LinvilleGorge

I honestly don't think that Chark and Thielen are going to dramatically alter our draft plans. Chark is on a one year prove it deal to stay healthy. If he does, then a long-term deal is certainly possible. Thielen is a 33 year old stop gap. The draft should be about trying to find long-term solutions, not quick fix bandaids. Quick fix bandaids is what second and third tier free agency is about.

This. It was rumored that we were looking to trade up to #3 but the cost to go all the way up to #1 wasn't much more, so why not? At #3 I have to assume we would've been likely looking at Richardson and/or Levis. But at #1? I'm sold as fug on Richardson's talent, but my god it would take some gigantic brass balls to take him at #1 over Young and Stroud.

I just want us to nail this pick. Whoever we pick I'm gonna root for him to be great and stay healthy.

I mean, it's true. If you saw Bryce Young walk in and had no clue who he was and he told you he played football at Alabama you're think he's either a slot receiver, nickelback, or he's a kicker/punter. That's pretty much it.

If he'd had an agent, he probably got paid two years ago. With his playing style and only one year removed from an MVP and coming off of another strong season, his agent would've been pushing HARD to get a deal done right then.

Would Lamar be willing to sit out the season? I mean, that $32M non-exclusive franchise tag would nearly double his career earnings. What would sitting out a season do to his value? As bad as he has fuged this up so far, there's plenty more fuging up he could do here.

Very possible. Sitting out meaningless bowl games doesn't hurt prospects' draft status but essentially sitting out NFL playoff games is another matter entirely. Even if he didn't "quit", letting his playing status be known was a major faux paus. The Ravens surely would've greatly preferred to keep the Bengals wondering if Lamar would play. Honestly, I wouldn't at all be surprised if Jackson was attempting to use this as leverage to get a contract right then and there.

Ultimately I think the Ravens play hardball here.

Don't quote me, but I'm hearing that we're definitely taking a QB.

Yeah, if they're gonna fix this mess there absolutely needs to be a professional mediator (i.e. "agent") involved. Because the next long-term contract the Ravens would likely extend is probably gonna be flat out insulting. And it's gonna be meant that way. There's gonna be a lot of work to do to get anywhere close to that original offer.

And honestly, that's probably highly likely.

I honestly don't know if the opportunity even exists. I mean, why would the Ravens still extend their original offer at this point? They hold all the cards at this point. Lamar is probably going to have to play out the season under the tag or agree to a very team friendly long-term deal. He's made a real mess out of this.

I hope this means that we're completely sold on "our guy" and we've made our choice.

Blame Bryce. Step on the scales again at his pro day at 204 and it's over. He chose not to. Why?

Not sure what Cam has to do with this considering Cam happily played out his rookie contract with us when lots of guys (like CMC) start barking for a new big deal as soon as they're eligible and then he signed a new deal with no drama and no public negotiations whatsoever. By all appearances, Cam was always extremely easy to work with for us.

He has utterly botched the fug out of this.

You damn straight. We don't have to publicize it. But you're getting on that damn scale if you wanna be the #1 overall pick. If he came in at his listed 195ish I'd breathe a sigh of relief.

This. I have nothing against people wanting Young. I honestly think he's the best QB available. But you have to put on some real blinders to convince yourself the size isn't a legit concern. And you have to poke your eyes completely damn out to convince yourself that there aren't shenanigans behind that combine weight and then not weighing in again at his pro day. This dude is my size when I was that age. And we're talking about playing QB in the NFL? Yeah, that's a concern.

I honestly don't think they had to. If this was the MVP version of Lamar someone would've broke rank and done it anyway even if they were attempting collusion.

Someone did a breakdown of all the money Lamar has left on the table with the way he has handled this whole situation for the past couple of years and it was astounding. It was probably Florio. Seems like a Florio thing to do.

I'm fine with Young. I'm just not blind to the size concerns. It's a huge concern. I think you're flat out wrong about the pro day. Weighing in at the pro day is very much the norm. It's not at all comparable to skipping a meaningless bowl game. That bowl game carries very real injury risks. Weighing in doesn't.

This is where a professional agent comes in. Lamar is probably surrounded by a bunch of yes men just telling him what he wants to hear. You don't need to give some scum agent 3%. That's crazy. That'll be millions. You can do this yourself. You're a young, former MVP QB. They're gonna give you that bag. But he didn't have anyone telling him that he's had two injury plagued seasons. That his play has significantly tailed off since his MVP season. That the NFL is wondering if his best days are behind him. That damn, the Ravens have a pretty strong offer on the table might wanna sign it. Maybe most importantly, he didn't have anyone with NFL front office connections around the league to have behind the scenes conversations to gauge his worth among other teams. If he did, that agent would've probably been SCREAMING at him to sign the Ravens' offer.

This whole fiasco has just been a complete disaster. Lamar has really fuged this up.

So why not show it again? You honestly think NFL teams opted for less information? He was about to step on the scale and they came running to stop him? He shouldn't. This isn't about the media. He probably has no idea that the Huddle exists.

And then opted not to reweigh at his pro day. What does that tell you? You're in love and love is blind.