Biggest Remaining Questions Entering Training Camp

Team insiders Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing discuss what questions remain for the Ravens, including some key roles to be determined, how Lamar Jackson and the offense improve, how the defense gets more takeaways, and more. And with summer in full swing, they hold a fruit draft!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome into Lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan mink here
at Garrett Downing, and training camp kind of starts this week.
The rookies report, the quarterbacks and injured injured vets report
this week, so things are getting underway, and before we
really get into the practice action, Gary and I wanted
to take on the biggest unanswered questions heading into training camp.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, and as we've all talked about, we feel like
there aren't too many questions with this team. The Ravens
are in a really good position roster, composition wise, experience wise.
The team is built to win. They're built to win
right now. With that said, like any team, there are
some questions lingering afore this group going into training camp,
and the next few weeks are going to be spent
trying to answer some of those, and we want to

(00:50):
dive into some of those today. And I think the
starting point is like the positions that are up for graps,
Like what are the starting jobs.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Not necessarily just starting, but like really key key roles.
And like the truth, there's not many starting spots.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
There's not like if you go through it, there's not
like true competitions that are out there for starting jobs
on either side of the ball, and again that's a
really good place to start. And then even when you
start going like too deep, there's it's pretty clear what
the depth chart of the team is going to look like. However,
I think the biggest question from a starting standpoint on

(01:29):
the team, probably on the well, let's start on offense,
is that left guard. That's the biggest question right now.
Andrew Vorhees is probably the leader in the clubhouse there,
but last year's starter for the majority of the season
was Pat McCarey. He's gone, he left in free agency,
so it's left guard, and again, good spot to be
if like, the biggest offensive question you have is one

(01:49):
of your starting guard jobs. But that is something that
the Ravens have to figure out over the course of.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
This training camp.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, his top competitor's Ben Cleveland, you know, now going
into his fifth season, can he emerge and become kind
of the player the Ravens hoped he could become when
they drafted him. Like you said, I think four he's
is the favorite for that job. But it's also not
not just a question of like who wins that job,
but how high of a level are they gonna play

(02:16):
at you know, I mean, for he's won the job
last year, and I think that he played okay, you know,
there was room for improvement, and I think when he
came back and played in the regular season finale against
the Browns, you saw that improvement. He played better in
that game than he did early in the season before
his injury. And so does he pick up where he
left off and keep growing from that Week eighteen version

(02:38):
of Andrew Voorhees even when he you know, if he
wins a job or you know, where is he at?
Like I think, and generally speaking, like where's the guard play?
How good is your guard play?

Speaker 4 (02:47):
Gonna?

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Because Leile had his rough spots last season, I think
he progressed as the year went on and became a
better and better player.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
Was a pro waltch in it. But you know, how
how much advancement does he make?

Speaker 1 (02:59):
And so we're gonna get into that a little bit later,
But I think it's beyond just who wins the starting job.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, I'm with you on that, and with where he's at,
love guard, like you and I both are believers in
him and his ability to just come in and be
a good player.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
Like I just we had a friend of the lounge.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
He's a friend of the lounge, has been on a
couple of times, had him on earlier this offseason. I
love his mentalities, his mindset. I think he approaches things
the right way. Tough guy, he's in the like he's
literally in the building every single day, even when there's
like nobody else here. He just has that type of
mindset and work ethic. Uh And and I think that
he's ready. Last year, he hadn't he hadn't played in

(03:33):
the NFL yet, and he hadn't played football in a
year coming off the injury that he suffered at the combine,
So it was a big hurdle. Yeah, I just think
he's more prepared.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
There's a lot He's big, he's smart, and he has
a great work ethic.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
Like you have.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Do you have those three qualities, you got a good
chance to be a good offensive linean in this league.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Right And I also like I am not as much
all that I stand by. I also think that this
is an opportunity for Ben Cleveland as well, and I
think he'll I think he'll challenge for that job. He's taken.
He's played games in the NFL in his career.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
He's taken.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
He took first team reps in the offseason, so like,
he's not gonna go quietly in that competition. I think
he's gonna push for He's for that job, and and
the summer is gonna determine who ends up winning it.

Speaker 4 (04:15):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
The only other battle that I'll quickly point to on
offense in my mind is number four wide receiver, you know,
beyond the top three of Flowers, Bateman, and Hopkins. Is
it Von says Walker? Is it Tylan Wallace, who's kind
of the next guy. But I'm not gonna spend too
much time talking about that, considering that player probably you know,

(04:37):
knock on wood injury. Without injuries, that player catches a
maximum of ten balls.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Uh huh, yeah, I mean maybe it maybe a touch more.
But but but I honestly, I think that could be situational.
I think that like if they if they look, if
they're looking for somebody to come in and try to
stretch the defense, run some go routes like that's that's
Tess Walker, because it's more of like the looking to
pick up six yards in a clutch situation, that's Tyler Wallace.

(05:04):
He's done that plenty of times.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
Yep, sure, all right.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
The number one, honestly, probably most maybe you could say
most important competition is a kicker.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah sure.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
I mean you have the two rookies battling at battling
that one out between Tyler Loop and John Hoyland, who's undrafted.
So you know, Tyler Loop being a draft six round
draft pick, certainly is considered the favorite to replace Justin
Tucker here in Baltimore. But like, let's not, you know,
glaze over the importance of your kicker. I mean, how

(05:38):
many games did Justin Tucker win here?

Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (05:40):
A lot.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
It came down to his leg many many, many many
times here in Baltimore. And it's gonna come down to
whoever wins this job that, like the game will rest
on their shoulders multiple times this year.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
I think we're in a little bit of uncharted territory
for a lot of Ravens fans because we haven't been
in the situation in more than a decade where you
just have uncertainty at the kicker position. Now they can
answer that there was uncertainty when Tucker came in as
a rookie at the kicker position and they ended up
winning Super.

Speaker 4 (06:08):
Bowl feels like forever ago twenty twelve.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, and so and then they and obviously they won
a Super Bowl that year, So like, could that happen again? Certainly, hope.
So it's it's happened before, it could happen again. But
until either of those guys answer the question, there's just
going to remain uncertainty. And honestly, like, I think it's
kind of there's kind of two levels to this. Like
the first is who wins that job? And I think

(06:33):
it could go either way, but I'm with you. I
think that Tyler Loop has the the edge in that competition.
He was the guy that the Ravens may clear with
is who we want, this is who we drift.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
And I think both have had both have generally kicked
well during OTA's and mini camp leading up to this.

Speaker 4 (06:47):
I don't think.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
Either one is separated from each other. Yeah, I don't
think necessarily on the field from what we've seen in
practice at least, So there's that it's going to be
won in training camp, and Loop has the edge because
he was drafted. He has done nothing to say Land
should be over.

Speaker 4 (07:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Agree, So it's who wins it. But then the second
part of like that confidence piece that has to happen
to the season, Like, honestly, that has to be proven
once you get to the regular season and you have
a pressure kick, yep, and it's it's a forty eight
yard field goal in Kansas City in the fourth quarter.
He knocked that down, Like that's that's that's the moment
where if it's Loop, he has to go out there

(07:23):
and prove it. And until he does that, there's just
that uncertainty is going to remain. And again, I think
he can do it, but we're not going to know
that until you're in that situation.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
I completely agree. I think there's of course levels to everything.
You know, when you have the full team and training camp,
at the end of the long practice and John Harball says,
you know, all right, Loop, line it up from fifty
to end practice or we got one more set, one
more goal, one set in US yea, and the whole
team's watch and saying please hit this kick.

Speaker 4 (07:49):
That's another level of pressure.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
And then you get to the preseason and let's just
say it's a close battle between he and Hoyland, and
those preseason kicks are going to feel really important to
those guys to get a job, that's gonna be another
level of pressure.

Speaker 4 (08:02):
But I agree with you.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
Until you're lining up a fourth quarter kick in Buffalo
Week one whatever in Kansas City, like you said, that's
another level.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
Well, honestly, if you go back to Justin Tucker's rookie season,
the Ravens won that primetime game against the New England
Patriots where he could kick the game winner. That was
a short field goal, but he barely made it in
the upright. Still Belichick didn't. He made it went over
the upright, but that was like, Okay, this is your
first real pressure moment and that one barely made it through.
But like those are the types of moments that.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Kintucker years later talked about how if that kick hadn't
gone in, he doesn't you know which way does his
career go at that point?

Speaker 2 (08:39):
Right? And so like we'll we'll find out with these guys,
and the pressure moments are gonna be here, like they're
gonna happen, yep, And you can't like you can just
basically these guys can prepare for it and put themselves
in good position for it, but you don't know until
you know, yep.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
And then defensively. I think there's two spots that I
point to. One would the number three safety job, and
behind Kyle Hamilton and Malachi Starks, that's between Snoosy Cane
and Bo Braid as of now are the top contenders
for that.

Speaker 4 (09:10):
And that's an important job.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
You know, it's not a starter, but the Ravens now,
the Ravens have a lot of talent and depth at
corner so they could potentially use the third safety less
than they have the previous two years, but they're still
gonna get snaps that number three safety as the Ravens
defense is very dynamic and likes to really rotate personnel

(09:33):
and give you a lot of different looks and keep
you guessing. So that's an important job and I think
one competition that remains unanswered for sure.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah, I'm I'm not as worried about it as I
would have been at the Ravens, not at Ajaia. Alexander
just be really talented at cornerback because I think they
have versatility at corner that can help their overall secondary.
So that was like that was basically a piece added
to the secondary and they can play Marl I'm free
in the slot A Ton.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
But it's it's kind of like, how much do you
want Kyle Hamilton up near the line of scrimmage? Because
if you if you like Kyle Hamilton playing near the
line of scrimmage, which I like him playing deep, but
I also like him playing near the line of scrimmage,
then that's when you want that third safety unless you
just go single high with Malachi. You could maybe if
you feel like he's got the range and the all
that the instincts, you could do more single high.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
But like if.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Kyle's coming up and you still want to have two
safeties back, then that third role becomes very important.

Speaker 4 (10:27):
It does.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
It does, and I think that it Zach Orr and
these defensive coaches are going to have if you assume
you don't add anybody and your best secondary is with
those two safeties on the field. Like they're just gonna
have some decisions to make in terms of how they
want to play the personnel, but then also like the

(10:48):
alignments that they want to play in that's going to
have to be determined.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
In training camp. I'm not like, I'm not as worried
about that.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
I just feel like the Ravens have so many talented
pieces in the secondary that the mix the mess safety
is just.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
Is not that big of a concern to me.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
I feel like, if needed, Bo Bradis and Ucy Kane
could be in that role and play an adequate level
that I'm not stressing too much about, like what the
how good of play can the Ravens get out of
the number three safety position, like or do they need
to add somebody. I just feel like it's going to
be good enough, especially when you consider all the talent
they have at cornerback.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
When the possibility that our Darius Washington returns late in
the season, also, yes, you can hold out hope that
like he's back and healthy and is able to make
an impact. You know, that's a while off, but late
the other spot on defense would be inside linebacker and
next to Roquan Smith. I think Trent and Simpsons certainly
has the advantage in that competition, being that he's entering

(11:43):
his third year, he was a starter for much of
last season. He has the reps, and he's a talented guy,
you know, dedicated, hard worker, all those things, you know.
I talked to him this summer and he said how
much better he feels in diagnosing plays and knowing what's coming,
and he's just playing so much faster and with more confidence,
and he really feels like this is his year to

(12:06):
have kind of that Year three breakout. At the same time,
I think, a it's not a lock that he's the
starter to be to be in the year. I think
Teddy began in the fourth round rookies talented friend and
could push him, you know, for that starting job. I
expect Trenton's this week one starter, but Teddy could push him.

(12:28):
And I think how well Teddy plays and how well
Trenton plays will determine what the snap share looks like
between the two of them. Even even if Teddy's not
the starter, how big is his defensive role as a
rookie because that third safety, you know, you don't just
I'd be surprised if it's the rogue, I'm sorry, third

(12:48):
line back, inside linebacker. I'd be surprised if it's the
Roquwan Smith Patrick Queen both playing one hundred percent of
the snaps next to each other all year long scenario
that we had two years ago.

Speaker 4 (12:57):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
I agree with all of that.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
I think that Trent Simpson probably ends up as a starter.
There the question that I have is less about starter
and more about just the overall quality of that position.
I go back to when we had John Gruden on
the podcast when he was here during the offseason workouts,
and I made the point like that we said, at
the outside of this this team doesn't really have many questions,
like what do you see as a questions? And he

(13:25):
brought up He's like, well, they it's not linebacker is
a question. And that was one of the first things
he brought up. And he had just spent a lot
of time looking at this team and watching film on
both sides of the ball and trying to find ways
to help these coaches and assessment and self scouting. So
I trust his opinion a lot more than mine.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yeah, And so like and I think we all went
into the draft thinking like, is they could potentially draft
an ins atlamaker first in the first round, Yeah, you know,
and they waited until they got one in the fourth round,
and so that kind of Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
And like, you and I both think that Trent Simpson
could be really good. And if you remember Patrick Queen.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
It's not like it was totally smooth sailing.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Throughout his career. His his breakout was really year three,
That's when he really started to take off, and I
think the same could be true for Trenton. And Teddy's
right there pushing him as well. So I think the
Ravens are going to be in good shape there. But
just like I said with Lupi, you have you just
have to see it. You have to these guys. Let's
let's say that at Trenton, he has to go out
there and play at the level that he's shown flashes of,

(14:24):
and I think he'll be able to do that. But
that's the question to me, is like and and Roquan
last year, like you know, he dealt with an injury,
so you know he was hobbled at a certain point
of the season, like he had to work his way back.
So I just think that, like you know that he's
going to be a tackling machine and racking up a
ton of tackles, and you just need that that group
to be playing at a really high level. And I

(14:46):
think I think they're able to do it. But that's
one of the questions that you just want to see
answered on the defense.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yeah, so those are our biggest unanswered questions in terms
of starting jobs up for grabs and roles We're not
going to get into like the biggest questions of who's
going to be the fifty second and fifty third guy.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
That's not the biggest question.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
Let's let's zoom out a little bit and look at
this offense, and to me, it of course starts with
Lamar Jackson. And the question here I think that's unanswered
is can he reach even another level?

Speaker 4 (15:25):
Last year?

Speaker 1 (15:26):
In my opinion, even though he didn't win MVP, he
should have, was his best year. I mean, it was
a historically good quarterback season. He was in contention going
into the final week for logging the highest quarterback rating
of all time for a single season. Like that was
a ridiculously good year by him. Can he not only

(15:49):
can he duplicate it, and not only duplicate can he
be even better? I think that that's a question and
part of the answer that we've heard this all season
in in where does Lamar get better?

Speaker 4 (16:02):
You know, there's t T. Martin said, you know, they continue.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
To put more on his plate, and it's the pre
snap diagnosis and and all those things. You know, I
think Lamar really post snap in service of his throne,
kak all those things.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
Like he's he's he's there.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
Yeah, you know what I mean, Like the advancements that
he made with just throwing the ball and all the
like that's behind those years since then, to me, it's
like pre snap. It's it's all those things which we
saw him be even better at last year, and they
put more on his plate, and he'll get more on
his plate this year. It's gonna be it's gonna look
like my Thanksgiving plate. But Lamar also pointed to like

(16:41):
the biggest where he sees the most opportunity for growth
is really as a leader and the communication and the
bonds that he has with his guys, and and the
fruits of of that that they can that fruits.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
We're gonna be having a fruit draft. Lad, that's a
good teaser.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
That was he didn't even plan that.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
I didn't even that. Yeah, well done, We're gonna have
the fruit drafts.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
So make sure he tuned in for that. Yeah, little teaser. Yeah,
but so like I think that could bear some major fruits.

Speaker 4 (17:09):
Just to stick on the fruits we got any more?

Speaker 3 (17:12):
Got any more for your labor their fruits?

Speaker 2 (17:16):
Uh So Yeah, here's my answer to the question, Like,
can Lamar reach even another level? I said the same
thing last year, and I was My point was kind
of like, I I don't really know that he can.
Like he was so good in twenty three, he probably
can't get any better realistically, And then I was sure
he got better, right, So I am not gonna make
that same mistake again. I think that he could keep

(17:37):
getting better. Part of it is that I think the
weapons around him have gotten even better. You've added DeAndre
Hopkins to the mix, and Rashad Bateman just continues to
grow as they Flowers continued. I think that the pieces
around him just continue to improve. So that can help him,
of course. But but the truth is, like, well, I
think he could continue to get better. But even if

(17:58):
he didn't, even if it was just the same, the
same story tie me up for that, Yeah, Like even
if it's the same or even a little bit worse,
like if that were to be the case, like it's
historically good, like it's an MVP level good. And so
I think that Lamar is gonna continue to be one of,
if not the best player in the NFL, and he's

(18:19):
gonna have this offense operating at such a high level,
putting up so many points. What it comes down to
really I think for him, and like this offense is
situational stuff, like they're gonna move the ball. Like they
are going to move the ball, you need to not
turn the ball over, and you need to be efficient
in the red zone. Like those are the things like
what could hold this offense back. It's basically being bad

(18:39):
in situations.

Speaker 4 (18:40):
It's not scoring penalties.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
It's penalties, it's turnovers and not scoring touchdowns when you're
on the red zone. Those are the three things that
like could hold this offense back. They're gonna be able
to move the ball, They're gonna be able to run it,
They're gonna be able.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
To hit big plays.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Like all that is gonna is going to happen, but
you just can't have those bad situations that can costume.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, I absolutely agree with that, and I think that
leads to the next question is how does top Monkin
maximize the most weapons that we've maybe seen here in Baltimore. Right,
Like we just got done talking about the embarrassment of
riches that the Ravens have from a weapons standpoint, offensively,
can they maximize that?

Speaker 4 (19:20):
Right?

Speaker 1 (19:20):
Like, Like how do you get the most out of
DeAndre Hopkins and what his role is here to compliment
Zay Flowers and Rasha Bateman.

Speaker 4 (19:30):
Yeah, you know, like.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
We've seen You've seen teams who have had a crazy
amount of weapons and it just the puzzle pieces don't fit.
And so that's kind of the question. You know, you
have we have another year of Mark Andrews and Isaiah
likely and like what does that look like? Right? Like,
I think how this offense evolves with the addition of
DeAndre Hopkins, Like if if he's practicing really well in

(19:54):
training camp and looks like coaches are like, man, we
gotta like we're gonna play a lot of three wide Yeah,
we're gonna go three wide receiver a fair amount. Then
what does that look like? How does that change the offense?
Because last year is so much too tight end, you know,
how do you how do you just incorporate and maximize
all of those talents?

Speaker 4 (20:14):
That's the question.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
I think that I really think it could be weak
to week.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
You didn't even mention the running game, like of course, yeah,
I mean that's like you're gonna have like two thousand
rushing yards around that, but more than that most likely Betweens.

Speaker 4 (20:27):
That's from Derek Henry.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah, that's that's Derek.

Speaker 4 (20:29):
You can get one, right.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
That's two thousand from Derek, probably another a him from Lamar,
you know, and then a few hundred more. You probably
gonna have thirty five hundred rushing yards, yeah, four thousand through.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
The air, yeah exactly.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
So so like.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
So I really think it's going to be game by game.
It's gonna be so situational. Like one game you could
have the two hundred yard Derek Henry game. Another week
it could be the Save Flowers ten catches for one
hundred and fifty yards and two touchdowns to pick your poison,
then the pick your poison like next week it could
be the tight ends going off.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
It could be one.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
There's gonna be game like there's going to be games
where one of the tight ends is like one catch
for four yards and the other one is is eight
for seventy five in a touch and then it's flipped
the next week, like like all of those things are
likely going to happen. And I just think that it's
gonna be based on situations, riding the hot hand, taking
what's available to them, And.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
And I think defensive personnel, what what kind of defense?
What kind of personnel they do they play heavy. They
play light, you know, if they're going out there in
a ton of nickel and you just want to say,
all right, we're gonna big boyball you.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
You know, like the Ravens are a chameleon. And yes,
they have their strengths and the things that they want
to do and dictate the game, but they also have
the benefit of having so many weapons is you can
be a chameleon and say, all right, what's the defense
want to do.

Speaker 4 (21:52):
We're gonna we're gonna pounce on that.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
Yes, and they've Munkin has been really good.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
At was it the Steelers game last year where there
was a drive they just ran it every single play? Yeah,
they just ran it every and and that's like something
that you say in your living room, like just keep
doing it till they stop it.

Speaker 3 (22:06):
And like they did that and they didn't stop it.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
And so the Ravens have that ability, and I think
they're going to be so multiple and changing from game
to game, even half by half in some of these situations.
If they see like something, if they find that something's working,
they'll just stick with it. So it's just talking about it,
like gets me excited to think about how good this
offense is going to be.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
And the driver of any good offense, many football die
hards will tell you, is the offensive line. And that's
the other another unanswered question is does this offensive line
get better from last year? You lost Pat McCarey, who
was a unicorn that everybody loved here. He could play
all five positions and really kind of settled in it

(22:50):
left guard as your starter last year.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
And Raven though clearly loved them. They give him a
nice contract, They.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
Give him a big contract.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
Now, the Ravens, you know, drafted in the third round
of what could ultimately become his replacement, but.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
In Emery Jones.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, exactly, But Emory Jones is dealing with the shoulder
injury as and practic yet we haven'teen him on the field.
So as of now, they really haven't added anybody to
replace him necessarily.

Speaker 4 (23:19):
And so the question is, to.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
My earlier point, how good is the guard play going
to be? And I think ken Ronnie Stanley run it
back like he did last year when he was healthy
all last year and returned to Pro.

Speaker 4 (23:32):
Bowl form yep. And then those are the big questions
to me.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
The other one I would add to it, like I
love what we saw from Roger roseen Garden last year.
He steps in at right tackle and just progress the
entire year was playing like shutting.

Speaker 4 (23:44):
How much better does he get?

Speaker 2 (23:45):
Like just says, can he continue to build all of that? Yes,
he pick up right where he left off when he
was shutting TJ. Watt down in the playoffs?

Speaker 3 (23:51):
That's the question.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
This is the second year and like there's going to
be more tape on him, and how do you respond
to that all those questions? Like that's that's something I
wonder about just with him going into his second season.
Although I love what I saw from him as a
rookie man.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
He was awesome.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
So yeah, I think the guard play we cover that,
like how good is the guard play center? You know
you're gonna be rock solid with Linderbaum And injuries are
always a question, like it's we talk about it more
with Ronnie because he's had that in his past. But
he showed last year like he was more than fully healthy,
and I just think that like Ronnie is he he

(24:26):
clearly wanted to stay here. He signed a contract here
before he even entered free agency because he wanted to
be here and continue building on what he's built here,
and so he's just a really motivated guy at this
stage of his career that badly wants to win a
Super Bowl, wants to win a super Bowl with Lamar,
and so I think that I think he takes it
really seriously, like protecting being Lamar's protector as an offensive lineman,

(24:48):
that's something that matters a lot to him. And I
think that he's just going to operate. He's just going
to play at a high level, like, yeah, I feel
good about I feel good about this offensive line. I
think that this offensive line is going to be as
good as it was at the end of last season.
That's my expectation, and it could be even better than that.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
Yeah, I think that will to some degree.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
We're all excited about the weapons and and you know,
the receiver, tight end, running back, but to some degree,
and of course Lamar he knew he's gonna be awesome,
you know, to some degree that the how good this
offense is will rest on the offensive line. Yeah, and
whether it can be better. I thought that by the
end of the year last year, especially like there were

(25:31):
some rocky points early on, you know, visions of Max
Crosby in my head, like you can't get those it's
those were tough to shake there for the early part
of the season. But by the end of the season,
like I thought, the offensive line was playing really well
and really middle to the end of the last season,
and so I think if it can continue to build
from there and and like, if the offensive line can

(25:51):
become a top five unit.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
In that league, like then look out.

Speaker 4 (25:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
I mean I honestly thought by the end of last year,
and I'd have to go back and look at the
PFF rankings and all that, I think they were top ten.

Speaker 4 (26:02):
And if it can be like top five unit, well.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yeah, if the offensive line is a top five unit
in the NFL, then like the scene is gonna put
up like thirty five points a game, just because that's
the other things are not really questioned. Again, you're assuming
health and all this stuff. But yeah, if the offensive
line can play at that level, I don't see a
scenario where the offense isn't insanely productive. And we're probably

(26:29):
talking about Lamar winning the MVP, Like that's probably the
conversation that we're having.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
If the line is that.

Speaker 4 (26:35):
Good, yep, totally agree this a little bit.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
Over the DEFENSEI I spent a lot of times talking offense.
On the defensive side, I think, I think this defense
is going to be good. This was another kind of
a little bit of a Jackal and Hyde unit last year.
Did not play well at the start of the season,
finished the season great, And so which one do you believe?
I tend to side on the second half of the
season because they made some changes personnel and scheme that
really fixed things. And so this secondary, the Raves have

(27:00):
made some big investments in it. They add ma Alchi
Starks the first round pick, they bring each I y
Alexander the downside of the secondaries, you lose our Darius
Washington to the injury. Brandon Stevens of course, also leaves
in free agency. So those are you know, those the departures.
But I think that there's no question the defense has
the pieces. I think what a question for the defense

(27:20):
of the secondary is like, can you be more productive?
From a takeaway standpoint?

Speaker 1 (27:24):
Yep, I think I think it's like is it going
to be as good as it looks on paper? Because
on paper, you know, everybody's just this week, the Ravens
secondary is ranked number one league. Kyle Hamilton's ranked the
top safety in the in the league. You know, it's
rankings week. That's what this slow time of the year is.
So is it as good as it is on paper?

(27:46):
Like can Marlon Humphrey have the ball production that he
did last year? From a takeaways standpoint? Is he as
good as he was last year which was a really
resurgent year for Marlon Huphrey and the Nate Wiggins like
good rookie season kind of like Roger Rosengarten. Does he
build on that? Can Jayir Alexander stay healthy? Like you
know all those things? Like is Malachi Starks like you

(28:07):
know he's gonna be his first round rookie in a
full time starting role. Is what it looks like? Like
how great is he immediately? Can he be an immediate
like sensation?

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Yep?

Speaker 1 (28:20):
I think that's part of it. And then to your point,
I think takeaways are definitely a focus of this team.

Speaker 4 (28:28):
And there were only six teams in the.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
League that had fewer takeaways than the Ravens last season.
That is a priority for them and one thing that
certainly was still that was one takeaway from the playoff
loss in Buffalo was look, yeah, the offense turned the
ball over three times. The other way to look at
that is the Bills defense took it away from three times,
and we didn't take it away from the Bills offense

(28:53):
any Yeah. And so the Ravens defense, when they're looking
in the mirror and pointing at themselves for their role
and that loss, that stinging playoff loss, that's what they
focused on. And so yeah, can they get more takeaways?
That's that's a big question going into training camp then
the season.

Speaker 2 (29:10):
Well, Marlon Humphrey, he talked at Mini camp and like
that was his point. That was his as he looked
back on that game and he looks ahead to this season,
he just kept coming back to the turnover piece and
saying like, that's that's what he was left with, thinking like,
we didn't take the ball away. If we're going to
be a great defense, we need.

Speaker 4 (29:28):
To take the ball away. Yep.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
And I go back to when we sat down with
Nate Wiggins, what's your goal for the year ten plus takeaways?

Speaker 3 (29:34):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (29:35):
Okay, Like that's big, that's lofty, But those are the
things that are I'm hearing coming from the secondary.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
If judging by Mini camp and Mini camp, the secondary
was getting the ball a lot. So that was a
good indication, Like you want to see that to a degree,
you don't really want to see the offense turn it over.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
Yeah stuff in practice, like what are we rotten for here?

Speaker 4 (29:54):
Exactly? But like part of me is going to be
rooting for that.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
You know, when it's the starting defense against the backup offense.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
I'm okay, yeah, I'm okay.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
Takeaways and so like, yeah, you want to see that
that momentum continue for this defense and really kind of
get that mentality of like, yeah, we're we're gonna we're
playing offense on defense.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
Well you talk about like mentality again, going back to
Marlin when he first got here, he made the point like.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
We were it was.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
It's still had that the remnants of like the old
school Ravens defense.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
It's a defensive where you're not counting on the offense
scoring much and you're like, we got we got to
take it away and score.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Like for the first like fifteen years of this franchise,
for twenty years of this franchise history, it was like
this is a defensive show. Yes, it's it's Ray Lewis,
it's at Reed, it's Holading, not it's Drell Suggs. Like
iconic defensive players who are really the leaders of the
team and and are the best players on the field,
and so like they really were the that was the
dominant story of this team and now it's it's flipped

(30:58):
like Lamar Jackson is is one of, if not the
best player in football, and this offense is high flying,
is the best offense we've ever seen here in Baltimore.
And Marlin's point was like that's great, Like I love that,
it's awesome having them on the other side, but I
also don't want us to kind of be left behind here.
Like on this defense, his priority as one of the
defensive leaders of this team is to get this defense

(31:19):
playing at a level that he was kind of accustomed
to when he first came in when this is like
a feared defensive team that nobody wants to see the
Ravens defense. And that's what he and other guys on
this defense are trying to work towards to get this
defense to that point.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
And honestly, part of it is the communication aspect, like
talking more nuts and bolts a little bit of like
what will be done in training camp is they got
to get on the same page from a communication standpoint.
You have a first round rookie out there and Malachi
Starks that you know, Kyle Hamilton had some missed assignments
when he first stepped onto the field as a rookie, Like.

Speaker 4 (31:53):
They got to work that out.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
You have Jaiyira Alexander who's we all project to step
into a starting role even behind him uh Ouzier. Yeah,
you know, Cheeto, Like that's another new piece in the secondary.
So like you have things to work, you have some
new piece in that secondary. You have new secondary coach
in Chuck Pugano, So like you gotta get all on
the same page and make sure that you're not having

(32:15):
those breaks. Tons of talents, but you can't have the breakdowns.
And so that's part of the mission and training camp.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah, and I feel like I think that this secondary
they've they've figured enough out last year and like Chuck
Pagano is such a great coach that like I just
think that it's they're going it's gonna work.

Speaker 3 (32:37):
Well.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
The question are the takeaway thing is what I keep
coming back to because like I think the communication piece
is gonna be fine, the takeaway piece is less predictable,
Like that's for sure, Takeaways could be fluky and like
it's not all luck, but there's an element of luck.
And so like that's the thing that I is an
unknown to me, Like, are you gonna be able to

(32:58):
deliver on this takeaways goal that you really have?

Speaker 4 (33:01):
I would agree with that, all right.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
Last one that we have here on our list is well,
the Ravens be better on special teams than they were
last season. And obviously we talked about kicker and you know,
now Justin Tucker had his misses last year that were painful.
Can the Ravens kicking situation be you know, better than
it was last year?

Speaker 4 (33:22):
Maybe?

Speaker 3 (33:22):
Right?

Speaker 1 (33:23):
Right?

Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, it was his worst season and you know that
that hurt the Ravens in some of those games. Yeah,
for sure, That's definitely something that I think the Ravens
are looking to improve.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
Right, The Ravens are looking to get better, yeah at
that spot. Yeah, And beyond that, it's also the return
game in the coverage game. You know, I think that
last year the Ravens have a very very high bar
for their special teams unit, and John Harball, with his
special teams background, I think really kind of set that
bar high when he first took this job way back
when in two thousand and eight, and the bar remains high.

(33:59):
And I don't think that people would probably in this
building would probably say that they lived up to that
bar last season. It just you weren't winning games on
special teams. And uh, I think that they want to
be more dynamic in the return game for sure. That's
part of the reason that they drafted le Jonte Western

(34:19):
in the sixth round to kind of be an impact
punt returner. Can you get more even on kickoff returns?
You know when you have the opportunity with Keaton and
Justice and those guys like can you cover better? And
all those things? Like you just I think the Ravens
And then answered question is are they going to be
better on special teams? You know, you lost some veterans

(34:40):
special teams players, you know, like a Chris Board, Malik Harrison,
those guys departed. You'd signed Jay Hummell, who's kind of
a special team's ace, an inside linebacker.

Speaker 4 (34:51):
Are you better or worse than you were on special teams?

Speaker 3 (34:53):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (34:54):
I think a lot of this comes down to, like
some of those young guys who we mentioned in backup
roles or competing for roles. Teddy you can are you
ready to come in and make an impact on special teams.
How about the safeties, Bo Braids, Sanusi Kane, those guys
they're whether they are playing much at all on defense,
they're gonna be playing on special teams. So, like you
you need to see those young players. I think basically

(35:15):
it's like take ownership and uh, just perform at a
high level on special teams. Like that's kind of what
it comes down to that the Ravens have always had
this high bar. Like you mentioned, they've also had some
key guys that have been like leaders of those units
when you go through the years, like Albert McClellan, Anthony
Levine was that way, Chris he is back in the building.

(35:35):
Like there's there's been examples of that all throughout John
Harbaugh saying, yeah, exactly, going back a ways, like of
these good veterans special teams aces and you are kind
of looking for the next generation of of those guys.
Tylan Wallace has kind of been that type of a player.
He's had some you know, big players even in the

(35:56):
return game. But like those are the types of players
that you're you're looking forward to really emerge on special teams.
And we'll see if some of these young guys are
able to do it.

Speaker 4 (36:04):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
All right, we are going to take a break and
when we come back. It's been a while, been a
minute since we had a draft. We're gonna have a
fruit draft. Right. It's summer, it's hot, this is the
time of the year to be just pounding some fruit.

Speaker 4 (36:20):
And so we have our big boards ready and we're
ready to draft.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
You're listening to the Lounge podcast. We are coming to
you from the Sea Geek Studio. We want to mention
our partners at Draftking sports Book. They are an official
sports betting partner of the Baltimore Ravens Draft King Sports Book.
The crown is yours. All right, so it's time.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
For the draft.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
Here we have I think we have fourteen fruits that
are listed here.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
Correct, You got to go through, you run through, you
go through. So you want me to just start telling
you my be here, Go.

Speaker 4 (36:45):
Ahead, sir, from the top.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
Okay, all right, we'll go the items that the fruits
that are listed here. Raspberry, peach, orange, cherry, watermelon, blueberry, strawberry, grape, banana, pineapple, pear, mango, kiwi.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
All right, so I know you have raspberry. You said
that first. That's in the middle of your list. You
started in the middle and started jumping around. Okay, all right,
so there's your list. There is the list. We'll do
rock paper Scissors and then we'll do a snake draft.
We typically just we go a traditional draft, but we've
realized over the course of these drafts that if you
don't win rock paper Scissors, you're basically out of it.
And I'm like a historic disadvantage. It puts too much

(37:23):
weight on the rock paper scisters.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
I'm surprised that you were in favor of making this
transition because I have been a historically bad rock paper
scissors player. Yeah, and it's basically cost me some of
these drafts.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
No, no, you cost yourself some of those drafts. But yeah,
the rock paper scisors didn't help. But it's all about rock.

Speaker 4 (37:38):
But last one, the.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
Last one, you won rock paper sitis. So that's why
I'm changing it out.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
Yeah, and then that was a blowout.

Speaker 4 (37:44):
All right, Ready, rock paper says, sure, ah here I
got it.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
I won. So we're going to go back to the
traditional drafting. All right.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
So first pick, I'm gonna go with the fruit that
is works in all situations, and it is the lifeblood
of all fruit.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
I'm going with the banana.

Speaker 1 (38:03):
Oh oh wow, I have one every day.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
I eat a banana every day.

Speaker 4 (38:12):
Do you really?

Speaker 3 (38:12):
Pretty much? You must never cramp up, yeah, never cramp,
never cramp.

Speaker 4 (38:16):
Well, here's the thing about him.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
Here's the thing about a banana. I think, Hey, that's
a horrible pick. Okay, banana split.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
You can have it for dessert, you can have it
for breakfast, you can have it prevent cramping.

Speaker 4 (38:24):
I agree, it's great.

Speaker 1 (38:25):
And a banana split banana is really a carrier, a
conduit of other things, right, Like just a plain banana
not very good.

Speaker 4 (38:33):
It's just it's just not a very like tasty. You
don't ever eat a nana.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
You're like, m man, this is a delicious banana. No,
but you put some peanut butter on it. Now, you
know me and the peanut butter. Peanut butter down here,
you're selling my shirt like but alone. See, you can't
add anything to these. This is just the fruit.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
It's also the most versatile too, because again you can
have it for assert, you can have it for breakfast,
you can have it as a snack.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
You took it too high, so clear number one to
get way too high Way too high.

Speaker 3 (39:02):
I know you're gonna screw this up.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
Okay, number two, I'm going pure. We're just fresh off
fourth of July pure Americana. You talk about versatility apple, I'm.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
Going home now.

Speaker 4 (39:16):
It's hard to hell, it's hard to have a bad apple.
Like like, all the apples are good.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
No, they stay fresh for a long time, like you
I have had. I probably have apples from two years
ago buried in the back of the fridge. I'll go
home and eat one right now.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
That's your point that they were so good they wouldn't
be buried in the back of the fridge for two years.

Speaker 4 (39:37):
You're making my point similar to a banana.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
Great with peanut butter oh, that is you can take
them on the go there they won't get there. The
best case they peple pie, apple pie.

Speaker 4 (39:50):
It doesn't get better than apple.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
But the case that you've made for the apple is
that it's similar to the banana. That's like their best
argument better but like and there's a wide variety.

Speaker 4 (39:59):
How many different fasting bananas are there?

Speaker 1 (40:01):
There's the only great one, only great apple, great apple.

Speaker 4 (40:04):
You got all.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
Kind of Granny Smith Fuji. There's like a blows your
mind how.

Speaker 4 (40:10):
Many different kinds of apples you have the versatility and.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
They all in the range in the back of your fridge.

Speaker 4 (40:16):
For it's a great pic.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
Wow, great pick.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
All right, you look, if you don't like apple at
number two, you're an American.

Speaker 4 (40:23):
Okay, So so Garrett, do you like that pick? Do
you like that pick?

Speaker 3 (40:27):
Let's go.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
Let's move to my next pick, which is another great pick.
I've got the banana, and I've got the strawberry. I've
got strawberries here.

Speaker 4 (40:35):
Strawberry solid.

Speaker 2 (40:36):
Yeah, you know you should have taken strawberry with your
first pick. That was your mistake there, because again it
can w Apple is better than strawberry. It can work
in so many different situations. And strawberry sick.

Speaker 4 (40:49):
Oh you blew it is my pick? Blow it. I'm
taking strawberry. Oh you drafted out order. Should be a penalty.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
That should I'm taking strawber off your plate.

Speaker 4 (41:09):
It's fine.

Speaker 3 (41:10):
Oh yes, Oh it's perfect.

Speaker 4 (41:14):
It's blew it.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
It's perfect. I set them off, folks.

Speaker 4 (41:18):
I knew it.

Speaker 3 (41:19):
I had strawberry as the last album on my rost.
I just set it up.

Speaker 4 (41:23):
You set them up, sliced on your plate. You're ready
to eat. Some strawberries. I just reached out with my fork.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
No, see that that I knew that. I was just
gonna make you I had.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
It's just a strawberry, I might Those were one two
on my board, Apple strawberry, by the way, oh one two.

Speaker 3 (41:38):
I'll go with. Yeah, I baited you. I baited you
into the pick.

Speaker 4 (41:41):
No, you're reeling now, you are reeling.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
Now here I go with the superfood and it is
the blueberry.

Speaker 4 (41:49):
Oh my god, that is a massive reach.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
That's a massive reach. Blueberry super thumbs down from it.
From that, it's a make your case and then I'll
poke hools it.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
No, I mean blueberries are what's the case against the blueberries?

Speaker 4 (42:03):
All right, you're so, you're done, so you have no
case four blueberries. You'll just let me launch against blueberries.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
The case against blueberries is you have to eat like
thirty of them. You have to take a handful to
even taste them. What are you popping one blueberry at
a time.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
Oh, you're popping like three at a time.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
No, three at a time. That's not enough. I have
to take a whole handful.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
No, yes, no, they're just so small you have to eat.

Speaker 4 (42:24):
I got a bunch of them at the same time.

Speaker 3 (42:25):
And blueberries are you even getting here?

Speaker 4 (42:27):
They're all small? What kind of giant blueberries? They're all small.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
Hand They're not really good by themselves. Like, who's just
eating blueberries?

Speaker 4 (42:37):
Anybody? If you want to, if we want to put
them in a fruit salad.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
Sure, blueberry pancakes are good, they're great, right, But like you,
blueberries by themselves terrible.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
Here's got a tenth on my big board.

Speaker 3 (42:51):
No, all right, and now you blue that?

Speaker 2 (42:54):
No, I know, I get to make another pick, and
I'm just gonna go with the perfect compliment. I'm also
gonna take the raspberry. I'm gonna take the blueberry.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
And the raspberry. Shut on those two.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
That's another reach those And you know why raspberries are
reached there? Raspberries a they fall apart. They get squashed
so easily. You can't bring them anywhere.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
They get squashed.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
They also go bad. Like I buy raspberries, If I
don't eat them that day, next day, they're bad.

Speaker 4 (43:23):
You need wait.

Speaker 1 (43:24):
The shelf life on raspberries is minuscule. Do you like
as minuscule as your blueberries?

Speaker 3 (43:29):
Do you even like fruit?

Speaker 2 (43:30):
Because all you keep talking about a shelf life you
like apples because they last forever in the back of
your fridge.

Speaker 4 (43:34):
Fruit don't very finnick.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
You don't like raspberries because they go bad immediately.

Speaker 4 (43:38):
Do you even eat fruit?

Speaker 1 (43:39):
I do? I do, But you have to eat it
at the right time, don't you have apple? The calendar's
wide open? Raspberries like, it's such a small window.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
Let's you know it's good though, because it's a tight window.
I'm not arguing on the shelf life. I'm not gonna
put raspberries in the back of the fridge for two
years and come.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
Back to them.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
Oh but but they're excellent, and so you need to
eat them at the right time. And when you have
them at the right time, they're perfect.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
I will say a good raspberry at the right time
is divine.

Speaker 4 (44:07):
It's it's great. But that is such a small window,
like it's really hard.

Speaker 3 (44:12):
To find, you see, to plant it out right?

Speaker 1 (44:14):
Okay, you blew it? There's you're regionally crazy. I'm going
to get a sleeper pick here, sleeper. This is the
best pure tasting fruit on the menu.

Speaker 4 (44:26):
Mango. Mango, Oh man, mango is so.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
Good and I'm getting it with pick is this this
is six.

Speaker 4 (44:38):
That's a steal.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
Mango. That's a late round.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
No, no, no, no, mango high.

Speaker 4 (44:48):
You were I heard the you you were deflated when
I took that.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
I was mango. What pace is that on my board?

Speaker 4 (44:56):
Mango is so good. Dried mango is also excellent. Great
on a hike. By the way, you know you're out there.

Speaker 3 (45:03):
You're like you're stretching when you start talking about like.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
No, no, no, of all these like the dried fruit mangoes
at the top of the list. Uh, mango is just
it's so good, Like it's the best tasting fruit on
the menu. I need I don't need to say anything else.
It's the best tasting fruit on the menu. All right,
Next pick for me, I'm going grapes. You talk about versatile,

(45:26):
you can take them anywhere. Bryson's clapping the grapes. There's
another again, wide range of grapes. And guess what, Garrett.
Without grapes, you don't have wine. So I also got wine.

Speaker 4 (45:40):
It's a double.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
Bonus for me. You're gonna make your own winepes.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
You got you making wine with straw with bananas, you
got banana wine, going, blueberry wine, blueberry wine. Perfect grapes
They're just so good. There's refreshing that you can take
them with you.

Speaker 3 (45:58):
Grape is your first God pick. Give you a good
pick on grape.

Speaker 4 (46:01):
Mango was awesome.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
That was a massive.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Reach, But I'll give you grape as a as a
decent pick at seven.

Speaker 3 (46:09):
At that point, all right, go ahead. I'm gonna go.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
With something that on a on a summer day, it's
been brutally hot, this is the perfect item to quench
your thirst and just the overall just nothing better than
this fruit.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
On a hot day. It's a watermelon.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
Terrible watermelon on a hot day. Just came off the
fourth of July. You want to talk about the perfect
item to have on the fourth of July?

Speaker 3 (46:33):
Watermelon?

Speaker 1 (46:34):
Dude, Carrying the watermelon to the picnic is always the
pain in the butt. It's huge, you got it takes
up the half the shopping cart. It's heavy carrying it
in the bags out of the grocery store. Your good
luck taking it to a picnic because you know how
big a knife you need to bring. You're getting arrested, Yeah,
you get arrested before you even try to cut that thing.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
All of your gripes against my fruit is like the
mechanics of it.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
It's like bringing it to the equation, bringing it to
the cook Watermelon has like the shell of all the
fruits on our list pure flavor, Like like, how good
is the pure flavor watermelons?

Speaker 4 (47:10):
Dead last? I mean dead last. It's water.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
It's just water and melon. What's melon? What's melon?

Speaker 4 (47:17):
Tastes like?

Speaker 1 (47:18):
It's right when you have to describe what your fruit
tastes like with the description is water, No, you just
don't like plus the seeds.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
You just don't like the name of it. You don't
like that water is in the name. So you're like,
you're it's just taste fruit.

Speaker 4 (47:32):
I agree with you.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
If it's one hundred, one hundred and five degrees and
you just need like something like basically watermelons like the fruit,
like you're at the end of your rope and you're
it's survival mode for fruit, Like I need something wet
right now.

Speaker 4 (47:47):
It's watermelon.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
Water.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
There's there's a reason that watermelon finds itself on every
cookout that exists, and it's because everybody loves it. Everybody
loves it, all right. My next pick, and and this
is this is a utility pick. This is like the
old liamon late. You know this is like, yeah, it's
the orange.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
You're the orange shraft.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
It's so hard that the orange is like you don't
really think about it. It's not flashy, but like it
is quality, it's nutritious, vitamin C. You can make a perfect,
perfect orange juice, like it is exactly what you need.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
I just make orange juice.

Speaker 4 (48:27):
Is the only argument you have here. That's a big one.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
That's the only big orange juice.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
Mango juice is better than orange juice by far. No, yay,
you can straight mango juice versus oranges.

Speaker 4 (48:39):
Straight up?

Speaker 1 (48:40):
Who draces straight mango juice? It's delicious.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
That's the last time you had a mango juice? You
go to the store, you go.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
You know it's good. You know it's fire. You know
it's fire. Is the mango orange combo that actually is
pretty nice?

Speaker 3 (48:52):
I'm sure it's nice. But where's last time you had.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
A mango upgrades orange? Because the mango orange.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
Can't even answer the question love mango juice never but
theory theory it could be good.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
Look, look, look, orange juice is the only thing that's
going for the orange.

Speaker 4 (49:06):
But what do you what are you gonna make your
own orange juice of picnic. You squeeze them all.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
Out, the good lucks you got the juice.

Speaker 4 (49:12):
Your hands are so s you can't stick thems.

Speaker 3 (49:15):
Back to the mechanics here, yes.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
Like, hey, they get you so sticky. That's what's the
downside of an orange. They get your hands to stick.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
All you hear about is like storage and like the
process of cutting it.

Speaker 4 (49:26):
And flavor, which you don't care about. Mister watermelon. All right?

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Like, are what are you like five years old? And
it's halftime? Yeah, halftime is soccer.

Speaker 3 (49:35):
Yeah, you get into it.

Speaker 4 (49:36):
You make your mom's orange slices? Is that what made
this pick?

Speaker 3 (49:39):
Tell me those weren't amazing?

Speaker 4 (49:41):
Actually? All right?

Speaker 1 (49:45):
Next, and I can't, I honestly can't believe I got
these one two right here.

Speaker 4 (49:49):
I'm mind blown. I'm just mind blown.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
Pineapple, Pineapple at number What am I at?

Speaker 4 (49:56):
Oh my, it's so late? What am I at?

Speaker 3 (49:58):
Ten?

Speaker 1 (49:59):
Not?

Speaker 4 (50:00):
Pineapple and peach?

Speaker 3 (50:01):
You want to talk about? Hard to go?

Speaker 1 (50:02):
Going back to back pineapple peach in that this spot
is a late round pick is ridiculously good. Talk about
just the two delicious fruits. Pineapple actually is like Overratedly
people think it's harder to cut than it really is.

Speaker 4 (50:17):
It's actually not that hard.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
Yeah, for a guy that only cares about like how
you're opening up the fruit, Like pineapple is not like
an easy.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
Jump, I'd say it's easier than watermelon, Brayson, I'd say
pineapple is easier cut than watermelon.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
At at you don't think at a minimum, They're like,
best case for you is a break even.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
But pineapple a is just as refreshing as watermelon, and
it tastes one hundred times better, no death, and it's
so versatile. Put it in smoothies, like put it in
your drink, like your alcoholic beverages.

Speaker 3 (50:50):
You know you want a peanut colatta, so good.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
So good, strawberry pineapple, oh my god, oh man, I'm
crushing you. And then a peach, like if we're talking,
like you hit a peach at the right time, like
and it's got a bigger window than raspberries, for sure. Peach,
a really good ripe peach at the right time is
right up there with mango.

Speaker 4 (51:14):
Is the best tasting fruit on this menu.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
Your biggest You're you basically draft on shelf life and
storage and flavor, and I want high flavor.

Speaker 4 (51:24):
I want high flavor.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
You want a long shelf life, which narrow window peach peach.
Peaches aren't terrible bringing home from the farmer's. You're in
the middle of the pack.

Speaker 4 (51:35):
I'd say beaches are delicious.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
All right, I've got back to back here and I'm
gonna go. The three items that are left are cherry,
pear and kiwi, and I'm going cherry pear. I'll go
in cherry pear and you get kiwi with your last pig.
I mean cherry and pear cherries? Actually, which one are
you taking first?

Speaker 4 (52:00):
Cherry or pair?

Speaker 1 (52:01):
Well, I just want to for integrity, which one do
you take it first?

Speaker 3 (52:04):
I'll take pair first?

Speaker 1 (52:05):
Oh God, you even blew that cherry was your best
pick and you took pair before cherry cherry.

Speaker 4 (52:09):
Actually, you got a bargain there.

Speaker 3 (52:11):
It was my best pick. It was my best pick,
and I took it with my.

Speaker 4 (52:13):
Last with your last pick.

Speaker 1 (52:15):
Wow, drafted so poorly. Like I would have taken cherry earlier,
but I couldn't take it over pineapple peach. But like
a good cherry is that's like that is that is
a late round last pick gem.

Speaker 4 (52:27):
That is the Andrew Woarhe's that's the Geno stone.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
That is like that, that's your best pick and it's
not even close because your other picks.

Speaker 4 (52:35):
Were garbage, I mean garbage.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
I cherry pick is nice, like a nice Mount Rainier
sweet like dark red cherry is really good, really good
pairs again, very short window like very and also who
just eats a pair?

Speaker 4 (52:52):
Nobody Kiwi?

Speaker 1 (52:54):
You're rated, extremely underrated, Like you see, you're just so
basic like me, somebody like me, I'll go kiwi, I'll
go mango because I'm a man of the world. Like
what are kiwi's Australian something like that, like New Zealand,
Like I am a.

Speaker 4 (53:13):
Global man, right well traveled like a kiwi. It gets
a little very much heat because how about hair.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
Where have you ever had I've ever had a kiwi internationally?
You're actually like you've gone on the world's tour searching
for the best kiwi the grocery store.

Speaker 4 (53:31):
But I could get one if I went to Australia.
I just haven't done it yet. Yeah, it would be great.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
Daniel Follole, probably a big kiwi guy, like a nice
kiwi actually is really refreshing and nice.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
You would be better served here to just be like
you know, what it was my last pick. I got
stuck with Kiwi. But like, I'm okay with that. That
would be a better argument than whatever world travel. You
know what Dollaridge you're trying.

Speaker 3 (53:52):
You know.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
The other fun thing is about Kiwi. You get to
use one of those spoons that have like the little point.
It's like the spork it's got it's got like the
little to the canis and there.

Speaker 4 (54:03):
They're just kind of fun.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
They're just kind of a little twisted knife. You get
like the same suns for a grapefruit, kind of your.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
Little baby spoon and you can jump in there.

Speaker 4 (54:13):
It's nice. It's kind of fun.

Speaker 3 (54:14):
Yeah, a little baby spoon.

Speaker 4 (54:16):
All right.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
So so just to recap, just to recap here, I've
got banana, blueberry, orange, raspberry, cherry, watermelon, and pear and
make has and make has strawberry.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
Sorry, goat order apple, strawberry, mango, grape, pineapple, peach, and Kiwi.
I got of my top seven, I got six of them.
The only one in my top seven I didn't get
was banana.

Speaker 3 (54:49):
Which is a great.

Speaker 4 (54:51):
Which was your top pick?

Speaker 3 (54:53):
Banana? Is I stand pop over all? That's not.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
Just basically I need, but you need peanut butter with
it or ice cream you don't like, of which I didn't.

Speaker 4 (55:03):
Did you, Bryson, did you see peanut butter on the list?

Speaker 2 (55:07):
No, I don't need banana. That is a that is
an absolute runaway victory for me.

Speaker 3 (55:14):
It is a run.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
Initial make my lance, that's that's what's one man's opinion
feels good.

Speaker 3 (55:26):
That is, this is a runaway victory for me.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
As usual, you can email us at the lounge at
Ravens dot NFL dot net. Let us know what you
think is the best pick here and who ed and
double want of this draft.

Speaker 3 (55:39):
We're gonna talking about football here again here pretty soon.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
The player is gonna be on the field starting in
a couple of days, so stay tuned for that.

Speaker 3 (55:45):
Thank you so much for listening, and we will be
back soon