Luke Jones and Nestor discuss Ravens marriage to Justin Madubuike and salary cap hell

Nice and early start to a great week of NFL free agency and the madness of March with Luke Jones and a discussion on the Baltimore Ravens’ marriage to Justin Madubuike and life in salary cap hell. #RavensFlock

Welcome home we are wnst am570 talson Baltimore and Baltimore positive if you are out on YouTube You’re supposed to subscribe click here find me do all those things the real estate people do um and speaking of real estate you have some real estate on your radio dial just set

A spot for us uh we’re going to be bringing it pretty hard and fast here once orial season begins uh lots of things going on we’re going down to Florida uh the crabcake tour presented by the Maryland Lottery conjunction with wi donation our friends at chiffy Lube MultiCare as well as Liberty Pure

Solutions it’s coming back I swear like I’m working on this documentary that Greg Landry is doing on 25 years of wnst Lucas and I are uh running a muck in Southwest Florida um Naples I’ve always wanted to go to Naple oh not that Naples the other Naples uh and Fort Meyers of

Course and Sarasota and mic see you soon Luke Jones joins us now Justin matab has a deal um the orol are still getting sold I swear everybody tells me this uh I see David Rubenstein Point toward the new day of uh of Royal baseball but uh

Man blink uh on a weekend and it snows and then it’s going to be 70 degrees dude it’s March like they’re not playing games but all sorts of weird stuff’s happening and I think the matab deal is um not stunning but a little bit like

Wow okay I mean you to think when you can’t get to the Finish Line at the beginning of the week by the end of the week feels like the Ravens blinked huh no question about it I I think when the tag was announced three hours prior to the deadline I think there’s an

Assumption that you’re not terribly close to having a deal and I I think that’s where most people assume where the Ravens were with Justin matab BK and from his perspective if what the Ravens were offering wasn’t appealing enough for you to say yes prior to the tag

Deadline what’s going to change in the matter of N9 days and really less than that in terms of the tampering window you know the negotiating window opening this week so I think there was an assumption that not that they couldn’t get a deal done at some point this off

Season but I I don’t think anyone assumed it was going to be imminent so when I look at it through that lens understanding where the Ravens were from a salary cap perspective knowing that they with the with that tag number were 10 11 million o over the cap somewhere

In that neighborhood uh you kind of assume the Ravens improve their offer knowing that hey we’re going to have to create space somehow whether it’s restructuring Lamar Jackson’s deal restructuring Mark Andrews deal restructuring Marcus Williams deal you you look at the biggest deals that they

Have uh on their payroll so to speak and guys that have years left that you want to keep you know you’re not going to you’re not going to extend or to a simple restructure on Ronnie Stanley for example so I I think you were looking at those guys and then whatever potential

Cuts that they still might make at some point here as the new league gear opens up but to me I I think it’s safe to assume that the Ravens improve their offer enough for Justin matab to say you know what I like it here but you’re also

Giving me close to nine figures you know a four a $98 million contract over four years which I told you over and over he was going to get close to $100 million on the open market and I think that played out pretty accurately considering then what Kansas City gave Chris Jones

Later in the weekend which blew that out of the water uh so I I think this is the kind of deal that is exciting certainly for Justin matab it’s exciting for the Ravens assuming what we saw from him in 2023 is a sign of more to come and that

Doesn’t mean he has to be better moving forward but it means this is what the expectation is going to be for him and I went back and looked at it even before they made the deal Nester uh over the last five NFL seasons there have been a total of 15 years from interior

Defensive lineman to post double digit sacks now Aaron Donald more than one of those uh cam Hayward of the Steelers more than one of those and Chris Jones of Kansas City who of course got his monster deal later in the weekend the other one so the point is and we’ve

Talked about this a lot interior pass rushers are unicorns that you’ll see a guy maybe do that at one point in his career but very few of them sustain it so well look at what we’ve had here we’ve had 30 years of football here right and we’ve had really good I mean

We’ve had Sam Adams we’ve had alado we had Goose for you know and goose is a good player but Goose has a legend that supersedes his his his football it’s sort of like Rick Dempsey you know what I mean like sort of good player great

Play you know good player but but not a Hall of Fame player but a a solid player um but not Sam Adams and certainly not hellada and certainly not this kid and um when you say unicorn and you compare him to these I mean one of those guys is

A Hall of Famer maybe all three of them are Hall of Famers it just depends right like interior lineman it takes a little while we had John Randall on pissed off we don’t want to piss John Randall off at 7 in the morning you and I found that

Out I think on radio row a few years ago um by the way there’s a great NFL films piece on John Randall’s history uh that I I got a gander at the other day because I like football Luke contrary to popular opinion I’ve studied this stuff

But this is to me um you know I think of where I’ve been when they’ve made big decisions um example I was in the FedEx Field Press Box in the middle of the season on a Sunday night game when they walk in and said they gave Chris mallister whatever it was 28 million

What whatever absurd number it was 20 years ago right where they they ink a player and you’re like they’re marrying that one huh really and then they don’t marry go go through the list dude right I mean all these developmental all these third fourth round picks they’ve had for

30 years are all names like Ed Hartwell and Dwayne Starks and just go through the list of all these players that won other somewhere else that they didn’t really get married right and when marriage is 98 million at this point right and when you’ve already got a

Quarterback that’s taken up 20% of your cap one of the two of us was a little upset when ran Smith came in and that was a marriage moment like boom trial by fire week 12 of the football season boom we’re giving him you know more money and Patrick Queen’s gonna get his feelings

Hurt and we know that and they they know all of this but marry in the player and this is something you and and I if we burn the tape from last week on Wednesday Thursday where we got together and talked about bradish is arm which if he’s if he makes 18 starts we’ll

Definitely have to burn that tape that’ll be the worst segment we’ve done all year right um but in the case of matabi when the the deadline passed I think the Assumption of Veteran guys like you and me is oh it’s a it’s a an Adelis Thomas it’s it’s a um it’s a Matt

Judon it’s uh all you know we love you we we’re gonna pay you 21 million we love you but the cap thing changes all of this right like the real math of this is it’s not a flat world one way or another and whether they like him love

Him they better love him right I mean they better really think he’s Aaron Donald the next three years right or like that and this this is a different kid than the kid they drafted to some degree right like this kid has moved into their hearts and into their wallets

In a different way than maybe we thought a week ago given their cap and given everything they are this is a really complex signing one way or another they might win three Super Bowls the next couple years right or maybe not yeah I mean I I don’t know if I’d put them in

The same category as some of the guys you mentioned that they ultimately didn’t sign I think if if you look at the Ravens historically they’ve used the franchise tag as buying time to get a long-term deal I mean I think they’ve used the franchise tag nine times in the

History of the franchise and they’ve signed seven of those guys long term eventually I mean the only ones who didn’t get a long-term deal were Wally Williams way back when and Matthew judon a few years ago so so I I would disagree in in the sense of putting him in that

Through that looking at him through that lens but I think for me I look at this and you know we’ll hear from Eric dcost about this at some point I don’t know if he’ll say much of substance I don’t know if matab will say much of substance as

The negoti witha like I need to say that out loud say waiting on these guys to give stories that don’t really always provide color unless it’s on the lounge or so you know I I don’t know I mean I don’t know what to believe is what I’m

Saying and I’m sitting here even in my mind saying well I know they love him they gave him a lot of money I mean they they clearly love him sure well I mean they wouldn’t have tagged him if they didn’t love him I mean you’re talking

About a $22 million tag number uh in a year where they didn’t have a whole lot of salary cap space at that point in time so you could love a player for a year but not a lifetime sure right no no question but I you know

I I but I I guess I’m disagreeing with your assumption that just because they tagged him and didn’t sign them outright to begin with meant they didn’t LEL no I I think negotiations take time Lamar Jackson was as good of an example as you’ll find in terms of negotiating

Taking he had to love them too right he could have said no no dude I’ll play for 21 next year I’ll go go you know like he could have done that route right they really had to wow him it was 32 he would have been crazy to play 32 that was a

Major undervalue anyway I don’t want to talk about Lamar Jackson cont no I was talking about I’m talking about matab B could have just played on the tag and the but they needed to make it really sweet for him I guess was the point right sure yeah yeah I mean that’s exactly and

Again when we did our previous segment on this late last week the Assumption was especially because the Ravens didn’t even wait until that 4:00 deadline they announced it shortly right around 1:00 so they announced it three hours prior to needing to announce it so to speak to

Me that was a sign that they weren’t terribly close you know typically if you’re really close on the day on Deadline day you’re going to keep working and you’re going to try to see if you can strike a deal at 350 and you announce it right then and then you’re

Not even talking about the salary cap or you know and I had a few people ask me over the weekend what does this mean for the franchise tag uh in terms of you know the salary cap in terms of can you use it on another player the franchise

Tag’s dead now you know the deadline was last week matab had the franchise tag albeit unsigned and now that he’s signed a long-term deal the franchise tag just goes away this year and the Ravens weren’t going to use it on anyone else I mean you know it’s expensive expensive

It’s not something you know it’s something that’s prohibitive on the salary cap unless you’re talking about a position you know like kicker for example where you know it’s not a dramatically High number so uh so so franchise tag is dead for the Ravens for this off season but they got matab

Signed long term but but yeah to go back to your point I think to me what was more likely the Ravens markedly increasing their offer compared to where they were a week ago or really just three or four days earlier than that or matab changing his stance even though he

Is about to see what Chris Jones is going to get about to see what some other guys on the open market is going to get no the more likely scenario was the Ravens knowing they had to create some cap space anyway looked at matab and said you know what

Some well once they start cutting other things then it they’re not going to go back to him in June and give him money I don’t think no no I disagree with that I mean they you know they have until July to get a long-term deal done but but the

Point was if you didn’t get it done last Tuesday if he said no to you what’s changing after you give him the tag in a matter of three days unless you bump your offer significantly and what it was for the Ravens at that point because

They were what 11 or 12 million over the cap once they gave him the tag at that point in time they’re saying all right we need to create cap space somehow now we can do a a simple restructure with Lamar we can do that with Andrews we can

Do that with Marcus Williams for example uh we can cut tus B you know go down the list too much money and love him up and bring him in here or we can give him money and and yeah we’re going to be we’re going to be making a bet here that

His career year was the start of great things that will continue and that not that he has to be better than than he was in 23 but they want to see a guy that’s more like he the player he was in 23 than the player he was in 21 and 22

Which was good player but not special player uh so paid him to be a game changer for like not for a year but for like we better not be talking about him the way we talk about Ronnie Stanley and Marlon Humphrey two years in March I

Mean seriously well I I’m not putting I think putting Marlon Humphrey in the same category as Ronnie Stanley is unfair but Ron for future production sure well that’s I mean I’m just saying like are they gonna play like the most expensive guy on your team that’s it but

Like that’s you can say that about anyone though I mean that’s that’s how this works you know I mean you’re it’s all about trying to look at what player has been and trying to project what he’s going to be moving forward and I think a big part of this Nester is the salary

Cap itself I mean the salary Cap’s $255 million this year I mean we just talked about a a $30 million jump roughly and when you consider they’re finally kind of out from the you know the the cap restrictions that we saw in the the pandemic year uh with Revenue being

Depressed the way it was at that point in time they’re out from under that the TV deals become more and more lucrative and will continue to become more lucrative I assume so part of this is also okay it feels like a lot of money right now but then Chris Jones gets his

Deal a day later and you’ll see players a b and c in X Y and Z get their deals uh in free agency and you’re going to see these numbers continue to go up and then at that point in time in the same way that Lamar Jackson’s deal looks

Better now than it did a year ago because of where the salary cap in the same way that Mark Andrews deal looks a better than it looks better than it did a year ago because of the salary cap increase you know the the point that or

The bet that Eric dasta is making is one matab BK will continue to be an Elite pass rusher and two the salary Cap’s going to continue to go up anyway so those dollars that look as lucrative as they look right now relative to the Cap won’t be quite

As lucrative in the same way that 13 years ago the Ravens gave not a 5year $61 million contract which looks like chump change now in terms of money for an elite player in 2024 but relative to the cap it was a very high percentage in the same way that matab BK yeah it’s

Going to be a bigger part of their cap savings but or a big bigger part of their cap in general but they needed savings so again it’s a matter of to me they looked at this and said we’re going to we’re making a calculated bet here that he’s going to one continue

Continue to be the player that he is and two the prices for interior pass rushers which if you look at the money that Aaron Donald got from the Rams a few years back and understanding he’s older but you know a guy who’s going to be in

The Hall of Fame like you said if you look at the money that the Chiefs just gave Chris Jones who is a few years you know he’s four years older than matab they’re paying those guys kind of like their Edge rushers when you look at their compensation you know they’re

They’re kind of in their own group uh so matab is not in his own group in that same way but in terms of everyone else he’s at the top now so I know the way Kyle Hamilton is going to be in his own group when he negotiates yeah right well

And and part of this is these these contracts kind of cycle in and out right I mean to your point when Kyle Hamilton’s up for an extension as early as the end of next year next off season he would be eligible U you know it’s after your

Third year um they’re not going to be paying Ronnie Stanley at that point in time when when uh Tyler Linder bomb’s up for an extension you know at some point you know over the next couple years probably Marlon Humphrey at that point won’t be paying playing on a big numbers

So they’ll probably have have a new Corner that they’re paying at that point in time so so you know you you kind of look at your the number of deals you have you know you look at your elite players that you’re trying to pay and

You know you kind of manage and you go off of off of that and then in the meantime you’re trying to trying to find Value guys elsewhere and think that’s going to continue to be a big big part of what they try to do in free agency I

Mean yeah I think they’d love to to resign a jvon Clowny you know as it pertains to their group of free agents not named matab uh but you know the numbers got to make sense for them you know especially considering where they are with their overall cap picture and

Not just that but where they’re going over the next 3 four years so uh this but this is the Big Ticket item you know this is the monster deal that they did not want to see matab hit the market Market that’s why they used the tag to

Begin with and that’s why at this point knowing that they were going to need space and by the way let’s be clear still moves to come to create some more space I mean with mat’s number which is right around I I believe it’s 12.25 million on the cap this year now

Obviously the cash he’s making is way higher than that but on the cap it’s 12.25 so they shaved about $10 million off of that number it gets them right round even with the cap so they’re still going to have to restructure Lamar’s deal and when I say restructure I don’t

Mean something that’s going to compromise them big time in the future it’s more so simple restructures where you take what his base salary is you turn that into a bonus yeah you do increase his numbers in the future a little bit here and there but it creates

Cap space for you this year those deals are made they structure those deals when they sign them with with the idea in mind that you’re going to adjust those numbers over the course of time because you’re always going to need cap space because you don’t know what’s going to

Come up players get hurt you want to sign guys during the season certainly you want to be in a position where you can make a free agent move or two you know even if it’s not going to be a lucrative one uh so so so they’re still

Gonna have to do some of that but getting life is different life is different now after Lamar this is well and and it’s not even so much this year because Lamar’s cap number this year uh and that’s before they do restructuring is 32.4 but that deals on the books you

Know that those numbers will increase you know that uh it’s going to be more challenging and look the same thing applies when you sign ran Smith when you sign Justin matab when you’ve been dealing with the Ronnie Stanley contract when you’ve been dealing with the Marlon Humphrey contract or when Hamilton or

Linder bomb come up and these other players come along and where’s Andrews after this and you know the the money he’s earning like and then you give Beckham a a bunch of money last year because you got Lamar sort of done to some degree um and that was sort of you

Know I don’t say wasted money but sort of big one ticket one item money one year money that they won’t have anymore right they won’t be able to add that kind of player and that that’s we live with that with Flaco we remember 15 16

17 we don’t want to remember it you know especially when Flo gets hurt we don’t want to remember bold leaving you don’t want to remember any of that but this is the week for that and Luke Jones is here he’s Baltimore Luke if there’s anything

Else you want to add to matab be please throw it in but I guess the other part of this is you know I’d be back on the horn again here a little later on in the week checking off the boxes of where all the former Ravens are going because it

Is the season and as much as they they brought the U-Haul into the back of the building out there and took his whole defensive crew um here’s where the players are going to get nitpicked and I think from what I’ve seen from the pundits and everywhere the Ravens are

Expected to get you know come after more than any other team but that it’ll be headlines of how many guys former Ravens have signed elsewhere yeah I mean I I I they’re certainly going to be up there I mean they had 20 plus free agents going

Into the start of free agency now some of those guys are dvin cook and Josh Johnson and guys of that you know darl warley who by the way darl warley is someone that I could see them resigning you know because there they’re going to need a third safety cuz I assume

I assume Gino Stone’s probably going to land somewhere else although I’ll throw out there are a lot of there are a lot of safeties on the open market so that can obviously impact the money you get this is where we go back to what we said

A minute ago they’re GNA need cheap help sure I mean you always and look even last year when they were in this a much more advantageous position from a salary cap standpoint look at the value they got for Ronald Derby look at the value they got for Javon Clowney look at the

Value they got for Kyle vanoi and Arthur Mallette and go down the they didn’t get that from maybe Rocky scen they didn’t get that from Bowser they didn’t get you know yeah I mean you’re you’re never going to bat a thousand yeah I mean you’re you’re always going to have some

Value concerns but for the most part some of those more modest deals and and you know put Bowser to the side because he’s someone who was already under contract and was hurt and just didn’t play all year but of all those value veteran signings that they made even

Throw throw in John Simpson who you know was the weak link on their offensive line but hey he played more more snaps and started more games on their own line than anyone else on the team like he was durable for them that’s there’s value to that even if you’re not a great player

Uh so that’s going to be the challenge of is going to be hitting on three or four or five veteran value signings like that again and having some s you know having success and getting Surplus value I mean look at the Surplus value they got for clowney and Kyle vanoi I mean

That was absurd I mean you’re talking about two of the best value signings in franchise history in terms of what they paid compared to the production they got for those guys how you win 13 games bro yeah you’re not going to do that every year though so so but that’s the

Challenge that’s what you’re trying to do so I I I think uh where the Ravens stand right now and and sticking to the defense because you kind of look at most of their free agents you’re looking at Clowny you’re looking at vanoi obviously Patrick Queen’s the big ticket guy

That’s that’s still unsigned in terms of the Ravens free agents that as someone’s listening to our conversation there may already be a deal for him to go to Seattle or somewhere like that in principle because I think he’s going to get you know he’s going to get lucrative

Money as I’ve been saying for a while he’s gonna you know he’s going to be getting somewhere in the neighborhood of probably 13 1415 million a year I mean that’s it’s what I would think he’s going to get so you know yeah you’re going to have that attrition you’re

Going to experience that but I’ll I’ll say this and I you know I’ve even seen some pundits and people that I respect people that I agree with on a lot of issues I’ve seen some people kind of characterize this this offseason for the Ravens in terms of being really critical

Or really tough uh that they’re going to endure I don’t know if it’s historic you know I I they’ve done they’ve gone through this a lot you know I mean you can think of post 2001 you can think of post Super Bowl 47 I think back to post

2014 when hod NADA was gone and Tory Smith was gone and you know a few other guys that were they won Super Bowls after those though that’s that’s the kind of the harder part right yeah I mean it’s you know I mean that’s right I

Mean I mean but it’s the name of the game I mean look at how many guys Buffalo just cut and you know Buffalo’s been in a similar position not exactly the same but a similar position to the Ravens in terms of they’ve been there in January but they’ve come up short

Against number 15 and the Chiefs uh they they’ve come up short more times than the Ravens have in January against Kansas City City uh so it’s tough but yeah I mean it’s this is part of the cost of doing business when you do have a franchise quarterback uh and you know

The the Chiefs are going to be dealing with it as much as they’re happy that they just resigned Chris Jones but what what happens with lerus Sneed and some of their other free agents and other moves they’re going to have to make so I mean that’s you this is how it works NFL

Not for long right I mean roster turnover is a big part of it and you know we’ll see how this plays out uh that’s why I you know as we talked about over and over it’s why I haven’t been someone that’s jumping on the table about going out and giving real money to

A veteran running back cuz frankly I just think they have bigger fish to fry right now they don’t have real money they need a running back at some they need another running back let me be clear about that but I don’t know if it’s up to me and look no one cares and

Eric dasta is not ringing my phone to see what Luke Jones thinks but you know if it’s up to me I’m not sitting there saying I need to have a running back on day one a free agency you know I I see the I see the surplus of Supply that’s

Out there on the open market of okay not just saquin Barkley and Josh Jacobs and Tony Pard and Derk Henry but some other guys that I think might be on the market for a while that you could even go through maybe the draft and see where

You are draft wise and it’s not a deep draft class for running backs at least that’s the perception but post draft there’s a chance there could still be some decent backs that are out there that you might be able to get for maybe not Pennies on the dollar but

A 50 c piece on the dollar that’s always the shopping price right it’s you look at it now Azie would always say we could play this week but we don’t have to and if you don’t have to play then you don’t worry about it and we’ll deal with that

In the third round unless we don’t if we don’t there’ll be something there because nobody else is signing these guys either because everybody has the same philosophy and that’s not something my buddy Chad whesley wants to hear representing Josh Jacobs and I think Josh Jacobs would be a really nice piece

Here for this you know for this team um I I don’t at what cost to your point at what cost and who is the one it’s like an eBay auction dude who’s gonna pay the most period yeah yeah and look that’s not to say that none of these guys are

Going to get money but when you look at the Ravens where they stand right now with their offensive line I mean right now their two guard their starting guards are hitting the market the the the assumption is there’s a good chance at least one of Stanley or Morgan Moses could be gone although

That’s not a guarantee they’re both under contract uh but the point is there’s change coming to the offensive line and I I think they’re absolutely going to try to upgrade some spots or at the very least in the case of seon Stanley maybe draft the Aira parent at

The very least and maybe that guy plays right tackle or plays left guard for a year uh you know you go the Jo route uh so to speak uh but the point is yeah we could talk about running back and yeah they they AB of course they need another

Running back right now Justice Hill and an injured rehabbing Keaton Mitchell are the two biggest running backs on their current roster you know as far as guys that are under contract for 2024 so they need to add one but is it going to be Derk Henry you know depends on the

Number I guess you know if he really truly wants to be a Baltimore Raven and he’s willing to take a little less then okay I could see that but if it’s what his market value is going to be or what some other teams are going to Value him to

Then I’m a little more skeptical but you know they’ve got offensive line Edge rusher they’ve got to figure that out I mean that’s a big question okay if you resign Javon Clowney great that position looks a lot better but if you don’t and he goes and you know he either Waits it

Out or he he goes and signs in Seattle because he loves Mike McDonald I mean you know I’m just spitballing different things that could happen hey Russell Wilson’s going to Pittsburgh right like so anything’s possible here this week I mean that’s the thing this is going to

Be a crazy week we’re going to be getting together on the internet all day long because this who knows who’s going where I just know and I keep going back to this the Ravens are going to be a diminished team you’re in perception for a little while yeah and and look I mean

It’s kind of how the league is set up right I mean in terms of the most successful teams as who have big ticket items on their roster starting with a quarterback you’re you get to a point where yeah the rookie contract yeah that’s that’s when you’re living pretty

Right that’s when your your cap numbers are are very favorable and you’re getting all this crazy production I mean look at the value Lamar Jackson gave them in 1920 21 you know th those Seasons uh before you know the money starts to go up I mean MVP kind of

Production for a couple million dollars I mean that’s where they were you get to the point where you pay that quarterback and now it’s different now you’re one of those teams that is dealing with attrition you’re one of those teams that has more uh of a challenge from a cap

Standpoint you’re one of those teams that oh you’re picking 30th or 31st or 32nd in the draft you know you’re picking somewhere in the 20s I mean that that’s the league set up to be that way well and also when you pick down there it better not be Perryman or your

Quarterback suffers and right whatever they do with this left tackle thing at 30 if that’s really what they’re going to do at this point because I mean they live with Bryant McKenna for you know they have found veteran guys and I mean Lord knows they found zeitler and he I

Mean they can find guys at a price that found Matt Burke on the market years ago right so um this is this is a challenging off season for Eric dasta and they’re usually up for the challenge and they usually come back and win 11 or 12 games

Somehow someway by hook or crook next year um and I don’t think the Steelers are coming to get him with Russell Wilson but time may tell there right if they were to get a ground game to some to some degree change the way they’re playing Deshawn Watson I mean every

Browns fan in the world thinks Joe flacko is coming back and I have no idea how that could possibly work right like how that could possibly happen and then the Bengals have a gimpy quarterback coming back from an injury who’s great and you know I’ll take him all day Joe

Burrow but they have a lot to prove so everybody’s got a lot to prove here but the Ravens are going to get like pluck this week like literally by the end of the week you’re gonna feel as bad as you did when they lost the AFC Championship game right because like the the

Diminished part of what I talked about when I was at Coco and I little plug the Marcel get over to get some coconut shrimp because they’re delicious I mean everybody brags about the crab cakes but get the coconut shrimp um I remember being over there with you right before

The Super Bowl and it’s like you know here we go and you know McDonald had just gone out the side door and we’re still feeling bad about losing the game um I had David Katz on last week he’s still like it was like six o’clock that

Day he’s mad again just talking about it we didn’t run the ball out you know like all that and I’m like well you know that’s not what they talking about knowing Mills they’re talking about how are we getting guys under the cap how are we going to keep these players and

Who’s going to be who’s going to be on our offensive line protecting our 50 million dollar quarterback yeah I mean and look I would even venture to say that it won’t be as raw but in some ways it’ll feel worse because then again you it brings up how favorable everything

Was just sitting there right right I mean Kansas City was not gonna have clown you’re not going to have Beckham you’re not going to have Queen you’re not going to have zitler I mean Bo boom boom boom boom boom boom like like all right well then maybe we’re not a 13-

Win team no you know 13 wins isn’t the requisite for winning the Super Bowl it’s get it’s getting into January and then winning games there uh we’ve talked about that and and you know not not to rehash the specifics of the end of the 2023 season but you know maybe maybe

This this era of the Ravens is destined to finally make its run when maybe they’re an 11- win wild card you know I mean I don’t know you know again to the point and I was even talking about this with with my uncle over the weekend

Everyone wants to be the number one seed everyone wants to be the best team during the regular season because that’s that’s the competition right that’s the the competitive nature of any team you want to be the best but it comes down to being the best in January and look

Anything that’s going to happen this week is probably not going to make people feel too good about that I will say though that they did lock up Justin matab and again that is such a rare piece to have for a defense and I think as they endure the changes that they’re

Enduring already with new defensive coordinator and new defensive line coach and new defensive backs coach and obviously Zack or moves from inside linebackers so you have a new inside linebackers coach a and now what they’re we’re going to see on the Personnel side where at least some of those guys we

Mentioned you know okay maybe they can keep one you know maybe they get something done with Clowney or maybe they get something done with vanoi maybe you bring back a Ronald Darby as a depth piece cuz I you know I don’t think Darby’s going to get big money on the

Open market but the point is to to your point yeah Patrick Queen’s going to go and some other guys are going to be gone you know young guys have to step up and on paper yeah you you you go through some of that but M ran Smith Kyle

Hamilton they have three elite players yeah elite players absolutely and and that’s and that’s not even counting guys like okay if Marlon humy is healthier this year which you know he hasn’t had these significant injuries all through his career he’s not jimmmy Smith in terms of injury-prone but if he comes

Back healthier and is more like the guy he was a couple years ago then okay you’re feeling good about that position so I mean look I mean that’s every year this time typically typically because typically the Ravens have not been the team that’s trying to win the off season

In the way that the commanders have for example down the the Browns win every round sure sure this is this is the time of year right now now but now between now and the draft when you don’t feel quite as good about the Ravens usually

And we see how that plays out now Jets fans felt good for six months yeah yeah yeah but but to your point to your point you made mention of this and it is very important now it’s so important for this team now they’ve got to hit on their

Draft picks and look it’s not easy when you’re picking 30th you know it’s a smaller margin for error when you’re picking at the end of each round and yeah they do have a fourth round comp pick that got for Ben Powers a year ago but the point I was trying to make a

Year ago at this time we were talking about oh my gosh they cut Kus campel like that’s not the Kus was just a metab but he was good right uh oh my gosh they’re losing Ben Powers who’s going to replace him Ben Powers finally just figured it out and looked like a good

Player and now we’re gon to lose him and what’s going to happen with Lamar and that’s where I’ll go back and I even I even mentioned this in my 12 Ravens thoughts I I wrote last week at Baltimore positive. comom that for all of the headaches uh and perceived headaches perceived frustration

Perceived disappointment uh that they’re going to endure in the coming days you know with presumably losing Patrick queen or you know other guy you know Kevin zeitler Gino Stone what happens with Clowney and vanoi go down the list I’ll still take any of that gladly over being in a position where your franchise

Quarterback is unsigned unhappy uncertain in terms of whether he’s going to be with you long term after the last couple years of what they went through on that front and the discourse and the fan frustration and guys like you and me talking about it every day every week I’ll gladly take

Where they are right now than where they were the last couple years where you just you don’t know and look people can say what they want about Lamar or Josh Allen or any of these you know Joe burrow any of these guys that are chasing momes as it pertains to rings

But I’ll gladly take where the Ravens are right now than where the Steelers are right now where okay maybe Russell Wilson will be better than Kenny picket but do I think that Russell Wilson’s going to have the Steelers playing deep into January heck no not not even close

So you know it still comes back to the quarterback and whether you have one and whether he’s signed long term and whether he’s happy and and whether your direction uh is good and look frustration I get it they they didn’t get it done in the title game but you

Know if you’re the kind of team that has a quarterback cap of getting you to that spot I’ll take my chances year after year and try to figure out the rest of the roster Luke Jones is on the lam Marathon uh bandwagon because there is no Lam Marathon uh this off season

There’s just free agency uh and new ownership for the baseball team we we’re talking a lot about that this week getting some fresh stuff up the Baltimore positive as well um had a musician chat I’ve done some Community stuff I had Bonnie uh lber habian on to

Talk about her Ted Talk last week Eric get home joined us to do a whole bunch of draft Insider stuff so um we’re going to have a great week around here we’re getting ready for the crab cake tour Luke and our head down to Florida next week for some spring training and some

Uh some NFL owners meetings as well there’s a rumor Luke’s going to have breakfast with John Harbaugh uh and all the secrets will be shared I’m sure at that point uh at least free agency will be over at that point and um you know there’ll be some new Shariff in town

There’ll be some teams by the weekend to feel like they can you know win nine or 10 games uh in the meantime the mayor of the Lotter is going to say us out on the crab cake tour we’re going to be at CoCo in early April we’re going to be at cus

In April also each and every Friday we’re going to be at fad ley’s live when the Orioles are home from 2 until 5 so we’re really looking forward to that our friends at the Maryland Lottery Win donation Jiffy Lube and Liberty Pure Solutions putting that thing up and

Onward and onto the road Luke’s going to be around you can find him at Baltimore Luke uh and you can find me anywhere the good internet is served here this week we’re cooking up some great great things for baseball season we are wsd 1570 ton Baltimore and we never stopped talking

Baltimore positive even though it might not be so positive for the Ravens this week