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Feb 09Baltimore bounces Brown.
PFT (temporarily publishing on SportingNews.com thanks to an apparent inability to understand “bandwidth”) is reporting that the Ravens won’t re-sign interior offensive lineman Jason Brown, apparently in an attempt to re-sign linebackers Ray Lewis and Bart Scott. I like Brown–and judging by this BS poll and what I remember from Dr. Z’s columns, I’m not alone–but I admit Baltimore’s better off letting him walk. The Ravens already have plenty of young guys who can hold up in the middle, Brown wants top-flight guard money, and this year’s crop of centers and interior linemen is pretty loaded. The money saved by not re-upping Brown could go towards new deals for Lewis (maybe), Scott (probably) and Terrell Suggs (franchised, but still looking for a long-term contract). If they can keep that trio of linebackers intact, I’d say it’s worth losing one quality lineman.
If they can’t get deals done with either Lewis or Scott, on the other hand, the Ravens will be in a rough spot next year. As Football Outsiders points out, Baltimore’s linebacking corps is the strength of the defense; good as they are, Haloti Ngata and Ed Reed can’t do everything, the Ravens currently have one starting-quality cornerback, and none of Baltimore’s backup linebackers look ready for prime time. The next few hours should be interesting to watch.
Update: Bart Scott is going to the Jets for $8 million per year. Given that it’s “only” about $1M more per year than the Ravens were offering, I’m not sure it’s a great idea. On paper, the Ravens look a lot better than the Jets. Unless Rex Ryan was secretly the juice behind the Baltimore defense all these years (and hopefully “juice” doesn’t equal steroids), it looks like forgoing a shot at a Super Bowl, when he’ll already be making more money than most people could dream of.
Update update: Scott is giving the Ravens a chance to match the Jets’ contract. Given that it’s not much more money, Lewis is dragging his feet, and Ravens management is supposedly more enamored with Scott’s youth, this looks like a pretty good deal.