2025 Offseason Thread

[Grim]

Going down the list of FAs, the only guys I like enough to commit multiple years to are Ronnie Stanley, Pat Ricard, and weirdly Tylan Wallace. I think Josh Jones and Patrick Mekari are 1-year types but maybe a little bump in pay. No one else gets much more than the minimum for me.

I think Chris Board is a guy who couple get a two year deal. Possibly Brent Urban but it wouldn’t be much

 

[Simba]

I think Chris Board is a guy who couple get a two year deal. Possibly Brent Urban but it wouldn’t be much

Yeah maybe Board too with how he played, but feels like this year was more aberration compared to the rest of his career.

Urban is about to be 34. Wouldn't even be shocked if he retires. If he sticks it out another year, I'd be surprised if it's anything more than the minimum.

 

[Simba]

Specifically on the Mark Andrews front, I think there's a tough decision with him, and it is completely unrelated to his performance last night. He's still a damn good player and one of the best TEs in the league, but salary cap is salary cap and age is age. He's going be turning 30 this year and carries the 4th highest cap hit on the team - those are just realities.

Meanwhile, you have a younger TE turning just 25 this year who has stepped up every single time he's been asked to step up, and also carries a great relationship with Lamar. I don't know that he ever reaches the levels a prime Mark Andrews has, but Likely has turned into a good player that seemingly still has room to grow, and a longer time left in his career to do it.

I think there was always some level of uncertainty whether or not Mark would be back. My guess is still yes, but I also feel like it's far from a sure thing.

 

[airconteka]

Yeah calls for cutting Andrews based on a bad game is why it's a good thing fans don't run the team. If you can extend him on a cap friendly deal, you do he as hes likely highly productive for a few more years. Who the fuck thought it was a good idea when the game was on the line to pass it to the guy was having a shocker?

 

[UPennChem]

Yeah calls for cutting Andrews based on a bad game is why it's a good thing fans don't run the team. If you can extend him on a cap friendly deal, you do he as hes likely highly productive for a few more years. Who the fuck thought it was a good idea when the game was on the line to pass it to the guy was having a shocker?

Straight facts

 

[gtalk12]

Bring me Higgins

 

[gtalk12]

Specifically on the Mark Andrews front, I think there's a tough decision with him, and it is completely unrelated to his performance last night. He's still a damn good player and one of the best TEs in the league, but salary cap is salary cap and age is age. He's going be turning 30 this year and carries the 4th highest cap hit on the team - those are just realities.

Meanwhile, you have a younger TE turning just 25 this year who has stepped up every single time he's been asked to step up, and also carries a great relationship with Lamar. I don't know that he ever reaches the levels a prime Mark Andrews has, but Likely has turned into a good player that seemingly still has room to grow, and a longer time left in his career to do it.

I think there was always some level of uncertainty whether or not Mark would be back. My guess is still yes, but I also feel like it's far from a sure thing.

Likely has made some plays and catches in key moments that I don’t think Mark has ever had

 

[D1City55]

In terms of the offense. I think you run it back again. I can't help but think that another year will make Zay Flowers a more dynamic and complete player. I think he's going to take a huge step forward. Bateman I think as well will take his game to another level. Likely I think can take a step forward and if Andrews does stay then I think he will be fine. I'm not worried about the offense if we retain Stanley. They set records and were a historic group.

The defense on the other hand. Man there's work to do, they cannot start the season the way they did initially. It was really bad. We need a rangy safety who can play the deep halves and allow Kyle Hamilton to play closer in the box. We really badly need a pass rusher because the lack of pressure is not allowing us to force turnovers. KVN is getting older and let's be real here, Oweh is who is he is. I hope on wrong on him but I don't think he's that guy and I honestly am starting to think that picking up his 5th year option was not a good idea. He's going to count 13M million against the cap and I see the sack numbers but I'm just not seeing the impact from him. It just feels like its been a long time since we had a front four that can put pressure on the QB. I don't know maybe you cave for a guy similar to Danielle Hunter, a premium pass rusher that you know will have to give a large contract to but you know is going to wreck havoc. We're just missing that guy on the edge who can do that, been that way since Sizzle left.

 

[UKRaven1827]

In terms of the offense. I think you run it back again. I can't help but think that another year will make Zay Flowers a more dynamic and complete player. I think he's going to take a huge step forward. Bateman I think as well will take his game to another level. Likely I think can take a step forward and if Andrews does stay then I think he will be fine. I'm not worried about the offense if we retain Stanley. They set records and were a historic group.

The defense on the other hand. Man there's work to do, they cannot start the season the way they did initially. It was really bad. We need a rangy safety who can play the deep halves and allow Kyle Hamilton to play closer in the box. We really badly need a pass rusher because the lack of pressure is not allowing us to force turnovers. KVN is getting older and let's be real here, Oweh is who is he is. I hope on wrong on him but I don't think he's that guy and I honestly am starting to think that picking up his 5th year option was not a good idea. He's going to count 13M million against the cap and I see the sack numbers but I'm just not seeing the impact from him. It just feels like its been a long time since we had a front four that can put pressure on the QB. I don't know maybe you cave for a guy similar to Danielle Hunter, a premium pass rusher that you know will have to give a large contract to but you know is going to wreck havoc. We're just missing that guy on the edge who can do that, been that way since Sizzle left.

Couldn't agree more on Oweh. He just doesn't move me at all. Numbers are solid but he has just never passed the eye test with me. Seems to go missing when it matters so much. Likes to take bad angles and always seems to not complete sacks/tackles.

Watching a guy like Jared Verse for the Rams, really makes me see what we are missing. Just a pure game wrecker up front. It is a good edge draft. Lots of talented guys in there. So hopefully a position we look at.

 

[rmcjacket23]

QB - it didn't bite us this year but the offence looked non-functional with josh johnson in this year - all it takes is lamar to get sick (like he sometimes does) or have some short-term injury and then you're looking at a backup who won't keep your head above water in the intervening period - Leary's obviously not the guy - i'd advocate for us to draft a guy on day 3 every year until we find a guy who sticks

For QB specifically, I have this view that the team basically understands that this team won't be overly competitive without Lamar if he misses extended time. And I'm kind of fine with that.
I think most if not all of the decent backups in this league are still going to cost you several million $ a year as a backup. The Flacco's, Dalton's, even Drew Lock's of the world are getting $3-6M a year as backups. I just don't see us committing that kind of cap space to a backup at this point, especially when pretty much none of them would run the offense the way Lamar does.

I'm not opposed to draft picks either, but obviously you're pretty much never taking somebody earlier than round 5, and realistically, like rounds 6-7 or UDFAs. Which means there's pretty much no shot they're ready to play in year 1 and its a total dart throw if they'll ever even be a backup-caliber in the league.

So for me its not even like a worthy discussion point. They take a 6th rounder to compete with Johnson, cool. If they roll with Johnson, same cool. I don't think it matters. If they have or had serious fears about Lamar's availability, they'd need to pony up in the FA market to get a veteran who can not sink the ship if Lamar misses a month.

 

[rmcjacket23]

In terms of the offense. I think you run it back again. I can't help but think that another year will make Zay Flowers a more dynamic and complete player. I think he's going to take a huge step forward. Bateman I think as well will take his game to another level. Likely I think can take a step forward and if Andrews does stay then I think he will be fine. I'm not worried about the offense if we retain Stanley. They set records and were a historic group.

The defense on the other hand. Man there's work to do, they cannot start the season the way they did initially. It was really bad. We need a rangy safety who can play the deep halves and allow Kyle Hamilton to play closer in the box. We really badly need a pass rusher because the lack of pressure is not allowing us to force turnovers. KVN is getting older and let's be real here, Oweh is who is he is. I hope on wrong on him but I don't think he's that guy and I honestly am starting to think that picking up his 5th year option was not a good idea. He's going to count 13M million against the cap and I see the sack numbers but I'm just not seeing the impact from him. It just feels like its been a long time since we had a front four that can put pressure on the QB. I don't know maybe you cave for a guy similar to Danielle Hunter, a premium pass rusher that you know will have to give a large contract to but you know is going to wreck havoc. We're just missing that guy on the edge who can do that, been that way since Sizzle left.

My only fear... teams that stay the same usually get worse, not better. I agree that outside of Oline we have no major weaknesses on offense. But there's a lot of teams that try to keep the band together and try again, and those teams frequently end up worse. If nothing else because the teams around them get better.

One other glaring thing I'll throw out, which is kind of a "knock on wood" thing... we had major injury fortunes this year. We had basically no injuries from high-end players that lasted more than a game or two. Flowers injury was the biggest of the year by far, and it wouldn't have been long term either. Sadly, that's not sustainable. I think we're due for some major injury regression (in a bad way) in the next year or two. Partially why I think having so many draft picks and focusing on depth in a lot of spots may be key.

 

[RavensMania]

there's a difference between sacks and pressures
and not all sacks and pressures are created equal

KVN has been good and productive but not especially disruptive
odafe got 10 sacks without doing very much all year

The last 6 or 7 weeks Odafe wasn't even the starter and didn't have more than 38 snaps and the last 4 games he played 28, 27, 26 and 21 snaps. Yes, he got 10 sacks but his disruptions were down a lot this year.

Robinson has been the starter since week 11

 

[rossihunter2]

In terms of the offense. I think you run it back again. I can't help but think that another year will make Zay Flowers a more dynamic and complete player. I think he's going to take a huge step forward. Bateman I think as well will take his game to another level. Likely I think can take a step forward and if Andrews does stay then I think he will be fine. I'm not worried about the offense if we retain Stanley. They set records and were a historic group.

The defense on the other hand. Man there's work to do, they cannot start the season the way they did initially. It was really bad. We need a rangy safety who can play the deep halves and allow Kyle Hamilton to play closer in the box. We really badly need a pass rusher because the lack of pressure is not allowing us to force turnovers. KVN is getting older and let's be real here, Oweh is who is he is. I hope on wrong on him but I don't think he's that guy and I honestly am starting to think that picking up his 5th year option was not a good idea. He's going to count 13M million against the cap and I see the sack numbers but I'm just not seeing the impact from him. It just feels like its been a long time since we had a front four that can put pressure on the QB. I don't know maybe you cave for a guy similar to Danielle Hunter, a premium pass rusher that you know will have to give a large contract to but you know is going to wreck havoc. We're just missing that guy on the edge who can do that, been that way since Sizzle left.

I think it’s a bit like our WR problem pre-2019…

Hard to find good playmakers at a position you don’t take many swings at

1st rounder on oweh in 2021, 2nd rounder on Ojabo in 2022

Think the only other swings in the top 2 rounds in the last 10 years were tyus bowser and kamalei Correa…

Obviously the hope was oweh is the guy but you’re never going to be 100% successful on every pick and you also need at least 2 guys at edge on every play…

 

[rossihunter2]

For QB specifically, I have this view that the team basically understands that this team won't be overly competitive without Lamar if he misses extended time. And I'm kind of fine with that.
I think most if not all of the decent backups in this league are still going to cost you several million $ a year as a backup. The Flacco's, Dalton's, even Drew Lock's of the world are getting $3-6M a year as backups. I just don't see us committing that kind of cap space to a backup at this point, especially when pretty much none of them would run the offense the way Lamar does.

I'm not opposed to draft picks either, but obviously you're pretty much never taking somebody earlier than round 5, and realistically, like rounds 6-7 or UDFAs. Which means there's pretty much no shot they're ready to play in year 1 and its a total dart throw if they'll ever even be a backup-caliber in the league.

So for me its not even like a worthy discussion point. They take a 6th rounder to compete with Johnson, cool. If they roll with Johnson, same cool. I don't think it matters. If they have or had serious fears about Lamar's availability, they'd need to pony up in the FA market to get a veteran who can not sink the ship if Lamar misses a month.

For me it’s just about continuously investing day 3 picks at the position - see if you can’t find a guy to be a cheap backup

Obviously everyone knows the team is screwed if Lamar goes down for the year

But a short term absence needs a better backup to keep you afloat than Josh johnson

Was notable that they were in on mayfield and some others the last few offseasons

 

[rossihunter2]

My only fear... teams that stay the same usually get worse, not better. I agree that outside of Oline we have no major weaknesses on offense. But there's a lot of teams that try to keep the band together and try again, and those teams frequently end up worse. If nothing else because the teams around them get better.

One other glaring thing I'll throw out, which is kind of a "knock on wood" thing... we had major injury fortunes this year. We had basically no injuries from high-end players that lasted more than a game or two. Flowers injury was the biggest of the year by far, and it wouldn't have been long term either. Sadly, that's not sustainable. I think we're due for some major injury regression (in a bad way) in the next year or two. Partially why I think having so many draft picks and focusing on depth in a lot of spots may be key.

We’ve had 2 pretty injury free seasons but before that had league worst injury luck the previous 3-4 seasons

And regarding staying the same… I agree

We need WR depth, we should be very interested in a LG upgrade at the bare minimum

 

[rmcjacket23]

We’ve had 2 pretty injury free seasons but before that had league worst injury luck the previous 3-4 seasons

And regarding staying the same… I agree

We need WR depth, we should be very interested in a LG upgrade at the bare minimum

Right, and I'm saying even beyond depth, we're not awesome at every position. Oline is obvious, but we literally could get a better WR if one was available. We could have better Dline play. We certainly can have better pass rushers.
And one that I think will happen that will get unnoticed... Ardarius Washington isn't the best Safety in the league. I think you're going to see several positions, especially in the draft, where we take players high that play positions where we were already "good" at.

Our draft position isn't as strong at the top, but this is very much one of those years where you end up with a Kyle Hamilton-type, meaning a guy that wasn't on our radar at a position we thought we were strong at, but turns out he's just so much better than the other guys. Corner might be that group. WR might be that group. Oline could easily be that group.

This team is good, but not great, at a LOT of spots. Great year to have a high # of draft picks (even if the draft class isn't spectacular).

 

[Grim]

Right, and I'm saying even beyond depth, we're not awesome at every position. Oline is obvious, but we literally could get a better WR if one was available. We could have better Dline play. We certainly can have better pass rushers.
And one that I think will happen that will get unnoticed... Ardarius Washington isn't the best Safety in the league. I think you're going to see several positions, especially in the draft, where we take players high that play positions where we were already "good" at.

Our draft position isn't as strong at the top, but this is very much one of those years where you end up with a Kyle Hamilton-type, meaning a guy that wasn't on our radar at a position we thought we were strong at, but turns out he's just so much better than the other guys. Corner might be that group. WR might be that group. Oline could easily be that group.

This team is good, but not great, at a LOT of spots. Great year to have a high # of draft picks (even if the draft class isn't spectacular).

I would be really surprised if CB may be that group, unless you are talking #3 CB. That said, I generally agree. I think we could take almost any position and it be a value and need pick. We really do need better depth but more importantly we just need playmakers and guys who will show up in big games. That last part is most critical to me. I would definitely look at someone from Ohio State, someone like Jack Sawyer would be good. We need people who will show up in big games.

Also, Washington is another guy who didn't manage to get INT when they were to be had. He is as much apart of the problem as anyone else, so someone in defense with ball skills would definitely be of help.


I think the only position where I would really rather not invest in would be ILB. It's not that we don't need one or could use more depth, I just don't see tons of value there. I would rather we get DL, Edge, CB, S before that position group.

 

[rossihunter2]

Right, and I'm saying even beyond depth, we're not awesome at every position. Oline is obvious, but we literally could get a better WR if one was available. We could have better Dline play. We certainly can have better pass rushers.
And one that I think will happen that will get unnoticed... Ardarius Washington isn't the best Safety in the league. I think you're going to see several positions, especially in the draft, where we take players high that play positions where we were already "good" at.

Our draft position isn't as strong at the top, but this is very much one of those years where you end up with a Kyle Hamilton-type, meaning a guy that wasn't on our radar at a position we thought we were strong at, but turns out he's just so much better than the other guys. Corner might be that group. WR might be that group. Oline could easily be that group.

This team is good, but not great, at a LOT of spots. Great year to have a high # of draft picks (even if the draft class isn't spectacular).

this draft class seems to be severely lacking in talent at the top - does mean that we might go almost completely position-less in terms of drafting BPA

I would expect outside CB, free safety, EDGE to also be looked at

I think the surprising picks that may come high in the draft could be DL, TE or RB - they seem like strong classes at positions we don’t have an immediate need but might be a need in 2026 and we know the front office assesses need in 2 year periods

 

[rossihunter2]

I would be really surprised if CB may be that group, unless you are talking #3 CB. That said, I generally agree. I think we could take almost any position and it be a value and need pick. We really do need better depth but more importantly we just need playmakers and guys who will show up in big games. That last part is most critical to me. I would definitely look at someone from Ohio State, someone like Jack Sawyer would be good. We need people who will show up in big games.

Also, Washington is another guy who didn't manage to get INT when they were to be had. He is as much apart of the problem as anyone else, so someone in defense with ball skills would definitely be of help.


I think the only position where I would really rather not invest in would be ILB. It's not that we don't need one or could use more depth, I just don't see tons of value there. I would rather we get DL, Edge, CB, S before that position group.

Genuinely think we’re not desperately needy at a position outside of LT (which is solved if Stanley stays)

But there’s no position that couldn’t be improved with a premier investment

 

[Grim]

Genuinely think we’re not desperately needy at a position outside of LT (which is solved if Stanley stays)

But there’s no position that couldn’t be improved with a premier investment

Yeah, Stanley is the big question mark. I imagine we will know his future and ours if he is not re-signed before the tampering window.