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| The Ravens are now entering an offseason in which Ozzie Newsome will not be in charge of the front office for the first time in a very long time. How much things will actually change does remain a question though; Eric DeCosta has been in the pipeline to take over his position for the past five years and it’s reasonable to wonder if he’ll bring a pretty similar team building gameplan to the table.The fact is that DeCosta had been Newsome’s right hand man for a good amount of the latter’s two decade tenure. Conventional wisdom may dictate that he’ll simply follow Ozzie’s way of doing things [url=http://www.ravensjerseyproshop.com/justin-tucker-jersey/]Justin Tucker Womens Jersey[/url] , though there’s no way to tell until the new league year begins and he can really start to make his mark on the franchise that’s been grooming him to do so.Even in that light, it may be difficult to project how he’ll handle the most important position in all of sports (quarterback) for a franchise that hasn’t seen it be in flux like this for a decade plus. It never hurts to predict though, so let’s take a look at how it may shake out below:Current Depth ChartLamar Jackson: 2019 cap hit = $2,152,646Joe Flacco: 2019 cap hit = $26,500,000Robert Griffin III: Unrestricted Free AgentOffseason outlook: Despite an overall rough playoff outing against the Chargers, Jackson is the unquestioned guy moving forward, something John Harbaugh was quick to confirm after the loss. Another thing Harbaugh addressed is the $26 million elephant in the quarterback room.That would of course be the status of Joe Flacco as a Raven, something the coach (who is currently in contract negotiations of his own) confirmed has run it’s course:As rough as Lamar looked at times against L.A., this is the pretty obvious scenario we’ve all known was going to play out for upwards of at least a month, especially when the rookie was in the midst of his 6-1 tear. The question then becomes, what will actually happen with Flacco?The 12-year vet just turned 34 and has a complicated history of injuries and poor play over the last few years. In that sense, the question isn’t whether he’ll have a market; it’s what kind of market are we actually talking about?We could start by looking at potential landing spots. The former Super Bowl MVP has been linked with a few teams already, namely, Denver, Miami [url=http://www.ravensjerseyproshop.com/justin-tucker-jersey/]Youth Justin Tucker Jersey[/url] , Jacksonville and the New York Giants.From his perspective Jacksonville makes a ton of sense as Blake Bortles is all but confirmed to be on his way out and the roster is ready made for a deep run on paper. The other spots all work for varying reasons, with Denver and the Giants making sense due to their reputations as historic franchises.The question is will the Broncos fully hand over the keys to Flacco with Case Keenum still possibly in the picture, and are the Giants finally ready to move on from Eli Manning? The Dolphins make sense if they’re cutting bait on Ryan Tannehill as has been reported, though with the franchise and it’s front office in a nebulous position, it’s fair to wonder if the attraction would be mutual.Ultimately it seems that Flacco will have some say in his destination which could hurt Baltimore in terms of trade negotiations should they pursue that route. The only real question from the franchise’s perspective is what can they get for him in that scenario?Alex Smith, who had played well in his five years in Kansas City, netted a third round pick and a good player in Kendall Fuller from Washington. At this point, Baltimore would likely be thrilled with a 3rd rounder for a player they’ve already confirmed is on his way out.Regardless of how all of that plays out, Baltimore is in a desirable position quarterback wise moving forward. They have a young cost controlled starter for the next four years who has shown an ability to win games in this league; with Flacco coming off the books freeing upwards of $10 million dollars in cap space (including other roster moves likely to be made) DeCosta will have plenty of resources to build around Lamar.The final remaining question is who will be his backup next season? RGIII was an unexpected training camp to final roster holdover and stayed with the team throughout the entire season.It’s possible they did this in order to establish the continuity with Griffin in order to re-sign him to backup Lamar, which seemed to have the desired effect. Based on everything Griffin has said, he seems happy in Baltimore and would logistically be the right choice to be the no. 2 QB next year.His cap hit for this past season hovered just over a million which is perfectly fine for a quality backup, and for a guy who had been out of football for an entire year prior to 2018, it’s conceivable he’d be more than happy to accept the reliever role on a likely higher salary.We’ll see what happens with Griffin, but don’t ultimately be surprised if he’s not an unrestricted free agent for much longer.How do you expect all of this to shake out? Let us know in the comments down below. Following a victory worth savoring, the Baltimore Ravens whisked through the film of their season-opening rout of Buffalo before turning their full attention toward a Thursday night matchup against AFC North rival Cincinnati."The games keep coming," coach John Harbaugh said after Monday's practice. "Not as quick as baseball or basketball, I guess. But this is close."The Ravens probably wish they could linger a little longer in the aftermath of their 47-3 trouncing of the Bills [url=http://www.ravensjerseyproshop.com/justin-tucker-jersey/]Justin Tucker Men Jersey[/url] , mainly because just about everything went well.The offense got touchdowns from six different players, the defense didn't yield a first down until the third quarter and special teams contributed two field goals and a 51-yard punt return.Alas, all those good things were but a memory when the players took the field for Monday's practice."That game is behind us," strong safety Tony Jefferson said. "Although it's great to have momentum, it's over with. It's a new week. This is a division opponent; they know us very well and we know them very well."Yes, indeed. Baltimore opened the 2017 season with a 20-0 victory at Cincinnati, and the Bengals returned the favor in the finale with a 31-27 comeback win that knocked the Ravens out of playoff contention.Those thoughts will accompany the team to Cincinnati on Thursday night. But the Ravens aren't going to get caught up in last year, any more than they will be thinking about last Sunday."We played a young Buffalo team," linebacker Terrell Suggs said. "You don't take any win for granted, but it's one game. It's on to Cincinnati."One positive facet of the lopsided opener was that Harbaugh pulled his starters in the third quarter with the score 40-0. Quarterback Joe Flacco joked on the sideline while rookie Lamar Jackson took the offense through the motions, and most of the defensive starters were done before Buffalo finally got on the scoreboard.When you're playing two games in the span of five days, any respite is welcome. But Harbaugh didn't perceive that to be much of an advantage against a Bengals team that rallied with a 17-point fourth quarter to beat Indianapolis 34-23."You can't rest too many guys because it's not the preseason where you have your whole 90-man roster," Harbaugh noted. "There are still only 46 guys that are playing. A couple of guys got to sit down a little bit early, and that was probably somewhat helpful."Playing against two young quarterbacks, Baltimore's defensive backs picked off two passes and allowed only 11 completions for 98 yards. Harbaugh liked what he saw, but wasn't about to brand it a perfect game."You look at the good stuff and go, fine [url=http://www.ravensjerseyproshop.com/justin-tucker-jersey/]Color Rush Justin Tucker Jersey[/url] , but then you look at the things you need to get better at," he said. "Really, between the first game and the second game, even though it's a short week, it's still a great opportunity to improve because you finally know where you're at. And when you know where you're at, you can kind of tell what you need to work on to get where you want to go. That's what we'll try to do this week and the next couple weeks."This week, it all begins with adjusting to a quick turnaround."Mentally, you've just got to get into the playbook as quick as you can because we're short on preparation," linebacker C.J. Mosley said. "Physically, you've just got to get training room and into the cold tub. There are no tricks to it from that standpoint."Cornerback Maurice Canady (thigh), running back Kenneth Dixon (knee), defensive tackle Willie Henry (abdomen) and tight end Hayden Hurst (foot) did not practice Monday.Canady and Dixon were hurt against the Bills, but have not been ruled out for Thursday. |
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