News and Notes From Breakfast With John Harbaugh
A time-honored tradition every late March. A little bacon and scrambies with the general at the Owner’s Meetings as he dishes some intel on the state of the Ravens. It’s been another tough offseason for the Baltimore football club with numerous veterans leaving one way or another. So he’s got plenty of questions to answer this morning. Here’s what we got:
– I’d say the biggest story so far this winter was the Ngata trade. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. The Ravens will be completely fine without him. Timmy Jernigan was a first-round caliber talent who fell to us in the 2nd round last year. When Ngata was suspended last year, the defense didn’t skip a beat with big Timmy and Brandon Williams up front. Only gave up 12 points per game in Haloti’s absence. Both those guys are young and don’t have massive cap numbers. By trading Ngata, they can keep (or reasonably restructure) guys like Lardarius Webb, and I think we can all agree that the Ravens need to retain whatever talent they can in the secondary. Brilliant move getting 2 mid-round picks there.
– The big scoop so far is safety Kendrick Lewis via free agency. Harbaugh expressed that he thinks his best football is ahead of him, and there’s no evidence to dispute that. Lewis isn’t a top-tier talent by any means, but he’s only 26 and complements Will Hill well. He’s more physical, and even lead a pretty good Texans defense with 84 tackles last year. Not to mention he forced 3 fumbles last year. But the thing that sets him apart is that he’s not a liability in coverage like Matt Elam is. So with Hill just turning 25, I think we’re looking at the back end of our secondary for the next few years.
– John also expressed that the Ravens are still looking to be active in free agency. The topics of WR and RB came up and understandably so. He seems confident that the Ravens can find talent in the draft at receiver, whether it be in the 1st round or the 7th. Need that top-notch young talent to grow with Joe. But I think they should add a vet on a short-term deal anyway. Michael Crabtree is still on the market, and I contend that he can still be the receiver that dominated the Big 12. He’d be worth the flier, and so would a guy like Greg Jennings or Denarius Moore. If somebody like Jaelen Strong falls to #26 in the draft, then all the better. With Bernard Pierce cut, I think Harbaugh is just looking for someone to plug near the bottom of the depth chart and not a high-impact guy.
– No news on Dennis Pitta. Harbs says it’s still up to Dennis on whether he’ll play in 2015 (or ever again) and that decision should come some time in the summer. Baltimore nervously awaits.
– Gotta love me some Ray Rice questioning. Look, I get that writers need headlines. That’s their job, so they’re gonna ask. I’m just wondering when they’re going to figure out that Harbs is going to give them the same “we wish him well” and not the click-grabbing answer they’re hoping for.
– Lastly, the compensation picks from last year’s free agency period were announced last night. The Ravens scooped a 4th and two 5th’s, pushing their pick total for April’s draft to 10 picks. Fantastic. Rinse and repeat. I’d say most teams should attempt to imitate this blueprint (and the Bengals are certainly trying), but very few teams draft in those middle rounds as well as Ozzie Newsome and his scouting department. Can’t trade those comp picks, but I think they’ll feel comfortable trading their other picks to launch up the draft boards to make sure Ozzie gets his guys. Like Jaelen Strong (if I keep saying his name he’ll be a Raven, I swear).
That’s it for this year’s edition. Til next time…