Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Ravens trip to Green Bay and Lambeau Field for a scrimmage and getting through the final preseason game with good health. And then, it’s all eyes on Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and beating the Kansas City Chiefs on September 5th.
Luke Jones and Nestor discuss … and unknowns of Ravens roster
Thu, Aug 22, 2024 8:01AM • 33:16
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
game, win, week, offensive line, feel, starters, chiefs, year, talking, luke, september, lamar, work, kansas city, place, oysters, ronnie stanley, lose, team, green bay
SPEAKERS
8
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Music. Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, Towson, Baltimore. Am 1570 we’re Baltimore positive.com. You want to check it out. We’re celebrating 26 years, even though it says 25 on the cupcake. We’re going to get that together with a new oyster crab themed logo with a Maryland flag. We’re gonna be doing 26 oysters in 26 days, beginning on the day the Raven season begins, September 5. September 4, we’re gonna be at Cocos doing the Maryland crab cake tour. Mark Viviano will be coming out. Who gave me the best advice I’ve been given in the last 52 weeks, and I took his advice, and I’m in a writing project for any of you out there, we’re doing a lot of things, tech services coming back, a lot of columnists coming your way, a lot of letters to David Rubenstein. Chad Steele is going to finally get his letter, and Eric the cost is going to get a welcoming letter to the season, as is Lamar. I started writing a letter to Jim Palmer the other night. I’m really looking forward to that one that’s going to be one that’s going to be one of my favorites. The Gold Rush sevens doublers will be with us at fates on Friday as we get ready for the finale of fake football in Green Bay. Luke and I will be gathered before the cheatstros and the Orioles get it going. The Orioles have their own problems this weekend, and our friends at Liberty, pure solutions are the ones sending us out on the road doing this oyster tour. Luke doesn’t eat oysters yet. Maybe next month, you’ll have one or two with me. I’ve been eyeing up all of these interesting chipotle lime shooter fried stew. I’m even going to the pepper mill. That’s how excited I am about the month of September. But in the meantime, one more fake football game, Luke and I was going to dispatch you out the Lambo field for that incredible practice on Thursday and all that. But I think we, you know, the Astros being in town, you’re we only have one press credential between the two of us. We only be in one place at one time. I think you’re better off at Camden Yards. But that being said, they’re trying to get work done, and they’re trying to make this roster, and they’re trying to figure out pieces, and then it’s going to be for us to make the guesswork the next two weeks as to what exactly we’re going to see when they get together with the defending world champions and watch them raise the flag at Arrowhead Stadium.
Luke Jones 02:18
Yeah, I mean the openers right around the corner at this point, I noticed that this week, which was the last couple practices that are fully open to the media. Of course, they’ll shift into regular season mode next week, where we only watch the first 30 minutes or so. But you see the coaches holding up the cards. You know when, when you see the coaches holding up the cards for the backups. They’re running Kansas City scout team stuff, so they’re absolutely getting ready. But as you mentioned, trip to Green Bay, and I think for as much as there’s no juice, really, for Saturday’s actual preseason game, other than, you know, the maybe two or three jobs that might or might not still be up for grabs, Thursday does represent an opportunity for the starters to get work in against another team. You know, the most meaningful work they’ll have this summer will take place in Green Bay and having a chance to go up against the Packers and getting some competitive looks, albeit in a controlled scrimmage kind of setting, you know, where they won’t tackle to the ground and all that. But this is what qualifies as the most important work, or the most, maybe the most telling work of the of the summer for the veterans, for the coaches, to kind of see what it looks like in its totality, say, for a couple players who are just nursing some minor out ailments right now. But this is your one opportunity, if you’re Lamar Jackson or Marlon Humphrey or Ronnie Stanley or Justin matabique or roquan Smith or go down the list of their most notable players, a chance to go up against a team in another uniform to kind of see where you are individually, see where you are as a unit. I think there’s a lot of curiosity and interest to see how the Ravens offensive line does against the Green Bay Front. Not that the Packers are something extraordinary, but just it’s different. You know, it’s not you’re not going against guys that you’re so familiar with as you tend to be during the course of training camp where you know what the guy’s moves are in front of you, you know what his tendencies are, because you’ve been practicing against him every day for the last four and a half weeks. So So I think there’s interest from that standpoint. But it’s one day, you know, it’s only one joint practice. John Harbaugh was asked about that, and think you’ve kind of seen around the league these joint practices that last multiple days. That tends to be when some of these fights break out, because, you know, the competitive juices get flowing and maybe it carries over from the previous day. So they’re just doing the one day. They’ll play the preseason game on Saturday, which I expect it to be very similar to what we saw the first two games. Maybe they pull out a couple guys, you know, Trenton Simpson would be an example of someone to who, to me, got enough work in the first two games. He’s going to start, you know, next to roquan Smith. There’s no question about that. Does he really need to play all that much on Saturday? So certainly not going to see any of the veteran players that we didn’t see in the first two games are not going to suddenly play in this game either. So there’s not a whole lot of juice for that, unless you’re really a hardcore fan that’s paying close attention to the back of the roster. As I said, maybe there’s two or three spots up for grabs. Maybe not. You know, there have certainly been years where I know they’ve gone into the preseason finale with their 53 man roster all but decided, right? And other than an injury or someone does something that’s so extraordinary, or something that’s really below the bar, and maybe that changes their mind about someone, but by and large, they usually have most of this set. They’ll have final cuts on Tuesday. Keep in mind with them having that Thursday night open, or they actually next week. Normally it’s Labor Day weekend, when players will get some time off. They’ll be eyeball deep in Kansas City prep by that point. So it’s actually the middle of next week where they’ll get a little bit of time off, and then they’ll reconvene back in Owings Mills for the weekend next weekend, Labor Day weekend, because, you know, they play on the fifth so it it’s just about here, and they’re already preparing for the chiefs, as I said, you’ve seen it in practice this week, but certainly some, yeah, at least some very, very mild relative interest to see how things go against the Packers in the joint practice. But again, Paramount is staying healthy, not getting anyone hurt. That’s going to jeopardize their status for week one,
Nestor Aparicio 06:39
my old buddy, Doug Russell. I worked with him at Sporting News Radio 25 years ago. Reached to me. He does the Packers pregame show. TMJ, I believe it is in Milwaukee. So he and they do the bucks and all that. And I’ve known Doug forever and ever and ever. He was a big I have a kid of mine. My wife was battling, and we did 30 ballparks. We went to Milwaukee. So Doug reached me this week to have me on his show, and we taped it for Saturday for the pregame show, and we talked ravens football, and he’s asking me about the team and different stuff like that. It was interesting. He asked about Mark Andrews health after the car accident, because when a when a headline happens like that, it’s, is he going to be okay? And it was just sort of like questions about a team that ran the ball three times in an AFC Championship Game, and what the expectations of Lamar are. And, you know, even talking to people in Green Bay about like, this team’s expectations are they have to win the Super Bowl. I mean, like, that’s where it is, and that’s just a whole different level of something in the end of August than any of my friends who are dolphins fans or Packers fans or Steelers fans, even at this point, because I don’t think there’s a lot of places where it feels that way. There’s only a handful of places where you’re like, You got to win the Super Bowls. I mean, I think the lions sort of feel that way. In some way. They feel like they can reach the ring, the brass ring. The Bengals always feel like they can reach it back, because they got there a couple years ago. But, you know, this is, this is a place was a lot of hope here. You know, hope of making the playoffs, hope of being the two seed, wouldn’t be good enough around here. And it really begins with this, this bang on opening night for the fans, for the country, for the Mojo. And I said this the dog. I’m like, they open up against the chiefs, and the feeling around here is they’re not going to beat the chiefs. You know what? I mean, they haven’t beaten my homes like until we see it. It’s, it’s kind of like, how are they going to go out there and be maybe they do. Maybe Derek Emmer runs the ball 28 times. Maybe they shove it down their neck. Maybe Lamar throws for three touchdowns and rushes for 80 maybe everything goes perfect. I don’t know. Maybe and the chiefs were have able last year, but I feel like all Packers fans and dolphin they’re all you have one thing in common. They’re all going to be watching Lamar and Patrick bombs play opening night. And it’s a, it’s as big an opening game, not because we’re in it. It’s just a, really, it’s a, it’s a Super Bowl to start the season and hold on, because the couple of days leading up to that and whatever happens after that, it’s going to feel heavy. It is. I mean, I’ve, I’ve been the bartender around here for a long time. The day after losses, I’m not preparing. I mean, they think they’re going to win. They’re going to go out there and steal my homes lunch and catch them early and get them all riled up. But, man, that place can be a cauldron on that. This is a big, big game. It’s a game that, quite frankly, as I’ll be writing the Chad Steele, I’m quite disappointed I’m not a real media member this kind of game. I like to go to, this kind of game I like to cover.
8Luke Jones 09:37
I mean, it’s certainly exciting. I mean, as Week One goes, you can’t get any better than that, right? I mean, maybe the peak of Raven Steelers rivalry, when you know the couple times where they did meet in the opener, 2011 comes to mind. You know that that home game, but yeah, that wasn’t a a prime time game. That wasn’t the Thursday night season opening game. So if the Steelers want to come here, not of the thought that after
Nestor Aparicio 09:58
we. Possible that would have been a big thing. I mean, you know what? I mean, like, had we had that game here and it was us against Denver, us, you know, us against Tom Brady, it would have been a big, big, big thing that we never experienced here. I’m saying not Kansas City. It’s a big even though they won a couple times and whatever I I just, um, I longed for that, right? We all do, right? We all along for that night? Yeah, sure,
Luke Jones 10:24
sure. Well, I long. I long more for a Super Bowl, more so than the week one game. But yes, that comes with winning a Super Bowl. But I think, look, it’s a big game. I’m, I kind of disagree. There’s no reason to think they can’t go to Kansas City and win the Chiefs a September game, a regular season game is not the same as January. That’s for I’m going to stress, if they do win, it doesn’t prove anything other than, hey, it’s a great season opening win. They beat the Chiefs back in 2021 in their home opener, which is a Sunday night game. And we know how the rest of that year played out because the injuries were just so impactful and so heavy that they fell apart down the stretch, specifically when Lamar went down. But, you know, it’s a big game, I think there’s absolutely a little more of a psychological impact one way or the other, win or lose that could linger for them a little bit. I think it could be a nice injection of early season energy and optimism, if they win, if they lose, it’s not it truly is not the end of the world if they lose, but there will be fighting that mental block of here we go again. Can’t be Kansas City. Can’t be Patrick mahomes, but you look no further than last year, look back no further than last year, Detroit. Who at the time, I think the lions were perceived as being on the rise and improving, and they had had the good second half of 2022 after getting off to a bad start. But no one thought the lions were going to go into arrowhead and win, and they did so, and it turned their life known for that phrase. Yeah, sure. I mean, you know, you never really know. And again, you know me, I’m not going to be the guy that’s going to make too much out of a game in September. I’m just not. But sure it can absolutely galvanize them a little bit. I think it can energize a fan base that, quite frankly, you know the sense I get, I think people are excited. It’s football, right? I mean, it’s the NFL. People are excited. But relatively speaking, I do think there’s, I don’t know the right way to describe it, but I do think there is very much a sense of, all right, this is great. It’s gonna be fun, and we’re gonna go to the games. We’re gonna watch them on Sunday afternoon, and we’re gonna have some beverages and enjoy the company of all of our friends who are football fans, but I think there is very much that the expectation of January and what happens in January and breaking through. And you mentioned hope, it’s not hope, it’s expectation at this point in time that nothing they do is really going to feel good enough until it’s breaking through in January. And no,
Nestor Aparicio 12:59
8I did other places, they have hope. Here, they have belief, you know. But a lot of places where you hope your quarterback can do it, they know this guy can do it, and that’s why I’m saying, like in other places, they don’t really think they’re going to win the Super Bowl. There’s not that would be wow, you know. And a lot of here, right? No, here, it’s that or else. And that’s a weird thing, right?
Luke Jones 13:21
Well, and that’s why you know hope is something where you’re saying, you know you’re if things go right here, it’s Dare I say this word. It almost feels like it’s becoming a demand, right? Like you guys have to break through. Being the number one seed isn’t good enough anymore. Having the best record in the NFL and the best point differential in the NFL isn’t good enough. We’ve seen that. We’ve seen that twice in five years, not good enough. Lamar, right, right? Not having, you know, 12 guys making the Pro Bowl like they had back in 19 or 13. I think it was, you know, they’ve done everything there is to do in the regular season and, and let’s be clear, that’s a compliment to them in a warped kind of way, right? But it’s also a curse in the sense of understanding just how long a season is, just how difficult it can be, understanding the attrition of just injuries, and not just attrition in terms of injuries, but knowing that they have new coaches on their staff, knowing that they’re not as deep as they once were from a roster building standpoint, and some of the depth pieces that they lost in the off season, understanding that you’re counting on some really young, inexperienced players at some key spots, mainly the offensive line, that they’re going to be some hiccups. I mean, they’re they’re going to be they could go up, by the way. Let’s
Nestor Aparicio 14:39
talk about the coaching on the offensive line. We haven’t talked about Joe D at all, not even a little bit,
Luke Jones 14:43
right, right? I mean, you know when Joe Dallas Andrews goes down and, you know, you bring in an experienced assistant to take his place. I mean, that sounds fine on paper, and that’s not something that’s going to make the talking head shows. You know, that’s not going to make it on ESPN or NFL Network as a headline, but that’s a headline for this football team right now, when you’re talking about trying to sort out a, you know, a a group that has three new starters, any way you slice it, right? So, I mean, that’s just, that’s a that’s a challenging place to be in, so unproven, that doesn’t
8Nestor Aparicio 15:21
mean guys too, not just new starters, unproven guys, sure.
Luke Jones 15:26
I mean, it’s just, you know, that it’s definitely something, that it’s part of it, and it’s another complication. So that doesn’t mean that they’re not going to have a competent offensive line. That doesn’t mean that they’re not going to have a solid offensive line. Doesn’t mean the offensive line won’t be really good come December, but it is unknown. And I thought it was interesting, you know, John Harbaugh was introspective, you know, this week talk about when he was asked about this, and, you know, he kind of went into what he holds on to when he talks about the offensive line specifically, is, How good can these guys be? You know, what’s the upside? You know, I see the improvement. But he also went on to acknowledge, I get the questions. I understand why that’s a major topic of interest. I understand why there’s some concern there. So for him to say that, and look, we all know whether we’re talking about John Harbaugh or Mike Tomlin or whoever the head coach is, around the National Football League, there’s a lot of ego and bravado, right? And there are the times where they bang on the podium and say, No, that your questions are ridiculous. This is going to be something that’s really good even, even if the coach may not believe that deep down. But this was a time where John Harbaugh, he expressed cautious optimism. He he expressed optimism that those guys are going to get better over the course of the year. But he also acknowledged that, I understand your questions. Your questions are fair right now, because he, you know, he, he’s looking at it through honest lenses and saying that, yeah, they are replacing three veteran players, or two, very much veteran players, and another guy that started every game for them, and John Simpson. So, you know, it doesn’t mean that the offensive line won’t work out. It doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a colossal liability, but there’s just a lot of unknown right now with that group. And it’s complicated by the absence of Joe Dallas Andrus. It’s complicated by the fact that Tyler linderbaum, albeit every everything I’ve heard, doesn’t sit, you know, suggest that he’s not going to, you know, that he’s going to be fine, right? That it’s that this has been way more precautionary for him, with a little bit of a neck issue during training camp, but he hasn’t been out there to build chemistry on field chemistry and that on field cohesiveness that you need as an offensive line, especially on some of the inside zone, outside zone, stretch plays, all these things where you’ve got to move as one, I mean, you really do. So those, those circumstances have not been ideal. Now it’s it’s great. Ronnie Stanley has been healthy throughout the summer. He is practiced every day. That is a credit to him and recognizing where he is at this point in his career. But it’s also Ronnie Stanley, and we know how the last better part of the last five seasons have gone for him in terms of health. So, I mean, there are a lot of unknowns here. So that’s when you add the Joe Dallas Sanders thing to the mix. It’s definitely a concern. It’s a fair concern. And John Harbaugh even acknowledged understanding those questions and understanding that there’s, you know, I don’t know if he’d go as far as saying trepidation, you know, I don’t think John Harbaugh truly thinks that way about much of anything, you know, right or wrong, but I think there’s, there’s absolutely some unknown here, as far as how it’s going to look. I mean, you know, Andrew Voorhees is going to be the starting left guard. I really do think Daniel fall Lele is going to at least begin the year at right guard, unless they have a move to make that I’m not aware of at this point in time, which could happen, but I can’t predict that until we actually see it. And I think, you know, the way it’s been trending the last week or two, you know, I’m starting to think more and more that they’re just going to go with the rookie Rosengarten at right tackle, you know, instead of McCary. Now I’m not quite as convinced on that, so we’ll see. But point is, any way you slice it, you’ve got three new starters. And you knew what you had in Kevin Zeitler, you knew what you had in Morgan Moses, what you’re going to have in file Lele and Rosengarten, or file Lele next to McCary. You know that that’s very much that’s much more up in the air right now in terms of how it looks, so that’s a major piece. And then when you you consider that first audition is going to be going out to Kansas City at arrowhead, which is already known for being an electric, difficult atmosphere in which to play Super Bowl celebration night for them, and understanding that they have Chris Jones and a talented front and I mean, it’s it’s a lot, so none of that’s to say they can’t go out there and win. I completely reject the idea that they can’t go out there and win, but they’re going to be the underdog, and they. Should be the underdog going out there to play Kansas City on the road, but, you know, we’re going to see and we’re getting down to, you know, we’re inside, you know, two weeks away, right? I mean, we’re, we’re getting down to the nitty gritty here in terms of, they’ll make cuts on Tuesday, and they’ll finalize their, at least their initial roster, and then we’ll start to look at it from through that lens, but, you know, they’ve the we’re here, right? I mean, we’re, you know, it’s easy to talk about OTAs, it’s easy to talk about what the roster looks like in the spring, and you know, who’s going to start, who’s going to step forward, all those different things. But now we’re getting closer and closer to got to go out and play a game. You know, all those off season plans that you have that sound great in April, May and June. Will it come to fruition? Or will we be talking about an offensive line that looks in over its head, or a pass rush that doesn’t have enough depth, or whatever, you know, whatever comes up, because if you want to get
Nestor Aparicio 21:00
people leaving, you’re going to win the Super Bowl. Go beat the chiefs, you know, go beat the chiefs on the road the first night. And that would it wouldn’t change the trajectory of people’s thoughts or expectations for the team, but it certainly would validate the fact that we were the better team last year for a lot of weeks, we just weren’t the three hours on that Sunday when we needed to be but we went back out and validated that in some way. Um, and control the game in some way. Um, no. I mean, we only judging the team about where they are now, no,
Luke Jones 21:33
8I understand. I just, I I’m just, I’m not going to be the guy that makes too much out of a September win over the chiefs. I mean, you got to do it in January. Like, it’s just that, like it’s just that simple. Here’s
Nestor Aparicio 21:44
what I make a lot out of is Marlon, Humphrey, Ronnie, Stanley and Lamar Jackson have lost to the Chiefs more than they’ve won. And at some point it’s not baseball, where we’ll get the Yankees next month, it’s you get one chance to get after him now to believe that if you see him again, it’s been a long off season for these guys getting their ass beat the way they did. And I tell you what, for you and me, we’ve beaten them up a whole lot less, especially hardball on three runs, you know, and losing a home game and laying a friggin turd laying a steaming pile of poo on the on the turf down in the middle of downtown Baltimore in the biggest football game of the generation. One way to get back after that’s the win next Thursday, right? Like, like, again, you and I haven’t been every day, every day, beating up the coach, beating up the right. I’m the guy that said they needed Derek Henry all along. So they’ve done they followed my prescription. Now go out and beat the chiefs of terror county by running the football and controlling the game on the road in a night when that place is going to be an ish storm for them. You know, when they’re raising the flag out there my homes comes running out and I show me something. Don’t really show me something. Go to Kansas City and win, because I’m really not expecting them to win. Am I hopeful? I mean, I sure they can win. There they they were the better team all of last year. Go prove it on Thursday night that you’re the better team this year for now, right here, right now, show me that offensive line. Show me a pass rush. Show me that secondary getting after things. Show me a front that’s going to be able to stop mahomes and contain him, Kelsey. Show me you have an answer for Travis Galison. So other than trip then Taylor Swift, is she still on tour? I don’t know, um, but we’ll find, I’m sure we’ll find out next Thursday if she’s available or not, or where she is via satellite. But this is, this is going to be fun, dude, to take my mind off of baseball for a minute and a half. Yeah.
Luke Jones 23:38
I mean, it’s, it’s a tone setter, one way or the other, right? I mean, if you lose, here we go again. If you win, hey, it’s a heck of a step in the right direction. And again, I’m not going to equate it with exercising demons or anything like that. It’s not right. September 5 is not
Nestor Aparicio 23:52
any of that. But I do think it’s purple side’s heads that I just said we had to sit here and pound sand and watch them win the Super Bowl. I mean, I
8Luke Jones 24:01
hear you, but they beat them in week two and 2021 also, like they have beaten them in a regular season game, right? I mean, they have, it’s not the same, but it sets the tone. I agree. It sets the tone. It also
Nestor Aparicio 24:12
sets the tone for where the game would be in January, here or there,
Luke Jones 24:17
sure, I guess. But they played in Baltimore last year, and it didn’t matter anyway. So you know, from that
Nestor Aparicio 24:22
8slow losing Kansas City, you’ll have to go back there again in January. That will feel good. You
Luke Jones 24:26
know, we don’t know that yet. I mean, it’s one game, right? I mean, we don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s huge from a psychological standpoint. I’ll say that. I think it sets the tone for being able to do special things. But I, again, I’m not going to be the guy that gets carried away about a September game. I’m just not well,
Nestor Aparicio 24:44
it sets the bar for where they are. And we’re this offensive line that we’ve had a lot of questions. They go out there and they win, and they move the ball effectively, and they defend effectively, and Lamar, Lamar and Henry’s Henry and zafla and Mark Andrews. And, you know, we get the stat sheet, and it’s. Is perfect. And somehow they win 28 to 23 because they Tucker hits a kick. And like I’ll hear all of that, they figure out the kick return thing better than Dave tobe. I don’t know that. That’ll be interesting unto itself. I always find the Andy Reid arball thing interesting. And one thing I would say for you is them holding out scat cards and getting ready for cancer. They better get ready. I mean, Andy zone, John’s asked too, and there’s a lot of that in this relationship here, too for Mr. Paranoia out there, the band’s media members. So, yeah, I mean, I think this is this a big game. I don’t know. I disagree with you, dude, I and I’m not around there to smell it and feel it. But if we’re sitting here on Friday morning talking about them being, oh, one, that’s they need to be, want to know, and that’s a really hard thing to do. It’s a big ask. I think it’s a big ask for them. I
Luke Jones 25:49
do okay, but I, I guess my point is, if they do lose, so what? Then expectations change? I mean, I, I just, it’s a big game for week one. I get it, but it’s week one, right? It doesn’t prove anything one way or the other. I mean, it just doesn’t I just, and I get
8Nestor Aparicio 26:08
it doesn’t prove. I mean, my point is the measurement of I have no measurement. They go out in these fake games, but September is
Luke Jones 26:16
not the same as January, as my point, right? I mean, go out and win. It’s a great psychological lift, but it’s one to know, and if they lose, okay, they they lost. I like, I don’t, I’m not saying the season’s over if they lose. I mean, not far from it, because, to your point, you kind of expect them to lose, right? So, you know, I
Nestor Aparicio 26:35
just That’s not me. That’s Las Vegas. That’s anywhere you gamble, they’re going to be an underdog, as they should be sure.
Luke Jones 26:40
8I yeah, I don’t disagree. I mean, I don’t know what it proves other than just, hey, it’s great to win. It’s great to set the tone, but we’re five months away from anything that actually, truly, sincerely matters on that front. All right, all right.
Nestor Aparicio 27:00
Then look, we’ll just focus on baseball. I’m fine. Football. Let’s get the suit, by the way, the cuts and all that that happens this weekend. And I should promote the fact that the wnst tech service has been on hiatus. I have noticed. So has Luke, and we’ve talked at length about that. Bill Cole and I did a whole segment about it. It is coming back to life. You’ll see it soon, and there’ll be new ways to sign up, which was really problematic, as I explained to bill so, you know, vet tech service and who’s getting caught and all that, um, you know, the one thing I said to Doug Russell is they’ll pick somebody up from another team. They, they usually do they, they they find something attractive at a place that they have a weakness. And I said that always tells me how they feel about their team. If they go out on the wire and get a guard, if they go out on the wire and find a password, if they find a van Noy a player, you know what I mean, if there’s some guy in uniform next Wednesday that wasn’t here last Wednesday, I that won’t shock me, and that will be a little bit of a tell for how they feel about their depth and how they feel about their young guys in the draft picks.
Luke Jones 28:01
I totally agree. And I think where I’m really looking is, I mean, people will say edge rusher, and I get that, I don’t know, I don’t know who’s going to shake free that’s really moving the needle in that way. I I think for most of who might would be available out there, it’s not going to be someone that has more upside than their young guys. It might be someone that maybe has a very specific skill set, sets the edge, well, something like that. But where I’m really looking is offensive line. And look, I’m not going to sit here and say that. I think it’s necessarily going to be someone that starts, but I think it could be a veteran backup type that gives them, you know, another McCarry kind of guy, where someone that has a higher floor, someone that, if Voorhees or falele really struggle at guard, for example, someone that could be plugged in the following week or two weeks down the road, or something like that. Because that’s where I look at this. You know, we’ve spent so much time talking about the starters. What about the depth on the offensive line? You know, you’re okay, but let’s assume you go with the young guys. So you have your five starters. Then you have McCary. You have Josh Jones, who’s going to be the backup left tackle, I think, you know, although McCary certainly can play there as well, you know, they they have Cleveland, Rick sameak, you know, the seventh round pick who I think is going to make the team, because he’s kind of slowly climbed up to the depth chart here over the last couple weeks. Ben Cleveland, but then you’re okay, so that’s you’re at eight or nine. There you’re at nine. Okay. Who else, I mean, big salah, who you know was the toast of the not the toast of the town. That would be major exaggeration, but was a guy of interest last year going into training camp and starting training camp as a starting left guard, and he’s completely fallen off from the moment they put on pads. They lost belief in him completely, and he’s never recovered. I’m not sure he’s making the team, let alone feeling that he’s going to be any kind of a viable depth piece that’s. If these guys that are going to start week one don’t work out and are struggling and you need to pivot. So that’s where I look at this thing, and say, is there some guard out there, veteran guard out there, who maybe isn’t a player that you would view as a 17 week starter at this stage of his career, but can raise the floor of your depth and maybe give you a little bit of a safety net fallback option if Voorhees or foul ale do not work out, because, you know, starting week week one is not the same as starting 17 games. We’ve seen guys start week one, or we’ve seen guys thrown into action in week one and they’re not ready for it, or they just they’re not good enough. And, you know, that’s where preseason can be a fuller in that way. And we’ve seen that before. I mean, I can go back and probably give you four or five examples of someone that starts the year as a starter, or the number three corner, or, you know, second tight end, or whatever it might be, and then come week six, they’re they’re not in the picture anymore. I mean, that’s just the nature of the game, but that’s the position, offensive line. That’s really where I’m looking right now to say, is there someone that shakes free? Is there something, someone who a team’s trying to save a few, few dollars on their cap? And you say, hey, we’ll swap fifth round picks and we’ll take that guy who’s in the last year of his contract off your hands, and he’ll be our backup guard, or he’ll be another option for us. You know, as you know, a backup center, you know, something along those lines. I’m looking for that kind of move. I and I think the reason why is it’s one thing to talk about your starting five, but I’m not sure there’s a great deal of confidence that they have enough depth on the offensive line that they feel really strongly about. So through looking at it through that lens, that’s where I could see Eric DaCosta making a move here. I don’t think anything major, but I could certainly see them bringing in a veteran to try to fortify that group. And, you know, if nothing else, raise the floor of that offensive line.
Nestor Aparicio 31:57
All right, Luke and I are going to be doing the Maryland crab. Kate tort fails on Friday, getting ready for the cheatstros. And then we really get going. September 4. We’re going to be at Cocos with Mark Viviano on the fifth we begin 26 oysters in 26 days, 26 ways. We’re doing it for the Maryland lottery, in conjunction with Liberty pure solutions, keeping your water clean and fresh if you have well water, especially anywhere in the County, North County, they do a great job. They also do all sorts of plumbing our friends at Jiffy Lube MultiCare, putting Luke out on the road and Owings Mills and Camden Yards, and then the Orioles head into LA next week as well. So Labor Day holiday, lots of writing, lots of letters to folks coming your way. My column is coming back to life. Lots of new sponsors, the wnst Tech Services returning. Our website’s in great shape. Luke’s been crushing it from Owings Mills down the Camden Yards and the hope the Orioles crush the ball a little bit more here over the next week or so, they’re going to need to hit the ball. I’m going to hit the bottle If, on the back end of this, if they go out to Kansas City and wet the bed to start the thing here, we are hoping for a very optimistic September. We’re moving into that Luke and I will be covering sports better than ever, as always, at wnst. Find us at Baltimore positive.com you.
