High stakes, higher salaries and big changes are always the tone of NFL free agency but before the tampering is even over many star players have decided the grass might be greener staying home. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Baltimore Ravens and Ronnie Stanley coming together for three more years and $60 million to continue to protect Lamar Jackson during this run of excellence and collective disappointment.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ re-signing of Ronnie Stanley to a three-year, $60 million deal, with $44 million guaranteed. Stanley’s new contract averages $20 million per year, making him a top-tier left tackle. The deal was seen as a compromise, considering his injury history and age (31). The agreement was crucial for the Ravens, who now focus on other roster needs, including cornerback and safety. The conversation also touched on the broader NFL free agency landscape, highlighting the importance of left tackles and the financial risks involved.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens, Ronnie Stanley, free agency, left tackle, Lamar Jackson, contract extension, injury history, financial risk, Pro Bowl, Super Bowl, roster building, cap space, Marcus Williams, cornerback, safety.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones, Speaker 1
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive it is March Madness week, and the madness of March is blown in for the Orioles and their i L, as well as the actual basketball things going on here at Towson. We’ll be at C, V, P, Monday, Tuesday, if necessary, and we will definitely be there on Friday, we’re doing the Maryland crab gate Tour presented by the Maryland lottery. Will be at the Charles village pub of Towson. CVP, come on by. Say hello. We’ll be there in the afternoon, from one until four, hopefully, fingers crossed, hoping that Towson is going to be part of the draw on Sunday. In the meantime, free agency is here. The tampering period is here. The Ravens and Ronnie Stanley have already tampered if you’re on the wnst Baltimore positive text service, you know about it. You got a first late into the evening the other night. Luke Jones joins us now. We’re going to go back and forth on all things free agency, knowing that by the time you hear this 20 minutes ago, something weird may have happened. But the strangest thing happened over the weekend, Luke. I mean, free agency, the the gate opens on Wednesday afternoon. There might not be anybody left at this point. It feels like the Ronnie Stanley to the Ravens. Thing is, this is a trend throughout the league for teams that say we want a certain player, even miles Garrett, who did not want to be there, who begged, even players who have screamed they’re not staying have wound up staying
Luke Jones 01:29
in Cleveland. Yeah. Well, I think in the case of miles Garrett, it shows that no matter how much disenchantment you might have with your current team, you throw they throw enough money at you, in many cases, 40 million years, a lot of that will fix things, right, right? So I think miles, Garrett’s a little bit of a unique case. But, well,
Nestor Aparicio 01:49
the Ravens didn’t get to have 40 million to give him to be a rush edge, right? So there’s a little bit of that. When somebody’s willing to overpay you, you’ll stay in Cleveland, right? Well,
Luke Jones 01:57
I mean, and let’s, let’s be clear. I mean, it’s fine to say if you want to over overpay them, but the guy’s the best dead rusher in the league, and has been for several years now, we could certainly debate the merits of a team like the Cleveland Browns. What good does miles Garrett really do you? And you don’t have a quarterback,
Nestor Aparicio 02:16
he can’t play quarterback Exactly,
Luke Jones 02:18
exactly, but, but I think just in general, and Garrett is a different case, because he wasn’t a free agent. But there had been the sentiment for quite a while that this was not shaping up to be the best free agent market, and maybe that’s a credit to what the Ravens were able to do with Ronnie Stanley over the weekend, and we’ll get to that in a moment. But over the weekend, lots of guys resigning with their you know their incumbent team, you know the team that they’ve been with, to the point where I almost wonder if it’s swung in the opposite direction, that the guys that actually do hit market now might do better for themselves than they would have thought. But lots of resigning, lots of resigning on Sunday and Saturday and the end of last week, which, as you and I kind of recapped where the Ravens were with Ronnie Stanley, the closer you got to the weekend, you didn’t have as much optimism, right? I mean, the closer players get to market, you would think that they want to dive in, at least get to Monday, where, you know, here we are, the tampering period getting underway, although, as we’ve pointed out, there are enough channels, there are enough means to actually tamper to find out what your market’s going to be long before Monday. I mean, that’s what the Combine has famously been known for for the last, you know, for years. You know, as far as the last couple weeks and and free agency really kicking off in that regard. But just surprising to see as much activity for guys resigning with their own team. And that’s where I think you do. Bring it back to Ronnie Stanley on Saturday evening, the Ravens announce a deal terms, three years, 60 million, reportedly, 44 million guaranteed. I think if you call a spade a spade and fully acknowledging what we’ve talked about, right, the durability concerns, age concerns, all of that, but also understanding when he’s right, he’s he’s still really good player, right, maybe not the best left tackle in the league, or maybe not even top five, but certainly in a strong contender to be in that top seven, top 10 at at worst, when he’s healthy. But if he hits market, knowing that New England’s out there, and Kansas City needs a left tackle, and, you know, we could rattle off at least five or six other teams that could be in that space, he probably does better than 20 million per year on the open market.
Nestor Aparicio 04:42
I was going to say, I mean, when you don’t test the market, it really means that you’re happy to stay because it feels to me like your best opportunities to go to market make the Ravens even overpay you on Thursday morning if you need to. You know, it’s an admission for a lot of these players that either a there’s. Not a lot of interest, or they don’t have interest in leaving over a small amount of money for a guy that’s already got $100 million I get this question on Ronnie Stanley, has he been to Pro Bowls? All I don’t remember, or no, but like, is he a Ring of Honor guy, by by definition, of quality of play? Because I don’t even know the answer to that, because, had they not signed him, I’m wondering right like now he’s going to hang around. He might win three championships here for all I’m right. I mean, they have Lamar. They’re capable, right? But that being said, I I have a hard time judging where Ronnie Stanley is on the Mount Rushmore of ravenness over the course of years, he’ll never be their best left tackle. I know that, right,
Luke Jones 05:42
right? And I’m just going to say that. I mean, he’s nowhere in the conversation as far as Mount Rushmore. Now, if you want to say Mount Rushmore their offensive line, I think obviously Stanley, or obviously Jonathan Ogden Marshall, yonder the slam dunks, and then you know, Ronnie Stanley’s in that conversation. He’s, he’s got an opportunity to be that. Remember, he was a Pro Bowl player in 2019 First Team All Pro in 2019 he actually ended up making the Pro Bowl as an alternate this year, or whatever that’s worth. It still shows that he was thought of enough to be a pro bowl alternate. And again, you and I spend plenty of time mocking the Pro Bowl when it comes around, so we don’t need to belabor that point. But, but your But your point is well taken in the sense that with him staying he’s got a chance, especially if the ravens, you know, forget about three championships, if they can win one championship over the next two to three years, right? If they can finally break through that that that isn’t just a Lamar thing, although certainly Lamar is the headliner, the quarterbacks always the headliner. But anyone that is part of that team. We forever label Super Bowl champion, right? Whether it’s, you know, whatever, Super Bowl 35 champion, you know, when we talked about someone like even Anthony Mitchell, you know, Keith Mitchell’s dad and and how you still remember him all these years later, even though he was a special teams backup guy. But, you know, Super Bowl 47 champion, so yeah, Ronnie Stanley’s got a chance to kind of be in that space. You know, I think if you’re the ravens, clearly, what happened over the last calendar year? At this time last year, they cut his pay, what, seven and a half million dollars in base salary. He agreed to that. He did not shy away. In fact, you know, you can check out my story at Baltimore positive.com I pulled a quote from him talking last June, how he said how he played in 2023 killed him, you know? I mean, he talked about the fact that as good as the team was, he felt like he really let them down. So he did everything he possibly could this past year, starting every game for the first time in his career, barely missing any snaps, other than when he was pulled in some of these games where the Ravens had a big lead, right? So he was durable. He played again, not at an all pro elite level, but he played at an above average level, and he was available, right? He was out there. They didn’t have to shuffle their own line in the way that they did for much of the previous three or four years because of injury. So he certainly earned the right to a payday. The question was always going to be how much, and was it going to work? And I think what we ended up seeing, I think, ended up being a bit of a compromise. I think if you think back to 2020 that deal was roughly $20 million per year, right? It was five or Yeah, it was five years. $98.75 million at that point in time. Keeping in mind, the salary cap is much higher now than it was then, so I think you take that into account. So, you know, he’s not, you know, this isn’t a at the time, he was of that 2020 deal. He became the second highest paid left tackle on the league. He’s not in that space. But depending on which way you want to look at this, because it’s 44 million in the first couple years, he’s kind of on that, in that fringe of being, you know, top five to top seven or eight, you know, depending on what what part of the structure of the deal you want to look at. So I think that was probably important for him and for his agent to at least hit that mark. And for the ravens, I’m guessing that was about their max. I think they were trying to avoid going 20 million per year. But I think the reality of knowing how important he was to 2025 and at least 2026 knowing they didn’t have an alternative on the roster other than Roger Rosengarten. And then the next question is, even if he can play left tackle, what are you doing about right tackle then, and understanding what the competition was going to be like if he did get to Monday and Tuesday, and especially Wednesday, when you can officially sign with other teams. So I think this, I’m a
Nestor Aparicio 09:47
little shocked by it, to be honest with you. I thought he would hit the market. I just thought that he would go, I thought being a player rep and all that, he would just literally go out, even if he dips his toes and on Wednesday night, he’s still a raven. Uh, he would turn down that money. But, I mean, I guess in the in the real negotiation part of this, he knows what the chiefs were going to offer him. He, you know, like they do, compare the notes. Then it’s, Hey, Ronnie, I’m going to get you 21.6 a year in Kansas City. Do you really want to go or not? Would you rather stay here? You know that that’s probably how this thing goes over the weekend for guys with options. I mean, I’m thinking out loud like a dumb fan, like he didn’t know what he was going to get. He should have tested the market. They all test the market. They’ve all made big boy decisions here. None of this is done in in in innocence. You know what? I mean this, this is the most important thing they’ve done the last 90 days. Decide where they’re going to play and how much money they’re going to get well,
Luke Jones 10:41
and look, can, can it change when they get to the market? Yeah, of course. And you look at the number of players who resigned over the weekend, I’m guessing there are a few of these guys. And I’m not saying Stanley specifically, there are probably a few of these guys. Looking at how many players actually have re signed. And again, I’m going across position groups here, where they might say, hmm, maybe those numbers, if I had hit market, might have gone up a little bit. But I think what happened here is I laid it out there for what the Ravens felt, and for Ronnie Stanley, and I’m with you when we got to the point when you and I had talked about this, what was that Thursday or Friday? I think it was going into the weekend where, you know, there had been optimism. Eric da Costa and John Harbaugh did not shy away from expressing optimism at the combine, which is not everything, but it’s it did speak to there was a confidence level that they were going to get this done. Whether it was false confidence, false bravado, ultimately or not they they certainly felt a certain way about it, but you never quite know. But the one thing that I’d thrown out there to you was not to dismiss nine years of working together, not to dismiss what Stanley went through in 2020 and 21 and 22 with the rehab process and setbacks and multiple procedures with that ankle. I think there was very much a respect on how the Ravens handled him, and I think there was a respect on the ravens and understanding what Ronnie had gone through. And as much as there was frustration when he wasn’t out there on Sundays, I don’t think there was ever any kind of a perception that he didn’t want to be out there, or he wasn’t doing all he could, or from his side that, you know, even putting aside that Steve Saunders, you know, that that all that kind of stuff, you know, which ultimately played out the way it did. But I don’t think there was ever a perception from his camp that the Ravens weren’t doing everything they could to try to help him get his ankle right, and soliciting opinions from inside and outside the organization and all that so. So when you have that kind of history, when you have a player and a team that goes through something like that understanding, I mean, think about it, these guys had agreed to a a five year, near 100 million dollar contract, and he wrecks his ankle two days later. I mean, that’s there’s a major human element at work there that I think did ultimately count a little bit here. Now that said the Ravens had to come up from where they were 10 days ago, right? And I don’t know what the specific number was, but obviously they had to come up. And if you’re Ronnie Stanley, you got to the point where you said, You know what? Yeah, I could hit market and and I doubt that it was necessarily. And you threw out the Chiefs as an example. Keep in mind the Chiefs go, look at their cap space. I’m not sure they were going to be able to set, give Ronnie Stanley a market setting kind of deal. New England and teams like that would have been more in that camp. But it might have been okay. The Ravens have upped it to 20 Kansas City. Maybe they could give me 19, and when you’re kind of looking at through, looking at it through that lens, or maybe they can kind of give a similar offer to what the Ravens gave. Then it becomes, I’m comfortable here. I’m familiar here. I like playing for Lamar with Lamar Jackson. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 14:01
Lamar Jackson is a big part of this, right? I mean, when you feel like you can win and no question gonna go where you’re gonna have a better chance to win, once you have $100 million and the team took care of you and you took care of the team, maybe there’s more kumbaya there than we think. I mean, I’ve never been anti Ronnie Stanley. I think you could do a lot worse as a human being in the locker room than him, and they like him, and they’ve kept him around. This is, you know, it’s a lot of money. It is. I mean, it’s a lot of money for a player that I think you and I still have some concerns about, whether he’s a $20 million left tackle or a top five left tackler, a top 10 left tackle. But I think the part where the injury thing, once you play a whole year, and you don’t take time off, you say, okay, he’s fine. But then you’re like, well, Mother Nature takes over, right? Like, Father Father, time is undefeated, yeah.
Luke Jones 14:48
And that’s, that’s where the concern is for me. And look, I don’t know if even concern is the best way to describe it. The ravens are taking a financial risk here. I mean, this is lucrative money. It’s not lucrative money. That cripples you long term in the way that you know what Cleveland has done with Deshaun Watson and now, okay, miles Garrett’s getting all that money, but, like, what are you doing with the rest of your roster? Right? It’s nothing like that. And for me, it’s not even, oh, well, you know, Is he really a top five tackle? Is he a top seven tackle? Is he a top 10 tackle? He needs to be on the field to be whatever he is. Yeah, he needs to be gut tackles, right? He has to be on the field and playing, and that’s where, and that’s where the concern is here, and it’s not grave concern. Ultimately, I sign off on this. This is 20 million per year. Is about when you kind of gage what the market may or may not have been, when you gage what the alternatives are, including the fact that you’re not picking until 27th in the draft. Where were you going to pivot? Where were you going to turn? Unless the Ravens really had designs that Roger Rosengarten absolutely could be a quality left tackle, which I’m not convinced. I think they I think they like Rosengarten. I think they really like him as a right tackle. I think there was a lot of unknown whether he actually could be the kind of left tackle that you need him to be. Well, you don’t bet your season on it either Exactly, exactly. So, so I think it comes back to that. And you say, All right, if you’re the ravens, you go a little bit higher. If you’re Ronnie Stanley, yeah, you probably did forego a little bit more on the on the open market, but also understanding that all these other teams, it’s not as though they’re just looking at what he was in 2024 they also are aware of his injury history and the fact that he’s going to be 31 years old, so he wasn’t going to get top of the market money. But when you consider the amount of potential suitors and the lack of other options at left tackle, yeah, he could have done I think he could have done better on the open market. And I think that’s why the red ravens recognized that wherever they were financially on their offer a week ago, that they went up a little bit. And I think there was a nice compromise here. Three years, 60 millions, a nice round number for a left tackle, 20 million. That 20 million threshold, which puts you in that top seven, top eight. And again, when you look at the structure of it being 44 in the first two years, that puts him, even, you know, kind of in that top five territory. So we’re going to see again, there was no alternative that was realistic that you could set your sights on to say, okay, you know, let’s get younger, let’s get cheaper, let’s get better. Here. There was nothing you know like that down the draft,
Nestor Aparicio 17:31
in the draft, and that’s not but you’re still Super Bowl contender if you’re playing with a rookie left tackle. I
Luke Jones 17:37
mean the rape and and to their credit. I mean, Roger Rosengarten was a rookie right tackle, and that worked out. Well, are you going to be able to do that two years in a row, even if, even if you say, Hey, Rose and garden can play left tackle. So I think this was the best outcome for the ravens, certainly. And I think for Ronnie Stanley, when you factor in wanting to win, when you factor in to your point, you’ve already made a lot of money. You’re making more here. Maybe it’s not every last penny that you could have fetched on the open market, but you still did well for yourself. Your agent can still, you know, pat you know, your representation can pat themselves on the backs. And you know, you get to be at a place where you’re comfortable and you’ve liked it here, and from
Nestor Aparicio 18:22
a strategy standpoint, the Ravens could have said you’re out the door last year, you’re too hurt, and we’re going to go in a different direction, and we’re going to draft and we’re going to do this and that, and they didn’t do that, and they had this kumbaya last year. But really, for him to give money back and then prove himself, you know, I mean, the Ravens have not dealt with me with integrity. We’ll find out if they’re dealing with the National Football League’s investigation of Justin Tucker with integrity or not. But apparently, with Stanley, they’ve had a an integrity relationship, you know? Because, you know he could have, if he would have hit the market last year, I don’t know that how quickly he would have gotten hired in another organization that would have given him ten million to come in and be a maybe, yeah. I mean last year. I
Luke Jones 19:06
mean, someone would have signed him, but would he have gotten three years, 60,000,040 4 million guaranteed? No. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 19:11
he also would have been slapping around for a six and 11 team last year too, as opposed to being on the field with this historic offensive unit that has allowed him to go get a $60 million deal, by the way. Um, I just want to point this out, because I don’t always know our YouTube audience. Sometimes the people on YouTube have never heard of me. It’s kind of funny, because I’ve been doing this for 33 years, and they find me on YouTube, like, Who’s this jack wagon? What is this? Get a new show. Who’s this Nestor guy? Uh, after 33 years in two books, and being here from the beginning, send all correspondence to Chad Steele, care of the Baltimore Ravens. The guy said to me that at 738, in our tape on Thursday, I believe we cut that piece because we did Orioles on Friday that I said to you, Hey, Luke, what’s he going to get? Three years, 60 million. So apparently I nailed. It apparently. So I will I stuck the landing like Harry STRUG, so I’m going to applaud for myself. Luke Jones is here. He is a Baltimore Luke Ronnie Staley is not the only thing going on here for the team and tap space. Whether there’s any other signing, whether there’s any other Marcus Williams lying in the weeds that we don’t know about that will be shocking to us, but it feels like the Ravens have spent their nut here this week, and the rest of this will be sitting around trying to figure out anybody else sneaking out the side door, whether they’ll be sandwich picks and developmental picks later.
Luke Jones 20:33
Yeah, well, I think, look, you never know, and of course, they’re going to make some signings. Now, is it going to be a big fat number on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday, you know? I mean, I I’m not necessarily expecting that, but I think what’s nice about this, when you look at the makeup of their roster, and this isn’t to say that they don’t have other positions where they need to add depth and tweak things and augment, uh, corner comes to mind right away. I mean, they need another cornerback. Does it need to be someone in free agency on day one? I mean, we’ll see it could end up being the 27th overall pick. And you go back to back years where you draft corners in the first round and in the way that the Ravens did once upon a time with Dwayne Starks and Chris McAllister, that worked out pretty well. But you look at their roster now that left tackle is decided right now, that Ronnie Stanley is back in your camp. He’s your left tackle. This was always going to be priority number one for your off season. I think you look at everything else Now you go down the roster, on either side of the football, every position group, there isn’t that heightened sense of urgency that, oh my gosh, who’s going to play here? I think you certainly have positions where you’d like to upgrade. You certainly have positions where you need to add. But there isn’t this gaping, massive hole, this massive weakness that they’re dealing with now that if Stanley had agreed to terms with New England on Monday afternoon. Then we’re talking about, okay, what? What the heck are you doing at left tackle? So I think this just allows your off season, your roster building plan, to fall into place. I mean, we know Marcus Williams is going is going to be released. I know that was quote reported last week. We’ve known that since November, that that he wasn’t going to be back. I mean, he even restructured his deal late in the season, in a way that did the Ravens a solid knowing that he was going to be cut anyway. So it gave the Ravens a chance to save cap space in the meantime. So so that that will become official, I would think Arthur millet probably is going to be released. You know, given what his cap number is and how he barely played last year because of injuries, you know, I think there’s, there’s an interesting call to be made with our Darius Washington. He’s a restricted free agent, so he’s not going anywhere. But do you give him the second round tender, which is little over $5 million which is kind of pricey, although, if he’s going to be a starting safety for you. Maybe not, right? I mean, $5 million
Speaker 1 23:02
they like him enough that I think that there’s gonna be some money for him, right? I would say, Yeah, well, and that’s, he’s a guy they don’t want getting out the side, or I think they’d like to see, yeah, he’s not, he’s not, not going anywhere. But it’s just a matter of, do you just give him a second round tender as a restricted free agent, or do you try to sign him to a two or three year deal, lower that number, and you have a mocked up for an additional season. So he
Nestor Aparicio 23:25
feels like the guy to me that they want to keep. He’s a keeper. He’s Anthony Levine. We’re going to keep him around a wild guy. Yeah. I
Luke Jones 23:32
mean, I think ideally, from their standpoint and understanding, he had played very little until this past year, you know, if the Ravens could sign him to a three year $11 million contract, or something like that, and look, it might be higher than that. Again, everyone needs to remember what you used to think of as a two year ten million deal five years ago. There’s inflation here with the cap, right? I mean, numbers are going up. We’re seeing that, you know, look at what going back to miles Garrett for just a moment, and that’s the extreme example. But you have non quarterbacks now getting 3035, $40 million per year. So our Darius Washington is not going to be anything lucrative, but, you know, you’re gonna have to give them a little bit of real money to to forego potentially being in a contract year. So, so, so that’s a decision there. That’s not a massive decision. That’s not a massive move, but they’ve got to decide there. You know, the big one to me right now is Mark Andrews. Where are they with Mark Andrews in terms of his cap number, in terms of other teams? You know, I think anyone who heard Eric Acosta talk about him at the combine, it very much came across as a almost a farewell, like a proactive Hey, we love you no matter what’s going to happen. And there was a very non committal stance in terms of saying Mark Andrews was definitively going to be on the 2025 ravens that said, I don’t necessarily think this is a situation where, if they don’t find a deal that’s suitable, you. That, that they’re just going to cut them, or they’re just going to trade them for a seventh round pick or something like that. So so I’m fascinated to see what’s going to happen there. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention and certainly I figured you would would have brought it up if I didn’t the Josh Allen extension, where that puts him, what the number is, knowing where Lamar Jackson is not so much this year, because the cap number this year isn’t outrageous for Lamar Jackson, but starting next year it is. So do you try to get ahead of that game? Give Lamar three more years and now and then, that allows you to lower his cap number this year and next year, right? And that gives you more flexibility on that front, knowing that, yeah, you want to keep Lamar Jackson for an additional few years after what he’s already signed for. So you know, that would be a major domino that would clear up cap space and allow them to make a couple more moves here and there. So, you know, I just think the Stanley item of business being accomplished before the start of the new league gear. It’s just really big for them in the sense that you can now focus on tweaking and augmenting and fortifying your depth and just doing those types of things, rather than having this massive, massive question at left tackle, it’s not terribly different than what we saw last year at this time last year, remember, the Ravens had tagged him out of BK. He had this big number. You’re thinking, Okay, what’s this going to mean for their cap? And then they ended up getting it. They got a long term deal done before the start of free agency, and that lowered his cap number and locked him in for for that position, not, not being a major concern. And then it allowed you to turn your sites towards getting a deal done with Derek Henry, right? And you brought in Derrick Henry, and you were able to bring make some of the smaller moves that they made after that. So I just think that the Stanley piece of business, I can’t stress how important that was for them, just in terms of Now Eric Acosta moving forward with whatever his plans are, to tweak and evolve this roster, I think that was clearly their top priority. They’ve gotten it done, and now it’s a matter of, okay, what is next? You know, what? What are you going to try to do here? Is there a veteran corner out there that isn’t necessarily someone you’re giving major money to, but can can come in and and be that third corner for you, with Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins, knowing that three corners are starters in today’s game, right? I mean it, it’s no longer a sub package. Nickel is your base package. So, so that’s clearly their their top you know that their top ad, that’s their top need. Whether it happens now, or whether it’s something that’s more earmarked for accomplishing at the draft, remains to be seen. But everything else, you know, backup quarterback, you know, they’ve got to figure something out with Patrick or card, assuming you want to bring them back. You know, there isn’t a big market for fullback, so you would think they should be able to accomplish that. I’ve already mentioned Andrews. I mean, that’s, that’s a big Domino. You know, whether he stays or whether he gets traded. I mean, that’s a big domino one way or the other. You know, guard, I would, I would think McCary, there’s probably a decent chance we’ve seen Patrick McCary for the last time as a raven, especially with Ronnie being resigned now. But who knows what’s his market going to look like? But they, they have options at guard. You know, they have Voorhees. They have falay started every game at right guard. So, you know, they could, they could draft another guard and add some competition there, but it’s not this massive pressing need. And, you know, go down the list on defense. You know, same thing. Could you add another linebacker? Could you add another edge? Could, could you add another safety? You know, I already mentioned corner, yeah. I mean, they could do something at just about every position group, but it’s not this massive crisis kind of a need that left tackle would have felt like had Ronnie Stanley walked over the course of the next couple of days. So again, hats off to both sides. I think the number is fair for both sides. You know, the ravens are taking some risk here. I mean, age 31 season, he was very healthy this past year. Is that going to continue? You know? I mean, I’m not going to be the guy that ignores the fact that, you know, I talk about it a lot. Guys are durable until they’re not. I mean, this is someone who, even early in his career, wasn’t the most durable. But, you know, you you hope that he’s finally, you know, after last year, finally turned the corner with that ankle being fully healthy, and he was able to play played at a quality level. And he’s 31 you know, he’s going to be 31 so that’s not a young man, but it’s not ancient. It’s not unheard of to have left tackles that can play into their 30s at a quality level. And you know, this is really, when you look at the structure, it’s basically a two year deal, right? Is there a two year deal that’s going to triple you from a cap standpoint, or financially speaking, no, but it gives them a chance to take a left tackle at 27 and I’m glad you just said it, and I’m. Even know if it’s at 27 but I think you’re still looking at left tackle. You’re still looking at maybe a guy that can be a guard, and maybe long term, has some upside projection that maybe he could be a left tackle in a couple years, and the way that Jo was the Ravens starting left guard in 1996 so you know it’s not going to be quite like that, because you’re not picking forth overall. But yeah, I think you just said it. I’m glad you brought that up, because I would have been remiss if I didn’t mention, yeah, I think you’re still looking at left tackle, obviously guard, you’re still looking in a big picture sense of needing to add some more depth there, because if McCary does indeed walk, who’s your best bet? Who’s your backup left tackle right now, it’s probably Rosengarten. And then the question becomes, well, who’s your right tackle? Then,
Nestor Aparicio 30:48
well, if you play nine games that year, how would you feel about Exactly? That’s exactly
Luke Jones 30:52
so. So that’s where you know that’s still, that’s still part of this equation. But the good thing is, you have your left tackle for this year. You have your left tackle for next year. He is coming off of a really good season. He was the healthiest he’s been in a long time. And you have, you have signed up the guy that’s going to protect Lamar Jackson’s blind side, and you know how important that is. So again, whatever happens from here remains to be seen, but that was overwhelmingly their top piece of business they needed to accomplish, and they were able to
Nestor Aparicio 31:23
do it. I would say this comparing baseball to football, because we’ve sat here talking about these baseball injuries at Kittredge and racing Rodriguez, and I have said to you, and maybe I’ll be different in the baseball piece this week. Maybe last week is not this week you start losing guys like starting pitchers and stuff. I’ve said to you, the Orioles are fine. They’ll go out in July and they’ll get a better player to make them better in October, they’ll get more pitching. There’ll be a different team football. No, no, no, no, no. If you don’t get Ronnie Stanley, you’re you play with what you have. And I don’t think there’s any market in the summer for June cuts or camp cuts, or whatever version of let’s go through the Andre garage, the guy from the Bengals who’s never getting into the Hall of Fame, who’s the tackle, right, that is waiting forever, Willie Anderson, yeah, who came here for five minutes at the end of his career. These sort of washed up old linemen coming in and thinking, well, we’ll just be okay with anybody at left tackle if our left tackle gets hurt. Football’s different. I mean, like they’re, they’re, you’re not going to get a cavalry coming over the hill at left tackle if you don’t solve your problem on March 10. Yeah,
Luke Jones 32:39
not at left tackle. I mean, you you can, you’ll, I mean, you just named some guys that played, you know, Willie Anderson did a nice job for the Ravens. And right tackle,
Nestor Aparicio 32:47
well, our Darius Washington did a better job than their $80 million well, that $5 million safety before that, but safety, what a quarter, but, but you go and pay these guys and then you have to play with our Darius Washington. That’s a miracle when that happens. When you lose a pitcher and Albert Suarez comes in and looks like Cy Young for six weeks like That’s good. That doesn’t happen at left tackle, not even for Brian McKinney.
Luke Jones 33:12
Usually not right? I mean, I mean, there it’s, it’s very rare when that happens. I mean, the best case you can hope for is kind of what Patrick McCary did for them, you know, for for a couple years, you know that that’s kind of, that’s the best you can hope for it. Now, that’s not a high ceiling, but at least he offered a high floor in filling in
Nestor Aparicio 33:30
so well. You mentioned McCary going somewhere else, and they’ve paid him, and they paid him to be a sixth guy, and when they have to play him, they don’t apologize for and they haven’t really missed the beat the way they did with the left tackle that fell on the Flacco leg seven years ago, eight years James Hurst, yeah, there you go.
Luke Jones 33:47
Who ended up having a long career, by the way. So even someone that you thought of is not good enough. It just speaks to there are not a longer career than
Nestor Aparicio 33:54
Jerry Gaither, you know? I mean, so there are. I mean, look, I’m going through all of these names of guys that Michael Orr might have been good enough, might made a hell of a movie and has a lawsuit and all that, but like, wasn’t a great left tackle. Wasn’t a, you know, wasn’t John Ogden, wasn’t, to your point, Ronnie Stanley, right? So getting this done, it’s important, you know, you know, when you start talking about building franchises, and this was the part that back in 1996 and for all these Jack wagons that go out to the game now they don’t know whether to cheer on offense or defense. You and I are a little bit more advanced on that, but the notion that you build a franchise with a quarterback, well, head coach and a general manager, right? Ownership, right? Quarterbacks, first, what’s second? Corner, you have to have it. You have to have a corner right and then you have to have a left tackle, and then maybe a wide receiver. If you’re talking about building rush edge, talking about the most expensive players on the field, left tackle is in the top five. And if you have a $50 million quarterback, if he’s not the second or third priority, he better be the fourth or fifth priority. You. Look
Luke Jones 35:00
no further than Kansas City. This past year now, they made it to the Super Bowl. So like, like, let’s not act like it was this major downfall for them. But they had major issues there, to the point where they had to kick out their all pro guard to left tackle, which Joe toonie, Hey, God bless him. You know, good luck to him in Chicago. That worked until it didn’t anymore against the Eagles edge rushers. So, I mean, it’s,
Speaker 1 35:25
well, there’s your example, leaving Kansas City to go to the Chicago Bears. Good luck for you, Joe, good luck. Take January off, pal. Play some golf, right? And like, if that’s what Ronnie Stanley wants to do, if he wants to go sign with the saints or whatever, go for it, you know. But that’s not what he wanted to do well, and that’s where again, and you know, because our our tone on this, because I even had some people, you know, people on Twitter that, you know what, asked me about it, because they listened to our conversation. I mean, you always have to have a number. That’s your limit. What if, if Stanley had hit market and he’s going up and getting 2223 24 I mean, who knows? And ultimately, it’s a hypothetical.
Luke Jones 36:06
You know, you have to be willing to say, I can’t go that high for him, given his age, his injury history, all that. But 20,
Nestor Aparicio 36:16
well, that’s the Raven. Fact. I don’t see Jay Mosley,
Luke Jones 36:18
of course. But I think at 20, I think that was fair for him, given his injury history and his lack of availability over the last five years. But also recognizing, Hey, Ronnie, we cut your pay last year. You came out. You played all 17 games. You played at a high enough level that you were a Pro Bowl alternate. And I think for the ravens, it’s, again, it’s a nice contract. It’s, it’s some financial risk. I mean, if he reverts to where he was a few years ago, where he’s missing five or six games and he’s not healthy and four others and is playing at way more of an average level. Or, you know, 2023 was average, and even at times a little below average, you know, probably, if you’re looking at it, but you know, so I think this ended up being a fair deal for both sides. I think both sides had to give a little bit from where they would have done it ideally. But that’s how this should work. You know, the idea isn’t to completely screw over your player. And if you’re someone that cares about your environment, cares about what team you’re playing for, cares about winning, which I think Ronnie Stanley has proven he does, then you are willing to give a little bit as long as you feel like you’re still being respected and you’re still feeling appreciated, right? So I think both sides ended up leaving a little bit on the table in terms of what would have been ideal for them, but both sides ultimately wanted to continue their relationship, and they worked it out. And it’s a credit to Ronnie Stanley and it’s a credit to the
Nestor Aparicio 37:46
Ravens NFL. Free agency is here it is, the tampering period into the main part of a free agency. Any breaking news you’ll get first on the WNST tech service. You text 410-821-9678, just text the word join, or the word W, N, S, D, and you will be on the service. 5000 of you are on it each and every time we send something out, the Orioles would be the same thing. Hope you have no more oral injuries. Luke and I are going to talk some Orioles. We’re going to talk some Ravens. It is a big, big week around here. Incredible guest, Rick Emmett from triumph joined us. We did a couple Super Bowl last week, talking to some great folks in the community, doing things at fates. We’re going to be at CVP in Towson on Friday, doing the Maryland crab cake to our first time ever at CVP, not the first time in Towson, however, and of all of this, obviously, hoping that the Towson tigers are going to be a part of March Madness later on in the week, whether it is or whether it isn’t. We’re going to be at CVP on Friday. Next Friday, we are at Pizza Johns in Essex. There will be March madness going on at that point. I don’t know if they have true TV or not at Pizza John’s. We’re going to find out next friday as well. We’re a couple weeks out on baseball season. Luke and I will begin the season north of the border in Toronto. Rick Emmett told me that in Canada, all Americans should wear a Canadian hat to show that they might like Canadians. And he told me that that when we walk through the streets, we should have our elbows up, kind of like going through a hockey line when we’re in Canada as Americans. So we will be going into Canada, the Orioles will be getting booed roundly two weeks from Thursday by the Canadian people. I’m not looking forward to seeing that, but I am looking forward to being in the presence of Getty Lee as well as Anthony Santander. I am Nestor. He is Luke, football, baseball and more. We are W, N, S, D. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. You.
