As Eric DeCosta and John Harbaugh deflected an NFL investigation in their building regarding the Justin Tucker allegations at a combine media cattle call, Luke Jones and Nestor attempt to decipher their Indianapolis words of confidence on a return for Ronnie Stanley, the future of Mark Andrews and what they’ll be looking for in the April draft.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ offseason plans and the ongoing Justin Tucker scandal. They highlighted the lack of media access at the NFL Combine and criticized the Ravens’ handling of the Tucker situation, questioning the NFL’s investigation capabilities. They analyzed the potential contracts for Ronnie Stanley and Mark Andrews, noting the Ravens’ history of managing cap space effectively. They also discussed the need for depth at various positions, including offensive line, edge rusher, and safety, and the potential for drafting players to address these needs. The conversation concluded with a focus on the Ravens’ salary cap management and the importance of retaining key players.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Justin Tucker scandal, NFL investigation, Eric DeCosta, John Harbaugh, Ronnie Stanley, Mark Andrews, salary cap, draft needs, offensive line, defensive line, edge rusher, cap management, player contracts, Ravens offseason, media access
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio, Speaker 1
8
Nestor Aparicio 00:02
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 towns of Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We are getting through these winter months. We are going to thaw out. And on March the sixth, we’re gonna be down to fadelies yet again, the new fadleys Lexington market. By the way, if you’ve been over to Frederick road, I was over at the Beaumont the other day, the fishmongers daughter, which is the new fates. All the facade is up, so I threw Damien out. We will have the magic eight ball scratch also in the Maryland lottery on March 6. And we had a whole bunch of dates in the march. There’s another April date, April 2 at Failes, before Red Sox game. We’re also going to be a Cocos on April 30, I’ve got guests lined up. Mark Viviana, people are hitting me back. So we’re gonna have great guests, great crab cake tour stops. And I think what feels like a never ending thing now, with this Justin Tucker situation, I’m I’m wearing my purple curio wellness shirt. Shout out to foreign daughter, Wendy and Beck and everybody over there, um. Luke Jones joins me now. We usually are in Indianapolis. It’s usually not 58 degrees in Indianapolis when we’re there. Dude, you know, I mean, usually it’s just not, um, I don’t how many did you do, 5678, I don’t know. And I did a dozen combines. We broadcast from out there. We spent a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot investment, whatever. We didn’t do it this week. And then when it boils down, really the access that the fans see in this giant Hall in the stadium that is overrun with bloggers and college kids and people from the Midwest studying journalism, I don’t know if they’ll find any there, but firing questions at all of the general managers, scouts, coaches that come through the area and various media and media on media and whatever. I don’t know if it’s bigger or smaller. I do know that traditionally, in the mind of Chad Steele and all of that of the NFL, this is the one time the general manager and head coach, you’re going to have a little bit of access to them in the spring. You get 15 or 20 minutes and two more questions, and it’s a gang bang of a whole billion people there asking dumb questions, smart questions, Justin Tucker questions four times or not, but it’s this is the only time that they take questions this time of year until we get to the liar’s luncheon. Correct? Exactly, right. I mean,
Luke Jones 02:27
this is the first time we’d heard from Eric to Costa or John Harbaugh since the season at season ending press conference, which was just a few days before the Justin Tucker initial reporting from the Baltimore banner banner came out. So had been what the initial statement from the team that they were aware of it, they were taking it seriously, and then silence for, I guess what, 24 or 25 days since then, almost a month. So,
Nestor Aparicio 02:53
oh, I guess, to my point, it was silence until they had to speak, which is why this is a traditional thing. I want to make that clear, that sure they do this thing in Indianapolis, that if you and I wanted to ask the Baltimore Ravens a question, you as a real media member and me as a deposed one, right, we have to get on a plane, fly out there, get, you know, at least in the morning and back tonight. So it’s a, you know, it’s a $500.20 minute one question you might get, maybe there’s a scrum afterward, although I think Chad Steele probably put both of them in a headlock and carted them sideways out so there could be no Scrum, because they have the biggest crisis management situation in the league right now, with Justin Tucker, right they got a Hall of Fame kicker Who might or might not be a sexual predator, and they might or might not have known about it. Many might or might not have harbored it, and the NFL might or might not investigate it. I like, there’s, there’s a lot going on here. I mean, there really is, for it being February 20 something, and we’re going to get to mark Andrews, we’re going to get the Ronnie Stanley and all of that, but the Tucker thing sits over all of it. Obviously it does,
Luke Jones 04:06
8and it was asked about multiple times, the answers were very much what I expected, right? I mean, there were basically two plays here. If you’re an organization, when something like this happens, right? The allegations come out, the initial reporting comes out, and you just say we’re done. We’re washing our hands of it right now, right? And if the Ravens had released Justin Tucker on january 30 or January 31 that would have been your answer, that that’s the direction they were going. Clearly, they did not. So you wait for it to play out, and especially knowing now that the NFL is indeed in the midst of an investigation, Eric Acosta confirmed in his session with the media in Indianapolis that he’s talked to NFL league people you know investigators, and investigators plan to continue to talk to people in the Baltimore area. We don’t know the timeline for that. The funniest
Nestor Aparicio 04:55
thing about that is, is if I called them right now, and I know all of them at the NFL and told. That I had information, but they even call me Interesting, huh? Because I have, I mean, I have information. I mean, I have information, you know what? I mean, if they were to call me, reach out to them. I mean, I have information about the ravens, about their front office, and about I have, I have information. I do I have information the NFL want to know about a cover up. So, so if they want to call me, they should call me, right? Shouldn’t? They shouldn’t talk to me. If they’re looking seriously, I’m not being coy. Well,
Luke Jones 05:30
then reach out to them. Then, Okay, fair enough. I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 05:33
I can’t be just knowing. We just can’t know what investigation is. I mean, I mean, I could put them on to a half dozen people to talk to, like, literally, I mean, like, literally, 100% really, I could. So I want to say that all my FCC airwaves to anybody out there, if anybody knows who the real NFL investigators are, and there really is an investigation, tell them to call me, because I have some things I could. I could. I could point them in the right direction. I have some information. If it were an FBI investigation I caught, well, maybe not. Now, given who did, this clown was running the country, but in a normal we had a normal society. If the FBI was in investigating something, I’d have to talk to him when they if they call, if I said I had information, they’d be fools to not listen to me. Right? So that’s where this NFL investigation I, I’ve seen their investigations. I’ve seen the oral reports that were given on Dan Snyder and Jon Gruden and calling me, I, you know, like that gives me. I’m just saying, if that’s the answer, if the answer is the NFL is here, they’ll get to the bottom of it. That’s Eric. The cost is answer. I mean, come on, man, you know? I mean, that’s, that’s, that’s ludicrous, that the NFL is going to investigate this and do what find, what cover up whatever they find. That’s been the history.
8Luke Jones 06:52
I mean, I’m not going to sit here and stick up saying
Nestor Aparicio 06:55
no lies, right? I mean, literally, right. Deflategate was an oral report after all of that, he was guilty and like, there’s never any trophies. Are there rings? Are there Bill belichick’s Girlfriends there? You know, suspended. I mean, if you really, I mean, I think you’re insane if you think the flight gate should go to the set, go to the degree that they should be stripped of Super Bowl trophies. I think, I think it’s a serious thing to cheat, and I think it’s a serious thing, right? I think all of this is serious stuff, and they need better police than the police they have. That’s all. If the if the police are the NFL is going to come in and figure out if Justin Tucker is a sexual predator, then I don’t, I get different cops, get cops not hired by the NFL period.
Luke Jones 07:45
Okay, look, I’m not gonna sit here and fly the NFL. I don’t like the answer. That’s all I’m saying. I don’t like the answer. I mean, what answer did you want at this point in time, knowing, you know,
Nestor Aparicio 07:55
8and I expect him to kind of cut him right? I mean, I you know. I mean, okay, well,
Luke Jones 07:59
but they didn’t do that on January 31 so of course, that was their message delivering. They were going to let this play out and with whatever the investigation uncovers, right, whether, in some way the investigation uncovers
Nestor Aparicio 08:12
that Eric Decosta and his wife knew about this, or John Harbaugh and his wife knew about this, or Steve or stick Cass or Kevin Burke. Let’s go backwards. This is 10 years ago, like, if any of these people really knew about it, or somebody called I’m telling you right now, dude, I’ve had so many people reach out to me that are credible, incredible people, in some ways, knew the spa owners. I mean, like, and I didn’t know anything about it, but if I would have to, I took them all sorts of information. Luke, I took them information about employees of theirs that they should have had in rehab, and they didn’t. I mean, they did. I mean, I’m just,
Luke Jones 08:48
I’m not arguing with you like I’m not saying I disagree. You
8Nestor Aparicio 08:52
know what? I mean, these are not people of integrity. They’re people of football and gambling and sport down and tough guy and bully. I mean, what I wrote about horrible is, like, that is the horrible thing. Nothing happened. You didn’t see it. Fight me. You mean, that’s, that’s who they are, and nothing happened. There is Justin’s a great guy, nothing until we hear and then we’ll figure out what to do about it. And the Ray Rice thing still bubbles up that nobody lost their job, but Ray Rice, I keep saying that, and then they bring it back as the hero of the game, and he’s coaching now. That was just a penalty box. That wasn’t, that wasn’t, I mean, and that’s cool, and I always liked Ray Rice. So I never, you know, I mean,
Luke Jones 09:37
I would push back and say that Ray Rice shouldn’t. Mean that he should be disqualified from society for the rest
Nestor Aparicio 09:44
of his life. I don’t disagree with her, sure. I mean, I’m happy. I was like, right? I haven’t seen Ryan 10 years. I don’t have I I have no you know, Ray did his time, and he and his wife if they figured things out. I mean, I don’t. I’m a second chance guy, but I’m also serial. Guy, and I’m also bad integrity, bad integrity. But once it becomes a game of whack, a mole, that whole place is festering, and people reach to me every day. Luke, credible people every day reach to me with information that it I have my own situation that I have made public, that everyone that hears my voice love me, hate me, whatever. I am a media member, and you need me in there for that purpose. You need me in there that when I hear things or know things, and I take them to people like Eric the cost and John Harbaugh and Dick Cass and nothing was done about it. As a matter of fact, every time I went to them, they made it worse on me. And that is not something under me. In the media, they’ve done that to their own employees. So I like, I don’t I don’t speak for them. I’m not allowed to speak to them. I’m not allowed to ask questions of them that, unto itself, is its own abomination that we’re watching on video. These questions asked and and the cost is like, well, I’ve answered that four times. Well, answered four more. Dude, we got 20 minutes with you. You do this four times a year. You run for me on verandas, out in public. So, like, I don’t the accountability here does not match up with their they don’t walk their talk, they don’t talk their walk. And that’s getting real obvious, and then we’ll get to the football and all of that. But women should be women are watching this, women, people with sisters and nieces and mothers, people who’ve had legitimate massages. And I think that in any massage I’ve ever been in, if I tried Hanky Panky, I just think they probably would have kicked my ass in the Chinese spot in New York. I mean, just like, I like, literally, some dude would have come out and throw me out the back door. Like, I just don’t it’s so if to do it one time to one woman in one place, is so unthinkably uncool. But John, Harbaugh and Eric de costu have daughters and wives. Should, should bristle at it. That’s all I’m saying. And it’s been 26 days. They either know or they don’t know he’s either innocent or he’s not, whatever if he’s innocent, God bless him. Let the NFL come in. But, um, it doesn’t smell good. That’s all love the smell.
Luke Jones 12:22
8Of course not. That’s the last thing you want when you’re talking about your organization with any allegations of this nature, and especially the timeline and questions about when and if you heard any scuttle, scuttlebutt whispers about it, anything you know? I mean, you and I have talked about that. I mean, obviously, you know, the day that the initial report came out. I mean, it didn’t take it took people about five minutes to find tweets going all the way back four years ago that were at least, and again, random tweets, tweets from anonymous users, right? But tweets referencing Justin Tucker with some semblance of misbehavior pertaining to massage therapists, right? I mean, regardless of it being from someone random on Twitter or x, the fact that it was four years ago that that’s a heck of a coincidence, if there’s no smoke there, right? So
Nestor Aparicio 13:14
let’s pile it off the Steve Smith thing over the weekend, embarrassing, um, believable, credible, whatever it is, it’s embarrassing. And just on and on, and then the Ray Rice thing just bubbling back up. Embarrassing. NFL investigating anything is its own double embarrassment for all of them, the fact that these media organizations that are in business with them don’t even have it on their websites like you know, I it’s just down the line. It’s checking all the boxes of being an animal house out there, like literally it is, not to mention the phone calls that I’ve been getting this week. So I there is no investigation of this by the media other than the Baltimore banner, and they had to put millions of dollars in lawyers out in front of this in order to report it right. So there’s a, there’s a real misbalance going on here and, and I know, I don’t want to accuse you of this, but there will be a point where you will say, let’s just talk about Ronnie Stanley and Mark Andrews. I mean, dude, I’m a football you know, it’s the draft, it’s the it’s the free. Let’s just talk about who’s gonna play, and we will, we will, I promise. That’s what we do. But, and I don’t want to talk about this. I want my press credential back. I want to be in Indianapolis with you right now eating bean dip and with Rex Ryan and Jim Schwartz and talking ball and talking like, that’s what I that’s why I got into this. I didn’t get into this. To be the guy with the FCC license working his whole life, to sit here, be thrown out, Muck raked, have every person who’s ever been wronged by them reach to me and tell me what an animal house it is, and I’m not the dude here with the notebook taking notes saying, Hmm, I wonder if it’s believable. Hmm. Oh, you’ve met Chad Steele, Hmm, oh, Sashi Brown, oh, yeah, you’re like, and I go down the list, and I I start to I’ve told horrible this privately and publicly. I call them integrity free. It’s my wife calls. They’re an integrity free organization, and that breaks my heart. Mean, I invested in them for 26 years. I bought PSLs. I lived through Ray Lewis, Jamal Lewis, who did the show last month. I’ve lived through all of it, right? They’ve had linebackers dropping dead in the off season. Nothing, you know, not a word like. They’ve just had stuff happen that they’re not a front facing organization. And when I asked them, like I said this to my wife earlier, like, if I’m in Indianapolis and asking questions, you and I get in a plane, we fly out, we do all that song and dance, we pick up our credentials, we go we’re there 20 minutes, whisked out the back door, we get one half a question about a scandal, about an absolute scandal that they have to deal with, and that even if we like, I could have sent you out there. I don’t even know what the benefit is of asking dishonest people questions. I’m trying to figure that out as a human, as a 56 year old, as a media member, as someone that asked questions of people all day, every day, in a very mixed audience, I don’t know the value of asking crooked people questions. You know what? I mean. It reminded me watching Harbaugh and to Costa on this screen that I’m broadcasting on 20 minutes ago, watching their eyes shift, watching their re prepared thing I just It sickens me. That’s I just want to say that, because I don’t say it a lot. I don’t say it often enough. Everybody thinks I say it all day, every day, I don’t. But this is sickening. It’s sickening. And the fact that Bucha is off on a boat hiding is sickening. The fact that Sashi brown hasn’t answered anything and hides sickening. And then they come out of their shell for 18 minutes, 600 miles from here, in front of two local reporters, rush off the questions, and then go do football for a while, and we sit here and talk about it and and we’ll get to the football because they, they did say something, you think on the football side, yeah, I
Luke Jones 17:20
mean, and we’ll get to that. I just want to clarify something I said a few minutes ago, just looking at it from the standpoint of, to me, there were basically two ways to approach this. When the story comes out, right, you either cut them immediately. And I’m not saying that would have been the wrong thing, the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do. It’s just that clearly would have been one option in the way that if this, if this story had come out, about the 52nd player on the roster, you know, you would have been gone five minutes before it came out, right? So there’s that. But if you don’t go that route, then I wasn’t surprised to hear what I heard on Tuesday. I wasn’t surprised to hear them say, We’re letting the NFL investigation play out, because that’s clearly what they’re doing. They also made it very clear both Eric da Costa and John Harbaugh that they’re evaluating kickers in the draft, with Eric da Costa going as far as saying Randy Brown’s going all going to be going all around the country, which they probably would have been doing anyway, with Justin Tucker coming off the worst year of his career. But you know, I if you’re asking
Nestor Aparicio 18:22
the Tucker scandal doesn’t happen, that would be the question today, right? There would be, there would be the first question, but it would have been a question, and they would have to say, well, you know, we still love Tucker. He’s still under contract. Is what they Right, sure, but, but it was going to be part of
8Luke Jones 18:35
what they do. In the same way that they were ready, they were looking into drafting Lamar Jackson when Joe Flacco was still their starting quarterback at that point. What
Nestor Aparicio 18:44
is different than Deshaun Watson, where Houston he was their franchise quarterback, and you know, like they were going to lose a quarterback as well as a predator and all of that other stuff that they had to figure all and they came out of small like a rose as an organization. By the way, they defumigated that relatively as best they could, I don’t know, keep in mind
Luke Jones 19:02
he, I mean, he wanted out from there as well. I mean, that was, you know, the timeline of that was so bizarre, because, remember, he was sitting out in Houston and as all and I can’t remember exactly when the first accusations came out on him, but that that happened over a pretty extensive
Nestor Aparicio 19:21
8period. My point is, he had value. You know, they got something back for him and all of that. It wasn’t just cut the bridge and run on a 35 year old kicker who had yeps. You know what I mean? Like, that’s a different place than an ascending quarterback who has out of pocket ability, right? You know what I mean? So, and I don’t just mean on a price tag, I just mean on a they could have just cut him and said he’s 35 as I predicted they would. I’m shocked that they haven’t, quite frankly, and that may speak to their level of guilt or involvement one way or another, because they’re managing all of that. They’re not managing it. They’re hyper managing it. Every word is pursed. Everything that they came to the podium with was rehearsed in Baltimore, in Indianapolis, on the airplane, in the in the interview room, because that’s how sensitive this thing is this week. Sure,
Luke Jones 20:10
no question, no question. I I, but just to finish my point that I was alluding to, I expected to hear what we heard today, and I’m not, you know that’s not a judgment, or that it’s the right way to go, or that that they’re handling this well, or anything like that. It’s just that’s what I expected to hear. And in the meantime, I’m guessing they’re preparing to move on from him. And when is that drop drop dead date? I don’t know if it’s when they draft a kicker in the fifth round on the Saturday of the draft, I don’t know if it’s when potential, more additional allegations come out. I mean, as we kind of said, it started with six, and it’s up to 16 now. We kind of said at that point, you know, what’s the inflection point here? Where you just say,
Nestor Aparicio 21:01
you know, well, they’re not fumigating it. If two more thought Friday and then there’s a report, they’re not doing their best to run from it, I’ll say that. Like, and maybe the lawyers told them they shouldn’t. I mean, you know, you know, like, I don’t know this is being lawyered up behind lawyer doors. Lawyers for everyone, right? Yeah, yeah. So, so there’s all of that going on as well, but they’re front facing part of this, and their role in this remains to be seen. And I am unimpressed with an investigation by the National Football League. Matter of fact, I couldn’t be less impressed. If Elon Musk was investigating Donald Trump, I would be less impressed like there is no, you know, send real cops or, or you’re not taking this seriously well and,
Luke Jones 21:53
and you also go back to these allegations are from some of them well over a decade ago. I mean, that complicates whoever is investigating. That complicates efforts to really try to get the most complete picture that you can. And that’s that’s not me saying that the allegations
8Nestor Aparicio 22:12
could spend a half million dollars right now, bringing two private eyes for six weeks, three weeks in
Speaker 1 22:19
Baltimore, and have a report like, and I’m not, like real people. I’m not, anytime you have a timeline that goes back that far, there’s always going to be challenges to that compared to something that happened last week.
Nestor Aparicio 22:33
Well, this is real litigious case because of, right? Exactly,
Luke Jones 22:36
8exactly. So, so you know, and look, I’m, I’m not going to sit here and stand up for the NFL or it’s investigating prowess or lack thereof. Of course not, but
Nestor Aparicio 22:48
I can’t stand up for any of them. That’s my overall but my overall point,
Luke Jones 22:51
that, again, that I was trying to make, was there are basically two approaches that the Ravens were going to have all along with this. It was either to cut ties immediately, or you were going to let whatever investigating was going to happen play out, and then you make a decision one way or the other, right? And understanding that the waiting to and every every step along the way leaves you open for PR backlash and criticism and and everything that we’ve talked about from january 30 until the present date. So, you know, I wasn’t shocked by anything I heard. I think the tone was, you know, about what I expected to hear, from the standpoint of, if you’re asking me to one way or the other. My prediction, it sounded like two individuals preparing to move on from their seven time Pro Bowl kicker, who’s the longest tenured player presently, you know, at least for now, in the organization, and someone who, as we’ve talked about, was on his way to having Hall of Fame credentials. And now who knows what’s what the heck’s going to happen with Justin Tucker’s career, his livelihood, all of that, right? And I’m not saying that to be sympathetic towards him whatsoever, but you know, it’s clearly a very uncomfortable story that begins with 16 women who have made allegations of this kind of gross behavior. And you know, you never want to hear about anything like that. You never want anyone to be subjected to something like that. So that alone makes it very, very serious, very, very uncomfortable, and the Ravens have elected to proceed in this fashion, rather than, like I said, they could have cut ties. They even had a football alibi to justify it, because he had had such a poor season. But they aren’t doing it that way, and we’re going to see how it plays out. But understanding that’s the approach they were taking because they hadn’t made a move to this point. What they what we heard in Indianapolis, like I said, not saying it was the right or wrong or anything like that, just saying I wasn’t surprised hearing the comments that we ultimately heard.
Nestor Aparicio 25:10
He’s Lou Jones. He’s Baltimore, Luke, all right, off the Tucker thing and onto the football field thing. Ronnie Stanley and and Mark Andrews. And you and I talked at length about Mark Andrews, yeah, and it’s the first time we kind of because the Tucker thing’s been on fire. We’re talking baseball, and there’s other things going on. But, and I hadn’t thought about, I said this earlier week, I hadn’t thought about Mark Andrews being, you know, that drop was going to be the end, and him going out the side door in Buffalo, and how they would feel about Isaiah likely and the draft and his money and his cap number and where he fits into the offense and bringing him back and all of that. You better than I are, better at parsing the verbiage of Eric da Costa and John horrible in their especially the Costa is very limited amount of time out for me. I remember when Eric DaCosta to come over and have coffee with me at the house and we just and we just would sit and talk, and I’d know what’s going on. I like, I like, those days are over with in regard to anything that they’re doing at this point, but it you’re as good as anyone. What? What are the tea leaves, if you had to predict right now? It certainly felt like they had some confidence with Stanley, and it felt like the mark Andrews thing, maybe not as much. So, yeah,
8Luke Jones 26:25
I mean, I thought, first of all, I mean, to Costa and John Harbaugh, and John Harbaugh typically is going to express more optimism, right? I mean, he’s ultimately not at the negotiating table, even though most of this stuff was done over the phone and be a text. We know that, but, but with to Costa, you know, he very much expressed confidence in the Ravens trying to get something done. I mean his exact quote on Ronnie Stanley, I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to get a deal done. Now. Doesn’t mean 100% doesn’t? You know that there’s also a negotiating tactic to doing that, because then you immediately put the player and the agent on the defensive, right? You express optimism that there’s a deal, and if there isn’t, then you’re automatically you know that that’s painting the the other side is the bad guy, because you can say, hey, we tried. We were optimistic, right? Regardless of what the dollars are going to be, we’ve already talked about it there. There isn’t a whole lot out there on the free agent market from a tackle standpoint, and when you’re talking about teams like the Patriots or even the Kansas City Chiefs, even though the Chiefs don’t have cap room to necessarily go out and make a move like that, but you know Ronnie Stanley’s if he does, in fact, hit the market, they’re going to be some there’s going to be Some demand for him, and that’s why I’ve said it complicates your efforts to try to get a deal done here. You know, I don’t think this is going to be a case where he’s getting another nine figure contract, far from it. But
Nestor Aparicio 27:54
what is it? 21 million is the number been floating around, right? The king went up, right? They don’t want to go into the market and try to find a left tackle. So it’s, it’s now probably about three years, 60 million, but not really two years, front loaded with a lot of money. I mean, what’s the guarantee? Right? You know, you know, if they get stuck with them, they’re going to get stuck with an $18 million tackle next year, and they’re going to have some dead money. And I don’t know, dude, horrible to Costa, might be getting to the point, especially with this owner and Lamar, where going all in and having to get to at least a Super Bowl to save their own asses at some point. And I don’t know that it never gets to that point. I mean, Bucha will never fire them. I mean, they must all have pictures on each other. I mean, I don’t think that won’t happen, so I don’t know what, but I do think that, like they can play more games with the cap as the cap goes further north, and they have a $50 million quarterback to maybe kick the can a little further than maybe Steve had been willing to do the first 15 years, to try to squeeze something out of The next two or three years to say we’re not going back to the drawing board for a left tackle and we’re going to play with the tight end we have under contract because, like, we’re just not going to eat dead money. We think he could still play, because they don’t. They think Mark Andrews can play. You know, I don’t think that’s the question, but they’re like every other team, they’re going to have a cap issue if they have a $20 million tackle and a $50 million quarterback, right? Quarterback, right? I
Luke Jones 29:23
mean, well, it’s not a cap issue. It becomes a cap issue if your $20 million left tackle goes back to not being available like he was for the better part of three or four years, right? I mean, he’s coming off of a year where he was very healthy. I mean, kudos to Ronnie Stanley. He took a pay cut last year, you know. And I don’t want to say bet on himself, because he took the pay cut, right? I mean, betting on himself would have said, kick rocks. I’ll go to the market and I’ll go sign, sign a one year deal with somebody and do it that way. But you know, he worked with them. He did everything that the Ravens wanted to see him do in terms of being healthy. Is he was he playing at an all pro level for all seven. Team games, probably not, but he was really solid. And that’s, well, this
Nestor Aparicio 30:03
8is the point where you find that they love him. They love him, right? They drafted him, they gave him a boatload of money. He got hurt. They loved him. They loved him more. Got him to a championship game. Love him more like this third time. I mean, they love him so I and he’s one of their Sure.
Luke Jones 30:17
I mean, yeah, I mean they didn’t love that he got hurt. I mean, they didn’t love him enough last year to just let him pay it, what play at, what his original cap number was going to be. But, yeah, of course they’d like to continue this. But what’s the price point? Right? You don’t want to be in a position where you’re finally out from what was a really tough contract to endure because he got hurt two days after he signed it. So for me, it’s very much a case of, you don’t want to jump back into that too aggressively, because he is going to be 31 years old, and he does have the injury history he has, however you have a championship caliber roster, regardless of what’s happened in the divisional round in the AFC title game the last two years, but you don’t want to be in a position where, okay, you lose them, you let them walk. What’s next? Can Roger Rosengarten actually play left tackle? Or do you think he can play left tackle, and then you find out, Oh, that’s not good. And now we have a problem at left tackle, and we’ve got to replace Rosengarten at right tackles. So or you draft someone in that per and that individual is not ready because you’re picking late in the first round, and even if you try to trade up, someone’s not always ready to be you know, I mean, Jonathan Ogden was picked fourth overall. Go look at the last 10 years, the number of left tackles taken in the top five or the top 10 who still have some growing pains, you know, their first couple years, or don’t even pan out. So the point is, with Ronnie Stanley, as much as you want to take some pause and acknowledge the history with injuries his age, understanding that generally hurt guys don’t suddenly become unhurt guys as they get older, but at the same time you lose them, wow, you’ve really lowered the floor of what left tackle could end up being for you, understanding what that can mean in keeping your left tackle or keeping your franchise quarterback upright and healthy, and keeping your offense operating at a high level. So so that’s what they’re trying to figure out. That said da Costa and Harbaugh, both being very expressing quite a bit of optimism, does tell me that I think they feel good about their chances, about resigning him. But as you know, Nestor, until the ink is dry on the contract, you don’t really know. I think on the flip side, you know, transitioning to mark Andrews. I think Eric Acosta was very complimentary in what he had to say about Mark Andrews. I think he was very, you know, very glowing in his praise, but he was also very non committal in how he spoke about Andrews in terms of his status with the Baltimore Ravens for the 2025 season, right? I mean, I’ll read you the quote because I tweeted it out as the you know, as the video hits social media, Mark’s going to go down as one of our great players. He’ll be in the Ring of Honor one day. I love having mark on the team. He’s an awesome player. I know he’s going to have an amazing season. We’ll figure out all the roster machinations over the coming weeks. At no point in that statement as glowing as it was, do you hear anything about we think he’s going to have a great season for us. We think he’s going to win us a bunch of games this year, as he has every year. So that to me right there, that almost sounded like something you say when a player’s, you know, retiring, or he left, or anything like that. And I’m not saying Mark Andrews retiring, I’m just saying that it very much sounded to me like either a preemptive goodbye or leaving enough ambiguity in there to what try to see if you can get some of these 31 other teams to pick up the phone and say, hey, you know, what’s the deal with Andrews? What’s the deal with likely, they’re both free agents after this year. We know you guys don’t have a lot of cap space. Marks got, you know, $11 million coming his way in the 2025 season under his current deal. What’s going to take the part with them? You know, would you be interested in a fourth round pick. Would you be interested in a swap of third round picks? Or, you know, whatever you know, again, I’m spitballing
Nestor Aparicio 34:26
to the right team. He would get 80 balls.
Luke Jones 34:28
Yeah. I mean, Mark Andrews was still there. I mean, he caught 11 touchdowns, even after a nothing of a first quarter of the season for him, where we were all asking, like, what’s going on with Mark Andrews. I mean, we had the car accident, right? That was serious. He had that. I mean, keep in mind, he was still coming back from the ankle injury last year, which I know. He made it back for the playoffs. Last year, he wasn’t anywhere close to 100% so he’s been through a lot physically over the last year. But again, that statement to me, I’m not. I’m not going to go as as far as saying I think that means they could potentially cut them if, if they don’t get any trade action. But part of that is, I also think someone out there would would trade for Mark Andrews because of what you just said. I mean, he’s still a good player. I know people are angry and frustrated still about what happened in the Buffalo game, I understand that, but you can’t let that completely wipe away your entire perception of who the player has been, even in the present, even in 2024 what he was so so to me that I very much took those comments as we’re open for business if you want to try to come get Mark Andrews. Because, again, I think you look at it pragmatically, you’re talking about someone who’s going to be 30, you know, the ankle injury and all that. You know, a guy that has played through a lot of nagging things over the years too. You know, how long is he going to hold up? You know, for every Travis Kelsey that plays into his mid to late 30s. Think how many tight ends get to age 30 and the wear and tear? You know, it’s just, it’s tough. So you know, from that standpoint, you acknowledge that Isaiah likely is four and a half years younger, and also entering the last year of his rookie deal, if you’re going to quickly, if you’re just going to wager, if you’re going to bet, who’s going to be the more productive. Player over the next four years, you’re easily going to say Isaiah. Isaiah likely. Now, the price point is different because they’re at different points in their careers, but I think if you’re the ravens, if you can only have one or the other for the next three or four years, I mean, is it even close? I think it’s Isaiah likely, just because he’s going to be 26 rather than 30. And, you know, just understanding how players generally age right and understanding you’re certainly not going to be able to keep both of them for on multi year deals. So that doesn’t mean you cut Andrews. It doesn’t mean you’re definitely trading him. But I think looking at it through the lens of not just 2025 but the big picture, I think you’re trying to work something out with likely. And if that means that you move on from Mark Andrews on the right deal right now, or obviously in the next few weeks, you know, leading into the draft, then that’s what you do. So I Well, there’s
8Nestor Aparicio 37:18
big money on a couple of guys, and then there’s Kyle Hamilton and linderbaum. So to me, all of this puzzle is keeping dead money off. You know, I’ve said, will be really generous with Ronnie Stanley, and you’re like, No, they’ve already been generous with Ronnie Stanley. You just, you just need to get a deal done, right? I mean, yeah. And across the way, the worst money they’ve spent in recent times has been on the safety position, whether it was Marx Williams or whether it was Thomas or even even Tony Jefferson, who was a great guy and they loved but never played at the level of what that original contract was. Yeah. I mean, it’s Weddle was the only one, and even he they cut the final year that deals. Yeah, that was the thing. Like they would never give wide receivers money like that, because a lot of the wide receivers that would get the market were head cases, Calvin Johnson Andre John, those guys never, you know, never got to market. Um, but, but the guys that went to market, they didn’t want to give 4060, $80 million to, but safeties were something that they bought, you know, off the shelf, a little bit more. Roquan is also, you know, a guy they dealt for. Yeah, I just keep looking at their own guys and saying Hamilton, Linder bomb will be the highest paid center in the league when he signs this deal. And Hamilton, I don’t know what the safety, the hybrid, where it is and whatever, but I’d be shocked if he’s not the I would $30 million player right now. I would bet more on him, right? Like, literally, I would bet more on Hamilton becoming the highest paid safety than Linder bomb becoming, becoming the highest paid center, even though that both could end up being there. I mean, I you know that that’s what we’re talking about here. So, yeah, I mean, but, but that makes lender bomb a $20 million center, $15 million center. I mean, right, yeah. I mean, and it makes, it makes Hamilton a $32 million safety right now. So I just these numbers get a little my by the way, Ronnie Stanley’s made $108 million playing for the Ravens. And that sounds about right. He’s been here a long time. He was a top draft pick. He got the $98 million deal that he’s now cashed all the way in and another year, and now about to maybe add 20 to 40 million more of real money if he hits the field the next two years. I mean, guys are making a lot of money for throwing media members out and not answering questions and running out the side door and having hokey pokey and massage parlors and just all of it. It’s it. It’s a it’s a mind boggling amount of money that we’re talking about in this salary cap going upward of $300 million in the coming years. But what it what the best players cost? Even when you’re a genius like Eric the Costa, and you hit on these guys, and you get the best players, and, you know, that’s great, but every Lamar Jackson is going to cost you every Hollywood brown or, you know, for everyone that you hit on, you’re going to have another one that you can’t. Pay them you can’t pay no doubt,
Luke Jones 40:01
no doubt. And look, I mean, that that’s a good problem to have, rather than, you know, part of you mentioned the safety position. Remember, the fallout from that was whiffing on Matt Elam, whiffing on Terrence Brooks. Like, you know, they had a series of safeties where that didn’t work out very well, to the point where they’re like, We got to go get Eric Weddle, right? I mean, because safety had been such a problem for them for the better part of four or five years after Ed Reed had left, right? I mean, after Ed, they’ve
Nestor Aparicio 40:24
been so good at that though. I mean, if there’s anything, if I write who’s gonna have on them, it’s gonna have some misses, bringing in the Colace Campbells, bringing in the Kyle van noise, bringing in the clowning. I mean, they have taken that Bella check model in New England and bringing in veteran players, and they missed on Earl Thomas, right? But
Luke Jones 40:43
8everyone misses. Everyone misses, right? And that’s one thing that I’ve always because I’ll see, you know, even, even people in my life who are Ravens fans, who I’d like to think, or, you know, I’m not like to think, because that’s that sounds kind of, I retract that Who, who do know things, who are a smart are smart football fans, but I see criticisms of drafts sometimes, and it’s like, if you’re going to evaluate some a team as a as a drafting organization, you got to look at the 31 other teams, right? No one bats 1000 no one bats 800 so look at what their percentage is compared to the other 31 teams, and then you start to get a picture of just how good they are at doing that. But to your point, to bring it back to talking about these contracts and where they’re going with, you know, with linderbaum, with Kyle Hamilton, you know, they’re, they’re in a position where they’ve struck, they’ve really hit big time on some of these recent picks, not all of them, but they’ve hit big on those two right now. Just to give you an idea, Antoine Winfield, highest paid safety in the NFL for Tampa Bay, average annual value of $21 million I mean, Kyle Hamilton is absolutely going to get more than a 40 or $84 million contract. I mean, I don’t know how much more, but it’s going to be more. And you know, with with the center position, Creed Humphrey, the chiefs star center, he’s at four years, 72 million now, they really, they really blew the market out of the water for centers there, because the next highest was uh, Frank ragnall of the lions, and his at his AAV, was only 13.5 so that’s where I say. I don’t know if Linder bomb will exceed Humphrey, but you better believe he’s gonna be very close. You know, he’s gonna be $20 million so he’s a $15 million I mean, whether it’s 15, whether it’s 16, it might be 17, it might be 17 five, right? I mean, one thing the Ravens have actually done that, that has actually kept some of their average annual values in check is they’ve been good about giving up a little more upfront, immediate money to players, you know, a little more in terms of guarantees in the first couple years, which is really what most these players really want, right? You can sign a 10 year deal that sounds incredible from an average annual value standpoint, but when you sign a 10 year deal, you know you’re only getting a fraction of that right. You know you’re not getting all that money. So, so a lot of times it has to do with what does the player you know? What tickles the players fancy? What makes the what makes the the agents chest puff out in terms of, hey, look at what I just did, and then they can brag to their other clients and go to other teams and negotiate. So it’s very nuanced. But again, the big point is with the ravens, and that’s why it’s tough right now, with Ronnie Stanley and with Mark Andrews, you know, two guys who, when they’ve been healthy and on the field, have been really, really, really good players for them, you know, especially Andrews, you know, with Stanley, with having some of his injuries, but you get to a point where you’ve got to be thinking about the next wave of players that are going to fit that category for you. I mean, it’s not just Kyle Hamilton, it’s not just Tyler linderbomb. You know, not that it’s immediate, but you know, zay flowers just became the first wide receiver drafted by the ravens to make a pro bowl. I was gonna say he’s another guy that’s up for 25 I mean, I don’t know if they’re going to give it to him, but he’s going to be like, you’re gonna have to consider what you’re doing there, right? So, I mean, that’s just how this works. I mean, they had to pay Matt abika This past off season, right? And he became, you know, he got Hello money. You know, obviously way different than when not assigned 15 years ago, but the point stands, so
Nestor Aparicio 44:24
they better hope they get another corner they have to pay at some point. Yeah,
Luke Jones 44:27
I mean that. And look, I mean that’s, I wouldn’t be shocked if they draft a corner, you know, even after Wiggins, because, you know, Marlon Humphries, more of a nickel, more of a slot corner, right? And what’s going to happen with him? Are you going to extend him? Try to tack a couple more years on his deal.
Nestor Aparicio 44:42
I agree wholeheartedly, by the way, with that sentiment. If somebody were to ask me right now, if I have to bet $1 on what position they’re going to draft, I think they’ll draft the corner. I mean, they can never have enough. Yeah, it could be right.
8Luke Jones 44:55
I mean, I think you do look at it through the lens of, you know. Wiggins, you just drafted Marlins coming off of maybe the best year of his career, so he’s kind of righted the ship in terms of his standing with the organization, although you probably want to do something with that contract. Then if you’re going to, you know, keep them for two more years, you might tack on a year or two to try to smooth out the cap numbers, but you can never have enough of that, right? I still think edge rusher, you know, this seems to be a pretty good draft in terms of edge rushers. I think they need to keep taking swings there, because van Noy is another year older. Always in a contract year. Are you going to extend him? You know, he’s coming off of a double digit sack season. I’m not saying he’s Terrell Suggs in his prime, but he’s still better than most of what you’ve drafted over the last decade in that regard. So let
Nestor Aparicio 45:42
me give you another position, guard, because they’re picking late in the first round if the best guard is there, and they feel like they have a five year guy that would help them if they if they can’t afford lender bomb. If you know that offensive line with this quarterback is paramount, they got the fat running back that I screamed about for three years, the way you scream for a decade about their their secondary and their wide receivers. I mean, if this is the off season of anything for me, sign me up for another Marshall, yonda or another Nate Wiggins. And I mean, Nate Wiggins, in that way, the best way, just another dart at having somebody to run around in the secondary, because that’s the game that that’s that’s especially if you’re going to keep Hamilton around and roquan is going to be in his prime, you’ve invested in these other places. To me, guard, maybe left tackle, right? I mean, if tackle, there’s the biggest round you like, yeah, go. Have at it. But I think offensive line, and I say that meaning guard in my mind, or corner and or corner or guard in the second and third round, and thinking you get another Rosengarten kind of plug in, sort of kind of play guard. I I feel like they’re strong in a lot of other places, you know? I mean, I don’t feel like they need things. I mean, we don’t talk about it much in these off seasons, because they’re good. And they certainly aren’t going to be splashy and free. They’re not going to give money to a free agent guard, they didn’t sign their own guy last year, right? It’s like,
Luke Jones 47:05
Yeah, I mean, I think, I mean, look, we can go down the positions real quick. Quarterback, they’re good running back, they’re good wide receiver. They need some they need a depth piece or two, but say flowers and Rashad Bateman, both coming off career years. You’re in good, a good spot there. Tight end, we don’t know what’s going to happen with Mark Andrews, but you still have Isaiah likely and Charlie Kohler. All three of them are under contract, so good, right? Offensive line, you just said it. I mean, it has to be a special guard, right? It can’t just be someone that’s just solid, right? If it’s a guy that you think has a chance to be Marshall yonda Or how about Ben Grubbs, you know, who made, made a couple Pro Bowls in his career, then great. But you know, that’s what you’re looking at, left tackle. What happens with Ronnie Stanley? Or, okay, if it’s not a left tackle, and you think Rosengarten can actually do that, then you need a right tackle, right? So offensive line is the big position on the offensive side of the ball. That’s obvious, right? We can talk about drafting for depth. Like I said, a number three, number four wide receiver. You know that you’re not targeting that guy in the first round, obviously. So on the defensive side, that’s where I think it’s a little more interesting. I already mentioned Ed Roger rusher. You mentioned outside corner, safety is a possibility, right? Does it need to be a first round safety? No, but I think you’re still looking at that spot inside linebacker. To me, Trenton Simpson’s got to, he’s got to do the job next year. That’s going to be a problem if, if he has to get benched again, right? You can’t, you can’t invest another early pick at an inside linebacker spot that already you’re paying a guy $20 million like rocon Smith, they’ve got to figure that out with Trenton Simpson, but edge rusher, I’ll also throw this one out there though. Nestor, when you look at the overall makeup of their defensive line, Mata Bucha signed long term. Okay, so put him aside. Travis Jones, entering a contract year when he’s healthy, he’s looked really, really good. So are you going to commit to him? Are you going to let that play out? Broderick, Washington, you know that that extension he signed a couple years ago that’s been underwhelming. He’s not making a ton of money. I’m not saying they’re going to cut them. You know, if they would, it would be more out of circumstance, but because of what I’m about to say. Michael Pierce, wrong side of 30, Brent urban, wrong side of 30, and he’s a free agent. I think when you look at their defensive line, with some of their depth, guys are a little getting a little long in the tooth. I think you look at what the Philadelphia Eagles just did with absolutely wreaking havoc with a front four where they did not have to blitz. I think the ravens, if you’re looking at kind of taking the next step, right? And look, this team’s been excellent in the regular season year after year after year, as long as number eight is healthy. So it’s not about that. But if you’re looking at the next step in other ways that they can try to break through in January, I think you have to look at the pass rush and recognize whether it’s another interior guy or. The Edge spot, because van Noy is going to be a year older and always in a contract year, and you’ve got nothing from David ajabo and Adisa Isaac was hurt all last year, so you have no idea what you really have with him. I think you look at defensive line in trying to whether it’s an edge guy or whether it’s another guy that you can kind of move around, you know, five technique guy that maybe replaces Brent urban, but it has more upside in terms of the rotation. I think he’s
Nestor Aparicio 50:26
8plugged in with a Darius Smith kind of guy here. Bring Matt Judah on back. Or, you know, that’s they. That’s how they usually address this dude. They don’t usually address it with the first round draft pick, yeah, and maybe this is the year they will,
Luke Jones 50:39
yeah, right. And that’s where I kind of feel, you know, they need a dude there. They haven’t had a dude as an edge rusher in a really long I mean, you have to go back to Suggs in Doomer Ville a decade ago, right? And even those guys at that point, they were on the back nines, back nine of their career. That’s my point.
Nestor Aparicio 50:56
They’ve almost always had a back nine, yeah, other songs and on as he came on, became a you know,
Luke Jones 51:03
but, and I’m not saying that, that they’re doomed if they don’t do that. Let’s be clear to your point. They’ve made that work. They’ve schemed up pressure. They’ve used sim pressures and blitzes and all the different things that they do and and they’ve still had a really good defense.
8Nestor Aparicio 51:16
I see them signing their own Andrew kit bridge in this position, you know, like just getting the guy, you know, that’s what they do though, you know, yeah, and
Luke Jones 51:24
it might be or because, you know, and I haven’t taken a deep, deep, deep dive into the draft at this point. You know, the combine is when things really start to pick up, and we’ll have workout days and all that. But, you know, it does seem to be the kind of draft that people think that there’s a nice group of edge rushers here, so maybe they find that guy. And, you know, again, part of the complication of that is Van noy’s age and OA entering the last year of his contract. You know, he’s got the fifth year option that they’re that he’s going to be playing on. You know, are you ready to marry adafe OA long term? Right? Or do you say I don’t know, we might view him in the way that we move we viewed Matt Judah on four or five years ago, which was we liked him enough to franchise tag him one year, but we didn’t like him enough to to give him that lucrative money that he ultimately got from the Patriots. So you know, we’ll see. But I do think that that’s another position where you know, and just that unit, that front four, you know, is something where they could still take a look, and at the very least, I think they need that. They want to inject a little bit of young depth into that group, knowing that guys like Pearson and Bran urban and Kyle van Noy are are all on the wrong side of 30, and you’re not gonna be able to count on guys like that to keep contributing year after year after
Nestor Aparicio 52:40
year, 11 draft picks, right? I mean, you know, they, you know,
Luke Jones 52:44
8yeah, with the comp picks, and, yeah, yeah, 11 picks,
Nestor Aparicio 52:47
yeah. So, I mean, you know, talking about this guard or that corner, they could, they, they’re going to get players, they’re, they’re going to bring in a cupboard there, and then on top of that, to my point, they’ll have players on the edge, 30 something, replacement players that they could plug, sign a guard, sign a you know, that maybe isn’t Zeitler, but maybe they’re happier with and what they have, but they’re going to be hitting their nose on the cap, right? I mean, this is they’re not cheap skates, and they’re shrewd about how they manage it, but they play to it, you know, like and the Ronnie Stanley thing, and whatever they’re going to do, whether it’s, we’re going to sign Kyle Hamilton now and give him money, or, you know, get, get out in front of things, I don’t know, but they’re really good at this. This is, this is they’re as good at this as they are at the, you know, covering up things in the room building.
Luke Jones 53:38
I’ll say, you know, when you look at where they are cap wise. You know, they’re tight against it. The caps going up a little bit more than wasn’t was anticipated, which is a good thing for those teams that are tight against the cap, although everyone’s going to get more cap space. So I think sometimes we overrate that a little bit.
Nestor Aparicio 53:54
And they know that they’re scientists about this. They knew two years ago, when they gave Lamar the money that there would be a little bit. It wouldn’t be 22% against the cap for his salary was gonna be more like 16. They measure all of that. Yeah,
8Luke Jones 54:07
so, but for me, I look at a couple players right now in terms of, you know, three players, I would say, because I already, I touched on OA, and I’m like, you know that one, I’m I’m just, I don’t have a good feel for where they are with him in terms of whether they want to really marry him long term. But I look at three guys right now, Lamar Jackson has a $43 million cap hit for this year now that as it comes to just what star quarterbacks cost, that’s not crazy, right? It it goes up to 70 some million the next couple years. But the point is, we’re getting close to that point where you can talk extension on him, right? He’s had back to back MVP caliber years. You feel fine about that. You know, he’s 28 he’s not 33 you know, he showed no signs of slowing down. So that’s one way that you can open up some more cap space by extending him, lowering that number, right, committing more dollars, but, but you’re okay with that because it’s Lamar Jackson, so. Marlon Humphries. The other one, he’s got a $25 million cap number. Got a couple more years left on his deal. You know, I don’t know if you’re you’re not going to attack five or six, you know. You know it’s not going to be a crazy, long deal, but the way he played, you can extend him, you can lower that cap number. And I think the other one is Derek Henry, right. I mean, Derek Henry, when you look at what his cap number is projected to be, it’s 12 point 9 million, $6 million base salary. There’s a couple bonuses in there. This was the kind of deal that was basically a one year deal, with the second year being an option. They clearly want to keep them. So can you work something out that tax another year or two on for someone who played so well this past year, who is older. So you don’t want to go, you don’t want to give him a saquon Barkley deal either, but you can give him a little bit more, tack it on a little bit more. But in in the process of doing that, you lower his cap number, $5 million you know, $6 million I mean, that’s the way to create some cap space there. I’ll say
Nestor Aparicio 55:57
one more thing about the organization, that’s a positive thing. Nobody ever wants out of here in that way. Maybe Hollywood Brown, Hollywood brown because of the offense or whatever. But you know, they have guys are going to be very amenable to sticking around and feel like they have something to
Luke Jones 56:09
prove here. For sure, I will say this. Marcus Williams, look, that didn’t work out at all. Right, we all know that. How amenable was he though to being benched and all that he redid his deal at the end of last year to basically put the Ravens in a spot where they could save a bunch of cap space. Right now, knowing that they had to give him a post June 1 designation, he took, he willingly took a pay cut, and part of this is he knew he was never going to get another dime from the Ravens after what happened this past year. But he was amenable. He was agreeable to saying, Look, we’ll change my contract. You guys can get cap savings. You’re going to release me with a gene, a June 1 designation. I’m going to catch on elsewhere. It was one of those that just speaks to what you just said. Even in the process of being benched, he was willing to play ball with them, to help them out from a cap standpoint, which, you know, I don’t want to
Nestor Aparicio 57:04
8it might be his agent too, you know, his agent wants to keep my piece too,
Luke Jones 57:07
but he works for the player, right? Ultimately, agents work for the player, so, you know. But there’s an example right there of what you
Nestor Aparicio 57:13
just the agent also saying. And I talked to Chad about this. Chad Wheatley, by the way, you know, my my agent buddy, just, you know, Hey, dude, I know you’re pissed off or whatever, but I’m going to get you on the Green Bay. Green Bay, and in order to do this, just keep the peace. Yeah, they all know each other, right? I
Luke Jones 57:28
mean, and remember, there was even that weird he was initially benched in that Cleveland game. It was uncomfortable, all that. And you know, now we don’t know exactly what happened behind closed doors, but it was harmonious the rest of the year. You know, it wasn’t to the point where they had to cut him because he was a malcontent and guys hated him or anything like that. So you know, to your point that you were making whatever else is going on with the organization, in terms of Tucker and everything you talked about the beginning of our conversation, the culture of players, you know, the locker room, the kumbaya with the organization, all of that. Yeah. I mean, these guys like playing here, and they win a lot of football games, even if not as many in January as people would like, the last six, seven years. But you know what? We’ll see how this plays out. But yeah, as we kind of went into the weeds a little bit on the salary cap, yeah, they’re, they’re not going to have, we’re not going to be seeing the Ravens make three or four big name signings. And we never do, right? I mean, we should know that by now. In three decades of ravens football, the good teams don’t, yeah. I mean, it’s, you rarely are going to see the Ravens make a splash, and the times they have, a lot of them haven’t worked out all that well. Earl Thomas comes to mind immediately.
Nestor Aparicio 58:44
He is Lou Jones. He’s Baltimore. Luke. We got baseball on the brain. We got a lot of spring training. We’ve done the abs. We’ve done all of these things going on. We will continue to monitor all things the underwear Olympics in Indianapolis. Luke will be out on social media. I have great, great guests around here this week. I mean, just unbelievable. Hank is areas been here this week talking about Bruce Springsteen and the Simpsons. We’ve also just had Pat scary from Towson came on. I did a whole media deep dive with Jim Williams, Lawrence Lanahan and bainer Baynard woods. They wrote books together. They’re here separately this week on different things. And I’m really looking forward to chatting with John Palumbo from crack the sky this week, and then next week, Rick Emmett from triumph is going to preview the Blue Jays Orioles opener in Canada later next month. And and this is big news for anybody on the Justin Tucker thing, Julie sharper of the Baltimore banner is going to join me for an hour later on this week. You want to find all of that out at wnst. I am Nestor. He is Luke. We are wnst am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. You.
