The center of attention for the Baltimore Ravens will always be two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson but from the center out the offensive line will be under the microscope as training camp gets set to begin in Owings Mills. Luke Jones and Nestor preview the NFL season and discuss the massive changes for everyone in #RavensFlock who will witness rookie head coach Jesse Minter take over the program.
Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ upcoming season, focusing on the signing of Ethan Posick as the new center, replacing Tyler Linderbaum. Posick, 31, has 97 career starts and is expected to provide stability after his Achilles injury. They also highlighted the importance of the offensive line, including upgrades at guard and right tackle. The conversation touched on the new coaching staff led by Declan Doyle and Jesse Minter, and the potential impact on Lamar Jackson’s contract negotiations. They emphasized the need for a strong defense and the importance of health for key players like Ronnie Stanley and Mark Andrews.
Ravens Offseason Moves and Camp Preparations
- Nestor Aparicio discusses the upcoming Maryland Crab Cake Tour and various sponsors, including the Maryland Lottery, GBMC, and Farnin and Dermer.
- Nestor mentions the humidity and air conditioning, promoting Farnin and Dermer’s air filters.
- Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the Ravens’ offseason moves, including the signing of Ethan Posick as a center, and the implications for the offensive line.
- Luke Jones explains the significance of Posick’s experience and how he fits into the Ravens’ offensive line plans.
Impact of Ethan Posick and Offensive Line Upgrades
- Luke Jones elaborates on the Ravens’ need for a reliable center after the departure of Tyler Linderbaum.
- Jones compares the offensive line upgrades, including Ronnie Stanley, John Simpson, Daniel Falele, and Roger Rosengarden.
- Jones expresses optimism about the offensive line’s potential improvement with Posick and other new additions.
- Nestor and Jones discuss the importance of first down success for the Ravens’ offense, especially with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry.
New Coaching Staff and Player Expectations
- Nestor and Jones talk about the excitement surrounding the new coaching staff, including Declan Doyle and Jesse Minter.
- Jones highlights the unique nature of the coaching staff build-up, with Eric DeCosta having more influence than usual.
- Jones discusses the potential impact of the new coaching staff on the Ravens’ performance, including the defense and offense.
- Nestor and Jones express optimism about the defense, especially with high-priced players and a new defensive coordinator.
Lamar Jackson’s Contract and Offensive Coordinator’s Role
- Nestor and Jones discuss the ongoing contract negotiations for Lamar Jackson and the potential impact on the team.
- Jones believes a contract extension is likely within the next couple of weeks, but acknowledges the possibility of it being tabled until the end of the season.
- Jones emphasizes the importance of veteran players like Roquan Smith and Ronnie Stanley for the team’s success.
- Nestor and Jones discuss the potential challenges and opportunities for the offense with a new play-calling coordinator.
Preseason and Roster Depth
- Nestor and Jones talk about the importance of preseason games for evaluating the fringes of the roster.
- Jones highlights the need for depth at running back, especially with the potential injury risks to Derrick Henry.
- Nestor and Jones discuss the importance of staying healthy, especially for key players like Lamar Jackson and Mark Andrews.
- Jones expresses guarded optimism about the team’s overall depth and the potential for a successful season.
NFL League-Wide Changes and Competition
- Nestor and Jones discuss the significant changes across the NFL, including new coaches, quarterback situations, and stadiums.
- Jones highlights the challenges and opportunities for teams like the Ravens, Bills, and Bengals with new coaching staffs.
- Nestor and Jones discuss the potential impact of these changes on the league’s overall competitiveness.
- Jones emphasizes the importance of staying healthy and managing the new coaching staff’s expectations.
AFC and NFC Division Outlooks
- Nestor and Jones analyze the AFC and NFC divisions, highlighting key teams and potential challenges.
- Jones discusses the potential for the Ravens to be a top team in the AFC, despite the new coaching staff and some veteran player uncertainties.
- Nestor and Jones discuss the potential for teams like the Chiefs, Patriots, and Bills to bounce back after disappointing seasons.
- Jones highlights the importance of staying healthy and managing the new coaching staff’s expectations for the Ravens’ success.
Overall League Expectations and Ravens’ Potential
- Nestor and Jones discuss the overall league expectations for the upcoming season, including potential sleepers and contenders.
- Jones emphasizes the importance of staying healthy and managing the new coaching staff’s expectations for the Ravens’ success.
- Nestor and Jones discuss the potential for the Ravens to be a top team in the AFC, despite the new coaching staff and some veteran player uncertainties.
- Jones highlights the importance of staying healthy and managing the new coaching staff’s expectations for the Ravens’ success.
Upcoming Events and Community Engagement
- Nestor and Jones discuss upcoming events, including the Maryland Crab Cake Tour and various community engagements.
- Nestor mentions the importance of community involvement and staying connected with fans.
- Jones highlights the importance of staying healthy and managing the new coaching staff’s expectations for the Ravens’ success.
- Nestor and Jones discuss the potential for the Ravens to be a top team in the AFC, despite the new coaching staff and some veteran player uncertainties.
Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively getting you through the summertime to football season. On Friday, we’re going to be Pizza Johns doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour. It’s all presented by our friends at the Maryland Lottery. I’ll have some Raven scratch offs to give away. These are the Maryland treasures. I dig these, and the the real treasure is the boardwalks. I got to get down there next month because it is summertime around here. Our friends at GBMC keeping me safe and sound all summer long, and Farnin and Dermer, the comfort guys, keeping everybody comfortable. I tell you this, man. Woke up this morning. Humidity was crazy. I had had the windows open because it was a nice night. Click the button. Air condition came on. It’s perfect. Change those air filters. Zach came on this week from Farn and Dermer to tell us, “Hey, man, the the smoke last week, no bueno. Change the filters. You can get the cheap filters too. He told me that. So Lou Jones is here. He he’ll be a not so cheap filter for all things our Ravens next week once we get the thing going here. I hope it’s not 109 when they break camp like it was two weeks ago, like it was when I had the the microphone out for Rutschman in Philadelphia last week. But bound to happen. But camp’s a lot different. Even Joe Flacco would say, “Ah, don’t worry about Luke, man. These camps are nothing these days. Even 40-three-year-old guys can go to camp and be quarterbacks in Cincinnati. We’re there, right? I mean, you know, for all the hubbub of the Orioles and winning streaks, and you turning down that big Boston trip last week, and you know, the Phillies are coming to town next week. The whole deal trading deadline. We got baseball stuff, but this is the first time we talk football since you went away on vacation. The tragedy with Kaleus Campbell’s family just unspeakable. There’s been some stuff, and I’ll let you get to it. But by and large, it’s time to go and you know put the play on, as they say, right?
Luke Jones 2:05
Yeah, I think so, and I think the biggest signal of that to this point is the signing of Ethan Posick, who’s someone who gives them much more experience at the center position. Now, I want to be clear here: this isn’t Tyler Linderbaum. This is someone who is pretty widely perceived to be on on the backside, you know, on the back nine of his career. He’s going to be 36 year old, or not 36 Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare everyone there. He’s going to be 31 years old in the first week of August. So, but he started 97 games. He started 13 games last year, and the reason why he was available. Was he tore his Achilles late last year? But had recently kind of been cleared to say, “Hey, I’m ready to go. And the Ravens had maintained some dialog and maintained communication with him. But he’s going to come in. I’m guessing they’re not just going to hand him the starting job, but he has way more experience than the likes of Danny Pinter, certainly more experience than Javon Gwynn or Corey Bullock. He’s going to be the guy most likely. So I kind of view it through the lens of yeah that was kind of the last major piece that I think they needed to to bring in. Right? We can debate another edge rusher. We can debate another wide receiver being added added to the mix, and and maybe those things will still arrive at some point in time. Keep in mind, someone like Jadavion Clowney was signed. I think what third week of August a few years ago. Kyle Van Noy was signed in late September, right? I mean, you can always make additions, but I think for this offense, with Declan Doyle being the new coordinator and a new offensive system, knowing how important pass protection is, especially when you have a franchise quarterback, especially when you have high expectations, especially after seeing how problematic it was last year, you just you couldn’t sell me on the idea that you’re going to go from Tyler Linderbaum to Danny Pinter, who has 10 career starts, and you know a guy that’s you know perceived by some to be better at guard than center anyway. So you bring in Posick. I think you and I talked about this in passing off the air the other day. If you’re kind of looking at it in terms of one by one by one by one on the offensive line, right? Ronnie Stanley, year older, but coming off of a good year, you still have high expectations that Ronnie Stanley is going to be a good player, even if he’s not going to be the All Pro that he once was. Once upon a time, John Simpson upgrade over Andrew Voorhees. I’m not saying that it’s going to be going from a D minus kind of player to an A plus by any means. I think it’s much more of a modest upgrade, but I think it’s an upgrade. It better be because they’re paying them $10 million a year. We’ll get to center in a moment. Right guard, you go from Daniel Falele to Vango Yuane. You’re hoping that that can be a pretty sizable upgrade. Especially long term, you’re hoping it’s a home run of an upgrade, and then right tackle for me, like Roger Rosengarden, like this is the year, take the next step, right? Turn yourself from a solid starting player to a very clear, above average right tackle, and I think he has the ability to do that. So they love their offensive line coach and Dwayne Ledford, I’ll hear all that, but you go back to the center. You couldn’t have Tyler Linderbaum a year ago, who was a minus a kind of player, right? A three-time Pro Bowl center, and then have a D minus at the center position, right? Just looking at it in terms of, you know, not an offensive line guru, but just looking at net positives and net negatives in terms of going from 25 to 2026, that was a major, major, major drop off on paper. You’re hoping Ethan Posick can be, you know, average starting center. If he can be that, coupled with upgrades at both guard spots, now you’ve got the makings of an offensive line that can be better than last year. Now, does it make it elite?
Luke Jones 6:06
Does it make it a top five starting offensive line? I’m not ready to go anywhere close to that point, but I think you have more optimism now because you’ve got a legitimate, experienced starter there. I mean, this is a guy who has played in the league since 2017 was a former second-round pick. You know, he’s probably not going to play 17 games. You know, he’s not someone. You know, he’s someone who’s had some nagging injuries here and there. But if he’s recovered from the Achilles, I would think, barring some, barring him really looking like he’s washed, quite frankly, I would think he’s going to be the guy. And for me, that was again. We’ll talk about Madabike. We’ll talk about some other positions where they could upgrade or add some depth. But I mean, that center spot was just so glaring. Going through the spring and seeing the guys that were working there. So for me this was a no-brainer. Again, we’ll see how he fares. We’ll see how much of a downgrade it is from Linderbaum to Posik, but I feel better about that than going Linderbaum to Danny Pinter, right, or Javon Gwynn, who has barely even played in the league. So this is something they had to do, and I think the timing, you know, came together well. They had the cap space to do it, and for me, it makes sense. And now you need to see him look the part. Which, given his track record, there’s a reasonable chance to think he can be decent there. He can be average there at this stage of his career.
Nestor Aparicio 7:37
Luke Jones is here. We’re talking to Ravens football on the eve of camp and trying to answer these questions, right? Like you know, the first 30 years when Eric DeCasta was in my phone and I’d reached him and he called me and we chat about things. He told me what he felt good about, what he felt bad about, what he felt okay about. I mean, I could see the look on his face.
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Luke Jones 8:00
How do you think he feels about it? I mean, I think there’s an excitement. I think collectively, just to see what this looks like with a new head coach and a new coaching staff that they really like, right? I mean, they’re excited. the The difference here when when you hire a first time head coach and Jesse Minter, and obviously Jesse had a ton of input and influence, and ultimately, it’s his staff. But when you are hiring a first-time head coach and someone who’s on the younger side, he’s not that young. I mean, Declan Doyle’s 30 years old. Jesse Minter’s around my age, right? But he has a more limited coaching tree, so to speak, in terms of just all the who he who he’s worked with. I mean, he’s got some guys he’s worked with in college. He’s got some guys he’s worked with in in the NFL. Obviously, there are Harbaugh connections, both John and Jim, right? But this was a little more unique in the sense that Eric DeCosta was more involved with building out a staff, unlike you know when John Harbaugh’s your head coach for 18 years and he’s in his 60s and he’s coached with so many different guys for so many different years and has all these different connections. This was different, so I think on that front, Eric has had an opportunity to put his fingerprints on this team a little bit more than usual, you know. I don’t want to, I don’t want to make it sound like John ran the entire show across the board because I mean Eric’s been the GM for quite a while, right? But so I think there’s an excitement there. I think there’s an excitement that they have a younger coaching staff. I think they feel that it can be a little more cutting edge, maybe a little more innovative. We’ll see. There are lots of coaches and lots of young coaches who come in and are the flavor of the month, and then you realize, oh, that’s that doesn’t work as well, right? So, so there’s that part of it as it pertains to the roster. I mean, obviously, you kind of look at the headlines from March. In April, you know Max Max Crosby, and then it’s Trey Hendrickson, right? But they’re really happy with Trey Hendrickson. I think they’re happy with him throughout the spring. I think, especially if Namdi Matabike is in the picture, I think there’s some excitement about what their pass rush can look like. Certainly compared to where it was last year, which was pretty non-existent, so you have that. You know, the one thing that they didn’t get done, and they haven’t gotten done to this point, is the extension for Lamar Jackson, which I very much downplay that being a distraction as it turn as it pertains to on the field, right? I don’t think Lamar’s thinking about his contract when he’s in the moment. I don’t think anyone’s thinking about that when they’re in the moment, but it’s something that hangs over their head, especially if if there are health issues or things of that nature, right? So you don’t
Nestor Aparicio 10:51
expect any movement on that, do you? Do you expect that? I mean, next week that that’s going to happen or no? I mean,
Luke Jones 10:56
if it’s going to come, it feels like it’s going to be the next couple weeks, right? Because it’s one thing to talk about negotiating contracts during the season when there’s an agent involved, but when it’s the franchise quarterback and it’s a new offensive system and you’ve got a very new interior offensive line, I mean, there’s just a lot there for to to to then think that Lamar is going to be negotiating with Eric DeCosta in the evenings during training camp. You know what I mean. Not saying it’s impossible, but for me, it kind of felt like if it was going to happen, it was going to be in this dead period from mid June up until they get things going next week. Now, I think training camp still does afford itself an environment where that could still theoretically happen. I think it’s much more likely that it could still happen during training camp than when you get to week one. Then I then I really do feel like, all right, you know, maybe other than maybe the bye week, you know, that this might be tabled, and then you’re talking about it from the moment the season ends, whenever it is, January, February, whatever. So, so that’s there, but I think you know to go back to how Eric’s feeling about this roster. You know they’re they’re counting on some veteran players at some pretty important spots. You know I know you’ve talked about that a whole lot. I’m I’m not going to downplay that. I agree with you. I think there’s certainly some veteran players, even if they’re not as long in the tooth in terms of age, but you just look at production and not just their production, but how much they’re making. You know, I’ve talked about it. You know, someone like Roquan Smith. You know, I’m just using him as an example. He’s not like at the top of my list, but Roquan’s not. It’s not like he’s a 35 year old Ray Lewis trying to hold on, but he’s making a whole lot of money, and they need a way better version of Roquan Smith than they’ve gotten over the last couple seasons. To me, that’s just that’s just reality. Now you’re hoping Jesse Minter can unlock that, right? I mean, that’s one of the reasons why they hire Jesse Minter is area of expertise on the defensive side of the football as the head coach. So, so, so you have some of that, but I think with them having added this, you know, Posik as kind of the last starting piece, you know, let’s at least say that much, you know, even if they bring in a couple more veteran depth guys or something like that. But you know, once they now that they’ve done that, I think you look at both sides of the ball, and that’s not to say that there aren’t some question marks or some areas of relative concern, but I think for the first time now it feels like okay, if you had to play play a game on Sunday, this is a representative roster across the board. Certainly has some areas of of strength. Certainly has a lot more turnover on the offensive side, right? That’s I am very interested to see what this offense looks like, especially early in the season, given how much turnover there is, and given the fact that you have a first time play caller as your offensive coordinator. So, you know, the offense I could see being a little choppy early on, you know, I think that’s a fair concern. Let’s say, you know, I think so much
Nestor Aparicio 14:08
of the offense is first down for me. Like first down, yeah, positive yardage, good sec, good second down D and Ds. I mean, like that front, and that is the Lamar advantage-that is the difference maker. That, quite frankly, was not the Barry Sanders advantage, where sometimes he’d run backwards and put you in second and 16. That certainly is not the my left guard’s going to jump offsides, you know, or jump before the count and put you in first and 20. You know, just bad down and distances for this team for what they want to accomplish and for what Derrick Henry represents on first down and what Lamar used to represent. I don’t think Lamar’s running off tackle on first down on design plays anymore. I think Greg Roman left town three coordinators ago. You know, so I I and I. Certainly, at his age and where they are, and the volatility of all of this, given if he takes the wrong hit in the wrong way and the wrong bone bruise, so I don’t want to put him in eggshells, but I, you know, bubble wrap him. But I same thing with Derrick Henry and the Keaton Mitchell exit, and the John Harbaugh exit, and the John Harbaugh guys exit, and the Pat Ricard exit, like all of that. Do tell, you know. I can’t wait to see. We’re not going to see anything in the preseason. You’re going to be out on the field, you and Jamison’s Rebecca. You know, everybody’s been looking for things, and Chad Steele be looking for reasons to throw all of you out. At some point, they’re going to go out and play on the 13th of September against the Colts, and I’m assuming it’s not going to look like it used to look in a lot of ways. But first down’s got to be successful. That’s all I’m going to say. That’s all I’m going to say. I mean,
Luke Jones 16:00
and that that applies for any offense, right? I mean, generally speaking, if you if you look at the percentage of drives that break down, you probably are going to find something that wasn’t very good on first down, right? A pre-snap penalty, an incompletion, a run that gets stuffed for two yards, right? I mean, like whatever it might be, if you’re in second and long, your your odds of converting a first down, let alone scoring on that drive, drop pretty dramatically. So I’m I’m in agreement with you, but that’s where I think it will be interesting. You know, you hear so much good about Declan Doyle. You know the players were very excited about it. Sean Payton spoke about him in very flattering terms. All of that, you know, you you hear people around the league wonder, and and you kind of look at Lamar Jackson’s track record with a coordinator in the first year, Greg Roman when he took over for Marty Morningwig, Lamar MVP, Todd Monken, first year with Lamar Jackson. Lamar MVP, right? So even if Lamar doesn’t win an MVP, which he very well could, because it’s Lamar Jackson, you’re still talking about excitement and optimism there. But they do have a lot of new, a lot of moving parts here with the O line, with the tight end position, right? We’ve talked about that wide receiver. I mean, you love Zay Flowers. Zay Flowers is a heck of a football player. I Zay Flowers is underrated in a lot of circles. But what about if something happens to Zay Flowers, right? You you brought up Keaton Mitchell in terms of him no longer being in the picture, what if something happens to Derrick Henry? What does running game look like then? So yeah, there are some, as is always the case with the salary cap era, they have some areas where there is some shaky depth and some uncertainty. So the offense, I think that you know, there’s when you have Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, there’s always going to be excitement about your offense, right? I mean, there’s no question about that. But there are a lot of moving parts and a lot of new pieces to integrate here. And again, you’re talking about a first-time play calling offensive coordinator. I think the upside is very much there. But what does it look like coming out of the gate? What does it look like early in the season? And that’s where you you do look at the schedule on paper. You and I have talked about that from the moment the schedule came out. It’s pretty forgiving early on on paper. Now you never you never know, right? You never know if a team that was bad last year is suddenly good, vice versa. We injuries are always a big part of that, but the schedule does not look like the schedule looked on paper early last year, when they got off to a one in five start, right? So, so you hope that helps you. But for me, I mean, the expectations need to be really high for the defense, right? I mean, you look at some of the high-priced players. You look at the fact that Jesse Minter is going to be calling the defense. You’ve got Anthony Weaver as the defensive coordinator. Who, no, is it going to be calling the plays on Sundays? But it’s still going to be very important when it comes to the game planning and putting together what they’re going to do over the course of the week. You have all pro talent and big time contracts at every level of this defense. This needs to be a really good defense.
Nestor Aparicio 19:17
All the more reason to think they should it should excel early in the season given the
Luke Jones 19:20
schedule. And and because of what everything I mentioned, week
8Nestor Aparicio 19:23
three they need to be a top five defense. There’s no doubt about it, right? Because
Luke Jones 19:26
of every, especially because of everything I mentioned with the offense, that there could be a couple hiccups here and there with the offense early on. Not that I think it’ll be bad, you know. I I don’t know if if you can have a bad offense if you have a healthy Lamar Jackson. I don’t. I don’t know if that’s possible, but it could be choppy. It could be a little inconsistent. There could be some some growing pains with the interior offensive line, right? I mean, but the defense, man, especially, and and we’re going to find out. And you know, there continues to be, I don’t know, probably more than guarded optimism when it comes. To Madabike, but until we really see how that looks, yes, that’s still a question mark. But they’ve got Trey Hendrickson now, and you know they’ve got a secondary that I think is, you know, I’d like them to have a little more outside corner depth. You know, that’s some one thing I do point to and say, okay, you know, if there’s something about the secondary I am a little uneasy about, but
Nestor Aparicio 20:22
well, you’ll see some of that in these goofy preseason games, right? Yeah, like that. That’s we talk about what are we looking for in these games nobody watches, that nobody cares about that we look forward to, and then the minute it starts, we’re like, oh, fake football again. Yeah. By the way, I just want to interject to you. You made this all-star game thing, and I-I mean, I-I basically shat upon you for not driving from Wildwood back to Philly to see the all-star game. That it wasn’t important to you, whatever. You’re like, it’s an all-star game, and I’m thinking to myself, like literally, even when I sold this to my wife, like, hey, I’m getting on the train, and by the way, the train was $5 No, no lie. So I didn’t spend a lot of money in Philly. But like, I’m like, she’s like, she’s half like, you’re going to Philly for the All Star. You don’t even like real baseball. It’s fake baseball. I’m like, what do you mean it’s fake baseball? It’s real All Star game and Pete Rosen and Ray Fossey and I’m like, and we’re getting one. It’s going to be and then she’s like, “Do you watch the NHL All Star? Do you watch the NBA? You make fun of the Pro Bowl every year. You go to the Super Bowl. You fly away by a hotel room so you can make fun of the Pro Bowl. So I don’t know why the All Star game still holds some, you know, hope for me. So I’m just saying, like preseason, they still sell it, and it’s they wear the helmets and like all of that. Just finding some level of value in it, in the way that I tried to find value in the Adley Ruchman answers last week, or value in my friendships that I ran into people. Preseason football, there’s value in it to somebody, and they’re charging people for it, I guess. But I, I think the real value next couple weeks is going to be the fringes of the roster. And what happens if something happens to Roquan? What happens if Ronnie Stanley? What happens if Marlon Humbert? What happens? You know, all of these veteran players and Derrick Henry too. That’s where I went back to Keaton Mitchell and thought, who’s going to spell him? Because it better not be Lamar so much. I don’t think. Yeah, I mean, look, Derrick Henry. At some point in time, it might it might still be three years from now. Who knows? At some point in time, I said they were winning the Super Bowl with him, and they damn well better do it. But at some point in time, it is going to happen, and you know I’m not saying it becomes he falls off a cliff, but it could be that he gets nicked up a little bit more, right? He he has an anko in dude. The cliff, you know, but the cliff gets way worse if the center’s no good.
Luke Jones 22:58
Sure. Well, that’s that’s one. But if the left tackle got old, sure, no question. I mean, like we said, they are counting on some veteran players at some really important positions. There’s no doubt about that. That’s that’s where you know I think this team still has upside as as impressive as anyone in the league, other than maybe the Rams at this point with Miles Garrett now, right? Added to the mix, but but you know the floor when you have all the uncertainty of the newness of a new coaching staff and certain guys being another year older counting at some new players at some pretty important positions. They pub they have a lower floor this year than than recent years. I mean, I mean, let’s just call a spade a spade. As much as everyone wants to continue to throw dirt on John Harbaugh, even months after he’s been fired and is in New York now, the Ravens didn’t have too many years where they were a losing team or or went out there and had no chance under John Harbaugh, right? And and I’m not believe me, I’m not suggesting that for this group, but there is a lot more unknown when it comes to the coaching staff on down with with this football team. That yeah, I still like them to win the division. I still like them to be a playoff team, assuming number eight is healthy because that’s always the you know that’s always the rub. I mean that’s been the rub with the the Bengals, right? Joe Burrow not being healthy and it’s ruined their seasons when he has. Well, that’s the
Nestor Aparicio 24:24
league at this point, of course,
Luke Jones 24:26
no question. But but yeah, there there’s some unknown there. But yeah, I mean, like Derrick Henry, I do kind of look at everyone behind him. I mean, Justice Hills up there in age, right? And Justice Hills coming off of an injury plague season. I know Steve Bashati drafted, you know, Adam Randall, and I think he’s a really interesting prospect. I sincerely do. I think he’s someone, especially considering he was a wide receiver earlier in his collegiate career. I think he’s a really interesting wild card kind of player, like a guy that you might be able to move around and do some different things with. That said, if something happens to Derrick Henry in the first quarter of a game and he’s sidelined for the rest of the game or something like that, I don’t know if Adam Randall’s gonna be ready to carry the ball 15 times. You know what I mean? Like so, you know Rasheen Ali. Like yeah, like you you don’t have that. You know even though Keaton Mitchell had injuries himself and had limitations himself. You know, wasn’t good in blitz pickup, and you know, never really showed great ability as a receiver. But you knew he had shown some ability that if he touches the ball, he’s got a chance to go 70 yards. Like that’s what kind of home run hitter he is. That I just don’t know if any of those other guys behind Derrick Henry have that any kind of juice like that? I mean, we’ll see. So, but but you know, you just look at the roster overall. I mean, this should be this should should be a a good to really good football team. I’m not ready to say that they’re going to be the favorites in the AFC or anything like that. I need to see a whole lot as it pertains to some unknowns, including the coaching staff, before I’m ready to rubber stamp that. But this team has high expectations. But that’s what’s that’s the challenge for Jesse Minter as a first-time head coach. Brady in Buffalo. That’s the challenge for him. These are teams that have very high expectations, which is not typically what you find when you’re firing your head coach, right? You know, I’d say the same about, I guess to some extent, McCarthy and Pittsburgh. But I don’t think anyone thinks the Steelers, even though they won the division, I don’t think anyone views the Steelers as having that kind of ceiling. Hey, by the
Nestor Aparicio 26:33
way, I mean, just in a general sense. And by the way, Luke Jones is here, Baltimore. Luke Vineman on the other. Not to get off of the Ravens, but I feel like we’ve been beating this horse forever, and I’m going to go around the league, and I’m going to call some of my people, and especially if the Orioles fall apart or aren’t the factor that they need to be as we move into this and the election and just all the things I could be talking about in August, but the amount of change for the league, and the amount of change here to keep it interesting, interesting in regard to Minter and the defense and Lamar’s aging process and this 30-year-old whiz kid offensive coordinator. Just we have that Pittsburgh as a new coach for the first time, you know, in 25 years, and a quarterback who’s 43, Cincinnati’s navigating the Joe Burrow possibilities for where they are. Cleveland’s a mess. I didn’t even talk about them, but Buffalo’s got a new stadium and a new coach, right? There’s just a lot going on around the league. I mean, the Vrabel Rossini thing, the scandal that all of that is with where the Patriots were, where the Broncos played without their quarterback. I just think it’s this is where the league really wins people in a way that we could talk about the Orioles as being sort of sucky and still on the outside looking into the wild card maybe and okay and whatever and you know nobody’s really good in baseball except the Dodgers and they’re good because like look at how much money they spend and look at the way they do it I and the Knicks were a great story for, but you know they captivated Knicks fans, but I don’t know that it captivated everybody. The NFL is this thing that I feel like there’s been an exhale. I feel like World Cup. I feel like even for you and me, even around town, nobody’s been coming up to me talking about Lamar or Minter or whatever. They’ve had a honeymoon here. They’ve had a quiet time. They’ve made Justin Tucker go bye bye. They haven’t had to answer any questions about any of that. I, they’re into some blue water here, especially if the Orioles aren’t going to be relevant august 20, let alone september 13. That they get a breath of fresh air with this because Harbaugh’s knocking at me. Is that is that a football question? Phrase that better. I’m Adley Ruchman. Yeah, I I think that they are that the whole league has had a little bit of a nap for me that the World Cup may be brought on in some way that just feels like boy. It’s been a while since the NFL played. It’s about time. Not oh shit, here they go. Here they come again. I don’t feel that way. Maybe you do on the inside, but it feels like it’s time for football in some way, and for us to talk about the reset of quarterbacks and coaches and our division and this franchise because the outside looking in is like, wow, a lot of change there, right? To to your point, navigating a lot of change and a lot of veteran. Yeah,
8Luke Jones 29:49
and I think it’s really I agree with a lot of what you just said there. I think what’s interesting for me is look at the AFC right now, like not. Just the AFC North. I mean, the AFC North has three brand new head coaches, right? But you look at the AFC. What’s it going to look like this year? I mean, I can literally go through all the playoff teams from last year and include the Ravens and the Chiefs in that, right? The Chiefs. Is Patrick Mahomes going to be ready for Week One? It sounds like he’s going to be, but what’s that going to look like? Is their running game truly going to be better after they gave Kenneth Walker all that money? Right? They need it to be. I mean, that was one of the major reasons for their downfall was they couldn’t run the ball. It was on Mahomes. He was having to run more. Of course, you know that he gets hurt very late in the season, and and you’re certainly not going to have him taking off and running to any meaningful degree, especially early in the season, coming off of an ACL injury. But you look at these teams, and I’ll do it right now. New England. You already mentioned the Vrabel thing. Will that have a major effect on the field, probably not. But that’s a distraction. That’s a distraction that the entire organization has has been asked about. Players are wondering, like, what’s the deal here? But also the fact that they lost the Super Bowl. We’ve heard about the Super Bowl hangover for decades now. But also, and I say take take nothing away from them. They had a great season last year. New England did, but we also know the Patriots had an all-time kind of easy schedule on paper that they had that they’re not going to have this year. So they’re going to be the hunted, right? They’re not going to be the hunter that’s going to surprise anyone. So what does that look like? Does Drake May have a you know the the next step in him Buffalo. You already mentioned them. New Stadium, sure, plenty of juice for that. You got Josh Allen, right? You got a chance with Josh Allen in the same way that the Ravens have a chance with Lamar. Look at this
Nestor Aparicio 31:52
Patriots schedule, dude, out of the gate. Have you looked at their schedule? Yeah,
Luke Jones 31:55
that’s why I’m saying like Seattle,
Nestor Aparicio 31:57
Pittsburgh, Jacksonville on the road, Bills on the road, woo boy, boy!
Luke Jones 32:06
You could tell me right now they don’t even make the playoffs, and I’d believe you. Like I’m not saying that that that they’re definitely not going to, but that’s what kind of schedule there is on Pub. Yeah, but you know
Nestor Aparicio 32:17
the the Jets and the Browns and the Raiders and the you know the constant problem children in the NFL, the Colts becoming that at some point. Like yeah, there are some definitely some weak teams that can’t get up and even crawl, let alone walk. I mean, the Ravens didn’t make the playoffs with the genius of John Harbaugh, the under million dollar coach, and Lamar Jackson. They’re all going to the Hall of Fame, they missed kick, and and 40 year old Aaron Rodgers walked into the play. You know what I mean? Like 4142 45 So we’re a year removed from all of that and disappointments in various places. Harbaugh’s brother out in, and I was gonna say San Diego because I call El Segundo, you know, doing it in the South Bay of L.A. To your yeah, to your point, there there are expectations on Minter that I don’t say they’re higher than they were on John Harbaugh, but they kind of are to some degree because like it is now or never for Lamar and for Mark Andrews and all the veterans we mentioned a little while ago, that were all like Father Time undefeated, Marlon Humphrey, Ronnie Stanley, Roquan Smith, Mark Andrews, Derrick Henry down the line, and we’re seeing all of that. But I, all I see here is, man, they better win 1213, games. They better, you know, get a buy, and then they host a game and and play in a Super Bowl, and they better be in L.A. because Lamar, Lamar, Lamar, Lamar, Lamar, right?
Luke Jones 33:51
I mean, those are the expectations, right? I mean, that’s if if those weren’t the expectations, why why’d you fire John Harbaugh then, right? They went to the AFC title game, you know, going on three years ago now. They they were Mark Andrews’ drop away from having a chance to go to the AFC title game second straight year, and then last year they had a bunch of injuries and they were disappointing. There’s no doubt, but but yeah, like just to continue my point, I mentioned New England, Buffalo, brand new head coach. What’s that going to look like? New stadium, plenty of juice, but did they fix their defense? Do they have better wide receivers? I know they added DJ Moore. Is that enough? So AFC North, we’ve already talked about that. Brand new coach in Pittsburgh, quarterback a year older, defense a year older, and wasn’t very good last year, despite all their big money players. Cincinnati, Zach Taylor’s back. Is that a good thing? You know, over the years, I’m not a big Zach Taylor guy, but can Joe Burrow stay healthy? Can T. Higgins stay healthy? But because that’s an unbelievable offense or potential for that offense, defense they they sign. You know, they acquired Dexter Lawrence. They added some other. Pieces is that defense better because it was horrible last year, right? It’s been horrible the last. Got their best
8Nestor Aparicio 35:06
player,
Luke Jones 35:07
yeah, and and that’s what yeah. Trey Hendrickson’s gone, although he barely played last year. But point is, like, yeah, you can make an argument for the Bengals, and I think the Bengals are a legitimate threat for the you know as as it pertains to winning this division, but question marks, AFC South now, Jacksonville, great season last year, but we also know that you’ll see teams have a great season that come out of nowhere, and then what happens the next year? They fall right back to well, coach got a lot
Nestor Aparicio 35:38
of credit there. He did in fixing that, but you have
Luke Jones 35:40
to build it, Houston. I’m I’m hearing a lot of buzz about Houston, and I think it’s you know that defense is terrific. Demeka Ryan’s is a good head coach. I I like their program, but man, I’d be lying to you if I didn’t look at that objectively from where C.J. Stroud was as a rookie and the lack of progression and improvement from him, Houston’s been a disappointment to me, quite frankly, the last year or two. Not because you know they made the playoffs, sure, but they were a team that a couple years ago. Keep in mind, the Ravens needed a big second half in Baltimore in that divisional round game to pull away. Houston was giving them everything they could handle in that first half, and that was really surprising at the time because the Ravens, you know, looked like the best team in football. You know, until Kansas City came in the following week and and stole their lunch money. But from that moment, I would have thought, man, Houston, I think, is ready to be one of those Baltimore, Buffalo, Kansas City, you know, top tier kind of teams, and they haven’t really graduated from that moment. So will this be the year? It’s the big year for C.J. Stroud. I’ll leave it at that. And then in the AFC West, I mean, who the heck knows, right? Raiders, okay, put them to the side, right? No one’s expecting them to to be anything, but those other three teams, you know, Denver. I mean, they had to think about their off all off season. They had to think about what happened with Bo Nix and what that could have meant in the AFC title game. You know that that could have been their shot if Bo Nix doesn’t get hurt there, because it’s not like New England, not like New England blew them out or anything like that. We all remember what that game was was like in the snow, the Chargers, you know, like they they they did the you know they make the change at coordinator. They bring in Mike McDaniel, like that’s a really interesting team, but it’s the Chargers, right? They still have in their DNA to they’re the bridesmaid, but never the bride. And then as I mentioned with Kansas City, Patrick Mahomes is he gonna be ready week one? If he is, what does that look like? What does that look like in week six? What does that look like in week 11? Travis Kelsey’s another year older, and he’s married to Taylor Swift now, right? I mean, like, what does he have left in the tank? Did they get married? I think I heard something about that, right at the garden or something. But, but I didn’t see any pitchers. You know that that Kansas City. Like, are they just? You know, was this a one-year aberration for them, and they’re right back to being at the top of the class, or have they gotten old? I mean, keep in mind, it wasn’t just Mahomes getting hurt. It wasn’t just their running game. Their defense really fell off last year. Yeah, the whole
Nestor Aparicio 38:19
program looked a little,
Luke Jones 38:20
yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 38:21
tired and sloppy and old. So
8Luke Jones 38:23
I literally, okay, I didn’t mention the Dolphins, I didn’t mention the Jets, I didn’t mention the Browns, I didn’t mention Indianapolis. I mean, if you want to, you know, the Colts got off to a good start last year. You’re not making
Nestor Aparicio 38:33
a Super Bowl case for any. Yeah, with
Luke Jones 38:35
Daniel Jones, I’m just right. I’m Tennessee. I think Tennessee actually, for where they were last year, they could. If if you’re asking me to name a sleeper team that could be in like the playoff hunt, like surprisingly, maybe the Titans. But I don’t. I certainly don’t view them as a top contender or anything like that. And I mentioned the Raiders. I literally went through every team in the AFC that you would perceive as being a team that has a good chance to be in the playoffs, and I poked holes in all of
Nestor Aparicio 39:04
them. Yeah, none of them look like they’re going to crush the. The current Chiefs do not feel like the old Chiefs have been looking at team and team. Other than Mahomes getting in your head if he’s coming in here for a championship game.
Luke Jones 39:15
So that’s what. So that’s where you look at that. If you’re the Ravens, or you’re the Bills with a brand new head coach as well, or you’re a team like the Bengals. I just wrote off
Nestor Aparicio 39:24
Patrick Mahomes. Did I? Did I do that? I mean, I write him off at July. I’ll never write
Luke Jones 39:28
that guy off, but I’m going to acknowledge questions about that football team right now.
8Nestor Aparicio 39:32
Okay,
Luke Jones 39:33
you know, hey, they were. I mean, they were six and 11 last year. Probably shouldn’t
Nestor Aparicio 39:36
have done that, but yeah, they were six and 11 last. They were six
Luke Jones 39:39
and 11. I mean, Kyle on. Go ahead, and and let’s be clear, Mahomes. Their season was already cooked when he got hurt, right? I mean, they weren’t making the playoffs. That he got hurt very late. So yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 39:48
you and I are going all in on a purple team that got their coach fired.
Luke Jones 39:51
No, I no, I I’m saying the Ravens are, you know, you look at those. The
Nestor Aparicio 39:58
league’s beautiful, dude. You know what? You don’t. If you like it, bet on it. You can go bet on it if you like it that much.
8Luke Jones 40:04
Now I will say this: in the NFC, the Rams, the Seahawks, of course, being the defending champions. You know, some people put Philly in there. The
Nestor Aparicio 40:16
Lions had their five minutes. You know, I mean, there were some teams that you you you get. I mean, I believe in the Vikings, coach, but they don’t have a quarterback, right? Right. They have an underbase. Just won the Super Bowl in Seattle. Yeah. But
Luke Jones 40:27
I guess the point I’m trying to make, though, is I’ll look at Seattle and I’ll look at the Rams. They look like a different tier than anything in the AFC right now, and that that’s where I kind of look at that and say, “Ooh, man, they look like they could be juggernauts. Now, they might cannibalize each other a little bit because they play each other twice, and you still have San Francisco on that division as well. But
Nestor Aparicio 40:48
the Eagles are always dangerous, you know. Like I think the
Luke Jones 40:50
Eagles are interesting. You know, just because the AJ Brown drama, what does that mean? They’ve got a new coordinator. They they’ve had this thing where their offense looks great. They lose their coordinator, and then their offense is the you know what’s the following year, right? I mean, so does Jalen Hurts bounce back this year? I mean, that’s it’s a really interesting year in Philadelphia. Harbaugh with
Nestor Aparicio 41:09
the Giants, huh? Harbaugh and the quarterbacks off being a diva. Oh my God, it’s it’s something, isn’t it? It is,
Luke Jones 41:17
but but I also I I will give John Harbaugh the respect that’s deserved. That the Giants will be better than they’ve been in recent years. I mean, like, you know, that doesn’t mean they’re, but, but, but I, I just look, you know, again, I was kind of focusing on the AFC. Like, it’s really on even on paper when you just kind of look at this, man. You could make a convincing argument for or against just about everyone I mentioned, right? I mean, just about every team I mentioned there. And man, to your point, I mean, it’s exactly what Roger Goodell wants. It’s exactly what the well, the Commanders
8Nestor Aparicio 41:52
believe they have a quarterback because they were in a championship game a minute and a half ago. I’m just looking down. I mean, you know, Green Bay believes they have a quarterback. You know, like so down the line, Tampa Bay. Even there, like you count Baker Mayfield, you don’t see him coming week two in a playoff game at you.
Luke Jones 42:10
Yeah. So
Nestor Aparicio 42:11
I’m not saying none of those teams are frightening me in any way, but they’re not the Jets or the Browns or you know the Wobegons. None of those are the Wobegons.
Luke Jones 42:21
Yeah, sure, sure. But but yeah, like just kind of looking at the league collectively. I mean, I I look at the Seahawks and the Rams kind of in the top top tier, but then you kind of after that, yeah, it’s a lot of questions. You know, a lot of questions for teams that, and and let me be clear, teams that I think are going going to be good, and some of them could be great, but there are some real questions. I mean, I’m not going to sit here and say the Ravens don’t have the potential to be a 12 and 5, 13 and 4 team if everything clicks the way you hope it does, and some of the young guys take the next step, and some of the old guys fight off Father Time one more year. Yeah, the Ravens could end up being the number one seed. Sure, I’ll I’ll hear that argument, but I also will hear an argument for they do have a rookie head coach and they do have a first time off play calling offensive coordinator and they do have some veteran players even some veteran players with some injury histories at some pretty key spots and they did lose some pretty important players from last year’s team and you are counting on, you know, a brand new interior offensive line, right, to protect your franchise quarterback. And not that the not that the old one didn’t have its its weaknesses at guard, but you get my point. So you can kind of look at this, and I could make an argument for the Ravens to win 13 games. I could probably make an argument for them to be kind of in similar territory to where they were last year. I, you know, I don’t think so. I think they’ll be better than that. But you know, if you if you get a couple injuries, like for example, I’ll just give you one that I haven’t mentioned yet. What if something happens to Ronnie Stanley? Is Carson Vincent ready to be the left tackle, are you going to move Roger Rosengarden over to the left side? Like you don’t have Patrick McCarry, you know, who at the very least you could depend on as a guy that you could plug and play if Stanley missed a couple games. So those are the kind of questions that that they have. But in fairness and in defense of the Ravens, all teams have some questions at some pretty important spots like that. I mean, that’s just that’s the the nature of the beast, and that’s why health is so so important. And it’s why I’ll continue to go back to something I said at this time a lot, or at this time last year, I said this a lot. You know, that team two years ago for the Ravens stayed so healthy, and they didn’t get, they didn’t break through. Then last year they didn’t stay healthy. Can they stay healthy this year? Right, because again, you do look at the depth, and and it’s going to be tested. Mark Andrews, like if something happens to him, if he’s not effective, if he gets hurt, I mean, you’re talking about two rookies. Two completely unproven rookies, a tight end, whereas you know you had Isaiah Likely and and Charlie Kohler the last couple years who could do a really nice job for you filling in. So you know that’s the nature of the game. I’m not being you know this isn’t doom and gloom. The sky is falling. These are the kind of questions that you’re going to have. So to go back to your original question that you had for me with Eric DeCosta. I think he’s optimistic. I think he’s excited. I think everyone is rejuvenated by just the newness of it all. But you have to navigate a whole lot of new as well, and that’s where there could be some pitfalls here.
Luke Jones 45:34
In addition to just the run-of-the-mill things that can happen over the course of a football season, Week One in Indianapolis, 13th September feels like a long way away, but I know it’s not. Oriole trade deadlines next week. Luke’s going to be at the ballpark on the weekend as well. Orioles in and out and in and out. Phillies in next week as well. Training camp begins in earnest the middle of next week. At the end of
Nestor Aparicio 46:00
this week, we are doing the Maryland crab cake tour at Pizza Johns in Essex. I am going to get a crab cake there because people don’t think they have one, and they do. The wings are delicious there too, and I had my first ever milkshake, first ever dairy ice cream product at Pizza John’s. The delicious strawberry milkshake put more ice cream in there than I probably would have done at home. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lottery on Friday. We’ll be at Pizza John’s. John Allen of Stone Horses, SR 71 Child’s Play. My pal will be joining me on Friday, and we. This was his idea. He said to me because John does this, and we’re gonna do a whole thing on this on Friday. We do like a whole Dundalk accent thing, where he’ll call me and say, “Hey, G. I’m like, “No, Jew, and he said, “You want me to be at the mall? And they’re taking East Point Mall away, so we’re gonna go visit the mall one last time. We’re gonna meet at the Crafty Crab at 5o’clock for one beer and cheer, and walk through and talk about the Penguins and Safety Town and where I met that girl there, and where those guys fought over there, and where Joe Elliot got chased by the cops there and jumped into the water fountain, and we were mall rat degenerates. What what can I say? This is how it turned out. But we’re going to be there on Friday. Then we’re going to Kostas in Dundalk to have my first crab, my first crustacean of 2026, which I gotta take my Maryland card if I don’t if I don’t start crossing these bridges and start doing things around here. We’re gonna be at Costas in Timonium next Thursday doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour. It’s all presented by the Maryland Lottery, conjunction with GBMC and Farnham and Dermer. They’re the comfort guys. Change your filter. That was Zach’s word this week. And by all means, if you need to get your HVAC checked out, hit our guys at the Comfort Guys. Luke is comfortably back into some semblance of a pennant race. He’s already got his tan, so he’s working. He’s not going to get the farmer tan thing going on like some guys are out of Owings Mills next week. We have football ahead, baseball here. He is Luke. I am Nestor. We are WNST. AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking. Baltimore positive.
