June 6, 2025 • 34 mins
Team insiders Garrett Downing and Clifton Brown break down Rashod Bateman’s contract extension and what it means for the Ravens. They share insight from Bateman, as well as what they saw in Thursday’s practice, and some potential changes in the secondary.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome into the lounge, presented by DraftKings. I'm Garret Downey.
I'm joyed by Clifton Brown today, who's stepping in for
Brian mank and the Ravens wrapped up another OTA practice today,
but before they did that, there was some big news
Thursday morning, as a team reached a contract extension with
wide receiver Rashod Bateman. The contract is a three year
extension on top of the two years of a contract
(00:27):
that he already had in play. So Bateman is now
under contract for the next five years, and according to reports,
it's a three year extension with twenty million guaranteed and
the value overall over the course of that extension is
thirty six point seven to five.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Million according to multiple reports.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
So Bateman gets a big pay increase after having the
best season of his career, and the Ravens get a
core piece of their team under contract for the foreseeable future.
So exciting day for the Ravens and of course for
Vershaw Bateman. So Clifton Brown and I will break all
of this down. What's your first reaction, Cliff when you
heard the news this morning.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I'm happy for Rashad Bateman.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I mean he persevered through a lot of adversity his
first two years getting this new deal. It's a testament
to his toughness, his resilience, his belief in himself. And
the Ravens also stuck by Rashad too those first couple
of years. And you know, last year he was really
a key piece of this offense. I mean, nine touchdowns,
(01:27):
a playmaker all year and played all seventeen games. He's
played thirty three regular season games the past two years
and playoff games on top of that, showing it he
can stay healthy and when he stays healthy, he's a.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Very productive receiver.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
So my first initial thought was happy for him because
a couple of years ago, three years ago, you definitely
couldn't have seen this coming for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Right Honestly, my first reaction was just a little bit
of surprise, not because I don't think he's deserving, but
because he just signed a contract last year, and you're like, oh,
like when whenever a player is doesn't isn't at the
end of their deal and they get a contract extension,
it comes as somewhat of a surprise because often the
way it works is that a guy hits the market
or comes very close to hitting the market. Baitman still
(02:14):
had two years you know, left on this deal this
year and next year. But what I think it's a
sign of I think it's really two things. It's it's
an indication that Bateman outperformed the contract that he was
getting last year. And the stats from last year forty
five catches, seven hundred and fifty six yards, nine touchdowns.
(02:35):
Another stat there is seventy seven percent of his catches
resulting in a first down or a touchdown. That it
was a highest rate in the league for any player
who had more than forty catches. So it wasn't just
like they weren't worth meaningless catches. I mean they were
like all big catches. So anyway, the first note is
I think he outperformed his contract from last year, and
(02:57):
so it an it's a sign kin of you outperformed,
you get a payball, And the Ravens just did the
same thing with Derrick Henry. The second piece of it
is that the Ravens feel like Rashad Bateman's still on
the ascent, he's still rising, he's still improving.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
He's twenty five years old, and so.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
You get him, you reward him for coming off the
best season of his career and you still get him
at a good you know, good value from if you
play out the length of the contract. But you're investing
in a player who you feel like is still getting better.
And so I just think it's really a it's it's
a good situation, I think here for both both sides.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yeah, you think about what Shay Bateman and Zay Flowers
could do together the next three or four years. Obviously
d hops here as well, but I'm just talking about
guys who have been with Lamar since the beginning of
their careers. Then you talk about building chemistry. You know,
we've seen what Lamar has done with Mark Andrews over
(03:53):
the years. We've seen was Jay Flowers, Amershod Bateman have
done the last two years. You can keeped a core
group like that, you know, surround of quarterback like Lamar,
with talented receivers that he can work with for years.
I don't think there's any way you won't have success. So, yeah,
to speak to your point about him still as sending
(04:15):
there's no reason to believe in offense like this, surrounded
by so many talented players with a quarterback like Lamar
that we have not yet seen the best of a
Shot Bateman.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, I just think that he's a guy like you
look at his career and it was the injuries that
held him back early in his career, and then the
opportunity was.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
A little bit limited, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
First year he just basically on the shelf, and then
it's the foot and then he's working his way back,
and the Ravens then added Odell Beckham Junior to the
receiving mix and drafted Say Flowers, and so like, the
opportunity then was more limited, and he was still working
his way back from the foot injury. So like his
first three years we were mired injuries. And then his
(05:01):
fourth season he has the best season of his career.
And that, oh, by the way, coincides with when he's
been healthy, and so like, I don't really think it's
I don't really think it's ever been an ability thing
with him. I think it's just been an availability thing, absolutely,
and availability and opportunity.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Right, and this offense has been good for him too.
I believe in all the receivers that yeah, I mean
in this offense, everyone's eating, you know, and he's a
part of that. They all help each other get fed
because it's really hard to lock in on just one
player except you know Lamar, and then you gotta worry
(05:38):
about Derek and me when they run the football. So yeah,
it's a great offense to play in. But yeah, the
players always, in my eyes, you know, it starts with them. Rashad,
you know, definitely had some tough times, I'm sure early
in his career when he's like, why can't I catch
a break? Why can't I stay healthy? Because he was
healthy as a college player. It was a new thing
(05:59):
when he came to all the more and of course
and since he didn't have any years stacked on the
table yet, he didn't have that you know in the
bank where.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
People say, oh, well he can play.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
He's just been nerves like you know, there was always
good and you know it's how good is he? You know,
because he couldn't prove how good he was. Well the
last two years he'd been able to do that and
he's showing people.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, I get I give him a lot of credit
because I think that a lot of guys like that
start their careers the way that he does. I think
it's kind of a hard spiral to get out of.
I just think it's challenging, like your first round pick,
you have, like you have the groin injury as a rookie,
and then you have this really bad foot injury. And
we said it at the time, Liz Frank injuries are
(06:40):
really bad and they take a long time to recover
from and any player that has had it and overcome
it and dealt with it, like says the same thing,
takes a long time to work your way back from that.
And there were literally points we had were shot on
the podcast last year going into the season, and he
talked about there being doubts as to whether he would
really even be able to come back and play. And
so this was a guy who had to overcome a
(07:02):
lot early in his career, and I think that it's
just challenging to overcome that, and you kind of get
into spiral there and you feel the pressure and you
hear all the labels and the talk, and it's like
that is that is hard for a player, And so
I give him a lot of credit for being able
to kind of fight through that, overcome it, and then
he gets the contract, you know, last year when he
(07:24):
got the contract extension, like I said, I was a
little bit surprised, just because whenever a player gets an extension,
it comes as somewhat unexpected before their deal is up.
But last year, he even said today when he met
with the media, like last year's was kind of a
real surprise and that in part had to deal with
like technicality and all that. But for this one, he
(07:50):
did say that, you know, they had been talking for
a little bit, so he was less surprised on this
contract than he was last year when he got the
contracts extension.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Right, because he knew what kind of season he put together.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Yeah, so yes, now he feels good about you know,
doing that, you know, showing that you know, the Ravens
believed in him and giving something, giving them more on
that investment in that belief. And now yeah, like he said,
that's kind of how things work in this league. Like
you know, you get you get paid if you do
the right things on and off the field. And yes,
(08:22):
you know, his teammates, you know, he's always been a
guy that they respect and were rooting for him to
stay healthy and felt I remember Jay Flowers, even last
year people were asking Zay about, you know, how he
was going to top his rookie season, and he would say, hey,
you know, I'm thinking, I want to be better, but
he would sometimes throwing into it. But Batman's going to
get his too. I mean, Bait bates looking good. I
(08:43):
remembered a couple of times in training cans like Bait,
I'm telling you, Bait is really looking good.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Well he called it right, no doubt about that.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I think the other thing that's interesting with Bateman it's like, honestly,
for like the last couple of years, in the off season,
it's been like trade rumors and there are rumors that
the Cowboys try to trade for him this offseason, and
there was speculation, and you know, everybody's always like you know,
doing the deep dive rabbit hole stuff on Twitter of
(09:10):
looking at tweets and and all that stuff, right, and
so like this is gonna put it into all that.
Like now, now that is outside, you don't have to
worry about that conversation anymore. But I think that like
the point that he made, I thought he made a
couple that were interesting when when talking with him, when
he met with the media. One of the points he
made was I knew I always wanted to be here
(09:32):
like he wanted to be here. And I think that
there was there was speculation a lot of times in
his career, like does he want to be here?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Is he happy in Baltimore or stuff like that, And.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
He made it clear that I wanted to be here always,
but you just never necessarily know how that's going to
go because it's a business and you've seen players get
traded or cut, and so he's like, I just I
wasn't sure how that was going to play out, even
though I knew I wanted to be here, So like,
I thought that was kind of telling from him. And
then the other part of it was that he talked
(10:01):
about how it's it's significant for the Ravens like to this,
to do this deal after he just signed an extension
last year. When a player has a good season, he's like,
you hope that the team rewards them with a with
a nice contract in a pay raise, but you don't
necessarily know what that's going to be the case.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
And it's it's.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Valuable that the Ravens were able to do that and
did that right.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Well, you know, this is an example of them resigning
again for a second time a young player that will
help them keep their core group together. They Eric Dekasa
said many times that I want to sign as many
good of these good players that we drafted as we can.
With the Salvy cabin, is hard to keep everyone you
want to keep well. With Shah Bateman, they don't have
(10:47):
to worry about that anymore. That's another name, important name
they can cross off the list as far as someone
who's under contract for years. So yeah, I think that
sometimes players, when they get a new contract, they feel
pressure to deliver. I think Rashaan in some ways has
already been through that. Hopefully this will free him up
(11:10):
even more just to just play. Yeah, when he plays,
and I mean, you know, all these guys make it
look a.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Lot easier than it is.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
But when he's is free and healthy, he's shown that
he will put up numbers. So now he doesn't have
to work at all about the contract. You don't have
to worry all about his immediate future. He can just
go out and play and hopefully I freeze him up
even more.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I think it really is a burden kind of off
his shoulders because you've he's overcome like the challenge of
being the first round pick and dealing with those injuries,
and then and then pretty soon after that, you start
worrying about well I'm going to be in a contract
year and a gonna am I going to get an
extension all that stuff, and then and then now you
just have this long term security in place, and so
(11:55):
I think that that is only going to help him
play at an even higher level. And it's just it's
kind of interesting, Like, again, you go back to the
early part of his career. I think a lot of
people would have been surprised if if at that point,
when he's in year one or the year two, especially
dealing with the injuries, if you knew at that point
that this was a guy who was going to ultimately
be signed. This contract will put him through nine seasons
(12:18):
here in Baltimore. Like, that's the longest ten year receiver
by a wide margin in franchise history if he were
to make it to that, you know, all nine years,
and so that's saying something right there, Like the longevity
and the investment. I think that that is pretty telling.
And I just I'm with you. I think that having
(12:39):
that security will allow him to play free and just
continue to build off what he did last season, right.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
I mean, the narrative has changed as far as Ravens
drafting wide receivers with Zay Flowers and Rashad Bateman. You know,
now the you know the Ravens can't draft wide receivers
or don't draft liv receivers.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
You're not hearing that noise anymore.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
So to me, that's just another example of it's easy
to say things, you know, when you look at them,
give a hot take. But now the narrative has changed,
and hopefully for Ravens fans, that same narrative will change
about the Ravens. You know, can't win a Super Bowl
with this group, aren't going to win a Super Bowl
(13:23):
with this group. That what has happened in the past
does not determine the future.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
This offense is loaded.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I was standing out of practice watching it, and I'm
just like, man, these receivers, Zay and Bateman, you add Hopkins,
you have these really good tight ends, and Mark Andrews
and Isaiah Likely. The running backs are excellent with Derek
Henry leading the way and Justice Hill out of the backfield,
and Keithon Mitchell is looking really good. And then oh,
by the way, you have Lamar Jackson, who might just
(13:50):
be the best player in football leading the show. And
so this offense was so good last season and I
think it's only going to continue to get better, which
is a skill every thought for the rest of the league.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
But it's stacked. It really is a stacked offense.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Yeah, I mean I've said it.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
I've been saying it for a couple of weeks now,
Like when I looked out, you know, the first OT
practice when Lamar was here Lance week, I'm like, you know,
what does this team need? Right, I'm like nothing. That
doesn't mean that you're going to win the Super Bowl.
But I mean, yeah, i mean, come on, like what
did they don't know? And I think more importantly, I mean, yeah,
(14:29):
that's what I think for the players and coaches feel
the same way that they felt that they felt that
way for the last couple of years. But again you
bring in DeAndre Hopkins and really for the most part,
they're running it back and I think that that's a
smart way to look at it because the Ravens are
good enough they need to go out and do it.
(14:51):
And every year, you know, at the beginning, especially this
time of year, you don't know about the health thing,
which is a crapshoot, but a healthy Raven roster, how many,
no matter how the fifty three shakes out is going
to be good enough to win.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
A Super Bowl. Yeah, they just have to go out
and do it.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
And this puts the Ravens into position where you have
the offensive corps that continues to be in place. Lamar
Jackson obviously signed a contract extension previously. He could be
in line for another contract extension. The Ravens have talked
about wanting to do that. It's only a matter of time,
I would think, until that happens. But you look at
what has happened this offseason. Derrick Henry signed the extension
(15:33):
and now Rashod Bateman signs the extension. You still Zaia
Flowers is just going into year three. You've got a
good offensive line. So you extend your running back, you
extend one of your receivers. Your other receiver is in
place for multi years, your quarterback is in place. Like
you have this corps on offense that is going to
be intact and has that contract security for multiple years.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
That is a really good place.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Oh and Ronnie Stanley, I forgot look at the offensive
line only contract extension. On the right side, you have
Roger Rosegarden who has multi years left.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Of course, he's just.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Going into his second year. The Ravens want to work
out an extension with Tyler Linderbaum. So like you have
the core in place here on offense, and that is
a really good spot to be.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
It is.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
And it's important too that you know, almost always players
they want to stay here, Like you know, in Ronnie
Stanley's case, everyone knew late last season he was going
to have a market and it was going to be
an expensive one, and a lot of times in that situation,
(16:37):
a veteran player will be like, well, I'm just going
to take the highest offer. But in the cases of
a Ronnie Stanley's case, you'll hear Derek Henry talk about
how much he enjoyed being here. The Ravens have created
a culture where when players get here they want to
stay yea. So that gives them an advantage when they're
(17:01):
trying to keep a player because they want they want
the player to stay. The player wants to stay. He's
not always looking for around, you know, like this about
being here. Can I go somewhere else and be happier? No,
They're like, no, I want to stay here. And some
some players who have been other places they already know
that when they come here, like it wasn't like this.
(17:23):
A couple other players I played. I want to stay here,
and some players have found out when they leave here,
you're like, I didn't know how good I had it.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Yep. I love to go back, yep.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
And a lot of them have come back.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
So all right, that's our takes on Sorry Bateman and
that contract extension.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
We're gonna take a quick break.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
When we come back, we'll dive into some of the
notes and what we saw on the practice field during
another day of open OTA practice. You're listening to the
Lounge podcast. We are coming to you from the Sea
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of the Baltimore Ravens, the Draft King Sportsbook. The Crown
is yours. So the Ravens went through another open day
(17:58):
of OTA practice. The media is actually able to watch
each day of OTA practice this year, and so we
were able to get a sense of where things are.
And it's kind of funny, one of the guys, we
just spent all this time talking about this corps on
offense and Rashad and the contract extension. It's kind of funny.
(18:19):
Because one of the players where I thought had maybe
the best day of practice on offense is a guy
who's going to be really tough for him to get
snaps on offense. But it's the second year wide receiver
Davontes Walker. I was impressed by him. He got multiple
catches over the middle of the field, and then when
he gets the ball in his hands and he has
space to work, he could turn on the jets and
pick up a lot of yards after the catch, and
(18:39):
he did that and two plays specifically in today's practice
once he found that open field. I like where what
I saw from Tez. I think it's going to be
tough to get snaps because it's just a really loaded group.
But he's been impressive so far in OTAs he has.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Today was not the only good practice that he's had.
He had another really good one I thought last week
of the practice we were able to see, so yes,
you know, for him, I like the way he seems
to be going about it is that you can't worry
about how much you may play or not play.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
He's only in his second year.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
You know, things can change quickly in the NFL as
far as how much you may or may not need
someone and there's so much talk again about how much
a player improves between year one and year two. Well,
Tess Walker definitely looks like he's going to make a
jump from year one to year two. So if he
(19:35):
is called upon the play, he's going to contribute. He's
also shown even last year, you know, the first catch
a touchdown, that he's not a guy who needs like,
you know, to warm up to. Yes, he can step
on the field and making the media impact. So yeah,
it's great to see a young player like that, even
though the Ravens are stacked, the wide receiver making a
(19:56):
good early impression.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Now, another guy who stood out to me on the
practice field is somebody who I'm not used to seeing
on the Ravens practice Field's coach, former coach John Gruden
was at practice. I was kind of caught my eye
for a second. I'm like, is that who I think
it is? That is that's John Gruden And he was
watching practice and it was kind of interesting, like watching
(20:18):
him just take it all in. I mean's he is
somebody who obviously has continues to be invested in the
game of football and is working on the media side,
and you know, just just I'm sure he's just looking
to learn and get a sense of what the Ravens do,
which I think I do think is the testament to
the Ravens. Like you've seen actually in the past couple
of years, a lot of coaches come through here that
(20:41):
have relationships with John Harbaugh and just want to see
how the Ravens operate. Jason Garrett did it, Bill Belichick
did it. Now you see John Gruden doing it. There's others,
of course who have done that over the years. But
I think it's a testament to Harbaugh and Ozzy and
Eric in the program in place here.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
So that was interesting.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
It was also kind of funny, like a bunch of
guys were going up and chatting with Gruden throughout practice,
Derek Henry, Ronnie Stanley, daffe Oway, Like I saw a
bunch of guys, say Flowers, going to talk with him
during practice because I think they probably had the same
reaction you know that we did, like, Oh, John Gruden's
a practice.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
It's kind of cool, no question.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
I mean, obviously he's a he's a personality. I mean
he now only was the coach. You know, he's on
Monday Night football. You know, he's been on podcast. I mean,
and John like, when I saw him, it took me
about three seconds. He had his back completely to me.
I couldn't even hear his voice, but he has the
manner of those manners. I was like, that has to
be John Rude, I mean, or someone doing an impression
(21:35):
of John Rude. So yeah, I mean, he wasn't hard
to spot. And he he like so all these coaches,
they love football when you have done it. He's a lifer.
I mean, he's a life NFL football lifer. So he
was in his element at practice today, and sure it'd
be great to hear be a fly on the wall
(21:57):
in here, you know, some of the conversations he was
having with the coaching staff and players before, during, and
after practice. But yeah, it was it was interesting to
see him here, but certainly not surprising him because anywhere
football is football is being played, he could show up.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, yeah, he's interested.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
So a couple other notes from me from watching practice
that stood out. One on the offensive side, just to
keep it there for a touch longer. I think Keith
Mitchell continues to look good. We have mentioned him on
the pod over the past week just because he looks
like he has a real burst in his step, and
he does like he looks a lot much closer to
that rookie year Keaton Mitchell. And it's just like catching
(22:40):
the ball of the backfield. He can turn and go
and and that's like that that ability. I don't think
he totally had that last year, but he has the
burst back, and I think it's I think it's pretty
clear in watching these practices.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Right, and it's only June, so you know, he doesn't
have to have you know, the one hundred percent full
go speed and everything back until hopefully week one. He
still has some months to get even stronger and to
wear and tear or when you have injury like that,
(23:12):
you wonder how you practice after practice week after week.
Is there going to be soreness? Last year I think
he may have gone through some of that. But yeah,
he looks really good. And he's another guy who is
unique in that he has game speed that is as
fast as the fastest players in the league. I mean
(23:35):
there are different levels of fast and he has that. Yeah,
and if he has that again, then yeah, I mean
you have another you know, lightning strike, potential lightning strike.
You know, he throws some Derek Henry at him and
you know, don't forget Justice Hill all the things he
can do.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
And then keithon Mitchell that running.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
If they're all healthy, you never have to worry about
any of them being work. As soon as somebody says
that tired, it even looks tired, you can throw another
back into the game and get production. So that's a
great luxury to have. But yeah, I'm happy for Keaton
because at this point, looks like that was a major
injury that he hopefully now can put in the rear
(24:18):
view mirror.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Another note, two other guys I want to mention that
we're I think noteworthy of practice on the defensive side
of the secondary. Cheeto Ouzie was out of practice today,
so it was good to see him. Hadn't seen him
in the previous Open days. He was dealing with an
illness last week and wasn't out there earlier this week,
so good to see him out there moving around. It
look pretty good at a pass breakup at one point
in the end zone, so you know, I thought that
(24:41):
I thought it was a solid day from him and
good to see him out there. And Jalen armor Davis
is another is an interesting one. He's been getting a
ton of reps, especially as Cheeto missed some practice time
earlier over the past you know, two weeks, like I mentioned,
and so he's typically just been an outside corner here
and and that seems like his most likely position. But
(25:04):
defensive coordinator Zach Orr said after practice that they are
working him at safety a little bit as well, and
they want to cross train players in the secondary at
different positions, so he's getting to look at safety. As
the Ravens are considering, they want to find ways to
get their best eleven on the field, and they want
their best dbs on the field. And so if Jalen
Armor Davis is one of the best defensive backs then
(25:27):
and that means he would be at a safety position
or they could be flexible with it, then they're going
to find ways to do that. So he's getting a
chance to play both corner and safety, which is kind
of an interesting development for him.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Yeah, if you're a d bag on this team, that's
something to me that you want to hear, especially someone
like Jalen Armor Davis who is definitely fighting for how
many reps he gets in what kind of role he
has on this team. I mean, jas Zach says, Yeah,
you always want to have your top five, usually defensive
backs on the field. The way the game is played now,
(26:00):
oftentimes you have five dvs out there, sometimes six, sometimes seven.
And yes, if you're a guy who can only do
one thing, I can only play outside, I can only
play in this slide, I can only play safety, then
that limits the ways they can use you. But they're
trying to find out if he if he armor Davis
and a few other players, how good are they at
(26:24):
at another position and can they help us win playing
that position. So he's getting a chance to prove that
there's a key year for him, a key year for TJ.
Tampa and I could you know, probably go on down
the line. But for those two, to me jumping in
my head, there's two guys who really are this is
a challenging year for them where they need to step up.
(26:44):
And sure, if he's getting he is getting reps at safety,
if he can shine, that's gonna put in the coach's
head today. This is a way that he can help
us if he's not playing.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Corner positionless football, something the Ravens like to talk about
and this is just another example of that.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
And like it. It's if he can play.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
The other point Zach war made is like he might
be the smartest dB in the room, so he has
the ability to know already what all of these guys
are doing. Now, Cayle Hamilton would give him a run
for his money and smart, smartest dB for the room conversation,
Zach might not know that Cayle Hamilton is in mensa
it's got that genius, I Q.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
But it could be two genius.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
I know, I know, we gotta, we gotta, we gotta,
you know, give him the act or something right, right,
But uh, but yeah, I think that like Jalen's ability
to to know all the different positions, especially now he's
in his fourth year, like that's that's really valuable.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yeah, that's a key point.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
He's been here long enough to know the defense inside
and out. And when you everybody knows. When you know it,
well you can play fast.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
So it's not a question at this level. All these
guys have athletic ability. It's it's often a question of
how fast can they get comfortable so they can play fast.
So if they believe he can play fast at safety
and feel as comfortable or even more comfortable, then so
be it. I mean you know, Brandon Stevens is going now,
(28:15):
but look how many you know his position? He went
to two or three spots, even played offense and corse.
And you know, so if you're good enough to and
small enough to do it, do it. That'sd be fun
to watch. Yeah, I thinkly when training camp starts and
everybody's here, it'll be fun to watch what they do
with the secondary.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
All right, one quick question and then we'll wrap it
up here. This question just from Anthony Thomas. As always,
you can email us at the Lounge at Ravens dot
NFL dot net. The question here is a long time listener,
first time call her. First off, you guys are a
great job breaking everything down. Thank you, Anthony.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
One thing I'm wondering is how can the Ravens improve
themselves with penalties. They had one hundred and forty for
one hundred and forty of them last year for almost
twelve hundred yards and a lot of those key moments,
not saying they cost some games, but it did not help.
I know a few of them were not great calls,
but that's not the case for all of them. So
how can they eliminate some of those penalties moving forward.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
First thing that jumps in my mind, it's a good
question is pre snap penalties, particularly on offense. It's something
that you know every team tries to eliminate, but that
I think will be a key for the Ravens this
season because you know, offensive coordinator Todd Monkin talked about
it last week that they want to do, you know
(29:32):
things obviously before the balls snapped, give Lamar a time
to read offense, the option of changing changing plays, give
different looks, and so yeah, if you want to simplify
things and just have you know, every play like we're
gonna go on one, you can do that. But that's
not what they want to do. They want to be
able to have Lamar be able to use cadence, change plays,
(29:56):
maybe draw all the other team offside, not have you know,
the pass rush on the OtherSide time up when the
ball is going to be snapped. To do that, you
have to have discipline offensively, not to jump, not to
shift move when a penalty may be called. So if
the Ravens can do a better job, not that they
were terrible at it last year, but if they can
(30:17):
run in year three of time, Monkans offense. Be a
Chris team that doesn't hurt itself with penalties before the
ball's even snapped.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
That's one way to do it.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
I totally agree with that.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
The other point I want to before we wrap up
with one other point I want to hit, and again,
thank you for the question. The anthony is always you
can email us at the lounge at ravensot NFL dot net.
One other point I want to hit is news outside
of this building, but in the AFC North, and that's
what the.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Pittsburgh Steelers says.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
It broke just a little bit ago that Aaron Rodgers
is going to sign with.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
The Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
So the Ravens are likely going to be facing Aaron
Rodgers twice next year in Pittsburgh. And you know, that's
that's obviously a big change for the Steelers. And this
is this is kind of the world that they've been
living in post Ben Roethlisberger. Last year, of course they
brought in Justin Fields, they brought in Russell Wilson. Now
it's going to be Aaron Rodgers there and so you
(31:12):
know it's a question of is.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
He healthy, how much does he have left?
Speaker 1 (31:15):
All those things, But he's obviously a Hall of Fame
quarterback when it's all said and done, and it's going
to add a new wrinkle to this Raven These Raven
Steelers games next year.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Oh no question.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
I mean Raven Steelers rowery. Seems like there's always new
jews being added. This will only make to me THEFC
North more eyes on it. I mean, Aaron Rodgers is
a star player who draws attention. Yes, people, some people
love him, some people don't, but he draws attention. And yes,
(31:46):
talking about you know, quarterbacks drawing people off size, I
mean he's a master at that.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
There has ever been a dad in his prime.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
Hard to think of a quarterback who threw a more
beautiful ball, who could thread the needle. He's obviously not
in his prime, but as you said, the question is
where is he now and how much can he help them?
It's not like the Steelers. The Steelers were a playoff
team without him last year. He's coming into a stable
organization as the longest tenured coach in the NFL. So
(32:18):
those are all positives for Aaron Rodgers. It's going to
be fascinating to watch. There's gonna be a lot of
eyes on them, but you would think that if there's
a place where he was coming back that needed a quarterback,
he's obviously probably decided this is the place I want
to come. I think if he didn't think he could
(32:39):
succeed there, he wouldn't be doing this. I don't think
he's playing for the money. I don't think he's playing
because he can't stand not being in the limelight. I
think he's doing it because he didn't want to leave
the way he had played with the Jets, and that
if he's going to do something special, this is the
(33:01):
best place for him to do it.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
So, I mean, look, it's a it's a good situation
for him, hopefully not too good, you know, for for
Raven's purposes. But like, you have a team that historically
has a really good defense, they have complimentary pieces around him,
stable organization, you know, obviously with great coaching staff and
a lot of success over the course of their history.
You're coming off a playoff run last year, just got
(33:23):
DK metcalf So now you have DK Metcalfe and Aaron
Rodgers who now get added to the Ravens Steelers rivalry mix.
All of that is going to make these these games
with them. I think even more exciting and interesting and
challenging and more spotlight on them and all of that.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Yeah, if everybody stays healthy.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
I mean, you know, the Ray will be playing Joe
Burrow twice, Aaron Rodgers twice, and in Cleveland it could
be Joe Flacco twice. Yeah, and then you've got, yeah,
a lot for us to talk about.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yeah, there's a lot of big name quarterbacks in the
AFC North, no doubt about that. So it'll be interesting
to see how all that plays out. And you know,
there will be plenty of discussion when these two teams
match up, like there always is.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
So again, thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
You can email us with the Lounge at Ravens dot
NFL dot net.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
We will be back on Monday. We're sitting down with
Rashad Bateman for an episode of the podcast, so make
sure that you stay tuned for that. Thanks for listening,
Talk with you again soon.
Welcome into the lounge, presented by DraftKings. I'm Garret Downey.
I'm joyed by Clifton Brown today, who's stepping in for
Brian mank and the Ravens wrapped up another OTA practice today,
but before they did that, there was some big news
Thursday morning, as a team reached a contract extension with
wide receiver Rashod Bateman. The contract is a three year
extension on top of the two years of a contract
(00:27):
that he already had in play. So Bateman is now
under contract for the next five years, and according to reports,
it's a three year extension with twenty million guaranteed and
the value overall over the course of that extension is
thirty six point seven to five.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Million according to multiple reports.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
So Bateman gets a big pay increase after having the
best season of his career, and the Ravens get a
core piece of their team under contract for the foreseeable future.
So exciting day for the Ravens and of course for
Vershaw Bateman. So Clifton Brown and I will break all
of this down. What's your first reaction, Cliff when you
heard the news this morning.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I'm happy for Rashad Bateman.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I mean he persevered through a lot of adversity his
first two years getting this new deal. It's a testament
to his toughness, his resilience, his belief in himself. And
the Ravens also stuck by Rashad too those first couple
of years. And you know, last year he was really
a key piece of this offense. I mean, nine touchdowns,
(01:27):
a playmaker all year and played all seventeen games. He's
played thirty three regular season games the past two years
and playoff games on top of that, showing it he
can stay healthy and when he stays healthy, he's a.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Very productive receiver.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
So my first initial thought was happy for him because
a couple of years ago, three years ago, you definitely
couldn't have seen this coming for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Right Honestly, my first reaction was just a little bit
of surprise, not because I don't think he's deserving, but
because he just signed a contract last year, and you're like, oh,
like when whenever a player is doesn't isn't at the
end of their deal and they get a contract extension,
it comes as somewhat of a surprise because often the
way it works is that a guy hits the market
or comes very close to hitting the market. Baitman still
(02:14):
had two years you know, left on this deal this
year and next year. But what I think it's a
sign of I think it's really two things. It's it's
an indication that Bateman outperformed the contract that he was
getting last year. And the stats from last year forty
five catches, seven hundred and fifty six yards, nine touchdowns.
(02:35):
Another stat there is seventy seven percent of his catches
resulting in a first down or a touchdown. That it
was a highest rate in the league for any player
who had more than forty catches. So it wasn't just
like they weren't worth meaningless catches. I mean they were
like all big catches. So anyway, the first note is
I think he outperformed his contract from last year, and
(02:57):
so it an it's a sign kin of you outperformed,
you get a payball, And the Ravens just did the
same thing with Derrick Henry. The second piece of it
is that the Ravens feel like Rashad Bateman's still on
the ascent, he's still rising, he's still improving.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
He's twenty five years old, and so.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
You get him, you reward him for coming off the
best season of his career and you still get him
at a good you know, good value from if you
play out the length of the contract. But you're investing
in a player who you feel like is still getting better.
And so I just think it's really a it's it's
a good situation, I think here for both both sides.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yeah, you think about what Shay Bateman and Zay Flowers
could do together the next three or four years. Obviously
d hops here as well, but I'm just talking about
guys who have been with Lamar since the beginning of
their careers. Then you talk about building chemistry. You know,
we've seen what Lamar has done with Mark Andrews over
(03:53):
the years. We've seen was Jay Flowers, Amershod Bateman have
done the last two years. You can keeped a core
group like that, you know, surround of quarterback like Lamar,
with talented receivers that he can work with for years.
I don't think there's any way you won't have success. So, yeah,
to speak to your point about him still as sending
(04:15):
there's no reason to believe in offense like this, surrounded
by so many talented players with a quarterback like Lamar
that we have not yet seen the best of a
Shot Bateman.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, I just think that he's a guy like you
look at his career and it was the injuries that
held him back early in his career, and then the
opportunity was.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
A little bit limited, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
First year he just basically on the shelf, and then
it's the foot and then he's working his way back,
and the Ravens then added Odell Beckham Junior to the
receiving mix and drafted Say Flowers, and so like, the
opportunity then was more limited, and he was still working
his way back from the foot injury. So like his
first three years we were mired injuries. And then his
(05:01):
fourth season he has the best season of his career.
And that, oh, by the way, coincides with when he's
been healthy, and so like, I don't really think it's
I don't really think it's ever been an ability thing
with him. I think it's just been an availability thing, absolutely,
and availability and opportunity.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Right, and this offense has been good for him too.
I believe in all the receivers that yeah, I mean
in this offense, everyone's eating, you know, and he's a
part of that. They all help each other get fed
because it's really hard to lock in on just one
player except you know Lamar, and then you gotta worry
(05:38):
about Derek and me when they run the football. So yeah,
it's a great offense to play in. But yeah, the
players always, in my eyes, you know, it starts with them. Rashad,
you know, definitely had some tough times, I'm sure early
in his career when he's like, why can't I catch
a break? Why can't I stay healthy? Because he was
healthy as a college player. It was a new thing
(05:59):
when he came to all the more and of course
and since he didn't have any years stacked on the
table yet, he didn't have that you know in the
bank where.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
People say, oh, well he can play.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
He's just been nerves like you know, there was always
good and you know it's how good is he? You know,
because he couldn't prove how good he was. Well the
last two years he'd been able to do that and
he's showing people.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, I get I give him a lot of credit
because I think that a lot of guys like that
start their careers the way that he does. I think
it's kind of a hard spiral to get out of.
I just think it's challenging, like your first round pick,
you have, like you have the groin injury as a rookie,
and then you have this really bad foot injury. And
we said it at the time, Liz Frank injuries are
(06:40):
really bad and they take a long time to recover
from and any player that has had it and overcome
it and dealt with it, like says the same thing,
takes a long time to work your way back from that.
And there were literally points we had were shot on
the podcast last year going into the season, and he
talked about there being doubts as to whether he would
really even be able to come back and play. And
so this was a guy who had to overcome a
(07:02):
lot early in his career, and I think that it's
just challenging to overcome that, and you kind of get
into spiral there and you feel the pressure and you
hear all the labels and the talk, and it's like
that is that is hard for a player, And so
I give him a lot of credit for being able
to kind of fight through that, overcome it, and then
he gets the contract, you know, last year when he
(07:24):
got the contract extension, like I said, I was a
little bit surprised, just because whenever a player gets an extension,
it comes as somewhat unexpected before their deal is up.
But last year, he even said today when he met
with the media, like last year's was kind of a
real surprise and that in part had to deal with
like technicality and all that. But for this one, he
(07:50):
did say that, you know, they had been talking for
a little bit, so he was less surprised on this
contract than he was last year when he got the
contracts extension.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Right, because he knew what kind of season he put together.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Yeah, so yes, now he feels good about you know,
doing that, you know, showing that you know, the Ravens
believed in him and giving something, giving them more on
that investment in that belief. And now yeah, like he said,
that's kind of how things work in this league. Like
you know, you get you get paid if you do
the right things on and off the field. And yes,
(08:22):
you know, his teammates, you know, he's always been a
guy that they respect and were rooting for him to
stay healthy and felt I remember Jay Flowers, even last
year people were asking Zay about, you know, how he
was going to top his rookie season, and he would say, hey,
you know, I'm thinking, I want to be better, but
he would sometimes throwing into it. But Batman's going to
get his too. I mean, Bait bates looking good. I
(08:43):
remembered a couple of times in training cans like Bait,
I'm telling you, Bait is really looking good.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Well he called it right, no doubt about that.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I think the other thing that's interesting with Bateman it's like, honestly,
for like the last couple of years, in the off season,
it's been like trade rumors and there are rumors that
the Cowboys try to trade for him this offseason, and
there was speculation, and you know, everybody's always like you know,
doing the deep dive rabbit hole stuff on Twitter of
(09:10):
looking at tweets and and all that stuff, right, and
so like this is gonna put it into all that.
Like now, now that is outside, you don't have to
worry about that conversation anymore. But I think that like
the point that he made, I thought he made a
couple that were interesting when when talking with him, when
he met with the media. One of the points he
made was I knew I always wanted to be here
(09:32):
like he wanted to be here. And I think that
there was there was speculation a lot of times in
his career, like does he want to be here?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Is he happy in Baltimore or stuff like that, And.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
He made it clear that I wanted to be here always,
but you just never necessarily know how that's going to
go because it's a business and you've seen players get
traded or cut, and so he's like, I just I
wasn't sure how that was going to play out, even
though I knew I wanted to be here, So like,
I thought that was kind of telling from him. And
then the other part of it was that he talked
(10:01):
about how it's it's significant for the Ravens like to this,
to do this deal after he just signed an extension
last year. When a player has a good season, he's like,
you hope that the team rewards them with a with
a nice contract in a pay raise, but you don't
necessarily know what that's going to be the case.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
And it's it's.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Valuable that the Ravens were able to do that and
did that right.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Well, you know, this is an example of them resigning
again for a second time a young player that will
help them keep their core group together. They Eric Dekasa
said many times that I want to sign as many
good of these good players that we drafted as we can.
With the Salvy cabin, is hard to keep everyone you
want to keep well. With Shah Bateman, they don't have
(10:47):
to worry about that anymore. That's another name, important name
they can cross off the list as far as someone
who's under contract for years. So yeah, I think that
sometimes players, when they get a new contract, they feel
pressure to deliver. I think Rashaan in some ways has
already been through that. Hopefully this will free him up
(11:10):
even more just to just play. Yeah, when he plays,
and I mean, you know, all these guys make it
look a.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Lot easier than it is.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
But when he's is free and healthy, he's shown that
he will put up numbers. So now he doesn't have
to work at all about the contract. You don't have
to worry all about his immediate future. He can just
go out and play and hopefully I freeze him up
even more.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I think it really is a burden kind of off
his shoulders because you've he's overcome like the challenge of
being the first round pick and dealing with those injuries,
and then and then pretty soon after that, you start
worrying about well I'm going to be in a contract
year and a gonna am I going to get an
extension all that stuff, and then and then now you
just have this long term security in place, and so
(11:55):
I think that that is only going to help him
play at an even higher level. And it's just it's
kind of interesting, Like, again, you go back to the
early part of his career. I think a lot of
people would have been surprised if if at that point,
when he's in year one or the year two, especially
dealing with the injuries, if you knew at that point
that this was a guy who was going to ultimately
be signed. This contract will put him through nine seasons
(12:18):
here in Baltimore. Like, that's the longest ten year receiver
by a wide margin in franchise history if he were
to make it to that, you know, all nine years,
and so that's saying something right there, Like the longevity
and the investment. I think that that is pretty telling.
And I just I'm with you. I think that having
(12:39):
that security will allow him to play free and just
continue to build off what he did last season, right.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
I mean, the narrative has changed as far as Ravens
drafting wide receivers with Zay Flowers and Rashad Bateman. You know,
now the you know the Ravens can't draft wide receivers
or don't draft liv receivers.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
You're not hearing that noise anymore.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
So to me, that's just another example of it's easy
to say things, you know, when you look at them,
give a hot take. But now the narrative has changed,
and hopefully for Ravens fans, that same narrative will change
about the Ravens. You know, can't win a Super Bowl
with this group, aren't going to win a Super Bowl
(13:23):
with this group. That what has happened in the past
does not determine the future.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
This offense is loaded.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I was standing out of practice watching it, and I'm
just like, man, these receivers, Zay and Bateman, you add Hopkins,
you have these really good tight ends, and Mark Andrews
and Isaiah Likely. The running backs are excellent with Derek
Henry leading the way and Justice Hill out of the backfield,
and Keithon Mitchell is looking really good. And then oh,
by the way, you have Lamar Jackson, who might just
(13:50):
be the best player in football leading the show. And
so this offense was so good last season and I
think it's only going to continue to get better, which
is a skill every thought for the rest of the league.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
But it's stacked. It really is a stacked offense.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Yeah, I mean I've said it.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
I've been saying it for a couple of weeks now,
Like when I looked out, you know, the first OT
practice when Lamar was here Lance week, I'm like, you know,
what does this team need? Right, I'm like nothing. That
doesn't mean that you're going to win the Super Bowl.
But I mean, yeah, i mean, come on, like what
did they don't know? And I think more importantly, I mean, yeah,
(14:29):
that's what I think for the players and coaches feel
the same way that they felt that they felt that
way for the last couple of years. But again you
bring in DeAndre Hopkins and really for the most part,
they're running it back and I think that that's a
smart way to look at it because the Ravens are
good enough they need to go out and do it.
(14:51):
And every year, you know, at the beginning, especially this
time of year, you don't know about the health thing,
which is a crapshoot, but a healthy Raven roster, how many,
no matter how the fifty three shakes out is going
to be good enough to win.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
A Super Bowl. Yeah, they just have to go out
and do it.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
And this puts the Ravens into position where you have
the offensive corps that continues to be in place. Lamar
Jackson obviously signed a contract extension previously. He could be
in line for another contract extension. The Ravens have talked
about wanting to do that. It's only a matter of time,
I would think, until that happens. But you look at
what has happened this offseason. Derrick Henry signed the extension
(15:33):
and now Rashod Bateman signs the extension. You still Zaia
Flowers is just going into year three. You've got a
good offensive line. So you extend your running back, you
extend one of your receivers. Your other receiver is in
place for multi years, your quarterback is in place. Like
you have this corps on offense that is going to
be intact and has that contract security for multiple years.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
That is a really good place.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Oh and Ronnie Stanley, I forgot look at the offensive
line only contract extension. On the right side, you have
Roger Rosegarden who has multi years left.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Of course, he's just.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Going into his second year. The Ravens want to work
out an extension with Tyler Linderbaum. So like you have
the core in place here on offense, and that is
a really good spot to be.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
It is.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
And it's important too that you know, almost always players
they want to stay here, Like you know, in Ronnie
Stanley's case, everyone knew late last season he was going
to have a market and it was going to be
an expensive one, and a lot of times in that situation,
(16:37):
a veteran player will be like, well, I'm just going
to take the highest offer. But in the cases of
a Ronnie Stanley's case, you'll hear Derek Henry talk about
how much he enjoyed being here. The Ravens have created
a culture where when players get here they want to
stay yea. So that gives them an advantage when they're
(17:01):
trying to keep a player because they want they want
the player to stay. The player wants to stay. He's
not always looking for around, you know, like this about
being here. Can I go somewhere else and be happier? No,
They're like, no, I want to stay here. And some
some players who have been other places they already know
that when they come here, like it wasn't like this.
(17:23):
A couple other players I played. I want to stay here,
and some players have found out when they leave here,
you're like, I didn't know how good I had it.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Yep. I love to go back, yep.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
And a lot of them have come back.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
So all right, that's our takes on Sorry Bateman and
that contract extension.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
We're gonna take a quick break.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
When we come back, we'll dive into some of the
notes and what we saw on the practice field during
another day of open OTA practice. You're listening to the
Lounge podcast. We are coming to you from the Sea
Geek Studio. We also want to mention our partners are
Draft King Sportsbook. They are an official sports betting partner
of the Baltimore Ravens, the Draft King Sportsbook. The Crown
is yours. So the Ravens went through another open day
(17:58):
of OTA practice. The media is actually able to watch
each day of OTA practice this year, and so we
were able to get a sense of where things are.
And it's kind of funny, one of the guys, we
just spent all this time talking about this corps on
offense and Rashad and the contract extension. It's kind of funny.
(18:19):
Because one of the players where I thought had maybe
the best day of practice on offense is a guy
who's going to be really tough for him to get
snaps on offense. But it's the second year wide receiver
Davontes Walker. I was impressed by him. He got multiple
catches over the middle of the field, and then when
he gets the ball in his hands and he has
space to work, he could turn on the jets and
pick up a lot of yards after the catch, and
(18:39):
he did that and two plays specifically in today's practice
once he found that open field. I like where what
I saw from Tez. I think it's going to be
tough to get snaps because it's just a really loaded group.
But he's been impressive so far in OTAs he has.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Today was not the only good practice that he's had.
He had another really good one I thought last week
of the practice we were able to see, so yes,
you know, for him, I like the way he seems
to be going about it is that you can't worry
about how much you may play or not play.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
He's only in his second year.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
You know, things can change quickly in the NFL as
far as how much you may or may not need
someone and there's so much talk again about how much
a player improves between year one and year two. Well,
Tess Walker definitely looks like he's going to make a
jump from year one to year two. So if he
(19:35):
is called upon the play, he's going to contribute. He's
also shown even last year, you know, the first catch
a touchdown, that he's not a guy who needs like,
you know, to warm up to. Yes, he can step
on the field and making the media impact. So yeah,
it's great to see a young player like that, even
though the Ravens are stacked, the wide receiver making a
(19:56):
good early impression.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Now, another guy who stood out to me on the
practice field is somebody who I'm not used to seeing
on the Ravens practice Field's coach, former coach John Gruden
was at practice. I was kind of caught my eye
for a second. I'm like, is that who I think
it is? That is that's John Gruden And he was
watching practice and it was kind of interesting, like watching
(20:18):
him just take it all in. I mean's he is
somebody who obviously has continues to be invested in the
game of football and is working on the media side,
and you know, just just I'm sure he's just looking
to learn and get a sense of what the Ravens do,
which I think I do think is the testament to
the Ravens. Like you've seen actually in the past couple
of years, a lot of coaches come through here that
(20:41):
have relationships with John Harbaugh and just want to see
how the Ravens operate. Jason Garrett did it, Bill Belichick
did it. Now you see John Gruden doing it. There's others,
of course who have done that over the years. But
I think it's a testament to Harbaugh and Ozzy and
Eric in the program in place here.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
So that was interesting.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
It was also kind of funny, like a bunch of
guys were going up and chatting with Gruden throughout practice,
Derek Henry, Ronnie Stanley, daffe Oway, Like I saw a
bunch of guys, say Flowers, going to talk with him
during practice because I think they probably had the same
reaction you know that we did, like, Oh, John Gruden's
a practice.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
It's kind of cool, no question.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
I mean, obviously he's a he's a personality. I mean
he now only was the coach. You know, he's on
Monday Night football. You know, he's been on podcast. I mean,
and John like, when I saw him, it took me
about three seconds. He had his back completely to me.
I couldn't even hear his voice, but he has the
manner of those manners. I was like, that has to
be John Rude, I mean, or someone doing an impression
(21:35):
of John Rude. So yeah, I mean, he wasn't hard
to spot. And he he like so all these coaches,
they love football when you have done it. He's a lifer.
I mean, he's a life NFL football lifer. So he
was in his element at practice today, and sure it'd
be great to hear be a fly on the wall
(21:57):
in here, you know, some of the conversations he was
having with the coaching staff and players before, during, and
after practice. But yeah, it was it was interesting to
see him here, but certainly not surprising him because anywhere
football is football is being played, he could show up.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, yeah, he's interested.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
So a couple other notes from me from watching practice
that stood out. One on the offensive side, just to
keep it there for a touch longer. I think Keith
Mitchell continues to look good. We have mentioned him on
the pod over the past week just because he looks
like he has a real burst in his step, and
he does like he looks a lot much closer to
that rookie year Keaton Mitchell. And it's just like catching
(22:40):
the ball of the backfield. He can turn and go
and and that's like that that ability. I don't think
he totally had that last year, but he has the
burst back, and I think it's I think it's pretty
clear in watching these practices.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Right, and it's only June, so you know, he doesn't
have to have you know, the one hundred percent full
go speed and everything back until hopefully week one. He
still has some months to get even stronger and to
wear and tear or when you have injury like that,
(23:12):
you wonder how you practice after practice week after week.
Is there going to be soreness? Last year I think
he may have gone through some of that. But yeah,
he looks really good. And he's another guy who is
unique in that he has game speed that is as
fast as the fastest players in the league. I mean
(23:35):
there are different levels of fast and he has that. Yeah,
and if he has that again, then yeah, I mean
you have another you know, lightning strike, potential lightning strike.
You know, he throws some Derek Henry at him and
you know, don't forget Justice Hill all the things he
can do.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
And then keithon Mitchell that running.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
If they're all healthy, you never have to worry about
any of them being work. As soon as somebody says
that tired, it even looks tired, you can throw another
back into the game and get production. So that's a
great luxury to have. But yeah, I'm happy for Keaton
because at this point, looks like that was a major
injury that he hopefully now can put in the rear
(24:18):
view mirror.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Another note, two other guys I want to mention that
we're I think noteworthy of practice on the defensive side
of the secondary. Cheeto Ouzie was out of practice today,
so it was good to see him. Hadn't seen him
in the previous Open days. He was dealing with an
illness last week and wasn't out there earlier this week,
so good to see him out there moving around. It
look pretty good at a pass breakup at one point
in the end zone, so you know, I thought that
(24:41):
I thought it was a solid day from him and
good to see him out there. And Jalen armor Davis
is another is an interesting one. He's been getting a
ton of reps, especially as Cheeto missed some practice time
earlier over the past you know, two weeks, like I mentioned,
and so he's typically just been an outside corner here
and and that seems like his most likely position. But
(25:04):
defensive coordinator Zach Orr said after practice that they are
working him at safety a little bit as well, and
they want to cross train players in the secondary at
different positions, so he's getting to look at safety. As
the Ravens are considering, they want to find ways to
get their best eleven on the field, and they want
their best dbs on the field. And so if Jalen
Armor Davis is one of the best defensive backs then
(25:27):
and that means he would be at a safety position
or they could be flexible with it, then they're going
to find ways to do that. So he's getting a
chance to play both corner and safety, which is kind
of an interesting development for him.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Yeah, if you're a d bag on this team, that's
something to me that you want to hear, especially someone
like Jalen Armor Davis who is definitely fighting for how
many reps he gets in what kind of role he
has on this team. I mean, jas Zach says, Yeah,
you always want to have your top five, usually defensive
backs on the field. The way the game is played now,
(26:00):
oftentimes you have five dvs out there, sometimes six, sometimes seven.
And yes, if you're a guy who can only do
one thing, I can only play outside, I can only
play in this slide, I can only play safety, then
that limits the ways they can use you. But they're
trying to find out if he if he armor Davis
and a few other players, how good are they at
(26:24):
at another position and can they help us win playing
that position. So he's getting a chance to prove that
there's a key year for him, a key year for TJ.
Tampa and I could you know, probably go on down
the line. But for those two, to me jumping in
my head, there's two guys who really are this is
a challenging year for them where they need to step up.
(26:44):
And sure, if he's getting he is getting reps at safety,
if he can shine, that's gonna put in the coach's
head today. This is a way that he can help
us if he's not playing.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Corner positionless football, something the Ravens like to talk about
and this is just another example of that.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
And like it. It's if he can play.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
The other point Zach war made is like he might
be the smartest dB in the room, so he has
the ability to know already what all of these guys
are doing. Now, Cayle Hamilton would give him a run
for his money and smart, smartest dB for the room conversation,
Zach might not know that Cayle Hamilton is in mensa
it's got that genius, I Q.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
But it could be two genius.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
I know, I know, we gotta, we gotta, we gotta,
you know, give him the act or something right, right,
But uh, but yeah, I think that like Jalen's ability
to to know all the different positions, especially now he's
in his fourth year, like that's that's really valuable.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yeah, that's a key point.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
He's been here long enough to know the defense inside
and out. And when you everybody knows. When you know it,
well you can play fast.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
So it's not a question at this level. All these
guys have athletic ability. It's it's often a question of
how fast can they get comfortable so they can play fast.
So if they believe he can play fast at safety
and feel as comfortable or even more comfortable, then so
be it. I mean you know, Brandon Stevens is going now,
(28:15):
but look how many you know his position? He went
to two or three spots, even played offense and corse.
And you know, so if you're good enough to and
small enough to do it, do it. That'sd be fun
to watch. Yeah, I thinkly when training camp starts and
everybody's here, it'll be fun to watch what they do
with the secondary.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
All right, one quick question and then we'll wrap it
up here. This question just from Anthony Thomas. As always,
you can email us at the Lounge at Ravens dot
NFL dot net. The question here is a long time listener,
first time call her. First off, you guys are a
great job breaking everything down. Thank you, Anthony.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
One thing I'm wondering is how can the Ravens improve
themselves with penalties. They had one hundred and forty for
one hundred and forty of them last year for almost
twelve hundred yards and a lot of those key moments,
not saying they cost some games, but it did not help.
I know a few of them were not great calls,
but that's not the case for all of them. So
how can they eliminate some of those penalties moving forward.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
First thing that jumps in my mind, it's a good
question is pre snap penalties, particularly on offense. It's something
that you know every team tries to eliminate, but that
I think will be a key for the Ravens this
season because you know, offensive coordinator Todd Monkin talked about
it last week that they want to do, you know
(29:32):
things obviously before the balls snapped, give Lamar a time
to read offense, the option of changing changing plays, give
different looks, and so yeah, if you want to simplify
things and just have you know, every play like we're
gonna go on one, you can do that. But that's
not what they want to do. They want to be
able to have Lamar be able to use cadence, change plays,
(29:56):
maybe draw all the other team offside, not have you know,
the pass rush on the OtherSide time up when the
ball is going to be snapped. To do that, you
have to have discipline offensively, not to jump, not to
shift move when a penalty may be called. So if
the Ravens can do a better job, not that they
were terrible at it last year, but if they can
(30:17):
run in year three of time, Monkans offense. Be a
Chris team that doesn't hurt itself with penalties before the
ball's even snapped.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
That's one way to do it.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
I totally agree with that.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
The other point I want to before we wrap up
with one other point I want to hit, and again,
thank you for the question. The anthony is always you
can email us at the lounge at ravensot NFL dot net.
One other point I want to hit is news outside
of this building, but in the AFC North, and that's
what the.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Pittsburgh Steelers says.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
It broke just a little bit ago that Aaron Rodgers
is going to sign with.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
The Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
So the Ravens are likely going to be facing Aaron
Rodgers twice next year in Pittsburgh. And you know, that's
that's obviously a big change for the Steelers. And this
is this is kind of the world that they've been
living in post Ben Roethlisberger. Last year, of course they
brought in Justin Fields, they brought in Russell Wilson. Now
it's going to be Aaron Rodgers there and so you
(31:12):
know it's a question of is.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
He healthy, how much does he have left?
Speaker 1 (31:15):
All those things, But he's obviously a Hall of Fame
quarterback when it's all said and done, and it's going
to add a new wrinkle to this Raven These Raven
Steelers games next year.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Oh no question.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
I mean Raven Steelers rowery. Seems like there's always new
jews being added. This will only make to me THEFC
North more eyes on it. I mean, Aaron Rodgers is
a star player who draws attention. Yes, people, some people
love him, some people don't, but he draws attention. And yes,
(31:46):
talking about you know, quarterbacks drawing people off size, I
mean he's a master at that.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
There has ever been a dad in his prime.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
Hard to think of a quarterback who threw a more
beautiful ball, who could thread the needle. He's obviously not
in his prime, but as you said, the question is
where is he now and how much can he help them?
It's not like the Steelers. The Steelers were a playoff
team without him last year. He's coming into a stable
organization as the longest tenured coach in the NFL. So
(32:18):
those are all positives for Aaron Rodgers. It's going to
be fascinating to watch. There's gonna be a lot of
eyes on them, but you would think that if there's
a place where he was coming back that needed a quarterback,
he's obviously probably decided this is the place I want
to come. I think if he didn't think he could
(32:39):
succeed there, he wouldn't be doing this. I don't think
he's playing for the money. I don't think he's playing
because he can't stand not being in the limelight. I
think he's doing it because he didn't want to leave
the way he had played with the Jets, and that
if he's going to do something special, this is the
(33:01):
best place for him to do it.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
So, I mean, look, it's a it's a good situation
for him, hopefully not too good, you know, for for
Raven's purposes. But like, you have a team that historically
has a really good defense, they have complimentary pieces around him,
stable organization, you know, obviously with great coaching staff and
a lot of success over the course of their history.
You're coming off a playoff run last year, just got
(33:23):
DK metcalf So now you have DK Metcalfe and Aaron
Rodgers who now get added to the Ravens Steelers rivalry mix.
All of that is going to make these these games
with them. I think even more exciting and interesting and
challenging and more spotlight on them and all of that.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Yeah, if everybody stays healthy.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
I mean, you know, the Ray will be playing Joe
Burrow twice, Aaron Rodgers twice, and in Cleveland it could
be Joe Flacco twice. Yeah, and then you've got, yeah,
a lot for us to talk about.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yeah, there's a lot of big name quarterbacks in the
AFC North, no doubt about that. So it'll be interesting
to see how all that plays out. And you know,
there will be plenty of discussion when these two teams
match up, like there always is.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
So again, thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
You can email us with the Lounge at Ravens dot
NFL dot net.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
We will be back on Monday. We're sitting down with
Rashad Bateman for an episode of the podcast, so make
sure that you stay tuned for that. Thanks for listening,
Talk with you again soon.
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