Baltimore Ravens

When Baltimore Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome said the Ravens wouldn’t break the bank repeat their Super Bowl win he wasn’t lying. Thus far, the Ravens have let multiple starters and key players to their run last season go: Anquan Boldin, Dannell Ellerbe, Paul Kruger, Bernard Pollard, Cary Williams, and possibly now their most well known and beloved active veteran Ed Reed.

As I type this, Reed is back at the Houston Texans’ Reliant Stadium after spending most of yesterday with the Texans including a dinner that lasted well into the night. If he doesn’t sign with the Texans, the San Francisco 49ers and the Indianapolis Colts are still calling.

Yesterday, Reed told Comcast Houston the following:

“I think, as an organization, they kind of want things on their terms. Seeing how things have transpired over there right now, it’s like wow, I just kind of can’t believe how things are happening from a business standpoint when guys give you blood, sweat and tears and give you everything. And try to do the best for the team. Players definitely did that. Baltimore is a great organization over the years as we all know, and do the right things for the organization. You’ve got to respect that. Every organization does it.”

Reed is right, every organization wants things on their own terms and the Ravens’ refusal to extend Reed long before now seemed a clear sign that their commitment was waning. In fairness, Reed often publicly flip flopped on the possibility of retiring and thoroughly mishandled his off season last year. All in all, leaving the Ravens could be good for both parties despite the hurt feelings that are clear in Reed’s statement. If Reed leaves, the Ravens don’t have to face the likelihood that Reed pulls a Ray Lewis and angles to continue to play long after his effectiveness is gone and Reed gets to play for a likely contender with a great fan base the rest of his career (2  moreyears lol!).

Baltimore Ravens CB Lardarius Webb is a joy to watch on the field. If you love DB play you have to be hoping he comes back and resume where he left off — at the top of the heap.

Everybody loves Ray Lewis. I love Ray Lewis. You love Ray Lewis. Well, maybe YOU don’t. But Ray Lewis is loved. So loved that the media waited until he tore his tricep and was officially out for the season to come out from under the covers and admit that he hasn’t been playing so well. 

I would never go so far as to say that losing Ray makes the Ravens defense better, but I have seen a few who written as much.  What I will say, however, is that the Ravens defense may get speedier and speed matters for a team that used to get 3 guys to the ball on many plays but now struggles just to get 1 there on time. The Ravens have struggled to rush to the QB, struggled in the middle of the field, and struggled to stop the run. This is not all Rays’ fault, obviously, but he has been the weak link on many more snaps this season. 

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Cary Williams is betting a lot on good health and great play.

Football is not a game for the faint of heart. Not only is it physically dangerous and mentally taxing, the decisions players have to make to maximize income carry a high risk. The choice Ravens CB Cary Williams has made this season is a perfect example.

Cary could have signed a longer term contract with the Ravens to stay on with that awesome secondary of Ed Reed, Lardarius Webb and Bernard Pollard. But instead he chose to play out the remainder of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent in 2013. Why? Because if he has a good season this year the market will be much kinder next year than the Ravens would have been this year.

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Remember that firm I told you about that is owned by Darien Dash, Jay-z’s former business partner Damon Dash’s cousin? The one that was helping arrange loans for cash strapped players during the lockout? The one that sounded seedier than all get out but you didn’t hear that from me?

Well apparently right before the lockout began Ravens LT Bryant McKinnie borrowed money using the firm’s services and never paid it back. This season, the firm will seek to garnish McKinnie’s wages:

Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Bryant McKinnie could lose about $4.5 million in wages due to a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court and a related case in Baltimore alleging he failed to repay a loan taken out last year.

Pro Player Funding, a private New York sports lending agency, alleges in a November lawsuit that McKinnie took out a loan of about $4.2 million in February 2011 in anticipation of the NFL’s player lockout that lasted about five months last year. Pro Player says McKinnie failed to repay that loan, as well as a separate loan of about $229,000 he took out in July.

The Ravens management, according to court documents, has agreed with both McKinnie and Pro Player Funding to garnish McKinnie’s future wages in the coming season, placing the funds in an escrow account until a second lawsuit in Baltimore City Circuit Court is settled.

In that lawsuit, Pro Player is seeking to recover the money from McKinnie’s future wages this season. But lawyers representing McKinnie filed a counterclaim alleging that Pro Player Funding’s loans were unscrupulous and that the loan agency failed to advance McKinnie at least $1.7 million of the original $4.2 million loan. That lawsuit is still open.

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