to be at the Preakness Saturday. Going to be in Nevada covering all things the Maryland party. So you hear a lot of conversations next week from lots of business leaders, community leaders, politicians, thought leaders, just a whole bunch of good stuff going on. I went out and examined it last year. This year, we’re going to report from there. You know, this time of year, the only time Luke and I get together to do football segments is when Justin Tucker’s getting caught, released, gossiped about pooping on the media or because they’re not practicing. And in the middle of the day, Luke, we have this great tech service. Speaking of Bill Cole, who’s taking me out to Vegas this weekend, we have a tech service where we break news. And the last thing I want on a Tuesday night is an injury that has nothing to do with practice. And the Ravens were very healthy last year. You never know when news is going to happen. And there, there’s your ad to get on the wnst tech service, because Tuesday night you sent out this our Darius Washington news. And you know, my wife, who, since I’ve gotten thrown out the last couple years, isn’t up on every roster move and every player, she didn’t know a lot about him. So you and I talk a lot about him. I’m sure we’re going to talk a lot about him right now, and what he meant to the team last year, what they thought he was going to mean this year. And honestly, I you, and I don’t talk much about personalities. We don’t travel together much. He was one of your favorite guys, right? Our Darius Washington.
Luke Jones 01:53
Well, I just think the fact that he was a former rookie free agent still when COVID was going on, which I think hindered some of the some of those fringe roster guys to to develop a little bit. But he stuck around, dealt with a lot of injuries his first couple years. But you see what he had become, and what he did for the Ravens last year, when the safety position in the secondary was just on fire, right? I mean, Marcus Williams had what was wildly disappointing. Eddie Jackson wasn’t working out. They had the worst pass defense in football, and ardarius Washington’s inserted into the starting lineup. Then a couple weeks later, they’d move Kyle Hamilton to more of that conventional deep safety role for the first time in his career. And their defense was excellent down the stretch. I mean, you go look at the numbers over the final seven games of the season, the Ravens NFL lows and yards allowed and net passing yards per game, yards per play, points per game. And our Darius Washington had a big part of that. I mean, we remember the big hit he made at the goal line in that Texans Chris Christmas game where now it turned into a blowout, but that was a pretty pivotal play. I mean, this is a guy for someone who’s undersized. I mean, he’s five 880 pounds and has dealt with injuries, and then that’s part of the reason why the Ravens drafted Malachi Starks, and we’ll get the Starks here in a moment. But this guy was a big part of their turnaround last year, and even with Starks being selected in the first round, which, as I said to you throughout the off season leading up to the draft, they needed to add another safety, because they want to go back to these three safety looks and Kyle Hamilton moving all over the place, but they wanted to draft Malachi Starks. And to be totally honest, I’m guessing, I don’t know, midway through the season, something like that, you probably would have seen Starks if he’s as good as advertised, if he’s as good as everyone thinks he’s going to be. You probably would have seen him take an every down role away from our Darius Washington, but our Darius Washington was still going to play a big part in their defense. I mean, I asked John Harbaugh at the draft after night one, when they took stars, there was a lot of excitement about their ability to have those three guys on the field, and not just have those three guys on the field, but to really disguise pre snap and even after the snap, what they were doing in terms of, okay, who’s dropping deep, who’s playing in the box, who might be playing the nickel, right? I mean, all the different things that you try to do with, quote, positionless defense on the back end with your secondary. Now, you kind of have to go back to the drawing board in terms of, okay, they have starting safeties. I feel good about Malachi Starks playing and maybe playing more than he needs to even that’s not ideal, but you still feel confident about that, because they love the kid that much. But who’s your third safety now, I mean, Bo braid and Sanusi Kane are the most experienced safeties on their roster, behind Starks and Hamilton and Starks as a rookie, of course, so you kind of go back to the drawing board in terms of who that third. Safety is going to be and the sticking point is, let’s face it, for as much good as the Ravens do, building their roster year in and year out, veteran safeties and free agent safeties coming in here hasn’t worked out so great. So it is disappointing, and to your point, I mean, we’re still about 10 days out from OTAs even getting started. And it’s a reminder that these guys are just in bubble wrap in the off season. They’re getting ready, they’re doing conditioning, they’re working out. You know, I’m not, not suggesting there’s anything shady about this injury. It’s just a reminder that this can happen at any time, and these guys are human. And you really feel for our Darius Washington, because he had finally stayed healthy. I mean, played 17 games for the first time in his career, and you saw the kind of player he could be. But unfortunately, this has also been the other side of his career, not being able to stay healthy. So kind of
Nestor Aparicio 05:53
reminds me a little bit of LaDarius Webb, where he was just kind of coming on and got hurt at that time. There have been a couple of kids that have been good and then got hurt. And, I mean, I go back to Anthony Poindexter and just different people in that backside of a secondary Jimmy Smith, it might have been a Hall of Famer, you know, he had that kind of talent, had he not been as injured as he was. I mean, I had to learn who Liz Frank was. No relation to Anne Frank. No relation to my mother either, but my wife and I had a little coffee chat about this this morning, because she wasn’t as familiar. And obviously, second half of the year, last year, you and I and Ravens fans have had long conversations, but if you and I were giving an elevator speech on this about the intent of their defense, what they’d like to do with their defense, and what they showed with Kyle Hamilton, to some dismay, really, over the beginning part of the year last year, is that he can be incredible as that disguised player, but when Marcus Williams is on the back end, he can’t hold his Water, no matter how much money he’s making. It really changes the complexion and the design and the intent of what they’re trying to do on defense, on any down and distance. And you start taking players away and taking those pieces away the Orioles stink. It’s no surprise. There’s no westburg, there’s no cows, or there’s no there’s no Bradish, there was no effin, there’s no Rodriguez. Start taking good players away or having good players stink Marcus Williams, maybe roquan Smith being part of that really good player that’s played sort of okay because of what’s around him. And then you, you sub A Trenton Simpson in instead of a Patrick queen, yeah, you know, and then you fall down the mountain. Now, the Orioles are 10 games under 500 falling down the mountain. But on the football side, this created things with a defense last year that Zach or didn’t want to do that Chuck pagano won’t, won’t want to do as an advisor and a consultant, and whatever he is in this thing to say now, now we’re, I mean, and you said Malachi Starks, and I’m still trying to get through Malachi. And every time I see it, I think of the Fonz and the Malachi brothers. Um Malachi Starks. Did they spend $80 million trying to zip up this position 24 months ago, and couldn’t do it with a veteran guy. It’s a really tough position, and one that, like Chuck Clark, made look easier than maybe it was even will Demps 20 years ago. I’m thinking about guys that sort of came from nowhere and played a little bit in that position, because Ed Reed was so good too. So you’re back there with Ed Reed. You got Ray Lewis in front of you. You got, at one point. I don’t say rod Woodson, but you had McAllister on one side, or any of those kinds of players, you know, samarit role, even they had play good players, $18 million safeties. I don’t know whether Malachi starch is going to be that kind of player or not. If he is out of the gate, they’ll be okay. But all of this was predicated about they had this little midget that could play a lot and was real smart and ran around and played with gusto, and that was our Darius Washington. He’s just like eliminated now, in the same way that Kyle Bradish isn’t pitching this week. And I think you start taking good players away from the defense, no matter what their name or their size. You know, that guy did it on the field, that guy didn’t do it, it, you know, his Gator bait, he did it. He did it in the NFL, and did it at a high level, and they’re gonna miss him. Now, I was trying to explain that to my wife. This isn’t a small injury, Luke, and have to do a segment. This is a big thing. Yeah,
8Luke Jones 09:35
yeah. And again, I mean, will they be fine? Probably, I think they’ll be fine, but you just said it, and they love Malachi Starks. And I love the Malachi Starks pick. I think he’s going to be a heck of a player. You know, he’s one of those red star guys as a captain, leader, all of that. You know, you see all of that, but the fact that you had Kyle Hamilton and ardarius Washington ahead of him, AK Malachi. Starts some runway, right? It gave him some training wheels that you didn’t necessarily have to put quite as much on his plate in training camp, in week one, in week four, and his his entire rookie year, if necessary, right? Because of what you just said, it is a really challenging position to play. We all remember Kyle Hamilton had his issues the first six weeks of his NFL career, right? That Elam couldn’t play the kid, the kid from Florida State couldn’t play parents Brooks
Nestor Aparicio 10:29
never know. I mean, like, and then he went to Philadelphia, it was okay for a minute or two. Like, it’s a really difficult position, and and they have this special, other worldly talent with Kyle Hamilton, and they’re trying to shore that thing up on the back end. And this is just, it’s not devastating, that would be Kyle Hamilton, but, like, it’s not good. It’s not it’s not good in May, well,
Luke Jones 10:53
right? And you just said it in May, right? Because for me, as much as anything else, and I agree wholeheartedly. I mean, you know, I’m an ardarius Washington guy, but it’s just a reminder of how incredibly healthy they stayed last year, other than the timing of the zay flowers injury in January. And that was, yeah, that wasn’t a long term thing. That was he missed, you know, if he gets hurt in September with that same injury, he misses three games, and he’s back right. So other than that, and you know, Michael Pierce was on IR with the calf issue for what six weeks, what other injury of real note did they suffer last year? This is already more serious than, more severe than anything else. He’s not
Nestor Aparicio 11:38
8going to get on the field. He’s missing, yeah. I mean, I said to my wife he’d play 4550 snaps a week, right? Oh,
Luke Jones 11:44
easily, easily. I mean, even, even if you’re talking about Malachi Starks taking over the quote, starting job in October or November, or whatever, they’re going to place three safeties. I mean, they want to play three safeties. And there’s also the trickle down effect of when you lose ardarius Washington, all right, Stark steps into the starting lineup, and Starks is a versatile player as well. But again, who is that third safety going to be? And and I’ll get an I’ll throw a few names out there in a moment. But that also impacts your your depth at corner, because if you’re playing more three safety alignments, that means you only need to have two corners on the field most of the time, and that was going to be Marlin, Humphrey and Nate Wiggins. Well, yeah, you did bring in a woozy a who’s a veteran, has played at a high level in the league at times, but he’s another guy with injury history. So now this, I don’t want to say exposes, but it does bring your cornerback depth into play, as far as a little more of a concern there. So
Nestor Aparicio 12:43
I think it affects the linebackers, because I share, you know you want to play a lot of time, yeah, well, if you’re going to play third safety, you’re pulling a linebacker off the field. What linebacker Are you pulling off the field? Simpson, I don’t know, yeah, however they they couch that, but if their linebackers were better, they wouldn’t be thinking about having three safeties. They’ve really invested in three safeties, not three linebackers, when it really comes down to
Luke Jones 13:04
it, yeah, and that’s fair. I mean, all of that’s connected, right? I mean, we, we tend to think about these and maybe in a more traditional defense, you, you would think about those positions as isolated spots. But again, the whole idea of positionless defense that I’ve I started throwing out that term, what, five years ago, maybe. I mean, it’s really what they try to do on the back end, where it’s not so much, okay, we have a free safety, we have a strong safety, we have two outside corners, and we have a nickel. Yeah, they do that plenty. But you also love the idea that Kyle Hamilton can play free safety, or he can play strong safety, or he can play nickel, or a line up at the edge, or play linebacker, you know, essentially on any given play. And you can do the same, similar things with ardarius Washington, you can do similar things with Malachi Starks, assuming he picks up the defense, and I think he’s going to, but and Marlon Humphrey just that inside, outside versatility that he gives you when you lose one of those pieces, you’re now in a position where you’ve got to find a way to account for that. Now I’ll throw some names out there. I mean, Julian Blackmon is out there, Justin Simmons is out there. You mentioned Chuck Clark. I don’t know if the Ravens would have interest in bringing Chuck Clark back, considering he’s older and has had injuries and, you know, I mean, we’re talking a few years ago at this point, when he was playing at his absolute best. Quandary digs is out there. So there are veteran options out there. And I wholeheartedly expect the ravens are going to add another safety to the mix now as their third. But like I said, Now this, this expedites, you know that this kind of shortens the learning curve for Malachi Starks a little more. It might cause you to take a little more pause into how you use Kyle Hamilton to make sure everything’s everything’s cohesive. You know, everything’s you. Know the kumbaya in terms of everyone being on the same page from a schematic standpoint. So you know this, this hurts. I mean, I’m not sitting here saying that this really damages their Super Bowl chances to a great degree. No, nothing like that. But you’re not in the business of wanting to lose good players even before you start training camp, and this is one where
8Nestor Aparicio 15:22
look the best find a player like him, they spend a lot of money looking for a player like him, I guess was my point.
Luke Jones 15:27
And obviously, considering the timing of this, yeah, he’s gonna miss most of, if not the whole season. I mean, obviously people will point to Terrell Suggs is, you know, an example, I mean, and Suggs had a very similar timeline when he tore his Achilles right around the draft. But you know, Suggs have been paid at that point, and art Arias Washington was a restricted free agent, had been tendered, hadn’t received a long term contract. And in defense of the ravens, this was kind of why they weren’t interested in necessarily signing him to a long term deal. Because this has unfortunately been the story of his career. Had a foot issue a few years ago, had a chest injury two years ago that cost him most of those seasons. So, but you’ve got to find a replacement here. I don’t think the answer is going to be, oh, well, Bo braid is going to play more. Oh. Sanusi Kane’s going to play more. You’re already expecting Malachi Starks to to now? Need to play a starting role, as opposed to a third safety role out of the gate, which still was going to be a big role, but now it’s like, Hey, he’s your second best safety on paper. He better be if he’s not then, then you’ve got issues. But yeah, they’re gonna have to bring in a veteran safety now, and they’re gonna have to hope it it works out better than Eddie Jackson did last year, right? I mean, we’ve talked about it. I mean, they’ve had more success with late round draft picks like Chuck Clark or Gino stone or guys like that that have filled, you know, maybe not a starring role or a starting gig, but they’ve filled up really good, complimentary roles. They’ve had more success with guys like that that have been in their program for a couple years and kind of learn and cut their teeth and understand the way the Ravens want to play on the back end, rather than bringing in an Eddie Jackson, right? I mean, they’ve their free agent track record with safeties, you know, going back quite a while now, is, you know, it’s kind of, you know, it’s, it’s a mixed bag at bat. What a guy from Seattle was the worst, right? Yeah. I mean, well, I mean, Earl Thomas, the ability wasn’t the issue with him. He was just crazy for, for lack of a, you know, lack of a better term. But, you know, I mean, Tony Jefferson, I love the guy. Wasn’t a bad player, but certainly was not the high priced player that they, they, they paid him to be, you know, he was much more of a value concern there. I mean, Eric Weddle is really the only veteran safety they’ve signed in the last 10 years that you would say, Wow, that really worked. And you know that was part partly cap and partly him getting older. But so when you have a guy like ardarius Washington, who you develop, who you like, what he’s become, who helps save your season in the second half of last year, it wasn’t just him, but just him being part of that solution, it hurts to lose that. The silver lining is that they drafted Malachi Starks, and the silver lining is that it’s mid May, rather than mid August or mid September or mid November, where, if something like this happens, and then you say, oh my gosh, what are we going to do? You’ve got a long time to figure this out, and you just the big key here is they need Malachi Starks to be ready out of the gate. And I don’t think that’s I don’t think that’s unrealistic, but at the same time, you really like the scenario they had, where you had Hamilton and Washington as your starters, and Starks, they could bring along a little more slowly, you know, they could base their sub packages, and what he’s comfortable, what he does best, you know, what he’s comfortable doing, all that. And now you have to, you kind of have to revisit the math a little bit in terms of, Okay, how many three safety spots are you going to play? How much nickel Are you going to play? What’s your cornerback depth looking like? You know, are you going to bring in a veteran safety? So, so you have to look at those things. And again, devastating. No. I mean, to your point, Kyle Hamilton’s the one that you’re pressing the panic button. You’re sounding the alarm if you lose Kyle Hamilton, because the guy’s a transcendent, special player in this league. So, but this definitely hurts. I mean, you know, I again, I think our Darius Washington, even if Malachi Starks was going to be a star to the point where he’s a defensive rookie of the year candidate, Washington was still going to be on the field a whole lot for this defense. So now, you know, best case scenario, maybe you have them in December or January and but you certainly can’t plan for that. So you’re going to have to go and look at some of those veteran options. And you know, hope, hope that one of those guys can work. Because I don’t. I’m not saying this to be disrespectful to Beau braid or Senussi. But you’re talking about an undrafted free agent a year ago and a late round pick a year ago. I mean, those aren’t guys that you’re necessarily penciling into to play real snaps in your defense. Those are special teams guys at this stage. So certainly anticipate whether it’s going to be for OTAs or whether it’s something they do later. You know, later this summer, they’re going to need to add a veteran safety to the mix, because, like I said, they want to play three safeties, not saying necessarily every single play, but they want that to be a big part of their defense. And because of where they were last year, they had to go away with go away from that in the second half. And they made it work. But as we saw, it forced them to use Kyle Hamilton a little bit differently, that he played great, don’t get me wrong, but wasn’t that big splash player, kind of wrecking ball all over the field in the way that you could deploy him previously?
Nestor Aparicio 20:52
You know, I was going to talk about, like football and ask about off season, and we talked so much about, we haven’t mentioned Derek Henry’s name. I don’t think we’ve said Lamar name in a couple of months, since he got screwed out of the MVP and all that the schedules coming out, the schedule is coming out, you know. So, you know, that’s all we’ll have at this point, and that’s where all the oxygen will be. But you know, it is a long off season for all of these young people who have girls, cars, travel, fun, family, you know, whatever jet ski they’re on, whatever terrible thing they’re doing, whatever workout they’re in, whatever wind sprint they’re running, whatever Hill they’re running up that, you know, bubble wrapping these guys in the off season, in a general sense, keeping them out of jail, you know, keeping from not making it rain in Vegas, keeping them Off massage tables. And the things that you know would happen 10 years later, just all the drama that goes into this, they don’t play a game for four more months. The next two days is going to be about, am I going to Green Bay? Am I going to Dublin? Am I going to Spain? Play a game in Spain, I would just say that the health of the players is still paramount for the coaches in the building and for what they’re trying to do out there to win football games, because that’s all that matters. I mean, they’re, you know, sexual assaults and and zero top we can talk about that all day. All they care about is who’s matching up on who in third, Nate and buffalo when Josh Allen’s got the ball and the seasons on the line, and it’s not going to be our Darius Washington and that, that that’s devastating in the building for a day or two or three in regard to now, what are we going to do? Because that that’s where they are. We’re all into schedule, schedule, schedule. The people that matter out there is like, okay, next man up. Now, what are we going to do? Yeah,
Luke Jones 22:41
8and all those injury questions. It’s why you want your guys in the building working out this time of year, training the way you want them to train. I mean, again, like I said, they came off of an extraordinarily healthy season. I mean, Aaron shots are good pal, you know, a friend of the program who we have on a few times a year, years and years ago, football outsiders, which obviously is defunct now, but they developed adjusted games lost as a more, you know, a way to quantify injuries a little better than just, hey, just look. How many guys do you have on IR? Right? Because that doesn’t tell you a whole lot. You know. That doesn’t give you a whole lot of content. If your guy on IR is Lamar. You don’t need any more than one, yeah, but, but you could have 15 guys on IR, but if eight of those guys are camp bodies and a couple of the guys were special teams players, that’s not as bad as if you have 10 guys on IR, but six of them are starters, right? So, so adjusted games lost is a metric he developed years ago. The Ravens were the healthiest team in the NFL last year, and I believe they’re
Nestor Aparicio 23:44
being the most unhealthy. And what was it? 2221
Luke Jones 23:47
Yeah, 21 and even 22 they had some hangover from that. You know, 2015 they had a ton
Nestor Aparicio 23:54
of injuries playing the game in Cincinnati. That was the year that was a mess. Oh,
8Luke Jones 23:58
yeah, sure, sure. You know, they back to back? Well, you lose Lamar Jackson in December, back to back years but, but anyway, they had this extraordinarily healthy season last year. And all you can think is, are you going to be able to duplicate that? Are you going to be able to come close to that? Duplicate? Unrealistic? Can you come close to that? And when you lose a starter in mid May. I mean, it just doesn’t mean that they’re doomed and they’re they’re bound to now repeat 2021 or anything crazy like that, but it’s a reminder of these are human beings, and this is where, you know, I would make mention. I’ll give a plug here, because I thought it was kind of neat. You know, Ronnie Stanley actually did a players Tribune story earlier this week and came out and actually talked about his ankle injury and everything he went through. And, you know, it’s a reminder that, even with all the money, even, and to your point, you talked about all the different things that these guys have going on. You know, these guys have kids. You know, they have significant others. They have family members that might. Up, you will all these different things you go through, but they’re human beings. And yeah, Ronnie Stanley got paid an extraordinary amount of money in 2020 and then wrecked his ankle two days later. I mean, thank goodness for him that it wasn’t a case that he got hurt when he was playing out a rookie deal and hadn’t signed yet. You know, he got that financial security that, frankly, he deserved he had earned at that point in time, but he really talked at length about how devastating that all was for him. I mean, he had a cast on his from his hip all the way down to his toes after he wrecked his ankle the way he did. And, you know, he talked about coming back the following year and how he ended up tearing another ligament in his ankle, and that’s what forced him off the field after that terrible Raiders game week one where he looked nothing like himself. It’s just a reminder that there is a human element here at work here that, you know, we, we tend to think in terms of, oh, what’s it going to what’s the impact going to be on the football field? And understandably so, I mean, and the Ravens themselves, after feeling for our Darius Washington, Eric DaCosta and John Harbaugh, and they’re pro scouts, and they’re all getting too Okay, who are we bringing in? Who’s going to replace him, right? So, so there’s always that idea that the you know, the wheel is going to keep turning, but there is a human element, and you know, whether you’re talking about Ronnie Stanley, who did get paid very handsomely and then had a devastating injury that threatened his career. Or whether you’re talking about someone like ardarius Washington, who got what, about $3 million as a restricted free agent this year? I mean, I’m glad he got that much, but now, you know, it’s a contract year, even if he makes it back at the end of the year, what, you know, what’s he going to be? What? What’s his role going to be at that point in time. You know, it impacts his livelihood. So that’s where you remember. You can’t put these guys in bubble wrap. I mean, as much as it sounds that way to fans and to media, but we’re not seeing these guys in the off season. They’re always getting ready. I mean, these guys take a couple weeks off after the season’s over, maybe they go on vacation, maybe a month at the most, but then they’re right back to it, because they have to, you know, the the idea that you want to try to make it through a season at a high level and playing at a high level and staying healthy and all of that. I mean, that takes a lot of work to get to that point. And unfortunately, what happened with art Arias Washington reminds that, you know it can happen at any point, so it’s just a reminder that human element, but also a reminder why you need depth on your football team, and that’s where the Ravens have to go back to the drawing board now. Thank goodness they drafted Malachi Starks. Can you imagine the scenario if they had taken a safety later in the draft? Then we’d be having a way different discussion right now, but this certainly hurts the back end of their defense, and it hurts some of their versatility. And, you know, I think they’ll figure out a way to make everything work, and I think their defense will still be very, very, very formidable, but that that path is a little, you know, it’s a little hazy now, when you lose ardarius Washington, and you don’t have that, those three safety alignments in the same way that you were anticipating at some point. We’ll talk about
Nestor Aparicio 28:04
Ronnie Stanley, because I think I’ve been on the air 35 years. I can’t really remember anybody that had that kind of an injury where, for years, we wrote the guy off and he came back, it’s late, and got paid again. Yeah, it’s, it’s a good story. I can’t think of anyone even in that position, you know, I mean to make Jimmy, Jimmy Smith playing his way into his mid 30s, which was shocking, you know, John OTT. It got him off, it got him off the field, right? You know, some of the guys he might have been, he might have been a guy slogging around for three or four more years, if he wanted to, with 10 million a year at that point, in his life, didn’t want to, didn’t need to. Had one like all of that. The Ronnie Stanley thing, you know, it is worth noting, in a general sense. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anything like that in 35 years. I mean,
Luke Jones 28:54
think about it, from 2020 through 2022 when he finally got back on the field consistently. I mean, he played a total of 18 games those seasons. I mean, think about how much time he missed and and to be clear, we know Ronnie Stanley’s also had some other injuries here and there. I mean, it’s not like he was 100% durable until the ankle injury, but it really is. I really as I read his the piece that he penned, you know, for the players Tribune, I really started to think about it. I said, you know, and I understand it, you know, media, we talked about the lack of availability. Fans were very frustrated. At times. People have even questioned, you know, like, how much do you want to play, man? Like, are you going to get back on the field? All that? Because, from an outside perspective, people always do, from
Nestor Aparicio 29:40
8an outside perspective, I had $80 million in the bank. No question, no question. Screw this. Right?
Luke Jones 29:46
Exactly So, so people will at least pose those questions and make those comments, and they’re not fair in many cases, and they’re they can be cruel in many cases, but I started thinking about this and how well he played last. Last year, the fact that he got another contract. It’s not the highest paid left tackle in the league, but got $20 million a year, even if it’s for a three year deal. You know, it’s little more on the modest side compared to the deal he signed in 2020 relative to the cap and market value and all that. But I started thinking about that. I’m like, This guy should probably be celebrated a little bit more, just in terms of making it back to what he did last year, playing every game in a season for the first time in his career, coming off of a pay cut, coming off of not being close to the guy he had been prior to the injury. And last year. I mean, he made the Pro Bowl as an alternate last year.
Nestor Aparicio 30:37
Well, the Ravens think they’re going to win a Super Bowl with him, yeah. I mean, they in his 30s, banged up, put back together, Humpty. Dumpty the Ravens have put 60 million bucks up and said, We think we can win a Super Bowl with you still. Yeah,
Luke Jones 30:48
and that’s not to say that. It’s not to say he’s going to be perfect the rest of the way. I mean, the ankle might catch up to him again at some point in time. But I just think it’s a really good it’s, it was a good reading that the article was a reminder of what goes on behind the scenes, with rehab, with these guys, when you have these major injuries. And this was an extreme one, right? This was a an injury that essentially cost them two full seasons. So it was just a reminder that there’s a lot that goes on, goes on there. And I thought it was interesting that he went out of his way to really be complimentary of Lamar Jackson in that article to say, you know, guys checked in on me, but he said Lamar is as genuine as it gets. And I thought that was cool to see that again. You know, it’s a players Tribune thing. It’s something that’s polished up a little bit in terms of the publisher and portraying players a certain way. But I still thought it’s a story that’s worth was worth telling, and I think it’s something where for as much criticism and questioning and wondering and all that about Ronnie Stanley these last five years, the fact that he got back to where he was last year, performance wise, durability wise, and they get another contract. You know, I’m telling, I’m guessing, right now our Darius Washington is looking at Ronnie Stanley as someone for inspiration, you know, as, hey, I can get back, and whether it’s going to be in Baltimore or somewhere else, I, you know, I can get back and I can play at a high level and still have a chance to carve out a career for myself in this league. But it, you know, this again, the Stanley piece, I thought it was illuminating in terms of just how much he went through, just how much the Ravens didn’t tell us about Stan Lee’s injuries. And I think sometimes that you know that idea can be a hindrance to how a player is perceived. And I’ve thought that with various players over the years who dealt with injuries, that the team wasn’t necessarily forthcoming about, but the fact that he’s made it, made it back, like I said, I think it’s pretty cool story, and kind of made me not that I didn’t feel this way already about him making it back, but it kind of gave me some different perspective. As far as this guy’s story should probably be celebrated a little bit more in these parts, just because he made it back and the money changes how people perceive that, because he made a ton of money while he wasn’t on the field for the Ravens those few years. But that wasn’t because he didn’t want to be, you know. And I think it’s a reminder of, you know, all those cliches about blood, sweat and tears that these guys put into it, you know, they they certainly work their butts off. And again, I feel happy for him that he’s gotten back to this point in his career now after where he was five years ago. He
Nestor Aparicio 33:29
is Lou Jones. He is Baltimore, Luke. You can find both of us out of Baltimore. Positive Luke will be at the ballpark here, running between the raindrops, and my ears will be ringing from AC, DC and Pat Benatar. We’re going to be in Las Vegas, Nevada this weekend for the Maryland party. Broadcasting from there, you’ll be hearing all of that work all next week, our next Maryland crab cake tour is on the 28th at Failes. That is Wednesday afternoon. The Saint Louis Cardinals are in town that day. We will have scratch off so the Maryland lottery are Back to the Future Maryland lottery scratch offs on the 28th also the seventh of June, we return to Hampstead, beautiful Carroll County, God’s country. We’ll be at Green mount station having crab cakes. And if Luke’s lucky, he get to join me. You can find both of us out anywhere social media travels. We’ll obviously have the NFL schedule coming your way. If you hear this on the backside, it’s there. Get on the wnst tech service, brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy, and you will get it all first, little baseball, little football, lots of politics. Did a great crab cake tour stop last week at a red brick station with Bill blocker. We get a lot of feedback on that, and and those, and those delicious sandwiches in the wine bar over on the avenue in White Marsh. So good stuff, getting out in the community, having some great conversations. It is freak this week, Donna Brothers has joined us. Dick Girardi has joined us. Randy Moss, no, not the one that catches baseballs. The journalists, speaking of journalists, journalism going to be probably an even money favorite by the time the track comes down on Saturday afternoon. So good Preakness, Dwayne Lucas, Bob Baffert, all the legends in town here this week. Out at the racetrack. I am Nestor. He’s Luke. We are W, N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore, positive. You.
