Ravens suddenly have a massive hole in middle of offensive line

No one is shocked that center Tyler Linderbaum isn’t returning to the Baltimore Ravens given the amount of money the Las Vegas Raiders invested in the Iowa stalwart. But, as Luke Jones and Nestor react to the tampering period and early free agent signings, it’s clear the defense improved with Maxx Crosby but it’s now on Eric DeCosta to put together a credible offensive line for Lamar Jackson.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Monitor the remaining tampering window and related Ravens-related developments as part of ongoing WNST coverage.

Ravens Free Agency and Initial Reactions

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the topic of NFL free agency, mentioning various player movements and the Ravens’ acquisition of Max Crosby.
• Nestor highlights the importance of the Ravens’ defensive acquisition and the impact on the roster.
• Luke Jones discusses the significance of the Ravens trading two first-round picks for Max Crosby and the implications for the team’s pass rush.
• Luke notes the expected departure of Draymond Jones and the potential need for additional depth on the defensive line.

Tyler Linderbaum’s Departure and Contract Details

• Luke Jones expresses surprise at Tyler Linderbaum’s $81 million contract but not at his departure from the Ravens.
• The discussion covers the timing of Linderbaum’s contract negotiations and the challenges of extending players before they hit free agency.
• Luke compares Linderbaum’s situation to CJ Mosley’s departure, noting the increase in market value for interior offensive linemen.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of the Ravens’ decision not to exercise Linderbaum’s fifth-year option and the subsequent market pressure.

Impact on Ravens’ Offensive Line and Future Moves

• Luke Jones outlines the current state of the Ravens’ offensive line and the need to replace Linderbaum.
• The conversation touches on potential draft picks and free agents who could fill the center position.
• Luke mentions the signing of John Simpson to a three-year, $30 million contract and the implications for the offensive line.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the challenges of rebuilding the offensive line without a first-round pick and the potential for trades.

Jordan Stout’s Departure and Special Teams Needs

• Luke Jones discusses Jordan Stout’s departure to the Giants and the impact on the Ravens’ special teams.
• The conversation highlights the importance of special teams in John Harbaugh’s coaching philosophy.
• Luke notes the need for the Ravens to find a new punter and the challenges of drafting and developing special teams players.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential for the Ravens to address special teams needs in the draft or free agency.

Lamar Jackson’s Contract and Cap Space

• Nestor Aparicio raises the issue of Lamar Jackson’s contract and its impact on the Ravens’ cap space.
• Luke Jones explains the need for the Ravens to create cap space to acquire Max Crosby and other players.
• The discussion covers potential restructuring of Lamar Jackson’s contract to free up cap space.
• Nestor and Luke speculate on the timing of a potential contract extension for Lamar Jackson and its implications for the team.

Overall Strategy and Future Plans

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Ravens’ overall strategy in free agency and the importance of addressing key positions.
• The conversation covers the potential for trades and the importance of maintaining flexibility in the roster.
• Luke notes the need for the Ravens to balance short-term needs with long-term planning.
• Nestor and Luke emphasize the importance of staying competitive in a rapidly evolving NFL landscape.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

NFL free agency, Ravens roster, Max Crosby, Tyler Linderbaum, contract negotiations, offensive line, cap space, Lamar Jackson, John Simpson, Jordan Stout, Draymond Jones, Kyle Hamilton, interior offensive lineman, Pro Bowl, NFL pundits.

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

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Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, and we are into the wacky season of a free agency. Here we are doing one final Maryland crab cake tour stop on Tuesday at missonis and Perry Hall. And then we’re moving on to opening day and to the real opening of free agency and Lamar Jackson and contracts and all that good stuff you’re on the wnst tech service. You do know about the breaking news, all of it’s brought to you by our friends at cole roofing and Gordian energy, whether it was Draymond Jones going to New England, Isaiah likely joining the Giants, John Simpson coming back to Baltimore, Jordan stout joining the Giants, or Tyler Linder bomb with a record setting three year, $81 million contract, certainly fast, furious, and early on Monday, we welcome Luke Jones in, who broke all of that news on the wnst tech service. And we knew it would be active, right? And I and it has been, you said, before lunchtime on Monday, all hell would break loosen. It kind of has. But let’s go back to the lead story, which is the Ravens acquired one of the three best players in the National Football League defensively last week. We already chatted with Marvin Lewis. I got JT the brick coming on. It’s It’s been quite a weekend to remake the roster, with a lot of questions you and I have been asking for five months. Yeah, and I think that’s

Luke Jones  01:24

where it’s important to remember to begin that the Ravens already made a massive acquisition. They paid a whole lot for it, two first round picks, and that’s not even counting the money in the cap space that Max Crosby will command here, not just in 2026 but over the next few years, but to your point, you’re getting a premier defensive player, one of the very best defensive players in the National Football League, regardless of position. You have, quote, unquote, fixed your pass rush, right? And we’ll see what happens with Matt abike. That’s not to say they’re not going to need to add another depth piece or two, either at defensive tackle or another edge to add to the mix at some point in the draft. We we kind of figured Draymond Jones was probably out the door anyway, and certainly was going to be out the door from the moment that they acquired Max Crosby. But I would say this, keep that in mind, and that excitement should be maintained, but otherwise the first day, and as we’ve all come to expect now, as we have now had this legal tampering two day negotiating window, whatever the official terminology you want to give it, we know that so much happens Monday and Tuesday that you get to Wednesday, when everything officially is consummated, that you get A little bit of a sense of tumbleweeds, right? That everything’s kind of picked clean, at least with the first wave. And I can’t sit here and say a few hours into the negotiating window that I’m shocked by what we’ve seen. Am I shocked that Tyler Linder bombs getting $27 million per year? Yeah, I’m very much surprised by that. I’m not surprised that he’s leaving the Baltimore Ravens, though, and I think in the aftermath of Crosby, you know that deal going down Friday night. I think if there were, if there were to be a window for the ravens to have gotten the Linder bomb thing done, it probably was sometime Saturday through about lunchtime on Sunday, right? Maybe that was your last Hail Mary attempt to be able to get it done. Because you get to that point and you’re four years in, and you’re a three time pro bowler, and all you’ve heard the last six weeks is NFL pundits around the league talking about what kind of lucrative market you’re going to have. It’s really tough to keep someone off the market at that point in time. And let’s face it, he didn’t just become the highest paid center in the NFL. If, if we’re to go off of the initial numbers, and we’ll see the proof is in the structure, right? Sometimes deals aren’t always reported as they actually are. But three years, 81 million, 60 million guaranteed, 27 million per year in average annual value. I mean that tops creed Humphrey by 50% the previous high for a center was 18 million. He is now the highest paid interior offensive lineman in NFL history in terms of average annual value. So by no means am I going to sit here and make any kind of an argument that the Raven should have gone that high for Tyler linderbaum, if there’s a criticism to be made for how the Ravens handled this, it’s probably needing to have gotten this deal done, I don’t know, last summer, last fall, right around the time that you extended Kyle Hamilton, and I can almost guarantee it wouldn’t have cost $27 million per year to do it then. Do it then. But, as is always the case, when you don’t extend a player, and you get this close to market, and it’s an accomplished player, and we’re already seeing

Nestor Aparicio  04:51

and they stay healthy, you know, you’re kind of betting for or against them, right? Yeah, of

Luke Jones  04:55

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course, of course. But assuming they have a run of the mill, at the very least a. Run of the mill contract year. It’s really tough to keep them off the market. I mean, they got lucky last year with Ronnie Stanley. Ronnie Stanley had already been paid once upon a time, right? So little different circumstance than linderbaum Here, who was getting his first bite at the free agent apple. But I don’t think this was any I don’t think the Ravens lost Tyler Linder bomb over the last few weeks. I think when they lost him, was that period of of time when you decide you’re not going to exercise the fifth year option, which, in hindsight, I think was going to be 23 and a half million for this year. And then between that point in time, which was early May through, you know, the preseason, that was probably the period of time to get a deal done, if a deal was going to get done. And good for him, he’s getting up a boatload of money. I mean, I made a comparison a couple weeks ago. Remember, I compared Tyler linderbaum, and I was wondering if this was shaping up to be like CJ Mosley, who the ravens, Eric the

Nestor Aparicio  05:56

senators are getting quarterback money that like Flacco got like, when we’re thinking about,

Luke Jones  06:01

I mean, oh, but also the cap has gone up. No, it’s just that’s the

Nestor Aparicio  06:05

league and European money. And just out the explosion of how quickly this has happened that just that just boggles my mind to think about what 25 $30 million a year looks like for an interior line.

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Luke Jones  06:16

And that’s all, no question, but, but at the same Yeah, I mean, I remember when Joe Flacco getting 20 million a year was considered lucrative. Now we’re talking about centers getting made way more than that. It is crazy. But again, I think you just go back and look at how this played out. I’m guessing you know the sense is, and I think linderbaum wanted to stay at the same time. Let’s look at it from his perspective, they didn’t pick up his fifth year option. We understand why. Right the way that that fifth year option is calculated, it’s a flawed process, because it loops Offensive Tackles, guards and centers all together. So if you’re a center or a guard, that fifth year option is the cost of a highly paid offensive tackle. So I understood why the Ravens didn’t do it, but I can also understand from his perspective, and be like, wait a second, I’ve made two Pro Bowls. You’re not picking up my fifth year option. And then, depending on how talks go, you know, whether they’re very preliminary in nature or not, you know, you get to the point where you get to the end of the preseason, and what did the Ravens do? They paid Kyle Hamilton. Now, again, great business, right? I mean, I said at the time, I mean, they kind of gave Kyle Hamilton a blank check, as they should have. He’s not just the safety but they said, Hey, we can’t possibly let you go. What’s it going to take? And they worked it out, and it blew up the safety market by a wide margin. But I think if you’re Linder bomb, and you’re seeing those factors, you know, are you hurt? I mean, I mean, I don’t know if it means you have animosity, but I think you do start to wonder how much a team values you. And then, depending on how talks go, whether your agent feels like, you know, Eric Acosta’s putting his bet best foot forward or not, it kind of drags out. And then you get into the season and you’re playing, and you make another pro bowl

Nestor Aparicio  07:57

and all that. By the way, Nevada and Leonard Raskin would tell me this, you get a lot more money in Nevada than you get. There you go. There’s another part that on top of the money comes the 10% tax you’re saving too.

Luke Jones  08:09

It’s crazy. So yeah, I mean, there are always those factors at work, right? I mean, I think we’re in I don’t mean you and me, I but I think in general, when we’re talking in sports and we see these kind of contract showdowns, right? We tend to paint it as one side wearing the white hat and the other side being the heel, right? And it’s not always that way. Sometimes circumstances end up just being maybe not what you don’t what you wouldn’t expect, and maybe you have a misstep or two along the way, even if they’re not major missteps, like, I’m not going to sit here and and crush Eric to Costa for not exercising a fifth year option. That was what 5 million more than what the highest paid center was making per season at that point in time. At the same time, you also know, the longer you wait, the more risk you run of either alienating a player or agent, going out there and putting out feelers and Nestor, you’ve been at this longer than I have. You know that agents are constantly working throughout the year to gather information, to put feelers out, to see how other teams feel about their clients, even if it’s in very hypothetical terms, to to avoid tampering and all that. But you get to the end of the season and you see teams like the Raiders, or, let’s face it, there were, there was a lot of movement on the center market in general. And you know, at some point here in the next couple minutes, we’ll pivot to what’s next. But there’s a lot of things that happen with the center market, right? I mean, I made mention of buffalo with McGovern. Well, they ended up re upping with him, so he stays put. But you had what happened with the bears, where drew Dahlman retires at age 27 and then they go out and get Garrett Bradbury from the Patriots, right? You had some other you know, Joe Ortiz went out and signed a center in free agency. So. So you kind of look at that movement, but then you still had Linder bomb sitting there at the very top of the market, consensus, top five free agent overall. And teams like the Raiders are out there with especially after they trade Max Crosby a couple of days ago, and they have just boatloads of money to spend. You kind of get to that point. And you kind of felt, man, unless Tyler Lunder bombs leaving a lot of money on the table, he’s gone, and I can’t fault him for that, when it’s that much more money, right? I mean, the cap, yes, the cap’s gone up about 45 million since Crete Humphrey had signed that deal with the Chiefs a couple years ago,

Nestor Aparicio  10:38

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but blew that out of the wall like you and

Luke Jones  10:40

I were like, I mean, right? This isn’t, yeah, I mean, this isn’t blowing up the market. This is obliterate This is eviscerating a market. I used the CJ Mosley comparison six years ago, right? Or seven years ago now, it’s hard to believe that was seven years ago. But if you went and if you went back and looked at what the top of market was for inside linebackers, think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 per year. Yeah, the Jets ended up giving CJ Mosley 17. So they blew that up. The Ravens wanted to keep Mosley, but it was a similar circumstance, right? You kind of players?

Nestor Aparicio  11:12

Evan, the history of 30 years here, how many players they’ve lost that they really wanted to keep? There aren’t many short lists. There really aren’t many,

Luke Jones  11:20

right short list, but, but as I also pointed out to you, it’s not a pass fail, like it’s not, it’s not a binary choice. They wanted to keep Linder bomb, but if you don’t get it done within a certain window, and like I said, I think that sweet spot for them was probably last May through early September, you know, before the season started, when you don’t get it done, then you do run the risk, unless you’re willing to pay much, much more than what you’re comfortable paying. And I think it just got to the point where, like with CJ Mosley, they say, Look, we really wanted to sign you, but we’re not viewing you in the same lens that we view a Kyle Hamilton, where it’s like a blank check, right? Where, where, where. We say there’s no negotiating about like the site, like, we can’t lose this player. I don’t think they view Tyler Linder bomb in that through that lens, or they probably would have signed him six months ago now. They have to go replace him, though, keep that in mind, right? Sure. And that’s what makes it tough. Well, that, you know, let’s, let’s paste this together. By the way, Luke Jones is here the Simpson thing, you know, let’s, let’s start talking about what they’re going to do on the offensive line now. Because, I mean, if you have more on linderbaum, fine, but I mean, he gone, he gone, right. I mean, now it’s what’s left, and where are they going to pick these pieces up? Because they got a pass rush like they didn’t have last week, and they got a they got an edge. They got a great, great, great player that against the caps, probably the same number as Linder bomb, which is crazy, right? So you were to trade Linder bomb for Max Crosby, who would have taken that deal last week. Everybody would have taken that deal, right? So that being said, but now you got to replace your center. And you and I’ve spent three months basically saying line stunk as it was. What are we going to do now? Yeah, well, and but to your your point just now, it wasn’t a straight trade, right? You gave up two first round picks to get

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Nestor Aparicio  13:09

max Good point. Thank you. Yeah, thanks for pointing

Luke Jones  13:13

that out. I know I your, but your general point is still there. I mean, I’m not. I was just pointing that out from the standpoint of you’re not picking

Nestor Aparicio  13:20

any What are you going to do on draft night? Now, you got nothing to do, right? What are you going

Luke Jones  13:25

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to do? Enjoy some food, right? I’ll enjoy the spread. And, you know, I mean, hey, they’re picking 45th is it impossible that they could make some kind of trade and get get up to 31st or 32nd you know, you you dangle some player and a couple picks or something like that. It’s, it’s not impossible, but, but, but, you know, to go back to your point, I mean, you’ve got to replace them. And you look at the center market, you know, as you and I are talking in real time, most of the veterans that were on the market, they’re gone. I mean, I think, you know, Luke Fortner was like, one of the last ones that might be maybe an option, but, you know, we’re not talking about a, you know, he’s not an above average Pro Bowl caliber center or anything like that. Are there some centers in the draft you could look to sure, you know, typically, you’re not talking about centers in the first round. We know that. I mean, we talked about that four years ago when they drafted Tyler Linder bomb, so, but you know, you kind of look at at the centers in this draft, or, Hey, there’s an Iowa kid, maybe the, maybe the Iowa kid who could be an option there. And I’m talking about Logan Jones, you know, there’s Conor Lou, there’s Jake slaughter, Sam hack, Brian Parker. And I’m not going to sit here and break those down. I i Follow names just like anyone else, but, but to your point, and I don’t want to overlook this too much, even with the disappointment and concern that now exists with the offensive line, or even more so than it exists, they did sign John Simpson to a three year, $30 million contract relative to what linderbaum got. Keep in mind, a $10 million a year guard now is not. What you thought of a $10 million guard five years ago, let alone 10 or 15 years ago, but we know John Simpson. I mean, he came into Baltimore a few years ago after he had been cast aside by the Raiders. He was on the practice squad. He was a reserved, future guy. They gave him a chance to compete for a starting job in 23 he started. He played okay. You know, I don’t want to sit here and say that I thought John Simpson was a great player for them. I thought he was okay. He parlayed that into a nice contract with the Jets. I thought he did have a really good 2024 season when you kind of looked at pff and some of the other different metrics that are out there to try to measure offensive line play. And he winds up back with Baltimore. Now that said I would have liked the John Simpson signing way more If Tyler Linder bomb was were still a raven, because I do think he’s better than Voorhees and file Ali. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s an upgrade there. At the same time, I’m not going to sit here and say that I necessarily had the conviction to say that he’s a dramatic upgrade that I would view this in the way that I viewed the Kevin Zeitler signing a few years ago, right? I don’t know if he’s that player. So point it. The point I’m making here is got a lot of work to do with their interior offensive line. And as Ozzie Newsome would say right now, and Eric Decosta, I’m sure will say this, assuming the Ravens don’t pull off a trade for a center in the next, I don’t know, 48 hours, they will say, we don’t play until September, so they’re going to have to figure that out. But you know, again, John Simpson, I’ll sign off. He’s a starting guard. I’m not going to sit here and say that he’s a bad player or anything. That guy. I think he’s a good run blocker, but I think, as a guy that has committed quite a few penalties, even going back to his one season with the Ravens as a starter, back in 23 and, you know, I don’t think this guy’s, you know, he’s not a star, right? Like, he’s not a guy that you’re going to anchor your interior line around. He’s, he’s a starter. But I’m not going to sit here and try to make him out to be more than he is. So yeah, for all the talk. And look again, I want to be very clear, there’s no way I would have paid Tyler Linder bomb $27 million per year. But that said, you do have to replace him. And yeah, you look at their own line right now. I mean, it’s if they had to line up and play today. You know that? And again, this is three, three hours into the start of the negotiating window. You’d have Ronnie Stanley at left tackle, you’d have John Simpson at left guard. You’d have Corey Bullock at center. You’d have Emory Jones or Jason or Andrew Voorhees at right guard. You know I would, I would think Simpson, see Ozzy, would say, right now, if we had to play this weekend, we go play. No, you would be very good right now. I can tell you wouldn’t be good with that. Lamar Jackson wouldn’t be good with that right there. Yeah, and you have rose, and we don’t have to play this week, of course, of course. So again, that’s not me sounding the alarm, but they do have work to do. And, and this is a point we made even over the weekend as we were talking about the Crosby trade, you do have fewer resources to do that, because you don’t have a first round pick. You don’t have a first round pick next year either, even if you’re trying to maneuver and try to trade for an all pro guard. So you know, see how it plays out. No question about that. But of the of the guys they lost on day one here. Draymond Jones, expected, especially after the Crosby trade, likely we knew that that was on the table from the moment that Mark Andrews resigned late last year, right? I mean, I I don’t think anyone being realistic about it, thought that likely was going to be back, unless something weird was going to happen with his market. Jordan stout, maybe a little bit of a surprise there, but, well, he joins John Harbaugh. And by the way, I think I seem to recall John Harbaugh likes special teams, right? So not exactly a big shock there, even if that one’s a little more disappointing. But you know, Linda, is

Nestor Aparicio  18:56

that you say disappointing in that? Would the Ravens get outbid on that, or they just want to move on, or did they not love they got outbid.

Luke Jones  19:03

I mean, he’s making over $4 million a year. Honestly, this is why I go back to our conversation three years ago. That’s why I don’t draft a punter in the fourth round anyway. I mean, I let’s face it, he three years in. You’re looking at that as man. He didn’t really live up to being a fourth round pick. He finally does in year four, but then he leaves as a free agent, right? That’s why I just It’s why I’m not a big fan of drafting kickers and punters that early. To me, my line of demarcation would probably be maybe a fifth round comp. You know, end of the fifth round, that, to me, is more six round business. That’s why I was fine with the Tyler loop drafting, right? I mean, he was the sixth round so, but they need to go get a punter. Now, I’m not, I’m not losing sleep over that, let’s be clear. But yeah, there’s another scenario where he gets to market and some teams giving them, you know, half a million more than the Ravens. And I, I’m just spitballing there. I mean, they certainly gonna have to give him some real money. After he had an All Pro season, but they made him the highest paid punter in the game. And let’s face it, part of part of Jordan stout having a great year this past year was what there was. There was more opportunity for him than than in recent years, right? Because their offense wasn’t as good. So part of that is also you want to make your offense to the point where you’re not. You don’t need to have the best punter or the highest paid punter in football, so, but that’s another need that they’re gonna have to add to their ledger in terms of what they’re going to have to do. So, you know, but the other guys, Linder bombs, the one that hurts. I mean, obviously, I mean, regardless of the price, yeah, come on. A three time Pro Bowl player that hurts, they wanted them back. There’s no doubt. But you get to this point, this is, this is what can happen the Raiders or some team out there just throws absolutely stupid money at him, and in defense of Linder bomb, like I can’t blame him, but that’s why I said to me, if there were any missteps for the Ravens in this it was, you probably would go back to, like I said, from about May of last year through early September of last year. That was probably the critical window to get something done to avoid this scenario from taking place when, when you decided you weren’t going to give him that $23 million fifth year option. Now, in hindsight, knowing he he was going to get 27 million a year, then, yeah, if you’re Eric to Costa, then you probably say, yeah, probably should have given it to him. But you know, that’s it’s markets, it’s the cap going up. All it takes is one team to be desperate and ridiculous. All it takes is an agent to be overly aggressive, right? And look, Tyler linderbaum pays, pays his representation to be that way. So, you know, I’m not going to sit here and criticize, but you know, it’s just kind of the way that this played out. I mean, it’s, you know, they lost them. They lost them at a price that you can at least say, well, we weren’t going to pay them that much. But like I said year ago, at this time, it wouldn’t have cost $27 million a year to resign Tyler Linder bomb. So pick out of this in a year, right? It’ll be a third round pick. Yeah. I mean, I don’t you know your top 27 million a year. That’ll be a third round comp pick. So that’s something to keep in mind, not, not necessarily that we’re looking at the Ravens. I mean, I don’t, at this point, I don’t know who the player would even be. That would be in that kind of tax bracket for them to go out and spend money even, even if they got a Lamar, you know, Lamar extension cleared as much cap space as you could. I’m not sure who the player would even be at

Nestor Aparicio  22:31

this all right. Well, the Lamar thing, you just brought it up 25 minutes into this, it’s been, it’s been a bonanza, by the way. Luke Jones is here. If you’re on a wnst tech service, you know, good it is, you know, great. Lucas delivering all that out on Monday and over the weekend, if you’re up late Friday night, everything that’s going on and transpired, the two things we talked about for 60 days here, Lindbergh bomb and Lamar, the Linder bomb thing didn’t go so well. I don’t know. We talked a lot about Max Crosby, you threw it out as some sort of a punchline at very Yeah, like, so you know what? I know a guy and so do you that’s once said, If they got Derek Henry, they’d win the Super Bowl. So I’m still on the clock with that, and hardball is gone. But that being said, that this even sort of Trumps that to some degree. But the Lamar thing and where the money is, and what that would mean for Linder pub, if they wanted to give them $27 million a year, they need lamar’s money, right? I mean, to have a real next 40 days of shopping at any point, right?

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Luke Jones  23:35

Yeah. And keep in mind, when we’re talking about this in real in real time, these situations are fluid. So I don’t want to make too strong an assumption here, but you do have to look at us through the lens of Max. Crosby has a $30 million base salary for 2026 they had less than than they had about 20 million in cap space going into Friday, right? Last Friday, when they made that move. So now that said, I fully expect Crosby’s deal is going to be adjusted in some way. Whether it’s converting that to a bonus,

Nestor Aparicio  24:11

they’ll clear space. Well, they haven’t made a deal yet, until, like, Wednesday, right? That’s when they have to, like, scrub everything, right?

Luke Jones  24:17

And I was gonna, I was gonna get to that, Okay, fair enough. But unless the Raiders did something, some adjustment, which is that is also possible. But unless they did, the Ravens need to have the cap space to acquire Max Crosby, even if five minutes later, you convert 25 million of that base salary into a signing bonus, lower his cap number, tack on a couple void deals, whatever you want to do. I mean, they might give them a contract extension for all we know. You know, they might tear up that deal. But point is, you still need to have the cap space to acquire so that’s where you look at this thing. And you say, Okay, what is going to happen with Lamar? We already know. And this is where I think some people you know, not us. Not, not, not pointing the finger at anyone, but Steve bishati was very matter of fact about it, right, that in mid January that they want to get a deal done. They want to prolong the window. They want to make Lamar whole financially, make him probably the highest paid quarterback in the league. Again, that’s just how this works. But they also said that we don’t want this to bleed into the start of free agency. So now it’s possible that they have something that’s just sitting there, right, and Lamar had his cryptic tweet a couple days before, you know, the start of negotiating and and maybe it’s just sitting there and they, they just say, Well, you know, we’re going to pull the trigger when, when we need the cap space, right? That’ll be a that maybe they’re saying we want to announce that on Wednesday, right? I mean, who knows? Or if not, then, you know. And this, all this stuff comes out in records, you know, reporters get this with the NFL, PA, you know, contracts get out there all that. So it could also leak out as the Ravens have converted X number of dollars from Lamar Jackson’s base salary. You know, he’s set to make 51.2 5 million in base salary this year. And you know, that’s been converted to a signing bonus. This lowers their cap by a whole lot. They maybe they add a void year on, who knows, and you create all kinds of cap space that way. But we’ve also, we don’t need to rehash it too much. We’ve also talked about the fallout from that, because that makes next year’s number even higher, and then next year, he’s a year closer to free agency, and where is he? Where are the Ravens at that point? How does he feel about the new coaching staff? Right? So you want to avoid all those questions in an ideal world, but Dave, you know, you also don’t want Eric to Costa being forced to devote time and sweat equity and attention to that rather than, what are you doing at center? What are you doing to go? Add another corner that that can play in this defense. What are you doing to go? Add another, potentially another third, you know, third safety. What are you doing to add more to the offensive line, even if it’s a trade, right? So, yeah, you would assume some kind of resolution needs to come here, because they’re going to need the cap space. I mean, I don’t even if you tried to restructure the likes of Marlon Humphrey and roquan Smith and kind of go down the list of some of the other candidates.

Nestor Aparicio  27:22

8

These are big tickets. This is $100 million with a football player, two guys, right?

Luke Jones  27:26

You know, right? I mean, so, so you need cap space, and Lamar is easily the best avenue to do that. So I would think there’s going to be a resolution, one way or the other. Either it’s going to be, hey, they’ve, they’ve agreed to a contract extension.

Nestor Aparicio  27:40

Hip, you’d like to think he had in his pocket Friday, right? Yeah. Like, you think that, right, yeah.

Luke Jones  27:44

And maybe the fact that, hey, they kind of let, let him get word that, hey, we’re at a max Crosby, like, we’ve got a stud on our defense, you know? Like, that’s which, you know, I know Lamar is on offense. Lamar knows who Max Crosby is. Anyone’s gonna be pumped about that? Who has any interest in the Ravens so but until we hear that, that’s where you look at this thing and say, Okay, if it’s not that, then we assume it is a restructure. And then, okay, clears plenty of space for right now that that’s not an issue. In fact, you could, can make an argument for whatever an extent extension structure would be that, compared to just or whatever an extension would be, compared to just a simple restructure, you might be able to create more space just with the restructure, but you don’t want the headaches that come with that, because then where’s Lamar in this? How’s he feel? Is he happy? Does he like the new coaching staff, if you don’t get anything done between now and this time next year, is he now saying, I’m just going to let this play out. I’m a year away from free agency, right? I mean, it just creates all these new questions that you don’t want to you don’t want to be dealing with that, right? You want him happy. You want him locked up. You want your cap to be not low because he’s going to cost a lot of money, but flatter in terms of, like, a little more future certainty as it comes to your salary cap. So, but I was saying these things, you and I were talking about these things in December and January, right until it’s done, it’s an issue, right? I mean, until it’s done, it’s a question. So, but yeah, to answer your question, with Max Crosby’s base salary alone. And, you know, I’m John Simpson three years 30. The structure for that, I’m guessing his cap number is quite low for year one. That’s generally how these deals work, but the Lamar factor is there until we have official word that it’s either new contract and Hip hip hooray and and who knows, maybe they do a dual press conference with Max Crosby coming to Baltimore and Lamar get an extension. I mean, can you imagine the optics of that and how exciting that would be, but if it’s not that, then it’s a restructure, and then, okay, how much? How much is the cap number now for next year? And how’s it going to feel about that? And is it going to be here this spring? And. Is he going to buy in with the new coach, and we’re in the same spot a year from now, whether he wins a Super Bowl or not, right? Oh, no doubt. And he has even more leverage then, because he’s only a year out at that point, and the cap number is even higher, right?

8

Nestor Aparicio  30:11

So all we said he doesn’t have to do anything. He plays contract, and like Flacco did, Flacco played and said, I’m going to go play. Won the Super Bowl, and they had to go

Luke Jones  30:21

pay him. Sure. And Joe Flacco, if you recall, they had to redo the deal three years in. You know, it’s kind of a similar deal and and that would, and, if you remember, remember, they gave Joe his extension, that was actually him coming off of his torn ACL, right? So, but that’s, that’s how these deals were structured. Lamar and the Ravens both knew three years ago, when they did this, that they’d have to come back to the table in some way. Now that doesn’t guarantee that it gets that it gets done, but they both there was absolutely an understanding that they were going to have to talk and they’re going to have to figure that out. So we’ll see again. That could be the next wnst text alert. But that is, that is an issue because, you know, just to absorb the Crosby contract, you’re going to need cap space, let alone trying to add some other players and not knowing what else is going to happen, especially when, yeah, you need to replace the three time Pro Bowl center. Now, well, we

Nestor Aparicio  31:11

just went through both sides of it, so if you did get a text in the last five minutes about it, you’re on the wnsd tech service brought to you by cold roofing and Gordian energy. You will get that if you are on it. You got them all from Max Crosby, 930 on Friday night, Draymond Jones at lunchtime, Isaiah likely and the John Simpson double text in the middle of the afternoon, Jordan stout to the Giants and Tyler Linder bomb to a record setting three year, $81 million contract. We have plenty ahead. I’ve already talked to Marvin Lewis about Max Crosby. JT, the bricks coming in from Las Vegas as well. And we’ll be monitoring the remaining tampering of the tampering and, oh, by the way, opening days in two weeks also had Tim Kirch on. So been a big week around here already. I am Nestor. We are W NST am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking free agency tampering in Baltimore, positive. Stay with us. You.